City Council - Regular Meeting

Let's go. Every night, thoughts go missing by me that I'm lacking satisfaction. And I could lie, say or try to fight it, but I've got no false reactions left yet. I've been praying, whooping, meditating, so the past might let me be, I know that.

For people who prefer to listen to this meeting in Spanish, you can go with our team of interpreters to the back of the Council and City Hall to receive assistance. You can also tune in the transmission of the Council meetings completely in Spanish using the SAP system through the channels you see on the screen. If you prefer to see the transmission from a mobile device, or to download the agenda for today's meeting, visit the website of the City of San Antonio, sa.gov.tvsa.

Good morning, the time is now 9.07 a.m. and this meeting is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call roll.

Councilmember Kaur. Present. Councilmember Mickey Rodriguez.

Present.

Councilmember Villagran. Here. Councilmember Munguia. Councilmember Castillo. Here. Councilmember Galvan. Here. Councilmember Alderete-Gavito.

Here.

Councilmember Mesa-Gonzalez. Councilmember Speers. Councilmember White. Here. Mayor Jones.

Here. Mayor, we have quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Councilmember Mesa-Gonzalez is recognized to introduce today's invocateur.

Sorry about that. Thank you so much, Mayor. It is my privilege to introduce Pastor Terry Simplasky, pastor of worship at University Baptist Church, where he has served since 2011. Pastor Simplasky has dedicated more than four decades to ministry, serving congregations in Texas and Alabama. He has also shared his musical gifts as a vocalist with the contemporary gospel group Eternity. He holds a Doctor of Ministry and a Master of Arts from Logos Graduate School, as well as a Bachelor of Music from Hardin-Simmons University. For more than a decade, Pastor Semplaski has been a part of the San Antonio community, serving and ministering to families throughout our city. He and his wife Sharon have been married for 42 years and have three children and eight grandchildren. Pastor, thank you for being with us today and for your willingness to offer the invocation as we begin our session. Please join me in welcoming Pastor Terry Simplasky.

Thank you very much. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we lift up our city to you today. We ask you to watch over our community and bless every neighborhood, family, business, school, and church. We especially pray for our city council members and all those who serve in positions of leadership. Give them wisdom to make good decisions. understanding, knowledge, and courage to do what is right, humility to listen, and discernment to lead with fairness and integrity. Help them to work together for the good of our entire city. Protect them, their families, and give them strength as they carry on the responsibilities of leadership. Father, I pray you bring peace, protection, provision to our city. Help us to care for those in need. Protect our children. Strengthen our families. And build a community where people can live, work, and worship in safety. Give your people opportunities to serve our city with love and compassion. And may our churches be a light to the community and may everything we do point towards you. We ask you to bless our city and guide those who lead it. May your wisdom, peace, and righteousness be evident through the city of San Antonio. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Thank you, Pastor. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Item three is approval of the minutes for the city council meetings of August 17th, 19th, 20th, 25th, and 26. Are there any corrections or edits to the meetings to the minutes rather? Okay. Hearing none. Is there a motion for approval of the minutes? Okay. There's a motion and a second to approve. Please vote. Is it working? The motion carries, thank you. With the start of Hispanic Heritage Month before us, I'm proud to read a proclamation on behalf of the city. The city of San Antonio recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month as a time to honor the cultural traditions, historical milestones, and community contributions that have shaped San Antonio's identity. And whereas on September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo Luis Castillo called communities to action with the ringing of church bells and El Grito de Dolores, inspiring the widespread movement for independence from Spain and marking a historic moment that continues to hold cultural significance across Mexico and the Americas. And whereas Fiestas Patrias San Antonio, hosted by the San Antonio de SECS de Septiembre Commission, serves as an annual celebration and commemoration of Mexican Independence Day. And whereas the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, in partnership with the San Antonio de SECS de Septiembre Commission, will host cultural programs, community events, and educational activities during September and October to commemorate Fiestas Patrias and Hispanic Heritage Month. And whereas these observances reflect this year's theme, together we are more, unidos somos mas, by honoring the diverse stories that strengthen our community and celebrating the cultural heritage that has contributed to San Antonio's growth. Now therefore, I, Jean Ortiz Jones, Mayor of the City of San Antonio, in recognition thereof, do hereby proclaim the month of September to be Hispanic Heritage Month in San Antonio, Texas, and hereby encourage all residents to take part in programs and celebrations honoring the city's rich and longstanding Hispanic heritage. I invite Richard Gonzalez, the chair of the DCCS Commission, to say a few words. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. Mayor Jones and city council members, thank you for honoring the commission with this special proclamation. For more than 30 years, we have celebrated our city's relationship with Mexico. We hope you will be able to join us. I want to give a special thank you also to the two people who made this possible for me to serve in this position would be a past city councilwoman, Melissa Cabello-Havrod and current sitting councilman Rick Galvan. Thank you. Any of the other commission members would like to say a few words?

Thank you, Mayor. We just want to welcome each and every one of you. We've been having these fiestas for the last 50 years at Market Square with the Mexican Council, and it is an honor to join with them as partners, the Friendship Committee, the Mexican Council, the DSSA's Commission, and all of you because you are part of our commission that helps us with these fiestas throughout the city of San Antonio, and thank you very much for that assistance. Thank you.

One thing, just to invite the city to the Desi Seis Parade, and if they'd like to walk the parade, they're welcome. And how fitting that our Grand Marshal this year will be the outgoing police chief, our Chief McManus, who was with us for so many years. And what a no more appropriate day than the day that our new chief comes in. So thank you all so much for your support over the years.

Great, thank you. See if any of my colleagues would like to say comments. Councilman Villagran.

I just want to thank you for the work. I know last year I was a lot more involved because I had one of the residents as the chair, but Gabriel's always there and he's a resident. So he keeps me posted on what you're doing. Just in this time, and I was reminded last night as Ambassador Ken Salazar was here, is how we tell our stories and how we use our voices. and how that resonates with the community. So I'm just hoping that in terms of the celebrations that new stories are created with the community and that the parade goes well and the weather is fine. But thank y'all so much for your efforts year after year as the budgets get limited and y'all have to get more creative and y'all continue to get creative. But this is imperative to how we tell our story and how we make our mark here in San Antonio. within the Latino community. But it's not just a Latino story. It's a San Antonio story and it's an America story. Thank you. Thank you for all y'all do.

Thank you. Councilman Galvan, please.

Thank you, Mary, and thank you all for being here today. Of course, I want to thank Richard Gonzalez for all the hard work you do. I know we had a great conversation the other night when we were celebrating and kicking off this work that you all are doing and kicking off the celebration that's coming up very, very soon. Very excited. I want to invite folks out to go celebrate with you all at the Market Square this Saturday. I just want to say this is an incredible time in our year when we talk about the celebrations that we have here commemorating many of the cultures and lives and histories of our people here. In particular, the D.S.C.C.A. celebration is one that reminds us to not just about our Mexican-American culture. Of course, it's probably one of the biggest parts of it in terms of this particular celebration, but it's also about the entire history of Latin America, the entire history of Latinos across the entire continent, particularly here in San Antonio and how our story continues to connect to them and their struggles across the entire continent. for independence, for democracy, for self-governance, and for ultimately justice for themselves and for the people around them. That continues to echo here in our country and here in our state, but particularly here in our community, whether it's the celebration happening right here on Guadalupe Street on the west side of San Antonio or celebrations throughout our entire city where folks continue to yearn for justice in the economic way and political way as well. This is an important moment for us to continue to celebrate that, not just within our culture, but to share it with everybody too. So thank you all for keeping this work up, keeping this history and heritage up as well. Very excited to celebrate with you all. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Thank you again. This month is also National Recovery Month, and I'm proud to read a proclamation on behalf of the city celebrating that. Whereas the city of San Antonio together with Senate core foundation and unit unity recovery, San Antonio recognizes national recovery month. And as, as an observance dedicated to increasing awareness of substance abuse and mental health conditions, along with the many individuals, families, and communities working toward recovery. And whereas established in 1989 national recovery month highlights evidence-based treatment and recovery practices and recognizes the providers. Peer support networks and community organizations that assist individuals in recovery. And whereas community and treatment centers in San Antonio provide peer support, education, resource navigation, and reentry services, offering welcoming spaces where individuals and families can access recovery support, build connections, and engage in programs that strengthen long-term stability. And whereas across the United States and here in San Antonio, people share recovery experiences through programs and community events that increase awareness and demonstrate to individuals and families that recovery is possible. And whereas this observance affirms that behavioral health is a key component of overall health and reinforces the understanding that prevention, treatment, and recovery support services help individuals build healthy and sustainable lives, Now, therefore, I, Gina Ortiz Jones, Mayor of the City of San Antonio, in recognition thereof, do hereby proclaim the month of September to be National Recovery Month in San Antonio, Texas. I'd like to invite those from the community that are here to speak on this item forward.

Mayor Jones and City Council, I want to thank you for this opportunity to be before you today. I want to thank you for your leadership, for recognizing those thousands of individuals that are suffering with substance use disorder, and the leadership that y'all are showing here today and the encouragement. My name is Bill Bailey. I'm the president and CEO for CenterCorps Foundation. This is our 60th year providing services. CenterCorps Foundation serves over 15% of the indigent substance use treatment services for the state of Texas. CenterCorps Foundation this past year joined with Alpha Home to expand those services. Last year, we served over 400 individuals. With our new facility on East Grayson Street that we've made a $7 million investment in, we'll increase that to over 1,200 individuals. We're gonna have our grand opening on September the 15th. Mayor Jones and City Council, we'd like to invite y'all to attend. You should have all received invitations. This is a very critical, important part of our opportunity to show the citizens of San Antonio the commitment, not just through words, but through actions. Your presence to patient encouragement here today gives not only the individual suffering substance use disorder, but their families. Because as we all know, it doesn't touch just one person, it touches the whole family. Your encouragement today is greatly appreciated and appreciate all the good work that City of San Antonio is doing because you put into action your words. Thank you for your leadership.

Good morning, city council members and everyone here today. My name is Robin and I'm a peer specialist with Unity Recovery. It's truly an honor to accept this proclamation recognizing National Recovery Month on behalf of Unity Recovery and the recovery community here in San Antonio. As a recovery support peer specialist, I have the privilege of walking alongside people as they navigate their own paths of recovery. I've seen firsthand that recovery looks different for everyone. I found my own recovery in 2021, and it started with a friend I met in a recovery home. And when I went back out, she never forgot to reach out to me and continue making sure that I knew that she was there. And it takes just one person to believe that we are more than the challenges we face, that recovery is possible and it can be unique. And when we build community around that, everyone is stronger because of it. Recovery Month is an opportunity to celebrate those who are in recovery, honor the courage it takes to ask for help, and remind our community that recovery is possible and no one has to walk this path alone. Recovery Month So thank you to the City of San Antonio and the City Council for recognizing the importance of recovery and for helping us create a community where people feel seen, supported, and welcomed. Unity Recovery would also like to invite everyone here and everyone in San Antonio to celebrate National Recovery Month with us on September 19th at our Community Center at 4045 East South Cross from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There's going to be games, food, community, and we would love for you all to be a part of it. Thank you so much for your time and for this proclamation.

Thank you.

Would any of my colleagues like to say a few words? Yep. Councilman Castillo, please.

Thank you. I want to thank each and every one of you all for the work that you all do in connecting residents to services. In 2024, the city of San Antonio declared overdose a public health crisis, committing the city of San Antonio to investing in recovery and destigmatizing addiction. So I want to thank you all for continuing to remind us the importance of the work. and that recovery looks different for everyone. But I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the work of the San Antonio Fire Department and the Mobile Integrated Health Unit in connecting individuals to resources and recovery, and that boots-on-the-ground work that they do in our communities is invaluable. So thank you to Unity Recovery, all the individuals, the peer support mentors, and, of course, the city's Metro Health Department and Jesse Higgins as well, who led the charge with the joint resolution with the counties. So thank you all so much. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Oh, Councilwoman Villagran, go ahead.

I just want to thank you. As we talk about stories, this is a story that a lot of people have, and I want to thank you for being out in the community and offering just the opportunity for people to go. So I do want to state it's September 19th at East South Cross. Okay, yes, I got the email, but I want to make sure that everybody hears it. is come on out if you have questions if you have a loved one or maybe you want to ask some questions we'll be there and it'll be september 19th so thank you so much for that and the invitation but i want to make sure the community heard thank you thank you very much councilman galvan please

Thank you, Mary. Just really briefly, I want to say thank you all for the work that you do and for all the partners that you also work with to make sure that we're addressing this issue as much as possible. This is something that's near and dear to my heart with folks in my life who have struggled with different forms of all kinds of different issues, right? And it's something that is difficult when folks read it on a report or look at it in a news article or think about it in terms of what it could mean for someone who's suffering on the street. I mean, this is someone's life, right? This is someone's child. This is someone's parent sometimes. um that's what it was for my life as someone's sibling who is trying their best to get through life and whatever struggles have come to them and maybe need sexual support maybe i fall into an issue that they didn't want to be in um nonetheless they deserve just as much love and support and i'm grateful that you all are there for them as well and hope that uh we can continue to be good partners in that work too with you all every step of the way thank you councilman alderte capito

Yes, really quickly. Just also wanted to thank you all for y'all's efforts. We know that at times it can be trying, but we really appreciate y'all pulling together to offer this, the resources and the help that you'll all do for our community who needs it the most. Just want to say thank you. Thanks.

Thank you so much. We have a couple of points of privilege. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez is recognized for a point of personal privilege.

Good morning, everyone. Good morning, everyone. I brought some guests with me. If the seniors wouldn't mind standing up and making their way to the podium. Please, everyone, welcome our District 2 seniors. Applause Yeah, everybody come up. Everybody come up. So September is National Senior Center Month, and we are super excited to take a moment to celebrate what our seniors mean to our city. You've heard me say it before that senior centers aren't just a place to pass the time. They're places where our seniors build friendships, stay active, find support, share a meal, learn something new, and remain connected to their community. Here in San Antonio, we have an incredible generation of older adults who have spent their lives building our neighborhoods, raising families, serving our city, and making this community what it is today. They deserve more than our gratitude or to be recognized only for their past contributions. They deserve investment and the opportunity to continue making history. That's why I'm particularly proud of the work that we're doing in District 2 to expand access to high quality senior services and to create spaces where older adults can thrive. We should be building senior centers that are welcoming, accessible, active, and truly worthy of the people who use them. Later on today and in just a few minutes, we'll be approving funding for the construction of the state of the art senior center that our constituents deserve. conveniently timed with National Senior Center Month. So this National Senior Center Month, I wanna say thank you to our seniors for everything you've given to the city and to the staff, volunteers, caregivers, and community organizations who make sure that our older adults are not forgotten. Our seniors built San Antonio, and so the least we can do is build a San Antonio that takes care of them too. So thank y'all so much for traveling all the way downtown to be here today. Would any of y'all like to give a few remarks?

Good morning. I'm Thelma Todd. I'm a member of D2. I've been there since 09, since the center opened up. We appreciate the funding that is finally coming through for our new center. We've been in a leased place. It's been remodeled. It's been added on, but it's still not enough space. So we appreciate the new center that will have it all. Thank you for our councilman, Jalen McKee, We appreciate you. Let's give him a hand, everybody. He has worked so hard on getting this center, and we appreciate all of the work that you've done. Thank you.

Thank you.

I'd like to thank the mayor, the council people, and everybody from District 2, and every recognition that y'all have done, and especially Jalen for trying to bring a long life story, a long ways of coming back for us to have a new facility to be in. Again, I'd like to say thank you from District 2, and we love you.

We love you, too. Thank you all so much for being here.

Good morning. My name is Virginia Knapper, and I want to thank the City Council and everyone for allowing us to stay in our community. It means a lot to us. We have a lot of friends there, and it's like a big family.

Thank you.

My name is Ali Wallace, and I just want to say thank you.

Thank you all so much for being here.

My name is Linda Griffin. I just became a volunteer at DQ and I love it. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Linda Steele and I've been attending D2 for the past six years. I've had an opportunity to travel around and see some of the other centers in San Antonio, and I'd get back and say, when are we going to get D2 to look like some of the other centers? So I feel very grateful to be on the bedrock of us getting a new center. Thank you so much for all of your support, and thank you.

Thank you for having us. These elder teenagers are pretty active. We're always moving. We don't fit in there anymore. So we're very happy that we're going to be getting a new center. Thank you.

Again, thank you all so much for being here. I'll let you all know in just a little bit when the vote is going to be had, and you'll know to applaud and that the work is done, at least on this end. But thank you all again for being here. Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, thank you. Councilwoman Villagran is recognized for her point of personal privilege.

Thank you, Mayor. Can we roll the video?

Walking out of here with $30,000, and the brand of Kickmaster Champion is... DeSoto.

All right. Okay, we can... Because y'all don't want to make me cry. Last week, the whole city celebrated big with the owners of 2M Smokehouse, husband and wife duo, Crescia and Isaiol Ramos. Today, we get the opportunity to have the team join us and... as a point of personal privilege, which, you know, we all know they're few and far between. So, because Team Ramos were crowned winners of the first season of Food Network's Pitmaster competition and took home the $30,000 grand prize. I was there, and your win clearly states that 2M is the best barbecue in the country. Take that, Kansas City. But together, we have a pastry chef, business partners, professional food obsessives, and when y'all watch the show, and it's on HBO Max right now, you will see Isayul just obsessed with food and duck. And so it's just incredible because they are San Antonio natives leading one of the most respected barbecue restaurants in Texas, and they will soon be in the San Antonio airport. So what began with a smoker has now turned into not just a business, but has turned into something that not has just gathered District 3 and our southern sector community from the southeast side, because you'll sit right there between the south and the southeast side, but it has... basically gathered the whole city. Late nights, early mornings, lines sold out, people waiting on their chairs, including my sister. It's just been a reputation that we just are in awe of. And you are a treasure to this city. And before I continue to go on and on, I know my council colleagues, there are a couple of council colleagues here that are dying to say some words. So I'm going to let Councilman White share, even though he's way over in District 10, he loves your barbecue too. So Mark, if you want to share a little.

Yeah, thank you, Councilwoman. And congratulations. Thank you so much for the invitation to be there. And look, what an amazing accomplishment, right? It started in 2016. Texas Monthly, I think, named y'all one of the best 50 barbecue restaurants in the state. And what a finale it was. I was hungry watching it. what was it, the grilled oysters with chili butter and chorizo that you started with, the ribeye redemption. It was really something to see. So we're proud that you're here in San Antonio, of course. Congratulations and can't wait to see all the other great things that you do moving forward.

And I know Marina is watching too, so she wants to say a few words also.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Villagran, for recognizing them. I've been on the 2M bandwagon for years, so this was so exciting. And I just have to say this. I'm a runner, and the last full marathon I completed, after that, I went to 2M. I mean, after running a marathon, you're hungry. And so thank you all so much. It was so exciting to see. We're all extremely proud. Thanks.

And I think Suk was there with me when we got the news. Councilman, thank you, Councilman. No, I'm going to continue. It's my point of personal privilege. Thank you, Mayor. I know, but ma'am.

Okay, go ahead, Suk. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, go ahead, Councilman. Thank you, Councilman. Congratulations. I was so excited to be there with Councilman Villagran and actually be among so many amazing chefs that came to support you. And that's what I wanted to highlight today, is that the community that you all get to be a part of that is a result of our World Heritage Office and City of Gastronomy is a really important community and you guys are getting to lead that and show everyone across the nation how amazing San Antonio really is and my favorite part about it was that you really and the chefs on the show even said you stayed true to your roots and to what your Mexican roots and what San Antonio food really means and so Seeing them eat that concha, dipping it in the cafe de olla was pretty amazing. And so thank you. And I also, if you all don't know, they're going to be in Terminal B. I saw Jesus earlier over here, and I saw Chef's face on that Terminal B board when I went last week. Can't wait to have some 2M at the airport. Thanks, Mayor, and thanks, Councilwoman.

Thank you. So located in District three on southeast side at 2731 South W.W. White Road. I invite you all to come visit. They are Michelin Guide recommended James Beard Award semifinalists designated UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation by fusing classic Central Texas smoking techniques with distinct South Texas and Mexican flavors. So if you're at the Tour de las Misiones this weekend, make sure you go visit 2M. Texas Monthly Top 50 Barbecue Joints, featured by the New York Times, recognized by national and regional food publications, And so many honors. So at this time, I'd like you guys to share a little with the city and the crowd that's here that has come to celebrate with you on this. So Isayul, Garcia, the floor is yours.

Mayor, Councilwoman, Councilwoman Villagran, thank you guys so much for having us here today. We're honored to be recognized. I know it means a lot to Grecia and myself. Everything we do at 2M is for this city. We're born and raised, and I'm very proud to be from this city. And each and every time that we walked into that competition, that's exactly what we brought with us, right? We're from here. The culture, the family, the food, it's what makes San Antonio very unique. We are also one of two, only two, city of gastronomies in the whole entire nation and if that doesn't speak volumes and i don't know what else does i want to say thank you guys so much i'm not a big speaker but this means the world to us and i'm glad that we could represent san antonio and bring a championship back to our city thank you

I want to congratulate you. Um, you, the news of your, um, uh, victory, uh, came unfortunately on the heels of the storm. And so I know many of us would have liked to have been there and celebrate alongside with you, but we were, we're tending to, to the, to the storm and the recovery, but certainly we were. celebrating your victory and certainly as you point out what it means to put our city on the map in that way, which is as we go through the budget season and we are trying to find resources to ensure that we save programs like the gastronomy program of which you all are now a part. So thank you for putting us on the map in that way and for representing our city so well. Thank you. Councilwoman Mesa-Gonzalez is recognized for a point of personal privilege.

From barbecue to neighborhood. Happy 100th anniversary to Oakland Estates. If the residents from Oakland Estates can please stand up. 100 years ago in 1926, Oakland Estates became the first platted subdivision in Bexar County to reach its centennial mark. That alone is an incredible milestone. But the story of this community goes back even further. This land was once part of a grant awarded to Jose Alameda for his participation in the Battle of Bear in 1835 connecting Oakland Estates to the early history of San Antonio. What makes Oakland Estates truly remarkable is what happened over the last 100 years. San Antonio grew and changed all around it, but Oakland Estates held on to its identity. Its large lots, mature oak trees, natural landscape, wildlife, and quiet country-like character have made it unlike almost anywhere else in our growing city. And that character didn't happen by accident. Generations of residents have cared deeply about preserving what makes this neighborhood so special. I'm honored to have Oakland Estate neighbors with us today, including Ross Lafhead, Barney Turney, and Ross Snyder, president of Oakland Estates Neighborhood Association. Thank you for your leadership and thank you to all the residents, past and present, who have helped carry this community forward. Today we celebrate 100 years of history. We all have our shirts on today. Community and character and we celebrate the people who have made Oakland it states what it is Congratulations again, and here's to the next 100 years.

Thank you so much mayor You're here if you'd like to say a few words you're more than welcome Okay, welcome good come on up

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you briefly. I'd just like to thank the city of San Antonio. Oakland Estates has been there a long time. Lock Hill Selma Road refers to a road between Lock Hill and Selma. Lock Hill was Oakland Estates. We were annexed in 1974. And over the years, the city has worked to recognize our unique neighborhood Uh, prior council folk have helped us get larger, a lot zoning designations that existed in the code working with the city. When the unified development code was developed, we were given certain protections, but I just like to thank the city for working with us and remind the city that we have no restrictive covenants. We're a very, very old neighborhood. So we live and die on zoning and your consistency in supporting, maintaining our one acre, a large lot, minimum lot size in the interior of Oakland estates is very, very important. And we thank you again. And we would remark that it's probably good for that part of town to have that many trees, uh, cleaning the air. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Next item is the city manager's report Eric over to you There no report this morning Thank you Staff has withdrawn item number eight and so there will be no public discussion on that one this afternoon this morning Okay, is there any objection to taking the consent agenda before the individual items to clear most of the business I Okay, great. Items 10 through 26 are on the consent agenda. That means they will be considered as a group. There will not be a staff presentation unless pulled for individual consideration. Are there any items council members would like to pull from the consent agenda to be heard individually? Okay, I will pull item number 20.

I'll pull 21.

I'll pull 22.

Okay, any further items that need to be pulled from the agenda?

Okay.

Okay. On the balance of the consent agenda, we have several individuals that have signed up to speak from the public. I'll call those individuals up in the order that they signed up. The first person is Gregory Okafson. Gregory O. Cavson. OK. Alexander Testa. Alexander Testa. There we go. OK. Sir, you have three minutes.

morning thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is alex testa i'm an associate professor at the university of texas health science center houston on our san antonio campus so i do live here and i'm also the principal investigator on the bear county diversion center feasibility study which is being conducted right now in conjunction with center for healthcare services and ad hoc committee co-chaired by Councilmember Castillo and Commissioner Rodriguez. I'm just here to speak on item number 19 today. And I just wanted to make three points to make clear on the basis of the study that I've been conducting for a Diversion Center pilot. So first of all, as part of my study, I'm conducting interviews with a large number of community stakeholders who work directly with those involved in the criminal justice system, and this includes people with lived experiences, about their view of a diversion center. To date, I've conducted 36 of those interviews over about the last five weeks, so there's a lot of participation, a lot of interest, and one that I consistently hear from those individuals is, one, that there is a need for a diversion center, and two, there's a need to kind of move quickly on it. There's a feeling that this has been something that is long overdue and a lot of people want to see a program get going so we can see kind of how it works and refine it. The second thing is that I have visited with and spoken with other diversion centers across Texas. This includes established diversion centers in Harris County, Tarrant County, Dallas County, and a new one which is currently being piloted and started in Travis County. That makes San Antonio-Bear County the only major metropolitan area without a mental health diversion center. But also, when I talk to these individuals who run and manage these diversion centers, there is one thing that they consistently make clear to me, which is that they often feel that they have spent too long planning and talking about it, and the real lessons were learned when they started piloting a diversion center. That is what quickly expedited them to see what works, what doesn't work, and how they need to refine procedures to get on board with this and make it a reality. They've all recommended moving toward a pilot and seeing what works. The last thing I just want to comment on is that through both the ad hoc committee and some subcommittees that have been working and meeting, this over the last several months we've made tremendous progress I've seen a large number of stakeholders come together from different agencies and coalesce around this and really come into agreement of how a diversion center can work and so there is a shared vision and that shared vision just simply needs to be piloted and see if it can work and how we need to refine it so thank you for your time thank you Mitsuko Ramos

Sorry? Okay. Ken Brown? Okay. Those were all the individuals that signed up to speak on the consent agenda.

Okay.

Is there a motion to approve the balance of the consent agenda, which is items 10 through 26 minus items 20, 21, and 22?

Second. Okay.

Are there any highlights from my colleagues or questions? Councilwoman Castillo.

Thank you. This morning I'm excited to highlight item number 19, which is funding earmarked for a diversion center pilot program. On October 6, 2025, our office submitted a council consideration request for the creation of a joint city ad hoc committee to establish a centralized system for diversion and recovery. The city county ad hoc committee has convened several times, featuring presentations from various stakeholders, collaborative discussions, and joint decision-making on diversion and recovery strategies in San Antonio and Bexar County. Now, there are a large number of individuals to highlight and thank, and I'm going to miss all of them, so I'm going to focus on those on the city of San Antonio's end who have helped shepherd this work. Extremely grateful for Maria Villagomez, Maria Vargas, Ashley, Chief Salome, Chief Blanton, of course, Jesse Higgins, our Chief Mental Health Officer, Mark Carmona, and Judge Obledo for their leadership with this initiative. Again, CHCS is proposing a six-month diversion center pilot program. their existing CHCS facility which currently operates as a crisis respite center so this focus is going to focus this center rather is going to focus on arrests made in SAPD central and downtown substation response areas and again these are items that again I'm grateful for the leadership of SAPD the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and of course a district attorney's office for what they've proposed as potential metrics so eager to approve this item thank you

Thank you. Are there any other highlights or questions based on the consent agenda? Councilman Wang.

Thank you, Mayor. I'd like to highlight item 12. This item traces back to a council consideration request that I filed this past March. I appreciate my colleague, Councilwoman Spears, and the others who signed it. It was actually Councilwoman Spears and I that began talking about this request. six or so months ago, more than that, about how we have all of these boards and commissions, and so many of them either don't meet or their mission is outdated and things like that. And so we needed a way to sunset the ones that aren't working, preserve those resources, and really just focus on the boards and commissions that are producing results for the citizens of San Antonio. So this ordinance is going to do that, and I look forward to approving it today. Thanks, Mayor.

Councilman go ahead. Go ahead.

I could also mention and The clerk's office Debbie, thank you for for your work on this as well that Debbie's really gonna gonna lead this new Commission new new I guess group that we have Councilman McKee Rodriguez and Councilwoman messa Gonzales and I are gonna sit on that committee and and really go through and review the boards and commissions But it wouldn't be possible without the works of the work of the clerk's office. Thanks

Thank You councilman core please thank you I wanted to highlight number 15 which is an ordinance approving the re amendments for La Vita tenants La Vita is in a really important area for our community they finally have a space without construction in front of their businesses I'm hopeful that we can continue to do more for the tenants because I know they've been asking for additional supports there so hoping that the downtown team will continue to work diligently on how we can support those tenants in being successful with their small businesses and just wanted to give a little shout out to Councilman Castillo for her work on the Diversion Center and say thank you to Dr. Testa for coming and speaking about it. I'm excited to see it in action. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you. There being no further discussion, there's a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda item minus items 20, 21, and 22. Please vote. The motion carries. Thank you. Item five is the public hearing. The time is now 9.53 a.m. and the public hearing is now open. Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item number five is a public hearing on the city's 2026 ad valorem tax rate for the FY 2027 proposed budget and the FY 2027 proposed budget.

are members of the public here to speak on the item freddie's already here i do have a short presentation if you'd like please do that thank you all right good morning mayor and council my name is freddie martinez i'm the budget director for the city of san antonio and today i have a short presentation on today's public hearing So today's hearing is to obtain feedback from the public on the proposed 27 city property tax rate, as well as on the FY27 operating and capital budget. This is the second public hearing. We had the first public hearing last Wednesday on September 2nd. In addition to the two public hearings, we've held 11 budget town hall meetings across the city since the budget was proposed on August the 13th. As a reminder, the proposed budget as it stands is $4.4 billion, made up of $1.76 billion in the general fund, which which funds our basic city service such as public safety, parks, libraries, and other departments in the general fund. We have 1.2 billion in restricted funds such as the airport, solid waste, development services, and then finally we have 1.4 billion that's included in our capital budget. Primarily those are gonna be the projects at the airport related to the airport expansion as well as projects related to the 2022 bond program. This $4.4 billion budget does fund 13,746 positions, which is a slight increase of seven from the prior year. As I mentioned, today's hearing is also on the property tax rate. Overall, when we look at our property values, we have observed a $4.3 billion value loss, or about 2.71%. As a reminder, the recommended proposed budget uses the property tax capacity, or the unused increment, from FY25 and FY26 when the city chose not to increase to the state allot growth. The tax rate under the proposed budget would increase by a little over two cents, from 54.159 cents to 56.288 cents. which would reflect an increase on average of about $2.95 per month on the average resident's homestead across the city. Also just wanted to point out that 47% of the roughly 257,000 homesteads in our community, their taxes are frozen and they wouldn't be impacted by this increase. And also one other reminder that the city does forego a little over 156 million in property tax revenues from homesteads, exemptions, and tax freezes. As you are aware, Continuing the budget process. This is kind of where we stand now as a reminder. The budget was proposed on August 13th We held community town halls across ten council district as well as one youth town hall from August 17 through 25th We continue to have budget work sessions Those will wrap up next week and then as I mentioned the tax and budget hearings which were on September 2nd and September 10th That will lead up to our budget adoption which is scheduled for next day on September 17th for the new fiscal year beginning on October 1st and Now the actions that you consider at next week's council meeting on the 17th will be the budget adoption, the budget ratification, adopting a maintenance and operations property tax rate at 35.138 cents per $100 of taxable valuation, Just want to mention on here that the MNO tax rate does require 60% vote for yes or seven votes from the council per state law The other actions will be adopting the debt service property tax rate Which would maintain the rate at twenty one point fifteen cents per one hundred dollars of taxable valuation and then the final two would be adopting the new and adjusted revenue ordinance and finally the closing ordinance for FY 26 and Mayor and Council, that concludes the presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Freddie. And thank you for the clarification on the votes required on the M&O piece. And just for the public's edification, if seven votes are not reached, the next step would be if you do not have seven votes for the public's benefit.

Yes, we would have to go back and revise the budget.

Without seven votes, the property tax would stay at the current rate.

Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to those that have signed up to speak on this item. Gregory O'Kavison. Gregory O'Kavison. Okay. Ana Acevedo. Ana Acevedo. Followed by Kat Delgado and Linda Moro. You have three minutes, ma'am. Thank you.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. As CEO of the San Antonio Education Partnership, I want to thank you for continuing to consider supporting the city's scholarship and outreach funding to the San Antonio Education Partnership, especially at a time when the city is facing an especially large deficit. You have all already heard about the urgent need to fund the scholarships for the nearly 3,000 students attending college this semester. And today I want to tell you more about what the entire scholarship program entails, including the advising that happens in the high schools that connects them to the scholarship in the first place. City funding for SAP is an investment in San Antonio students and their futures. It is also an investment in our city's economic competitiveness. This funding is more than just a line in a budget. It means students have access to college advising in their high schools. It means scholars have financial support as they pursue their degrees. And it means thousands of students have someone helping them plan for what comes next. These numbers represent real students, real goals, and real opportunities. Sometimes a student doesn't need someone to have all the answers. They just need someone to help them see what's possible. That's the role SAP advisors play every day in local high schools. They listen, answer questions, provide guidance, and help students see a path forward that they may not have seen for themselves. One conversation, one trusted advisor, one student who decides to give college a shot. That's the impact of college access advising. This is a quote from an SAEP scholarship alum that represents what we hear repeatedly. I wasn't sure college was the path for me, but their guidance and knowledge gave me the confidence to give it a shot, and the rest is history. Please continue to invest in what's possible for San Antonio students. I respectfully urge you to fully fund the SAP scholarship program for FY27 and FY28 so that students can continue to pursue their college dreams. Our collective future is at stake. Thank you.

Kat Degavio. For 20, OK, thank you. Linda Mora. Linda Mora. Paul Rodriguez. Paul Rodriguez. Followed by Erica Alvarado and Cheyenne Rendon. Please make your way to the aisle.

Good morning. My name is Paul Rodriguez and I'm speaking on behalf of UP Partnership, our future ready Bexar County partners, and the Communications and Policy Council. I'm here today to respectfully urge you to maintain current funding levels for DHS delegate agencies, to carefully reconsider the projected $5.1 million reduction proposed for FY28, and to also maintain the scholarships for those recipients at the San Antonio Education Partnership. As it relates to delegate agencies, it's important to recognize that delegate agencies are not simply grant recipients. They are organizations that have been selected through a city-established process to carry out priorities that the city itself has identified as critical to the well-being of residents. These agencies undergo a competitive review process, are vetted by the city, and are entrusted to deliver services that help advance the city's goals. It reflects a true partnership. The city has intentionally chosen to delegate certain community serving functions to nonprofit organizations because they bring expertise, community trust, and proven capacity to deliver results. These organizations support residents in areas such as youth development, family stability, workforce development, senior services, and overall community well-being. They are not operating separately from city priorities. They are helping the city achieve them. Because of that, any discussion about reducing funding should be guided by outcomes and evidence. If there are concerns about program effectiveness, we support a transparent evaluation process and a clear review of performance as well as impact. Significant funding reductions should be based on demonstrated evidence that services are no longer needed, not effective, or can be delivered more efficiently through another approach. This reduction would affect dozens of community programs and thousands of residents who depend on these services every day. Finally, we respectfully request clarity about how the September 17th budget vote relates to the FY28 funding outlook and what opportunities will exist for stakeholder engagement before any future reductions are finalized. In other words, many of our partners are asking the question if the vote is not only for the FY27 budget, obviously, but if the adoption of the $5.1 million reduction as a framework for further consideration, our partners would like clarity on that matter as well. Thank you for your time and your attention to this matter. Thank you.

Erica Alvarado, followed by Cheyenne Rendon, and then Christian Ramos, please.

My name is Eric Alvarado and I'm a longtime resident of district 2 I also served on the city task force to update compliance codes for MREs and UARPs Last year the City Council voted to approve stronger compliance codes that we worked so hard on and that was a huge win for San Antonio residents especially for those in district 4 and district 5 where the majority of MREs and UARPs are located I'm here today to encourage city council members to vote in favor of increasing the licensing fees for these businesses to help cover the cost of maintaining the new stronger regulations needed to keep San Antonio residents safe. The cost of licensing fees have not kept up with them. Sorry, have not kept up with inflation and development services has explained that the proposed fee increase is part of a broader effort towards cost recovery. And even with the increase, some programs would still not recover 100% of their enforcement costs. Stronger codes only work when the city has the resources to enforce them. So on September 17th, please remember that your vote affects real humans and sets an important standard for protecting the residents of San Antonio. On September 17th, please vote to increase the licensing fees. Thank you.

Cheyenne Rendon. followed by Christian Ramos and then Marvin Hasania.

Good morning. I have some handouts.

Thank you.

Good morning, my name is Cheyenne. Good morning mayor, good morning members of city council. I am here today on behalf of residents living in district four and five where the high concentration of recyclers reside in our neighborhood. So we live every day with these exposures, these experiences. I was also a member of the MRE UAPR task force last year. What we know is clear. Residents want stronger enforcement, accountability, and protection. You've also been provided with a prepared statement on behalf of the members of the task force as well as neighborhood associations who support this increase. Their support reflects the same conclusion we reached through that process. Stronger regulation require the resources to enforce them. You also received a nicely worded email from us. If you haven't, please check your spam. Last year, this council unanimously voted for stronger regulations, but the regulations are only as strong as the city's ability to enforce them. DSD has already told you that increasing these licensings from 1,000 to 5,000 does not fully recover the cost of regulating these businesses. You may hear comparisons to what other Texas cities charges for similar licenses, but those comparisons are not necessarily apples to apples. San Antonio has its own policies, regulations, inspection requirements and enforcement responsibilities. Other cities may not have the same standards or require the same level of oversight. We cannot compare only the price of a license while ignoring what the license is paying to enforce. San Antonio has been a leader in developing policies for these industries, and other communities do look to us for that leadership. We should not weaken our standards simply because another city charges less without providing the same level of regulation and oversight. So the question before you is simple. Who should pay for that enforcement? Should it be the industries requiring the inspections or oversight? Or should it continue falling on taxpayers, including families in District 4 and 5, who are already carrying the environmental and economic burden of their concentration? You may hear opposition predictions and claims about what this increase could do, and we are asking you to weigh those claims with what we already know. Enforcement costs money, and our communities deserve enforcement that actually works. You unanimously voted for stronger regulations, stronger protections, so please now fund the enforcement behind them and vote yes to increase these licensing fees. Thank you.

Thank you, Christian Ramos. Christian Ramos. followed by Marvin Hassania and then Jack Finger.

Hi, good morning, City Council. I'm Christian. I'm a co-president of students of Doctors Without Borders here at UTSA. I'd like to take this time today to advocate for a 12-month infrastructure pilot at the Via Central bus stop in District 5. So throughout my college career, we've had events mainly through Feed the Need where we go downtown and give out care packages to those that need them. During my first year in service, I was able to meet people where they were and provide care in that manner. However, when we returned the following year we noticed that there were Fences placed around kind of the overpasses and the empty lots where people used to stay but instead of relocating people that simply displaced them into the streets and this caused a from my eyes, a massive sanitation concern. So though there were garbage receptacles on the streets, they were overfilled, and it seemed like they had not been properly tended to. And there was accumulation of human waste in the streets. I think that what we saw wasn't the cause of any individual's negligence, but rather the natural consequence of inaccessible, inefficient, or nonexistent infrastructure. And we know that San Antonio has previously supported initiatives such as the Portland Loo at the Riverwalk to provide more accessible sanitation infrastructure to those that need it. I think that it would be a good time to start employing some of these in the central bus stop station. This could be like the installation of temporary public bathrooms or the installation of a Portland loo, maybe a mobile shower unit or other hygiene stations, as well as the installation of a lidded dumpster to improve the capacity of trash that can be held at that station. I think that with these solutions, we can improve the health and sanitation of the central bus stop area. Relying solely on displacement won't solve the underlying sanitation issue. And I think we can all agree that our goal is meaningful improvement here. So I think that we should build the infrastructure to achieve it. Thank you.

Thank you. Marvin Hasania, followed by Jack Finger, and then our final speaker, Mary Cabral.

Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, City Council. My name is Marvin Hassani. I own a salvage and a recycling yard in the city of San Antonio. I respectfully oppose the proposed increase on UARP and MREs. The one they're requesting, it is a $5,000 fee on application. That used to be $275 or $250 it went to a thousand that was last year and uh... auto parts used to be five hundred went to a thousand what they're suggesting is five thousand that's over four hundred percent increase there's a lot of business Businesses as a salvage and recycling there are very on a red line. They're hurting So if we increase this fee on them what it makes or what when it end up happening They want to cut down on different sources trying to pay for that fee one of them that Very possible that it will fail to maintain their yards so now we're failing to maintenance their yard because of the fee is too high and I think we should look at different ways to, you know, not to raise up that cost that high, 400%, by suggesting instead of being inspected every monthly or a monthly basis, let's go on it quarterly, especially if you are already in compliance. If you are in good outstanding, we should get inspected quarterly. That will definitely cut the cost down. We're already seeing a lot of people moving out of the city. We don't want that to happen. We don't want to go open in different cities. We need to stay in San Antonio. A lot of those businesses been up here for 80 plus years. We should stay in city of San Antonio. We have a lot of jobs. We offer a lot of jobs to so many different families up here. We keep our city clean. We recycle all kind of different stuff. If we do not exist in a city of San Antonio, what would happen? You're going to see a lot of hybrid batteries, a lot of cell phones thrown on the side of the road. It's too many things that will be thrown and nobody can salvage. We're up here to help the city, maintain the city, keep the city clean. Our industry does play a big role in the city. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you. Jack Finger and then Mary Cabral, please make your way to the center. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Well, Madam Mayor, other members of our illustrious San Antonio City Council, for the record, my name is Jack M. Finger. Yes, this item deals with tax rates. So far, I haven't heard anybody speak about tax rates on this item, but that's okay. Let's look at some facts here. The The economy here in town has not been the best. In fact, it's been very poor for many people. And that's been reflected by the fact that home values, real estate values have gone down, gone down to the point where, yeah, you're not getting as much money for the city coffers as you normally get. So you guys, most of you guys look at that and you say, oh, golly, we... our money coming in is down, we've gotta pick it up again. We've gotta increase our tax rates. Increase the tax rates? Yeah. Scroll all the way down to those marks down there. The black area there, yeah. What is it currently? It says that the property tax bill for the current year is around 0.54 cents or so for the median value of 1,086 bucks. And the very next line says, property tax bill for the proposed tax rate is 56 cents on the dollar. Yeah, you can return the camera now. So that, from what I understand, actually amounts to a 3% increase. Now, you know, Quite frankly, this is a lot like you're kicking a guy when he's down. And you're saying, Jack, you don't have to worry about this. It's only about maybe $27 extra a year. $27 extra a year. Okay. Then you guys pay the extra $27 a year for all of us who are going to have to pay that if it's that small. That small, huh? You know, this is essentially... You, why are you, quite frankly, you have not really looked at the budget that well. You have not decreased spending as you could. And yes, I think you should because quite frankly, what you're doing, I mentioned this once before and it bears repeating. It's like the old saying, city council tax hikes. The beatings shall continue until morale improves. Yeah, it's an old military saying there. The meeting shall continue until morale improves. You guys aren't paying enough taxes, and so we've got to increase your tax rate. The question is, if things get better and you start picking up, will you decrease the tax rate later on?

Thank you. Okay. Having heard all comments from persons wishing to speak on this item, the public hearing is now closed. The time is now 10 18 AM. The city council is scheduled to adopt the 2026 ad valorem tax rate and FY 27 proposed budget next Thursday, September 17th, 2026. We'll move on to item six.

Please. Item six is an ordinance confirming the appointment of police chief.

Eric, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Good morning, Mayor and Council. So item number six is for your consideration, the confirmation of Jesse Salome as the next San Antonio police chief. Following a lengthy nationwide search and a comprehensive interview process that we undertook, Jesse emerged as the top candidate to lead the police department into the future. I have the utmost confidence in his leadership, experience, and commitment to the people of San Antonio and the employees of the police department. His vision has been built upon trust, respect, and transparency, and that make him an ideal choice to lead the police department into the future. His appointment follows a lengthy nationwide search that involves input from stakeholders from the San Antonio community through several stages of the process. We had an employee survey that we produced that we conducted earlier in the spring to get feedback from employees. We had open roundtable conversations with members of the community that you all appointed to hear about what are the strengths and attributes that we are looking for in the next police chief. We had over 30 applicants in the process. Interviews included two panels of community members selected by two from each council district and the mayor. We also had one panel of community stakeholders, a number of city executives, and a panel of 12 randomly selected SAPD employees, both uniform and civilian. What emerged from that process was follow-up conversation with Jesse and another top candidate between Maria, Deputy City Manager Maria Villagomez and myself and the candidates to really kind of dig a little bit deeper into the vision and thoughts about the transition. As many of you know, the police department has not undergone a transition like this in 20 years. So most of the officers in our police department have only known one police chief. So ideas about how we were going to transition the organization and thoughts on discipline, technology, the approach to public safety, and continuing to make sure the San Antonio Police Department is one of the premier police departments in this country. Jesse is a native of San Antonio who joined SAPD in June of 1999. Over the past 27 years, he has steadily moved through the ranks. He spent 15 years in the field in investigative units, demonstrating exceptional leadership and commitment to the police department, the community, and its employees. Jesse was appointed deputy police chief in December of 2022. assistant chief over operations in 2024 I shared this at the at the news conference two weeks ago but one of the things that I think I'm that's most appealing to me and I think it's important for frankly any executive of the city but the police chief is one of the most important positions we have in this organization And I appreciate Jesse's approach, common sense approach and intuitive ability to anticipate whether those are operational issues or those are questions that you all will have for him on his budget presentation this afternoon. I think those are key things, key attributes. I'm excited about the future of the San Antonio Police Department. I'm excited for Jesse. I have shared with him that we're here to support him and ensure that he has the resources the tools and the support to continue leading our largest police our largest department in our organization and he'll have a chance after you all speak on on what his priorities are as he takes on this challenge and opportunity and I'm excited to work with him in this new role and I'm thankful for the community members and and the employees that participated and spent time with us and provided us valuable feedback. I think it was a pretty inclusive process. Certainly one that we have never gone this far in terms of community stakeholder input. But as you all know, the police chief is an important role in our community, and I'm thankful for the community members and the employees that participated in that process. I want to thank Maria Villa Gomez, who helped shepherd this process since February, and we are ready to hit the ground running. based on your confirmation vote today and looking forward to continuing to evolve our public safety strategies and our police strategies into the future. As I said at the press conference, the police department is one of those, we have a lot of areas in this city actually, but it's one of those areas where there's no finish line. We have got to consistently and constantly evolve to the community, to the demand on service, to technology enhancements, to data, and I think Jesse is prepared to do that as we go forward, and I'm certainly prepared to support him in this role. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. We have one member of the public signed up to speak on this item. Mario Leal? Mario Leal? Okay. Is there a motion to approve item six so we may begin council discussion I make a second Okay There's a motion and a second to approve we'll move on to council discussion Chief Salome Acting chief at this point Thank you for your many years of service to our city. And I know there's got to be a personal point of pride in the department to see somebody that has come through the ranks this far and is now on the precipice of being confirmed. I thank you for the time that we had to do my due diligence as of course appointed by the by the city manager But then must be confirmed by by this body. I do want to in light of kind of where we are as a city and Given some of the most pressing issues before our community from a public safety issue I do want to touch upon some of the items that we discussed just in the interest of public transparency And so folks can hear directly from you on on these items The top three issues you imagine or you would kind of front load in terms of your priority when it comes to public safety in our community, would you just outline what those would be?

Yeah, the first issue first and foremost for me is public safety, especially when it comes to violent crime and continuing to work on strategic initiatives, data-driven approaches, and holistic approaches to keeping violent crime down and so our community can thrive. I also want to do a lot of work with our folks to make sure that they are healthy. The morale is good. I want leadership development all through the ranks, particularly at the sergeant rank, because that is where the culture is shaped. And we talked a lot about culture and how important that is. And lastly, all of those things together cannot be done without the community trust and the legitimacy of the community places in the police department. And so I take all of those things, all of those things have to work together and everything that we're going to do, every initiative, every other vision or idea we have is going to spring from those three, from those three priorities.

Great. Thank you. During the earlier in the budget season, Dr. Claude Jacob, the chair of the Metro Health Department, anticipated as part of his budget ask seeing a 20%, 25% increase in domestic violence in our community over the next year. I'd welcome your initial thoughts on what you think that might mean for the department.

I talked to Dr. Jacob yesterday, and I think we want to get some clarification because the stats that we had been looking at and the work that we have done through the CCDV, which I was a part of, a founding member of in 2019, has indicated that reports may be up but the actual incidents are going down I think they're still in need for for a lot of services for our survivors and so my commitment is is going to be to continue to work with Metro health specifically the violence prevention divisions they are partners in providing services to our survivors and I anticipate that whatever happens, whether it goes up or down, that we're going to be committed to trying to approach that together.

I appreciate that. Of course, the immigration enforcement activities in our community are top of mind. Can you speak to your thoughts on how those are going and just in general thoughts? It's not meant to be a gotcha question, but I think the community is interested to hear how their next chief of police is thinking through the state of the immigration enforcement activities now and what it means for the department.

Yeah. You know, I'll just say it simply, SAPD does not enforce, we are not immigration agents, we do not enforce immigration. The law as it's written, thank you, the law as it's written is very specific in terms of the support that we are required to give when the federal government asks for it. We comply with those mandates. It doesn't matter how we feel or how I feel about the law personally. The law is the law, and my oath is to follow the law. But our commitment has been to transparency, and we provide an updated report monthly. And the last few months, I think it's three months running, we have not had any requests from ICE to provide support or assistance with their efforts. And when they do ask us for help, it is strictly that. It is typically for security, perimeter security or perimeter support. We are not going in there and putting handcuffs on people because we don't know their immigration status.

Thank you. One of the points I appreciated in our convo... One of the points I also appreciated in our conversation were your thoughts on approaching or addressing accountability issues. I'd welcome if you'd share with the public your thoughts on that.

Sure. Anything that I do, whether it's accountability, and we're talking about accountability in the form of discipline, when it talks about community engagement, That has to be, there has to be a balanced approach to all of that. And so you cannot get too far in one direction. You've gotta be accountable to everybody. So as a police chief, I've got different demands that are placed on me, whether that's with the city leadership, the mayor and council, my own officers and community. And so the key to having to, to approaching that is to make sure that I'm balanced. And so I can love and support our officers and still hold them accountable. Those two things are not in conflict.

You spent time, there are certainly obviously pockets within our community that feel less safe than others just in light of what's happening, federal changes, et cetera. And you spent time as the LGBTQ liaison officer. I'd like for you to explain how that experience, one, your lessons learned from that experience and how that will shape your leadership.

Sure. Whatever community you're in, everybody has different ideas of public safety. Everyone has different lived experiences. Everyone has different experiences with the police. And my time as the liaison, my time in this department has given me the one thing that I think is the most important thing when it comes to being a police leader, and that is perspective. and having the perspective of other peoples and being able to look at things from their eyes and not necessarily worrying about whether we agree on everything, but trying to find those areas where we can come together. And that shared perspective has guided me well and will continue to guide me throughout my years here as the police chief.

Thank you again for sharing that. Again, I think it's important that the community hears directly from you on some of the things that are top of mind from a public safety standpoint and just given your lived experience and your service to our community. And I look forward to supporting your confirmation here.

Thank you, Mary.

Council Member Alderta-Gavito.

Thank you. Today is an exciting day. I mean, it is great that we're seeing someone who was born and raised here in San Antonio come and, as Eric mentioned, take one of the top spots in the city. I won't hold it against you that you went to Edison, but... No, but in all seriousness, it is always nice to see someone who kind of went through the ranks. And as you just talked about, having that shared perspective and having that perspective through all of your years of experience is so invaluable as you will take the chief spot. I think also too, I mean, one of the things that I noted and I know I mentioned to you was when you did lay out your top priorities of public safety, of protecting people and protecting your people, and community trust. I think that that was really important for me to hear personally because I know, one, public safety obviously is paramount to all of us up here, but two, knowing that you have your people's back is also important so that they can feel entrusted to go do the job that they need to do to keep all of us safe. But also lastly, community trust. I think that we have such a great dynamic here in San Antonio where our residents love our police officers and vice versa. We want to continue building on that relationship and I know that you're going to do just that. I think that the next chapter has tremendous expectations, but no doubt you will fill them and exceed them. I also really appreciated what you said about how public safety and economic development go hand in hand. Right. We know that we're not able to attract companies or continue to build our city when we don't have a healthy and safe city. So I definitely appreciated your comments on that. You know, I know that our officers deserve a chief who will stand by them when they're doing the right thing. We'll hold them accountable when they fall short. And we'll also make sure that they have the training and the resources and the leadership to do their job effectively. And I know that you're the person for that job. So congratulations, and I look forward to supporting this. Thanks.

Thank you.

Council Member Galvan.

Thank you, man. Thank you to Salome for the all the work that you've done here for the city and all of the the conversation we've had up to this moment. I want to think also, of course, the manager's team, Maria, Eric and everybody who conducted a thorough search for a new police chief, along with the district six residents, Lisa Connect and Ron Long, who gave an important resident perspective in the selection process. Having folks in District six from both the inside the Loop 410 as well as outside Loop 1604 was really helpful to kind of shape, you know, what experiences we we have in our community, both for the folks who feel that you know maybe there's an under response in some way or feel there's a higher need in some form for more public safety resources in the community and folks who are further out who also wonder okay well how's a new chief going to help support the communities that are on the far edges of our city all those things came into uh front-facing view uh as we're looking to see who the next chief would be and i'm so proud to see that it is you I want to thank Chief McManus, of course, as well, for his service to our community, and for also his insight to bring you up into the ranks as well, and for all the work that you did alongside him for our community. I want to thank for the celebration we had for Chief McManus and his stepping away from the service. It was a great opportunity we were able to attend. But I know we're going to have a lot of conversation over this next, well, the whole day. And particularly right now, we're going to hold you up before you get officially appointed because we want to give you your flowers a bit more. And I want you to know that you are someone who is, again, homegrown, worked their way up in the ranks, a public school graduate, someone who is defined by this community and I know will continue to help shape and define this community as we move into the future with heavy winds behind your sails and heavy winds ahead of us as well, too. This is not an easy role that you're taking on, but I am trusting that you can do it. And it's always the residents of District 6. I can't think of anyone better to serve in this role. You're acting in the community. You're responsive and proactive with us, and you have been with me both as a staff member in District 5 as well as a council member in District 6 and a true leader to the folks in the department. You have my support. You already knew that. And you have the support of Sylvia and Celeste and the whole Galvan crew. Very excited for you. Your work is cut out for you. We're ready to support you today. Thank you, Chief.

Great. Thank you. Council Member White, please.

Thanks, Mayor Chief. Congratulations. This is a really, really momentous day. It's a big day, of course, for you, but really also for our San Antonio Police Department and our city as a whole, because in you, I believe we are getting a leader who is honest, transparent, accountable, and somebody who really exemplifies what it is to be a leader. And you've shown that throughout your career with the police department, and I know you're going to show that as the chief of police. And to be the chief of police in the sixth largest city in America, what an amazing accomplishment. I know all of us are very, very proud that you have risen to this position to be here today. and we are looking forward to supporting you. And the only thing that I'm gonna ask of you, other than to be communicative, responsive, and everything that you all already are, is that when you need something, regardless of what it is, personnel, resources, whatever it may be, let us know, because public safety is this government's number one responsibility to the people, and we want to support you in every way possible.

congratulations Thank You councilmember core please Thank You mayor chief I'm really excited that you were able to be standing in front of us and that we get to vote to preview as the next chief of police for SAPD you absolutely deserve it I actually think the process was already community oriented we all got to appoint two members so I think the community already got to hear from you and I heard from my two appointees that it was a tough process. So you didn't just walk right in into this role without competition. There were some really excellent candidates from across the country that interviewed as well. And so my two candidates I want to thank, or my two appointees, I want to thank them. One of them was Monica Salinas, and her comments to me were it was a privilege interviewing him, and the right candidate was chosen. We're excited to work with him in making the city a safer place, and she wants you to know that she's going to continue advocating for partnership with Neighborhood leaders and neighbors. She's from Los Angeles Heights, which is the west part of District 1. And then the other person was Justin Holly, who's the CEO of Thrive. And from him, he said, I think our community is looking forward to continue to work with him on LTQ plus issues since you were the liaison. That was my first meeting with you, Chief, and I thought you handled the situations that they were first facing with such care, compassion, and empathy, really trying to better understand what was happening in the community and how the police department could be better for that community. And so I continue to look forward to supporting you. Also comments were received on continuing to support our unhoused population and how we can really work together to make sure we're finding solutions for those folks. And of course, I have to give a shout out to my bike patrol officers. Can't wait to see more of those downtown. And of course, our SAFE officers. Those are all really core parts of the department. But even just this week, I was spending some time with the traffic team. And even the traffic, the investigative units, every single part of our PD I'm learning is so important. And I know I shout out a few folks all the time, but I really learned how much work the traffic team even just puts in with how little resources they have. All of those folks that are here, I really appreciate and I have learned in the last three years how lucky we are to have SAPD and the relationships that you have in the community. I know you're just going to continue to grow that community trust like was already shared because I truly believe we can be an exemplar for what a good police department really looks like, which sometimes we don't always get to see in the news, but I foresee us continuing to be in the news as that exemplar police department. Good luck. I know there's a lot of work. We're going to hold you accountable. I know all of the folks here are going to hold you accountable as well, but we're looking forward to partnering together to making a truly holistically stronger community for San Antonio. Thanks. Thanks, Mayor. Great.

Thank you. Council Member Castillo, please. Thank you and congratulations, Chief Salome, for your work and leadership. Similar to the search for the fire department's chief, I believe that the city of San Antonio has the most top tier public safety departments in this country. And it makes no sense that as we identify and search who's going to be our next police chief, that it was someone within the department of the San Antonio Police Department. So I'd like to commend Eric and Maria for their search, as well as Stephanie and Matthew, who represented District 5. Stephanie oversees the Brady Gardens community, where public safety is a concern in terms of just a wealth of different types of crime. So we knew she'd add value and perspective. And then, of course, Matthew, who's also a very active community member and is the son of a fallen police officer with a very unique perspective to offer. So grateful for their work and leadership representing District five in this process. But again, as mentioned, right, I'm grateful for your leadership and during my tenure on council, your expertize that you'd lend to our office right to navigate constituent services cases. but at committee, in B sessions, during budget conversations, always being prepared to answer any question that council came prepared with. But I'd also like to commend Dr. Secor as the chair of public safety because she packs a robust public safety agenda where it's an opportunity for PD to flex y'all's work and different expertise and the different roles and the intersections within just public safety as a whole in the city of San Antonio. There are many accolades that I know folks have highlighted. But I think what means something to the kids that I represent is that you are a product of SEISG and Edison High School. And that means a lot to the students that I used to work for. And I look forward to going to... to career days, and well, not just talking about me, but the leadership that we see within the city of San Antonio now representing, again, as mentioned, the six largest cities police department that someone from Edison High School, SAIC, San Antonio to the bone representing, protecting, and serving. So thank you, Chief Selmy, that I'm looking forward to supporting your appointment today. But would be remiss if I didn't highlight and thank all of our police officers, right? Your expertise that I've seen out in the field. I've had very unique opportunities with the ride along, seeing a very unique case with Sergio Hernandez, right? again it just happened to be a coincidence that the day of my ride along there was an officer involved shooting started right by our field office where i was getting picked up by officer hernandez and ended up where i wanted him to take me right in the westwood square area and there i got to see the rigor the expertise and the training of our police officers on how to respond in crisis so grateful for again your leadership leadership chief the work of all of our police officers and then of course officer Johnny as well for your leadership in keeping that conversation going how we can better serve and communicate for district by residents so congratulations chief looking forward to supporting your appointment thank you so much thank you councilmember Spears please

Thanks, Mayor. I'm so excited for you.

I'm thrilled. I think we all are. This is an easy choice. And we are very proud of you. And all the officers that I've spoken with, everyone is really excited. And that is a testament to how much effort and work you've put in over the years. And it's a lot of sacrifice. and I know that. But because you're homegrown, you understand our culture, there's institutional knowledge, you have support from our police force and understand our officers in a different way and the department needs and I think you're forward thinking and very accessible and compassionate. I know in dealing with me, you've been very helpful and encouraging and we've had really good conversations about public safety out in District 9 and I really appreciate your effort there. And I know that you do the same for all of our city. So I also appreciate your willingness to work with everyone. There is a real willingness to bring everyone to the table in law enforcement and all first responders. And I appreciate that. And it's refreshing. It's a historic moment, and so I got you a plaque. Thank you. And so I'll just read it really quick. In recognition of your leadership, integrity, and unwavering commitment to protecting the people of San Antonio, may you lead our officers with courage, wisdom, and strength, always guided by a servant's heart and a steadfast dedication to public safety. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5, 9. Wow. Thank you.

So thank you very much.

I'm bringing to you.

OK. Councillor Munguia, please.

Thank you. And that plaque was from all of us, Chief. Just wanted to let you know. I was wondering. Congratulations, first of all. And as has been said, you know, I thank you to Mr. Cartesales and Mr. Blanco from D4 who were part of the process. And what I heard from them and a lot of folks was they really wanted somebody who was from San Antonio. And they said, please, please, just get somebody from here. And luckily we had some great talent here, and that was you. And again, I just think it's fantastic. I'll highlight again that you're from Edison, right? I think even though you weren't from d4 You know, I think that that's really important as councilman Castillo said it's so important for the kids to go through there today to know that the chief of police of San Antonio Walked those halls also. So thank you for that and I think you know our conversation you you recognize that I there are folks that you know, right, that went down a different path in life, and you recognize the humanity behind them, right? And so it's not just law enforcement, but there's some compassion behind there, there's understanding, and there's wanting, especially our young folks, to get on the right track, right, and give those opportunities, and not simply going the old way of just, you know, you're breaking the law, here are the handcuffs, so I appreciate that very much. And I also want to say it's not a big day. It's not only just for you, but I can see all your family and friends that are here today, right? And I know they're all so proud of you and how important it is for them to see this day here also, right? Because I think all of us recognize that this is a big job that you have, right? It's a toll on your life, and really you're on loan to us from your family. And so I know that they'll be by your side for all those ups and downs of the work. But again, thank you so much, Chief. We're looking forward to it. I just did want to highlight one other thing that we talked about when we had our one-on-one, which is that you don't have a Twitter, and that's great to know. So thank you for not doing that. But thank you, Chief. We're looking forward to working with you. Thank you.

Council Member Villagran, please.

Thank you. So many of my colleagues have said so much that I wanted to bring up but I this is about you today Chief Salome Congratulations, I want to thank the family because you are Sharing your brother your husband your dad with the city of San Antonio and You know, after being here with Chief McManus, watching in terms of the relationship, this is not an easy job, and it's going to be lonely, and it's going to be tough. But you have stepped up and said yes, and I'm very excited about that. Similar to what a lot of my colleagues have said is that this is because when I talk about the San Antonio way or the San Antonio solution, you have come up and seen San Antonio grow. So with that, there is just going to be some really good things happening, I believe, in the future in times that are, and I've said this before, really dark and uncertain. So thank you for meeting with me. I was able to share my concerns. Again, I think this is just the expectations that we have, and as I look at your team of leadership here, you have done an incredible job. Y'all continue to work and move up. And when people think law enforcement in the city of San Antonio and Bexar County, they think SAPD. So now is your opportunity to lead by example as the chief with your team to show them what it means to be San Antonio and to be compassionate, but to be fair and keep our public safe. So I am looking forward to this. I am so glad about all your media, Experience that you have I think that is going to be very helpful as that's where we live and I just and y'all know this I pray for the officers daily and pray for your safety because this is a job where You go from one call to another and you never know what you're going into. So thank you for saying yes Thank you for leading again family. Thank you There's going to be high times and parades and there's going to be times where it's going to be tough and you're going to hold your breath. But together we can get through this and together we move the city forward. Thank you very much. Congratulations.

Thank you, Council Member.

Council Member Mesa-Gonzalez, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations. I'm proud to support your appointment today as chief, and I know that you have devoted your career to serving this community through the various roles you've had with SAPD. I'm glad you're born and raised here, as am I. I know your city is proud of you today, and Edison is proud of you today, so I hope you're wearing a Go Bears shirt under that. But again, thank you so much to the family that's here because it really takes everybody. Public service is the service of ourselves and then the service that the family gives as we are providing this service. So thank you so much to your family that's here today. You look like my family, so that's awesome. But I really am confident that you will serve this city well. You don't get to pick the natural disaster or the emergency event that comes before you, but I know that you're capable of leading and making sure that this community stays safe. To the colleagues that are behind you that are here today, they're probably friends now at this point with how long you've worked for the department and that's what it all becomes. Thank you for being here and thank you for your service to our community. When we talked yesterday, I just want to highlight this point with everything that you all do as officers and those other duties as assigned. One of those is the work that you do with our school districts. And they have operational challenges as well And so I wanted just to highlight we've you know my school districts in district 8 or Northside at Northeast ISD who have had tremendous budget cuts But I wanted to just if you could highlight the work that your department is doing with school districts. I

Yeah, I mean, the schools, they face a lot of uncertainty after Uvalde. That was certainly a stain on all of the law enforcement with the response. But as a result of kind of increased safety, the schools were mandated to provide additional security measures by having an officer at every school. And like a lot of the things that are mandated, by law, sometimes at the state level, they didn't come with funding. Um, and so they, they had to pull a lot of their overnight resources and get officers where they needed to be to make sure that the kids are safe. And so we've had to step in and, and gladly we'll do it to fill that void and increase our patrols around the areas that typically were handled by the schools at night. And I think that's where relationships are so important. For the police chief of Northside or for the police chief of SAISD to be able to reach out direct and say hey We need some help and for us to like always without hesitation to say we got you Thank you.

Thank you for that Again, thank you. I look forward to supporting your appointment and congratulations. Thank you Thank You councilmember McKee Rodriguez

Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations. I've said it a few times before that as a teacher, you know, people think your number one priority is academic results or test scores. And your number one priority as a teacher is to ensure that all the students in your class are safe. And that's the way that I approach my role as a council member is how do I ensure that every resident within my district is safe and that all their needs are met? And we had a great conversation on Tuesday. We've had many great conversations before. I appreciate your approach to public safety is holistic and it's data-driven and it's based off of best practices and research. And so I look forward to working with you, collaborating. I know you're going to be a great partner for the rest of our departments as you've already been. And I know there's many members of our community who are excited to work with you, myself included. So congratulations and thank you for stepping up to serve in this way, which is not the easiest. Thank you, Council Member. Thank you.

Councilman, Mesa Gonzalez has an alibi. Sorry, I just wanted to quickly recognize my District 8 representatives, Howard Feinberg and Art Saldana, who served on the community stakeholder roundtable. Thank you so much.

Great, are there any further comments on this item?

Yes, go ahead. Just three additional points, and I appreciate Councilwoman Mesa-Gonzalez pointing it out, but I want to thank the command staff and the police department who's seated in here today. They have been, their steady leadership has been important through this transition, And I know they'll continue to support Chief Salome, the community, and the employees. So thank you for what you've done over the last couple months. Remember, there's no finish line, so we gotta keep rolling here. Number two, I do appreciate that Chief Rostow and the fire command staff are here as well. And I think it's indicative of the collaborative work that both police and fire do for the community. And so Chief Frostow and the command staff for fire, I appreciate you all being here supporting Chief Salome's item here today. And then lastly, and several of you mentioned it, but I wanted to give Jesse an opportunity to introduce his family who's here. That's an important part of the job and he'll need to rely upon them. So I thought it would be appropriate if you would introduce them.

It's everybody sitting. You guys stand up so we can see you. It's my parents, my boys, my better half, my sisters, my future daughter-in-law, my nieces and nephews, and my brother-in-law, a firefighter. So we'll accept him now. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. There being no further discussion, it's moved. Would you like to make a few comments? Sure. Just relax. Please, please, Chief. Thank you.

Thank you all for all your comments. I'm truly humbled. just by this opportunity and then to be able to have met with each of you, um, and, and get your perspective, um, your take on, on what the department does well, where we can improve and what your expectations of me are as an ex chief of police. And so I, um, you know, this has been a long selection process and that ends today, but. It really is the beginning of the real work that needs to be done and the work that I'm really excited to do. And thank you for your comments, each of you. I grew up in this community, and I grew up in this department. I know what's at stake. So just thank you for the trust you placed in me. And I mean, I'm ready to get to work. Let's go. Thank you.

There being no further discussion, it is moved and seconded. Approve item number six, please vote. The motion carries. The city clerk will now swear you in.

In the name and by the authority of the state of Texas.

In the name and by the authority of the state of Texas.

I state your name.

I, Jesse Salome.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will faithfully execute.

That I will faithfully execute.

The duties of the office of.

The duties of the office of.

Chief of police for the city of San Antonio.

Chief of police for the city of San Antonio.

Of the state of Texas.

Of the state of Texas.

And will to the best of my ability.

And will to the best of my ability.

Preserve.

Preserve.

Protect.

Protect.

And defend.

And defend.

The Constitution.

The Constitution.

And laws.

And laws.

Of the United States.

Of the United States.

And of this state.

And of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you.

Chief will join you for a picture. Please stay. We'll join you for a picture.

You would yell at him every public safety meeting.

I know. Thank you, I appreciate it. All right, now we gotta work. Sorry. See that?

With us in the background, hanging out, peering over his head. It's fun. Madam Clerk, please read the caption for item seven.

Item number seven is an ordinance authorizing the execution of the collective bargaining agreement with the San Antonio Police Officers Association for a three-year period, October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2029.

Please, Maria, thank you.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. The item before you is the tentative agreement between the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Police Officers Association for your approval. Before I begin the presentation, I want to recognize some of the team members that participated in this collective bargaining process. On the association team, we have here the president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, Johnny Perez. The lead negotiator for SAPOA was Sergeant Chris Lutton, who's here in the audience as well, and also SAPOA Vice President Sergeant Jason Sanchez. On the city's team, we had different representatives from the police department, including Deputy Chief Johnny Gomez, Captain Matt Murray, Police Assistant Director Rick Riley, our Budget Director Freddy Martinez, interim human resources assistant director Joel Jenks and very special thanks to our legal team Andy Segovia and Elizabeth Provencio and also thank you to city manager Eric Walsh for his strategy and direction during this process so what we're asking City Council today is to approve the collective bargaining agreement that will take effect October 1 2026 through September 30 of 2029 The parameters of employment of the San Antonio police officers include Texas local government code chapter 143 and Texas local government code chapter 174 that gives authorization to the city and the police officers to negotiate the collective bargaining agreement before you today. Through this collective bargaining process, we are able to make changes to Chapter 143 that improve the operations of the police department and the working conditions of our police officers. The current contract that we have between the city and the police officer associations expires on September 30. this calendar year as we begin the negotiations the priorities of the city included a three-year term for this contract given our financial condition to maintain competitive total compensation position with other large Texas cities to realign patrol ships and enhancements to discipline specifically expansions So we started negotiations with the association in January 30 as required by the collective bargaining agreement. We held a total of 10 sessions between January and July. And we also had several working group meetings to be able to address some of the priorities that we were negotiating, including hours of work, tuition reimbursement, health care, and discipline. Finally, in July, we reached a tentative agreement on all the issues. SAPOA membership has ratified this tentative agreement and reported a 61% approval rate. All the negotiation sessions that I mentioned were open to the public. The meetings were livestreamed and recorded, and the recordings as well as all the materials were posted on the city's website and available to the public throughout the process. So the tentative agreement today achieves city's priorities. We reach a three-year agreement that recognizes the city's financial condition. We maintain competitive total compensation that allows the city to maintain a strong recruitment position and low attrition rates in our police department. We continue employee participation toward the cost of healthcare, We're able to realign patrol shifts to address call demand, and we continue to improve our disciplinary process. Now, in terms of compensation in healthcare, the tentative agreement has a 16.5% wage increase over three years, 4% in fiscal year 27, 5% in fiscal year 28, and 7.5% in fiscal year 29. Now, when we started negotiations and we do this as a matter of practice, we do a survey and compared to other Texas cities. When we did that survey, the way we rank, San Antonio rank compared to other large Texas cities, we were in the top three tiers when we did that survey. include total compensation. With the contract today, we're able to maintain that position within the top three compared to those cities that have collective bargaining agreements through 2029. Not all the cities have the same terms as our contract. In terms of healthcare, we had several conversations with CEPOA, and we have a joint effort in this tentative agreement to mitigate the increasing cost of healthcare that the city has experienced over the past year and a half. We are increasing employees' contributions towards the cost of healthcare through out-of-pockets and deductibles, and also we're incorporating employee monthly contributions for their dependents in the CDHP plan, which is a high deductible plan. We also made changes to pharmacy that reduces cost to the city. And also, SEPOA proposed and we accepted to exclude from coverage non-emergent services provided at freestanding emergency rooms. Recognizing the efforts of the association, we agreed to share any savings that we may see in the medical plan that performs better than the budget beginning next calendar year 2027. And we also agreed to make any IRS required changes to be implemented in accordance with the law automatically in the contract in future years. In terms of hours of work, one of the areas that we discussed was realigning our patrol shifts to address call demand, increase officer availability for proactive work, and increasing schedule options for officers. So on the table below you see that today there are four shifts, A, B, C, and T. Three of those are eight-hour shifts and the T-shift is a 10-hour shift. We looked at that based on the number of calls that we get, the areas of the city and the hours of the day. So the tentative agreement includes two shifts or two different hour schedules for each of the shifts and eliminates the T-shift. So we will have an eight and a 10-hour shift for each of those hours of the day, and they will allow us to overlap our officers in those days of the week and hours of the day where we experience most calls, but also the most violent type of calls that tend to happen during the B and the C shift. In terms of discipline, We are continuing to enhance our process for discipline, something that we started in the last collective bargaining agreement. So the changes in this tentative agreement include resolution on any notifying criminal matter be notified to the chief, as well as when an officer files a petition for an expulsion within seven days of that. of that petition. We also established a process that provides a path to rehire police officers who separated in good standing from the police department within 24 months of separation. And then other items that I would like to highlight includes making some clarification and timelines when it comes to our labor relations committee, They will have input when we talk about the life cycle of police equipment, as well as expanding the death and family leave to include miscarriages and allowing our employees more flexibility under our 457 plan when an employee retires later than originally planned. And finally, covering education-related expenses for officers that are pursuing duty-related medical certifications As we know that our officers need to provide medical care when they encounter our community in their day to day operations. So the cost of the tenant agreement is 102.3 million over three years, as you can see on this slide. The cost of fiscal year 27 is 15.4 million. The cumulative cost in 28, that includes the fiscal year 27 cost, is 28.9. And in fiscal year 29, the cumulative cost is 57.9 of this increase to the contract. The fiscal year 27 includes, the proposed budget includes, reflects the $15.4 million, as well as our plan for fiscal year 28. So there's no additional cost associated with this contract beyond what we included in the proposed budget. So finally, we recommend to the council approval of this tentative agreement. We're available to answer any questions, ma'am.

Mayor, just a couple of other issues. I want to thank the SAPOA team who is well experienced. You know, in negotiations for anything, when parties constructively work together to reach agreement, then that's how these things get to final. And I appreciate the the the association's willingness to address The city's main concerns and the framework that we set out at the beginning and and and and hopefully we were able to also satisfy the issues and the primary issues that the association had at negotiations and I will tell you that, and I've been a part of these for many years, there was a tremendous amount of work done between January and July, and I want to thank the city's team, led by Maria and Liz, because it is a constant. It is in addition to everything else that we're doing on a normal basis or they're doing on a normal basis and It's a lot of work, but but it's always good to reach conclusion Knowing that we satisfied our our desires or our goals and you and the and the other party the association has satisfied their goals and with that we are recommending the approval of the tentative agreement today and And I think it'll provide us the flexibility we need given the short the shorter timeframe Generally, if you look at collective bargaining agreements across the state they three years is on the shorter end generally, there are four or five year agreements and We think it gives us a little bit of flexibility to be able to Continue to adjust as we see the financial landscape change over the over the next coming years So thank you Maria and Liz for for leaving the city team and all the work and and thank you Johnny for your team.

I

Thank you, Eric We don't have any members of the public that have signed up to speak on this item Is there a motion to approve item 7 so we may begin council discussion? We'll move on to council discussion Eric as a point of clarification earlier We talked about in the instance that there the variable rate the M&O rate is not approved as part of the budget you'd have to come back with a different solution and So this proposal, though, is built into based on your proposed budget, which assumes the rate increase, correct?

It is built into our proposed budget and regardless of and and and what's before the council is not a variable rate On the on the M&O on the budget. That's the conversation with the bond But but it is built into our proposed budget and irrespective of what the council decides to do around the tax rate We're either going to need to increase taxes or we're going to need to make about 75 million dollars worth of reductions over the next two years Which is that scenario that I presented right after the proposed budget?

Thank you for the clarification the M&O piece though that Justina just discussed the Please clarify, you know if there isn't seven on that on the 17th How does it is in how does this impact this as part of the budget if there's a wet mayor? If there is not seven votes, if there's not 60% on the M&O rate, as was discussed earlier, then how does that impact what is discussed here? To clarify, yeah.

It doesn't impact it because we are entering into an agreement with the employees that have already voted to approve it. To answer the budget question, if there aren't seven votes for the adjustment of the property tax rate, then we will be making $75 million worth of cuts over two years. And whether that's done at the council level or you direct me to do that and present that back, but at the end of the day, we're legally required to have a balanced budget.

Councilman White.

Thanks, Mayor. I want to just thank our negotiating team, Maria, Liz, for all the hard work and everybody else that assisted you all. Johnny, your team, I think everybody entered the negotiations in good faith, worked hard, and we came to a resolution here, which I think is good for all parties but most importantly recognizes that we do have the best police department in the country and and they deserve to be paid and paid well for for all the work that they do for our citizens so thank you to both of the negotiating teams thank you to our san antonio police department and look forward to approving this today councilman munguia please

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank Maria and certainly the team from Sapola for getting together on the negotiating side. I think both parties went into it with good faith in each other and trying to work out a solution, and I think it accomplishes certainly our fiduciary concerns and things we were considering as an accountability as well as Growth and competitiveness for the police department that they were seeking. So I'm glad that the officers approved that And so I do look forward to approving it today and moving on and getting getting this done.

So, thank you Councilmember mr. Gonzalez, please

Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to thank Maria and her team for getting us here, and thank you to SAPOA and your team for going into these negotiations. As it was stated, in good faith for the benefit of our residents that we all work hard to support, and thank you all for your effort in doing that.

Council Member Alderte-Gavito, please.

Oh, I didn't realize I was signed up, but fully supportive. Yes, we have the best police force in the country, and I'm excited to get this going. Thank you.

Council member Galvan, please.

Thank you, Mayor. First, I just want to thank city staff, Maria and Liz, for all the work you did on this, as well as, of course, Johnny and the folks with the union for bringing a tentative agreement to us today. These negotiations are never easy, but they're necessary, of course. Our officers do a lot of difficult and important work here in our city to help keep our neighborhoods safe, and that work warrants fair compensation. I think that's true for all employees. That's exactly what a union's meant to do and meant to fight for, and I hope this conversation inspires workers across the city to join a union and fight for dignity in your workplace. Again, double for our city employees, all of them. While I'm supporting this item today, I want us to be cognizant of where we go from here, right? A good contract requires a sound budget, one that is efficient and well-structured, As we move forward today, I look forward to the conversations on other contracts as well and other conversations around compensation for all of our employees. And I urge my colleagues to also be as cognizant about this conversation and what it means to our constituents, what it means to have a... fair compensated staff, whether it's our police, our firefighters, or our city employees, our civilians, and all the above, that cost of maintaining a well-supported public workforce has to come from somewhere. And I think we should all be committed to make sure that's done in a productive way, an efficient way, and one that is sound and structured and not one that pits others against each other in some way, but one that is transparent and clear to our residents of what the cost will be to them as well. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Cora, please.

Thanks, Mayor. I want to shout out Maria and Liz and the amazing negotiating team for getting us here at one point. I did not think it was going to happen. So I am grateful that we were able to make that happen. And I want to shout out the SIPOA team and my colleague on the Pension Fund Board, Officer Ryan Reynolds, who couldn't be here today. I know he wants to, but he's appointed the new treasurer. And I've learned so much from the collaboration working with SAPOA. And what I actually really am super proud is there is, I'm not gonna go into the details of it, but I've heard about some situations that they have handled with the protecting officers that we would wanna make sure were protected. made my heart really warm to know that we have a team of folks like we just obviously voted in Chief Salome and it's not just the patrol and all of the folks under chief it's also the SAPOA leadership working together collaboratively that makes our force one of the strongest and to hear some of the stories of the officers that they were protecting and making sure had voice made my made me really happy and proud so I want to thank Johnny for his leadership thank you all the members that actively engage, and I'll just say that I heard some of the conversations at roll call, and they were challenging. The officers were asking questions about healthcare, and their healthcare premiums are going up, and the CIPOA team really stood up there and explained that is the state of the fact for all folks. city employees it's all really a lot of residents in our community and they were really good partners and so thank you for that partnership I look forward to continuing this collaboration and I'm glad I hope that the officers see at large we really appreciate the work that you all do and will continue to advocate even if that's not more police officers in this budget but however we can support you we will continue to do so because we are getting more bike patrol downtown thanks mayor thank you council member Spears please

Thanks, Mayor. Yes, Maria and Liz, thank you so much for your hard work and late nights. I know this was a lot to do, and I really am grateful to Sepola and Johnny for your leadership here, and I know you had a lot of late nights as well, and that y'all were able to come together and come with this agreement. And I think it's important we acknowledge that this was approved by 61% of the officers who voted, and that's significant and important to note. And this directly affects them in such a great way, and I'm happy that they're so supportive. It's also an agreement that gives us some important things that we need for our police department. It helps us remain competitive and have good compensation. It's critical for us in recruiting and retaining good officers in a competitive job market. This agreement provides a 16.5% wage increase over three years, and I think this shows a significant investment in our officers and the future of our department. There's also some improvements to incentive pay, including increased shift differential and weakened differential pay, and these are practical changes that recognize the demands we place on our officers. As I serve on the pension fund and the health care fund boards for police and fire, and I know how much these benefits really matter to our officers and their families, it's important we make sure that we're supporting them, not just while they're on the job, but in the long term. So this agreement is an important step for SAPD, but we still have a lot of work to do. We need to continue focusing on recruitment, retention, staffing, and making sure our officers have the resources and assets that they need to keep San Antonio safe. So thank you so much for your hard work.

Thank you. Council Member Castillo, please. Thank you, Maria, for the presentation to the negotiation team, Liz, and so many others on the city staff for going in there and ensuring that you all did well in negotiating a deal that, of course, that is reflected of the value of our police officers, but ensuring that you're mindful of our budget conversations. I'd also like to extend my gratitude to the CIPOA President and Johnny for your work and leadership I think Sapola has a really important leader with leadership skills that are invaluable. And I say that because I think about the relationships and conversations that you have. And as a community organizer, right, you have to have conversations with individuals that may not agree with you and haven't agreed with you, but you have a responsibility to ensure that you're turning every stone to have that conversation on behalf of your membership. And I'm grateful while you're a VP and as president, you've always extended conversations to our office and our community members on how we can better serve District 5 residents and the city of San Antonio as a whole. And again, right, it takes leadership to meet with folks that you don't typically agree with. So just wanted to highlight that point. I'm grateful to see within the proposed layout with the discipline, particularly around the expansion notice. similar to councilman Galvan I see value here on benefits that I believe should be applied and transfer over to city of San Antonio employees for example the extending the leave for families experiencing a miscarriage if that's not something that city employees have civilian employees I think there's value and copying, pasting, and providing that support as well, because that's a really good benefit that everyone deserves. So appreciate, again, the negotiation team's work on this initiative. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm confident this collective bargaining agreement will assist and benefit our officers, and I want to thank specifically all the patrol officers out of Central, South, and East Patrol because they all cover a portion of my district, District 3, and all of those who went and voted in favor of this. I think this is a good agreement. I do, if you could pull up slide 8, the competitive wages in health care. I think it's important that as we look at healthcare because the department has a high stress job that we need to look at them as an example about how that they can become an example of how they manage their health, how they manage their wellness, what they're working on. And Johnny, I'm looking at you because you guys do a great care with Blue Cares, but what I would love to see is you partner with CHEST and other health care organizations, Methodist Health Care Ministries, to make sure that the officers are taken care of and they're taking care of themselves. So I really want to see that move forward. The other thing is You know, we know that public safety is the number one priority for the residents in San Antonio. It has become the number one answer in our surveys, but we need to have that bigger conversation is what does public safety look like? And San Antonio Police Department is one law enforcement agency of a number of law enforcement agencies that sit within the city. So how do we have that conversation? How do we ensure that our city of San Antonio police officers are the best? And I think it is with these competitive wages. So I look forward to see how you implement them. As someone who used to work with PD, As a civilian, I think getting rid of the T shift and offering those eight to 10 hour shifts in A, B, and C is the right thing to do. So I am confident in supporting this today. Thank you.

Would anyone else like to speak on this item? Okay. Maria, for the public's benefit, because you touched on it, but I think there's great interest in wanting to just elaborate further on the discipline change, if you would, please, and why that's so significant for your purposes and the community's trust. Yes, Mayor.

I'm going to ask Liz Provencio to provide the details on those changes.

Thank you, Maria. Thank you, Mayor. As you know, in our discussions and briefing with you all, we had highlighted expunction as an area where we could improve in terms of making sure that we had the ability to be able to protect certain records that are being a discipline that chief imposes. SAPO was a good partner in that in terms of spending time with us in subcommittee to be able to talk through different options. As a result, what you see in the tentative agreement today is a proposal by which we are put on notice pretty promptly if an officer does seek that, as well as officer's commitment to keeping us apprised of anything that may have concurrent criminal consequences with it. So once you look at Article 28 and you see the inner lines, you see those improvements in our contract.

Okay. Thank you, Liz. I think folks just want to also, if you'd bring up slide eight, please, on the healthcare piece that so many of my colleagues have also touched upon. And just for clarity for the public listening, when we talk about excludes from coverage, non-emergent services provided at freestanding emergency rooms, this is the prestige issue. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Which was the $40 million or however you want to characterize the issue as a result of not having that provision currently, i.e. why this provision is so important from a cost savings perspective.

Right. What this will allow us to do is if an employee seeks non-emergency benefits services at a freestanding ER, those won't be covered by the health care plan. However, if it's an emergency procedure, that will continue to be covered at any facility, including Prestige. Great. Thank you.

And the final question, Maria, we've often talked about our main competitor in this area being Austin. So can you talk to specifically how the contract helps us be competitive when it comes to, again, our competition for talent with Austin?

Sure, so I added a backup slide to this presentation, if we can bring it up, number 14. just to illustrate what we ran today. So as I mentioned, when we begin negotiations, fire or police, we do a survey with other Texas cities to compare all the components of compensation, base pay, take home pay, and then total comp that includes retirement benefits and healthcare benefits. So what you see on the screen are two ranks of police officer at entry level and also a 20 year police officer. Within the entry-level police officer, there are two components. One, the total compensation as it is, and then we do an adjustment to adjust for San Antonio labor market. So we see those adjustments on this slide as well. So for an entry police officer in fiscal year 25, when we started negotiations, We were ranking two of eight in total compensation. When adjusted for labor market, we went to number one of eight. On a 20-year police officer, we were three of eight, regardless if it was unadjusted or adjusted. So overall, all of our ranks and different steps, we were between the top three in most cases. So as I mentioned, not all departments have the same terms in terms of their collective bargaining agreements. So for the cities that have collective bargaining agreements through fiscal year 2029, that includes Austin and Houston, and comparing to those cities, we rank number two for an entry level. before adjustments and number one. So we maintain that competitive position we have today. And then for a 20-year police officer, we're ranked number three. So that was our goal to maintain that competitiveness so we don't have any issues with recruitment. We're able to fill our vacancies. So that was important to us.

Thank you, Maria. I think it's really important when we speak to that that we can show the numbers that illustrate the point. Thank you. Okay. Are there any other folks that would like to speak on this item? Okay. Okay. There'll be no further discussion. It is moved and seconded to approve item number seven. Please vote. Oh. Councilwoman Alderete-Gavita, we need a voice vote, please. Aye. Thank you. It didn't. It didn't. Hold on. No, do that again, please. I'm not sure what's wrong with your system. We'll do a voice vote, please. Me? No, no, sorry. Yeah, aye. So, Councilwoman Alteta-Gavitos, an aye. We'll do a voice vote, please. Oh. Please.

Councilmember Korn. Aye. Councilmember McKee-Rodriguez.

Nay.

Councilmember Villagran. Aye. Councilmember Munguia. Aye. Councilmember Castillo. Aye. Councilmember Galvan.

Aye.

Councilmember Alderete-Gavita was an aye. Councilmember Meza-Gonzalez? Aye. Councilmember Speers? Aye. Councilmember White? Aye. Mayor Jones? Aye.

The motion passes. Reminder, item 8 was withdrawn by staff. Madam Clerk, please read the caption for item 9.

Item 9 is Workforce Solutions Alamo operating budget for fiscal year 2027. It's a briefing.

Mayor, since Item 9 is just a briefing, can we take Item 21 and 22 first?

Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, hearing no objection.

Objection. I'd want to hear 20, 21, and 22. Order of the day, then.

Okay, all right. We'll actually do we'll take a 10 minute recess. Okay, we'll reconvene. Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item number nine is a briefing workforce solutions Alamo operating budget for fiscal year 2027.

Over to you for the presentation. Thank you.

Mayor, thank you. Michael, get us started.

Thank you, John. Mayor, City Council, thank you for the opportunity today to present the WSA FY 2027 budget. WSA is the governing body of the workforce system area, represents the taxpayers of 13 county Alamo region, including Bexar County. There are 27 board members that oversee state and federal workforce programs, reflecting the business community, economic development, education, labor, community organizations, and government. Those elected officials in the WSA service area are party to an interlocal and partnership agreement. Those agreements form the committee of six, which performs the duties of the elected officials collectively. The agreements require city council approval of the annual operating budget, which is why we're here today. The Committee of Six, again, two representatives from the City of San Antonio, Council Member Rivera-Garantz, who is the chair of the Committee of Six this year, two representatives from Bexar County, two representatives from the area judges representing the 12 surrounding counties. The Committee of Six are responsible for appointments and removals of local workforce development board members, review and approval of the board's local plan, and what we're here for today, approval of the annual operating budget. With that being said, I'll turn it over to the CEO of Workforce Houston-Salamo, Adrian Lopez, to present the budget. Thank you, Mike.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

Just real quick, by way of sort of just background of collectively what to do, if you were to sort of kind of just in summary talk about sort of what's the impact that we have. And how do we collectively describe that? So we are Texas Talent Experts. We are service optimizers, and we are partnership managers. Texas Talent Experts, where we're connecting talent to employers and industries that we support in the 13 counties. service providers or service optimizers. We actually provide a menu of services to employers as well as to clients that come to us. Each year, we get about 100,000 clients coming to our 16 career centers. Now, of course, we're partnership managers working with local nonprofits, churches, childcare centers, any number of organizations. Of course, we're a major prime contractor through the city's Ready to Work program. So, cumulatively, you see some highlights here of some of the work. If we were to talk about the extent of the work, it would take a lot longer than these slides here, but this gives you at least some idea in terms of we're serving 13,000 children on a daily basis through the childcare program. It's about a $130 million investment. We've helped out folks as they get, you know, potentially layoff notices. or lose their job. So we've had about 64,000, I think that's through May, folks coming through our 16 centers across the region. We also provide quality care or quality services. That's actually through a partnership with the city of San Antonio, and you are our contractor as it relates to that. You just approved that contract earlier today, about $7 million investment that happens there. In terms of sort of the budget, so our budget for next fiscal year is $195,380,770. That's a slight decrease from last year's budget. So last year's budget or actually this current fiscal year's budget is $199 million was amended. Actually, it was 199 million, and so we have about a 2.2% reduction. Largely, those are reductions associated with the ready-to-work funding, but we still are sort of going to be on par as it relates to the way that budgets is provided based on estimates. So we run about or administer about 30 different funding sources. As those contracts get executed from now through probably December, the budget will be adjusted to be able to reflect the actual budgets. Some of the categories, of course, that we have is we pay, obviously, for board administration and corporate costs. We run our facilities, the 16 career centers, as well as our mobile unit. And then, of course, to service delivery, and we'll provide a little bit more detail in regards to that. So here's some breakdown of the $195 million budget. Our corporate costs are about $9.2 million, about $6.7 million into facilities. We do carry a heavy reserve, and that's in large part because our funding sources don't all start and end at the same timeframe. For example, some of our budgets actually overlap, and so when one fiscal year is ending and another is commencing, we utilize the reserves to continue the provision of services. Largely, that's for our childcare services. Initiatives, about $616,000, and of course, service delivery, $165 million. Overall, with the exception of the $9.2 million into corporate expenditures or budget, Um, the rest is really investments into the community. Uh, so for example, the investments into the facilities, uh, so we have five career centers, for example, here in bear County, um, one satellite office, uh, for example, at the San Antonio food bank, um, we invest into, of course, uh, childcare and initiatives. And so all of those direct investments are going into childcare providers and to families and to, uh, provide access to services. So in terms of the four major categories or four major contracts, we have adult services of about 14 million that is proposed for next year, youth services for about 4.6 million, childcare services, which are the subsidies that we're providing to have those 13,000 kids in child care every single day. That's about 132 million. Child care quality, about 9.2 million. Of course, the 7 million that was just approved is part of that 9.2 million. And then next year, or this current contract with Ready to Work is about 5 million. So total, about $165 million of direct service delivery. In terms of some more detail on the reserves, about 12.3 million in childcare, also childcare quality reserve. We also have about 619,000 and then about 201,000. Collectively, all of these dollars, of course, are being utilized for the purposes of, one, bridging the gap between from one fiscal year to the next, but also to address any sort of concerns or issues that may arise that maybe we did not forecast. Budget process is pretty extensive. So we've gone to our audit and Finance Committee Executive Committee Board of Directors Bexar County Commissioners Court went to the EWDC Our committee of six as well We're of course here today the city of San Antonio. I understand today. It's just a briefing and the full council will consider next week but upon completion or approval of that we also still have the area judges to finalize our budget process and So I know today is just a briefing, but next week we would, of course, be asking for approval of the budget of $195,380,770. So happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Great. Thank you, sir. Is there any council discussion on this item? Councilman Villagran, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Adrienne, for the presentation. Councilmember Kaur and I have been working on Committee of Six, and I know others have served on the Committee of Six also. I wanted to bring this to the attention because the mayor and I had discussed it, and the other aspect of this that's very important is the child care aspect. And I know we've all been talking about where are these... Employees that we have people looking for careers where are they going to find the child care who is providing so I wanted to give Have Adrian come up and do this because he we did talk about it extensively in committee of six. I know Councilmember core had some questions So I wanted to bring this forward to you so you guys could take a look at it if you had questions to ask today or to have a Adrian and Mike's team follow up regarding this. It is very important that we get people back to work, but as we understand, if there is a child at home or a loved one at home that they need to watch, there is services that they need so that they can go on the interviews and they can get the training and they can participate in the programs. And Workforce Solutions has done this for a while. The city has helped some years. i believe you have a new contract this year that we approved so we want to make sure that the council is aware and if they have any questions to to kind of dig deep on that aspect and then there's of course the other placement in the centers and if you haven't seen the mobile bus i highly recommend getting it out to your district because it is really good in terms of taking it to the people where they're at I think they were at one of the Fiesta events at Port SA that I got to visit with them, and you can go in and fill out an application, get some advice right there, and it comes to you. So thank you for that, and I look forward to hearing council discussion.

Thank you. Council Member Cora, please. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you for the briefing, Adrian. It's been really interesting to be on the committee of six and appreciate Mike Ramsey and all of the team's leadership for their support for us as well. I wanted to just highlight a couple of the things that I've been talking a lot about and one that is making sure we are As best as we can advising families on what the rating of the child care facilities that they are using we've been doing a lot as a city as a whole to ensure we have higher rated child care facilities and we want to make sure that that our counselors and folks talking with parents are advising them as such. I know at the end of the day that costs a little bit more, but it's better for students and it's better for kids, which means we're gonna get longer term better outcomes. I also did not know, it says, there's still an asterisk that says if we're relocating offices. Have you all made a decision on that? When is that going to be made?

So we're still in the negotiations with the existing landlord. Uh, we do anticipate that we probably could wrap that up before the end of the month. Um, but you know, attorneys are sort of higher, uh, sort of addressing, uh, those, uh, whatever last minute issues with the lease.

Got it. So we're not going to be able to know that before we vote on it next week, right?

Correct.

Okay. Well, I'm hopeful that we come to a good solution there that allows us to provide a little bit more funding for services because that is the number one priority that we have for you all. So I look forward to continue to serve on Committee of Six, and thank you for always answering all of my questions. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you. Any other discussion? Councilman Castillo, please.

Thank you Mike and Adrian for the presentation I wanted to highlight and thank Adrian for his leadership And then of course briefing my team in terms of your work and initiatives with hiring and training justice involved individuals I'm grateful for the work of Mike Ramsey Joel and of course you in the county for the second chance job initiative that the county often hosts co-hosts with the city and but there's just a lot of great policy and recommendations. And as we had in our conversation, as we know that individuals without a record are having difficulty getting hired, So the barriers are that much more higher for folks who may have a criminal record and are justice involved. So I just appreciate your leadership and, of course, wanted to acknowledge the internship, the apprenticeship programs and model that you also support in ensuring that we're training youth. And then, of course, adults would like to get those certifications. So I don't know if there's anything you'd like to highlight in terms of apprenticeships and or fair chance hiring.

Yeah, so thank you, Councilwoman. You know, one of the more successful initiatives that we have in partnerships is actually with Barrett County Court System and the Attorney General's Office for what's called a non-custodial parent. So those are usually individuals that are in the rears for child support. When they're facing a judge, the judge offers them the opportunity to actually go to Workforce Solutions Alamo or to actually potentially be incarcerated, right? I'm happy to say the vast majority of people go to us. We're actually in the same offices and in the court system. I'm happy to report that over probably a decade of administering that, there's been over $100 million worth of child support payments that have been collected. So super successful when you can integrate systematic change like that to be able to one, recover obviously what's needed for the individual and in the justice system, but also to have benefits for individuals and families that need that type of support. So that's a really great highlight and glad to work with you and your office on continuing to sort of kind of explore ideas like that.

Thank you so much and appreciate your work and leadership of you and your team. I think too often, I'm thinking about the economic strategic framework briefing that we're going to receive. Economic development and workforce training are often discussed as separate, but without the workforce training and development, you do not have the economic development and or the talent pool to tap into. I think there's just so much value when we discuss them together versus separate. So again, I always see the two separate pillars and I understand why. But again, just this and thanks to you and Mike and the team for y'all's work and leadership. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any of my other colleagues like to speak on this item? Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Okay. We'll move on to the individual items. I'm sorry. On this item, sir? Workforce solutions? Sure, please, go ahead.

Wait, what? Yeah, you can either come up to this mic or I could use this one.

Okay, just pull it close to you whenever you need it.

Sir, your name, sir?

Adam Sturgill. Without the help of a work in Texas or Texas Workforce Commission, which are one and the same, I would not be able to have a bachelor's degree in public administration from UT San Antonio because they were influential in helping me get through school, get my employment that aren't acceptable with my bachelor's degree, like my current jobs, my past jobs, and with TWC and the Texas workforce, I would not have had many opportunities I've had today to, for one, I would not have had as much progress academically or in the job market. So I'm in favor of, of the Texas Workforce Commission and the Ticket to Work program receiving additional funding to help other Individuals that need it such as youth or Mothers or anybody who needs a little bit of help because with my experience it's helped a lot and thank you Thank you, sir We'll move on to item 20 I'm clerk, please read the caption

Item number 20 is a public hearing and ordinance authorizing the following actions related to midtown TERS. Extension of the termination date to 2060. Negotiation and execution of funding agreements with the San Antonio Botanical Garden Society, Inc., Breckenridge Park Conservancy, and the San Antonio Zoological Society to each each to support the issuance of debt in an amount not to exceed $10 million plus financing cost. Negotiation and execution of a purchase and sales agreement with the Board of Regents of the UT System through the University of Texas at San Antonio for the acquisition of real property located at 801 East Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard, San Antonio, Texas 78205. through the issuance of obligations secured in whole or in part by tax increment revenues in an amount up to $60 million plus closing and financing costs and approving the Midtown TERS finance and project plan. Funding is available through the Midtown TERS. Great, thank you. Please.

Is it possible to take item 21 and 22 and then go to 20 or can we request that all of our council colleagues come back so they can hear all of the public comment for 20? I know it's important to Council Member Villagran.

Okay, so repeat the first part of that again.

So either we move to 21 and 22 because there's no public comment associated with it, or we do item 20 and bring back council members White and council members Villagran.

Well, I mean, I expect people to be here for public comment, period. So it'd be helpful if our colleagues were here, but I mean, We're not here to babysit folks. So we're on item 20. We're on item 20. I would hope my colleagues would consider enough the folks that have signed up to speak to want to listen to them. I certainly hope so. We can hope. We can hope. Please, with the presentation, thank you.

Thank you, mayor council members, Veronica Garcia, the director for the neighborhood and housing services department. Um, this afternoon we have an item on the midtown tours and there are four action items that this one, um, Adam will, this one ordinance will cover. So this item is a restroom, so we'll, we'll wait for them so they can hear your presentation as well.

Sure. Okay. Veronica, please. Thank you.

Great, thank you. So today's item includes a public hearing and an ordinance authorizing four individual actions related to the Midtown TURs. The first is recommending extending the termination date of the TURs to September 30th, 2060. In addition, we are looking to negotiate and execute funding agreements with three entities, each entity receiving an amount not to exceed $10 million to include debt and financing costs. for San Antonio Botanical Garden Society, the Bracken Ridge Park Conservancy, and the San Antonio Zoological Society. The third item is negotiation and execution of a purchase and sale agreement with the UT System Board of Regents to acquire the property that was the former site of the Institute of Texan Cultures. and issuing obligations in amount up to $60 million plus closing and financing costs. And then finally approving the Midtown TURS updated finance and updated project plan. The Midtown TURS includes both Council Districts 1 and Council Districts 2 and encompasses approximately 542 acres. It extends all the way up North Broadway and includes the cultural institutions that we are considering today. The first item is to proposed extension of the Midtown Tours, which was originally designated by City Council in 2008. The Tours itself was repurposed in 2022. Focus on city owned cultural facilities and public infrastructure to include the san antonio zoo the botanical garden the woody museum and the bracken ridge park the proposed extension to 2060 will support the proposed projects that are under consideration as well as the debt needed to support the funding requests it will also provide additional flexibility in financing future projects with the tours and alignment aligning the termination date of this tours with two other city initiated tours including Houston Street Tours and Westside Tours, which were previously approved by City Council in December 2024. The Midtown Tours Board was briefed regarding the extension at their September 4th, 2026 board meeting. The San Antonio Botanical Garden Society is proposing to design and build a horticultural campus for hands-on science experiences, additional flexible classroom space, a living roof, and an interactive learning experiences. The funding request is up to $10 million plus financing and closing costs. The TERS funding is contingent on the botanical gardens securing at least a one-to-one funding match. And they are with this will help allow them to support more visitors and help host 150% more students each year. The TERS board did approve the funding on their September 4th board meeting. The next request is for Breckenridge Park. Again, requesting up to $10 million plus financing costs. Breckenridge Park Conservancy is proposing to restore and modernize the sunken gardens for public use, as well as hosting concerts, the whole facility accommodating up to 4,500 people. They are also working on a concept and design study for the Miraflores Garden, which will celebrate Mexican culture and will be a free and open public garden. The funding request also includes operating and programming expenses that will help support cultural and historical tours, conservation education, school trips, and indigenous celebrations, again with a focus on free public programming. The funds are contingent upon a one-to-one match from the Conservancy, and the Conservancy will be responsible for programming and maintaining the Sunken Garden Restored Theater. The TURS board did approve the funding on their September 4th board meeting. The next funding request is for the San Antonio zoo in an amount up to $10 million. Again, plus a financing costs. The zoo is proposing a new area that will feature native species for Texas, a new education building, a new animal hospital, which will also include a public viewing and the expansion of the zoo to the west side of two 81 to support increased ascendance, increased educational programming, and continued monetization of the zoo and support for animal well-being. The funding match again is contingent upon the zoo matching city funds at least one-to-one, and the board did approve this particular funding request at their September 4th meeting. the next item for consideration is negotiation and execution avi purchase and sale agreement with the board of regents of the uti system through uti essay to acquire fee simple title to the former site of the institute of texan cultures the i t c property which is located at eight oh one east uh... cedar travis because that's now east durango street the projects includes uh... Funding from the tax increment revenues of up to six and sixty million dollars plus financing and closing of costs from the midtown tours the purchase of the building will facilitate the construction of the proposed city-owned NBA arena for the San Antonio Spurs the Uh, seeing, we are still negotiating with the UT system, UTSA on the final cost and options for purchasing the building, but the closing is expected to occur later this year. And the final item requested is updating the project plan and financing plan for the midtown tours. This is required by state law and the board recently adopted both updated plans at their September 4th meeting. The updated project plan in lines, the project plan with the adopted city policies, including essay tomorrow, our strategic housing implementation plan, as well as making sure it's in alignment with the current TIF program policy. The updated finance plan includes the updated list of projects to include all the ones we discussed today, total appraised values, as well as revenues and reimbursements associated with all the projects. Both updated plans also reflect the extension of the TERS to September 30th of 2060. And staff recommends this ordinance authorizing all four items to include extending the termination date of the TERS to September 30th, 2060, authorizing the final negotiations and execution of the funding of agreements for the Botanical Garden Society, Bracken Ridge Park, and San Antonio Zoo, all not to exceed $10 million plus financing costs. ordinance authorizing the negotiation and execution of the purchase and sale agreement with the UT system for the former site of the Institute of Texan Cultures in amount up to $60 million, plus closing and financing costs, as well as approving the updated Midtown Tours finance and project plan. We're here, our city team is here, as well as all the cultural partners are here to help answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Veronica. In case it's helpful, though, to any of my colleagues as well as for public comment, can you, for context, bring up the slides that speak to the finance plan? The slides that were presented at the board meeting.

Yes, I believe those are in the backup slides. Let me get that exact number. I think that slide number, we have the slide number 13 as the backup slide for the finance plan. Oh, thank you. Yes, that one.

Okay. I want to make sure, because we're connecting the conversation that we had, just again for clarification before we move on. Eric, last we spoke on this item, if this was not extended, it would be tight. However, there are sufficient resources in the Midtown TURs to cover the purchase of the ITC, correct?

No, Mayor. Actually, let me have Ben come up and talk a little bit about that because the answer about whether or not we have or what the date would need to end or when the TURs could end and sufficiently fund the projects, that date has not been determined yet. We won't know that until we determine the financing.

I want to be clear. The question that I asked in the last meeting was, if this was not extended, would there be sufficient resources in the TERS to cover just the ITC purchase, absent the projects, absent the three projects identified? And you said it would be tight. There's money in there. It would be tight. It'd be tens of thousands of dollars as a buffer, and therefore you wouldn't issue debt based on it. Sounds like you get your answer, Mayor. Well, I just wanted to confirm it.

Because you remember what I said better than I did.

So I just want to confirm that nothing has changed, though, since that meeting.

So let me give you an expanded answer, and I'll let Ben answer that question.

So, Mayor, Council Member, so, Mayor, if I understand your question right, if we don't...

So we're all clear. The question is, if the Midtown TERS is not extended, are there sufficient resources in the TERS between now and 2041 just to pay for the ITC? The other projects, the zoo, the other things, is there money just in the TERS just to cover the arena?

Yes. If you don't do the $30 million for the cultural partners, we believe the $60 million we could fund out of the existing term.

Okay. Thank you. Can we go also, so thank you for confirming that we don't have to extend this and we can still cover the arena. Can we also go to the other slide though, just as we are look for those that are really interested in the other projects, Veronica, I thought the slide on how the finance plan is impacted by those projects is really important because we're not just talking about 10 million, right? When you factor in all the costs. So can you please bring up that slide?

I think, Mayor, the only finance plan we have is that one with the summary of all the items. But if there's a, yeah, just that one.

So there's the slide that was presented at the Midtown Tours board briefing that talks about if you included those projects, right? So for example, the botanical, the zoo, the botanical gardens and the Breckenridge, if you extended it, the cost of those things is actually not 10 million. Once you include the other cost, it's 16 million. Sure. Is that right? Yes, that sounds right.

I just want to confirm that. 16, 17.

And you don't have that slide here. You've got that slide. We have a hard copy of the slide.

Okay, great.

Okay. If you'd talk us through that, please. Thank you, Troy.

Yes, ma'am. So this is the slide that was presented to the Midtown TURS Board. So what it presents is the total available projects prior to considering the cultural partners and the ITC. Once we layer in the estimates for debt, for the zoo, the gardens, the park, and the ITC. The $10 million for the zoo, and it's going to be the same across the board for all three of them. It's about for dollar for dollar principal and then interest. So the $10 million would cost about $16 million, $16.8 million with reserves built in. the ITC similar to fund the $60 million and that may change based on what Veronica said in terms of negotiations with UTSA but right now the assumptions would be $60 million would cost $115 million over the entire term including principal and interest. And then on the right you can see the reserves that we have in place to provide us coverage and then you see the available balances kind of covered by the the bottom right there by the screen, but those would be the balances that would be available after consideration of these four projects.

Okay. Thank you, Troy. I appreciate that. And for clarity, Veronica, should we understand that any expense out of the TERS for these three areas, how does that build upon the money that each of those entities received in the 2022 bond? or previous TERS investments?

Sure. So five years ago, they each received $10 million, as well as the bond allocations. And what was discussed with each of the entities five years ago was that this would be considered on an ongoing five-year basis. Ongoing five-year basis. Five years ago, now, at this point in time, and potentially one more allocation in the future, depending on what their proposed plans are. Again, when the TERS was restructured in 2022 to look at focusing on those cultural facilities, they each adjusted their master plans, proposed plans, and came up with what their future plans were, and the funding requests through the Midtown TURs. And each entity received the $10 million, and they each raised their own funding match. And so this is the discussion, which was to come back at this point in time and request another $10 million. And they have outlined what those funds would be used for, their total capital campaigns that they each have, because these are much larger projects that are proposed. And so that is the funding request at this time.

So for clarity, it's either $10 million from the TERS or $10 million from the bond?

So each entity had a... noted that they may come and request bond funds. But now that the bond for 2027 is much smaller, we have made it as part of the Midtown Tours Board discussions. There was requests from the board members that they not have any 2027 bond requests and that they limit their efforts to this 10 million from the Midtown Tours. So that was something that was discussed at the board meeting.

OK, so because the bond capacity is lower, we're looking The recommendation is that they receive $10 million via the TERS if the TERS extension is approved.

Yes.

If the TERS extension is not approved, is your recommendation still that they receive $10 million? And if so, would that be via the bond?

So if it's not approved, yes, they'd have to find alternative funding, and they probably would come back and seek funding for the bond. Okay.

But question about whether or not we would recommend that. I mean, I think... Yeah, it's not my recommendation. It's just I believe that's what would happen. Yeah, so the bond program will go through... There's a whole litany of priorities, mainly infrastructure. But I don't want any misunderstandings that we would necessarily recommend that in the bond process.

Appreciate that because I think when folks heard it was you know You get 10 million if you're proud if you've got projects right and then you get another 10 million if you've got other projects But yeah, I mean the financial situation has changed so I appreciate the that ignore. Thank you very much We'll move on to public comment The first member to speak, Mary Cabral, please. Ma'am, you have three minutes.

Hello, everybody. My name is Mary Cabral. I'm a retired teacher and was born here and raised here. Been here all my life. Seen a lot of city councils come and go. This is your city. This is your money. This is our city. This is our money. So I see a lot of show here. I even see a recording of one of the city council people. I see a lot of thanking people here. I don't feel that comfortable that the people are being heard. They ask us to speak out and that there's clarity, transparency here. Unfortunately, I don't see it. I'm disappointed, but I still come here because it is my right. And like you said, like in the newspaper, Mr. Walsh, that it is our city and it is our money. Therefore, I feel like I have the right to say, please vote no on item 20. And Mayor, thank you very much for asking the right questions. That is very appreciated. And I feel like I speak for thousands and thousands of people, especially in the south side, east side, and east side that are working. And they're working very, very hard out there. Probably harder than the rest of us here. And of course, I'm retired. But I don't know whether we're being heard or not. I hear transparency, clarity spoken all the time, but I'm not sure that this isn't already a settled thing and what's the sense in me speaking anymore. But I still reserve that right to ask all of you to vote no on item 20. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to call several names, and if you would, please make your way to the aisle. So we have several folks signed up to speak. Kat Degadillo, followed by Christine Drennan, and then Graciela Sanchez. You each have three minutes.

So Kat has donated her minutes to me.

Is Kat here? There you are. OK, go ahead. Thank you. You have six minutes, please.

I'm waiting. There it goes. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Christine Drennan. I'm a resident, and my house is in District 1, but I'm a citizen of the city of San Antonio. Since this city was chartered in 1718, we spent as much time carving it up as we have building it. Just in the last hundred years, we watched as a whole series of little island cities were formed. Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, Terrell Hills, Chavano Park, Hollywood Park, tax havens within which property tax dollars could be sheltered from the greater good and used for the betterment of a few. Imagine if the property within those small cities paid into our general fund instead of into their own. Then we watched as our neighborhoods were built, some for whites, some only for Mexicans, some only for blacks. And then we used color coded maps to guide capital investment into some neighborhoods while we denied it in others. And then in the 1950s we watched as we created 18 different school districts, many acting as exclusive tax havens within which a select few protected what they had and did not allow it to flow outside the boundaries. Their children benefited and became quite successful while others continue to struggle in low wage jobs and in or close to poverty. This balkanization, the creation of little fiefdoms within our city, has directly resulted in the economic segregation we struggle with today. And with one of the lowest rates of intergenerational social mobility on record, these two things, balkanization and segregation are tightly correlated and produce massive inequality, which materializes as 20 year differences in life expectancies. It's embarrassing. Movement is what distinguishes great cities. The most significant organizing values of great cities is that their openness and free circulation of capital, people, and ideas. In fact, cities develop because we cluster. And then when we cluster and share knowledge and specialisms and tools and mostly resources, we achieve the great economies of scale and information networks that make up truly great cities. And humanity prospers in every way imaginable. Segmentation has been the curse of our city. It blocks the flow of lifeblood through the arteries of the city. The Green Line and the Silver Line are VIA's attempt to create flows and overcome barricades. And we can imagine the impact they will have as people can travel freely from one part of the city to another. Now imagine that for resources. It's the same tax increment. Finance zones were created to write the wrongs of the 20th century, the injustices of the past, those parts of the city that were forgotten or even intentionally divested in the era of redlining and then abandoned during urban renewal. And the Midtown tours has accomplished that, but it's perpetuation reproduces these wrongs and creates new little islands. I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to attend several events, but two of which were memorable. The budget meeting in District 6 and the Midtown TERS meeting. The D6 budget meeting was held in a senior center that's slated for closure. And people said, raise our taxes, but just don't close our senior center. The following day at the TERS meeting, presentations were made by the zoo, the botanical gardens, Bracken Ridge Park, but also one for the Spurs Arena, all of which I'm a patron. But why do they have their own private funds and the D6 Senior Center gets closed? We need to work together. We need a shared grand vision, not a series of small visions that have nothing to do with one another, behind which we hide our own little piles of resources and spend them how we like. You're voting to extend the life of this Terz, this little island, and of others until 2060, that's 34 years from now. That means your children will not have the privilege of a city that functions as a whole, as one city, a city in which children grow up with equal and equitable opportunity, a city where resources are shared for the betterment of the entire population, a truly democratic city. Sunset this terse, it has done its job It performed admirably. Now return it to the people and let us all benefit from the progress we've made, not just a few. Thank you.

Graciela Sanchez. Followed by Catherine Trumbull and then Victoria de Leon.

Hi, I'm getting some time from Beto Leija as well as Alejandra Leija.

Alejandra, yeah, 39. And then I, Robert, yep, okay. You have nine minutes, ma'am.

Forbes Magazine reported yesterday, September 9th, that Michael Dell is now the second richest person in the world, behind only Elon Musk. Think about that for a moment. The second richest person in the world is a part owner of the San Antonio Spurs. And yet here we are pleading with you not to give our precious public dollars to the Spurs. This is obscene. Michael Dell gave $6 billion to this country's president this past year. Yet he and the Spurs group want to take away $60 million. from the Midtown Tours. The $6 billion that Dell gave the president is 100 times the $60 million that the Spurs are trying to get from the people of San Antonio. Michael Dell could pay for the entire arena, the entire arena project itself. the land acquisition, street improvements, drainage, green space, parking, renovations to the concert venue, and more. For someone with DELD's wealth, these costs are comparatively small. And if he wanted help, Mr. DELD could ask the other millionaire owners to contribute for the sale of their team. For the sake of their team, sorry. Because let's be clear, the Spurs are not just a business. The Spurs belong in spirit to the people of San Antonio. The team's greatest strength is its community of extraordinary fans. And those fans should not be treated as just another source of money to protect wealthy owners from paying the full cost of their own investment. This council needs to stop and consider how we, your constituents, see you. You say you do not want to raise taxes. You say we must cut funding to delegate organizations and programs that are critical to the health and well-being of our community. But at the same time, you have no problem writing a check for $60 million, a check that with interest could grow to $116 million. $116 million. What message does that send? Think about what you told your constituents when you asked for their votes. Did you tell them that you would keep plans for this downtown development secret? Did you tell them that once those plans become public, you would support giving hundreds of millions of public dollars, including the 60 million you are considering today, to benefit billionaire and multimillionaire owners of the Spurs? Did you tell them that while trying to avoid increasing property taxes, you might instead cut funding for health care, affordable housing, streets, drainage, and other basic infrastructure? Did you tell them that programs serving women and children, working families, and people living paycheck to paycheck would have to compete with subsidies for some of the wealthiest people in the world? Is that what your constituents elected you to do? To give millions to the wealthy while asking the rest of San Antonio to accept less? Every piece of this proposal should give you pause. We need public libraries with adequate hours and adequate staff. We need help to preserve our unique multilingual and multiracial heritage. We need accessible arts programming, galleries, museums, and workshops and classes that will allow our young people to learn and carry on these traditional practices. We need music and dance for all ages. We need parks with trees, not blue plastic tarps. We need swimming pools that are open more than 10 weeks of the year in this amazingly hot city. We need the services, infrastructure, and community life enhancing activities that make our city vibrant. And yet, year after year, in a city that remains deeply economically segregated, Our community is asked to endure austerity budgets. We should also look carefully at where this proposal comes from. It comes from the Midtown Tours Board with its own institutional interest. Three members are city staff who work within the city's administrative structure. Of the five community representatives, two voted for this proposal while representing the zoo and the botanical gardens, organizations that each are slated to receive $10 million as part of the broader arrangement. They should have. excused themselves from that vote, as should the city staff. The remaining three community representatives voted against giving $60 million to purchase land for the Spurs, stating that their communities do not support the proposal. Let me repeat, it was the representatives from these community organizations that voted no along with Councilman Jalen. This should matter. The voices of the community should matter. Public trust should matter. Transparency should matter. And our priorities should matter. For more than 40 years, this city has built arenas and been promised economic benefits and transformational development. We have heard these promises before, and over and over again, those promises have failed to materialize. So before we give away another $60 million of public money, midtown tourist monies, perhaps we should ask a simple question. Why are the people of San Antonio being asked to subsidize one of the wealthiest ownership groups in professional sports while so many essential needs in our community remain unmet? If Michael Dell and other owners want to invest in San Antonio, wonderful. Let them contribute, but let us stop pretending that a public subsidy for billionaires is the same thing as an investment in the people of San Antonio. The people of this city deserve a real investment. If Michael Dell wants to give San Antonio a gift, then let it be a real gift. Let the billionaires pay for their own arena and the land that we're talking about today, and let our public dollars serve the public. Please vote no on this proposal and vote no to extend the Midtown Tours. Muchas gracias.

Catherine Trumbull. followed by Victoria De Leon, and then Mabel Goldsmith.

Is everybody there?

Well good morning mayor or good afternoon mayor and members of city council I'm Catherine Trumbull president and CEO of the San Antonio Botanical Garden and I'm joined this afternoon by members of our board our staff and volunteers because we all believe in our mission of enriching lives through plants and nature and we're here today to ask for your support for the Midtown Tours. Our commitment is about more than stewarding 38 acres of city land and buildings. It's about building a garden that is both uniquely San Antonio and one that stands out as one of the best in the nation. San Antonio deserves that because SABG is a public treasure. that returns far more value than any single investment could measure alone. Last month, we conducted an economic impact study and found that for every dollar that the city of San Antonio invests in the garden, we return $31 in economic output, $8 in additional workers' earnings, and 70 cents in additional tax revenue for the city. Since 2024, the $3.6 million that's been provided from the city has helped to generate more than $113 million in economic output for San Antonio. Residents come from every corner of the city and make the garden a part of their daily lives. And our growth speaks from ourselves. When we privatized from the city in 2019, our visitation was 170,000, and this past year it was 430,000. And now we have 35,000 kids coming to the garden this year on school tours, with 61% coming from Title I schools. Access is at the heart of our business, with 50,000 people coming to the garden this year on access programs. And the proposed 10 million from the TURs will be matched dollar for dollar by private investment to create a new horticulture and conservation campus. And this campus will help us grow again to 650,000 visitors and 80,000 kids on school tours by 2036. SABG belongs to San Antonio, and this is an investment in conservation, education, and economic impact, and one that generates tens of millions of dollars in output, wages, and tax revenue for San Antonio year over year. Thank you. We appreciate your partnership and your continued investment in the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

Thank you. Thank you. Victoria De Leon, followed by Mabel Goldsmith, and Cindy Munch.

Good afternoon, mayor and council members. My name is Victoria that Leon, a proud member of the leadership team here at San Antonio zoo. Our zoo is in the news a lot recently. So you may already know about the ways that we're expanding access with reduced admission through our community locals days, or the conservation milestones we've reached around the world. Or maybe you've heard about us consistently ranking among the best zoos in Texas, in the nation, and most recently in the world. And I want to be very clear that none of those accolades belong to us alone. We proudly share them with this city and we hope every San Antonian feels that pride too. As an employee, I am tempted to talk all day about the ways we show up for our community, but today I also feel it's important to speak to you as a mom and share the ways our zoo has impacted my own family, because that impact is easy to miss. Before I ever worked here, I knew it as a special place to take my son, where no two visits were ever the same, where after every trip, I watched his curious young mind grow, ask questions, and invent his own bedtime stories about the animals he connected with that day. It was clear to me then that this was more than a place to go and see animals, as many assume it is. It's a place where I could be in community with other families and walk away learning something new, wanting to be a part of something bigger. San Antonio Zoo is an education partner, a conservation leader around the world, and an economic engine for this city. Growing up in a single-parent, multi-generational household, the truth is trips to places like the zoo were challenging. So it's a privilege to be part of a zoo that is intentional about ensuring every family can visit. And when they can't come to us, we have an incredible team that brings San Antonio Zoo to them at schools, hospitals, community events, and even senior centers like the town hall we were grateful to be a part of last night. With nearly a million dollars in donated tickets every year, welcoming Title I schools with zoo and donor funds, we believe every child in San Antonio deserves and can access the kind of experiences that help shape how they see the world. Continuing to invest in San Antonio Zoo is continuing to invest in our own city. We generated $208 million in economic impact in 2025 alone, and 1.3 billion since 2014. That's no small win, and one we could not have accomplished alone. For every capital dollar the city has invested in our infrastructure, we've returned $43 in economic impact, Years of collaboration with the city match with the generosity of donors and every guest who walks through those gates. It all fuels us to give back even more. This is San Antonio Zoo, one I firmly believe makes our city better and is worth continued investment as we continue. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Mabel Goldsmith. Cindy Munch and then Bernardo de la Garza.

Good afternoon, mayor and members of the council. My name is Mabel Goldsmith and I'm a volunteer at the botanical gardens. I didn't start off there. My connection began as a participant. as a participant alongside my husband Eric at the Dementia Friendly Gardening Series, which is where the program really changed my life and my husband's knowing that we live a different life than we did before. The experience touched my heart so much that I became a volunteer myself. The garden has become my sanctuary. It's a place where I go for peace, I go for a purpose, and I've created new friends with the staff and with fellow volunteers that I never expected would happen in my life as a retiree playing in the dirt. I don't just receive from the garden, I give back every time I show up. Whether I'm mentoring a new volunteer, or preparing a meal for the culinary classes, or simply sharing a smile with a guest as they walk in, I know my time here really matters. I watch families, their faces light up as they walk in different areas of the gardens, and they take different parts of the garden facilities and faculties. I watch my fellow dementia volunteers and also the participants enjoy the classes. where they see their plants grow, where they laugh for that one moment. They live in a moment where there's peace and friendship and acceptance. That's what we get from the gardens. I've built, and with the community, an area that we place people and realize that these people, we value them for who they were, but who also who they are now in this time of their lives. What really excites me about this is that it reaches far beyond a single program that the garden possesses. It's the city. The garden is also helping shape the city by learning, by healing, and connecting. And I want to keep my part of my involuntary-isms with them on the grow along with them. You see, I was born in San Antonio and raised here, and this is my city. And I'm very proud to say that. I have so much pride, and I share that pride when I think about our botanical garden. But its name is the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, which means it goes far beyond the four walls and the 40 acres that it sits on today. This is why it has that name. It belongs to the city. You cannot put a value on what we give to our garden and what we get from the garden as well. But I promise you, it matters for our community that we value it in a sense. It's more valuable to us than anything or anything else we have funded in the city. I thank you for your time and your patience. Thank you.

Thank you.

Cindy Munch.

followed by Bernardo de la Garza, and then Stephanie Reyes, please.

Mary gave me her time, and so did Billy Gonzalez.

What was the other person's name, ma'am? Billy Gonzalez. Billy Gonzalez.

She signed up for 20, but she doesn't show up on her phone.

She has her receipt on the phone. She has the confirmation on her phone, ma'am?

Would you like to see it?

Is she back? Can she just raise her hand? Okay. Thank you. You have nine minutes, ma'am. Is it okay if she doesn't?

No, it's fine. Oh, okay. All righty. My name is Cindy Munch. I live in District 9, and I'm speaking against the planned extension to 2060 of the tax increment zone 31 Midtown TURS. I oppose the extension of all five TERS under discussion today because unlike the statements no impact, there is significant fiscal impact to the city's general fund when taxes on select property valuations do not go into the general fund. That impact of not contributing to the general fund compounds the damage it does to the city budgets every year. Without graduating TERS for full contribution from the new development, which was included in the budget, What is included in the budget and balancing that budget may be distorted. Maybe a little maintenance deferred to meet the budget one year. Maybe a specification cut to meet budget another. A decision made one year that could add cost and have the next year problems that compound unnecessarily. A budget deficit has been blamed on the decline in property taxes and yet five TERS ordinance are being considered today and asking to keep some of the newest, most valuable properties from paying into the general fund. Levees on improvements initiated with taxpayer assistance are needed to address the deficit in the O&M and the debt service factors. With the TERS tax proceeds in a different special envelope, the GO bond limit is negatively impacted. And that's our chart number one. Notice the middle item on that chart is Oklahoma City. That's the city that was brought to my attention during the Proposition B. We were getting a much better deal. Oklahoma City had that bond issue within 18 months of approving their arena. This bottom number 450 is what we're going to have 18 months from approving our arena. A lower bond amount can encourage parties seeking infrastructure improvements to look for a source outside the bond, to make deals for special consideration, and to get cuts in line from the tighter general obligation bond process. I am speaking against this side deal process. A well-informed taxpayer should be advised that not only are successful TURs properties not graduating to pay into the general fund, but they continue to participate fully in the benefits the general fund covers. This year, the cost of treating San Antonio tours, free city government will most visibly raise the cost of government to all those who do pay into it. I oppose extending the midtown tours fund for the four projects proposed because they demonstrate a clear workaround of our system in funding the needs of the city. Um, I would like to look at the second chart and just while I'm talking. The current proposed use of tours is a workaround of the go bond two week to fund projects appropriately supported with tax dollars and tourist tax dollars are kind of reflected in this chart. Projects for the zoo, botanical gardens, and Breckenridge Park could have been considered for Bexar County community venues in the 2025 ballot had it not been limited by the authorities to only two arenas. The share of visitor taxes going to local governments are intended to support year-round local tourist venues. TURs were developed to support depressed areas and bring them into the general economy and taxpayers into the general economy to be like everybody else. Thriving, oh my goodness, Mary. Thriving, how do I enlarge it? I'm going to be short of time. It's my fault. Thriving tourist areas should contribute. The Midtown Tours shows a clear path of what budgeting plan that moves money from one envelope to another does to a community. The path started when we did the, uh, bond for sports and entertainment instead of any of the other, uh, tourist venue uses. In 2008, the prior ballot covered lots of tourist venues and residents that residents and tourists could enjoy throughout the county. Tourists themselves move tax dollars from the general fund to O and M police, fire, your salaries, libraries, et cetera, and debt service, general obligations, certificates of obligation and tax notes. Um, are kept from special projects that don't require. Initially zones are sold based on the intent of generating economic growth and specific areas that need revitalization. But because the special elements aren't going away when this one is stronger, they should be competing, contributing to the general fund. These zones, the Midtownsers TURs for one can join the big kids and pay into the general fund and dates for TURs matter. Amendments should not be about extending special envelope of money for spending on permission outside the regular business of the city and it isn't a good look. Could we look at the next chart? I just want to show you another comparison about this debt to 2060 and what long-term debt doesn't have to be.

This is what we were told.

We had a special deal. We were getting a better deal with $500 million. from the Spurs. But what has that done for us? You look at the deal that Oklahoma City got. They will own their arena free and clear by 2034. And what did we get for $500 million? Debt through 2060. The difference is kind of outlined on that chart. And if we didn't have that debt, we wouldn't have to rely on TERS. We'd have more bond money. It's a going around circle thing. We should be looking at what our deal is with the Spurs again. Should a council person have to protect a special, if a council person wants to have a special project looked at, he may make a deal on the TERS extension and a trade might be made anyway. It would look like that if they got a special deal. Another thing on that, um, is we are so far in debt that we going out to 60 years for all of these things to land and whatnot. What will we use to fund the 13 year improvements that we're going to be on the hook for? That might be seven times the cost of the improvements of the last arena, which is the current arena is seven times at this, at this state stage. Most of the talk about the budget is the budget deficit. The city is discussing increasing O&M tax rate, cutting services and jobs, and increasing fees. Has there been any talk about graduating TERS? Is there any future forecast of TERS improvement tax revenues ever coming into the general fund or budget? High valuation TERS and the Midtown could make a very positive change on San Antonio's debt. There has been, could you look at the last chart again? There has been 27 bond of less than half the amount of 22 bond. In nominal dollars, there will be a second tax pitch for the bond. The bond budget should include crunch should not be about the arena infrastructure because the arena infrastructure and Alamo infrastructure is eligible for PFC. I just wanted to tell you the PFC money doesn't compute. You have to have another 44 million for the spurs before we qualify for PFC for the arena, unless you know something else, but that's what's online. I lost time, so I just want to say that It doesn't have to be that way to have a new NBA arena. We can get a better deal San Antonio got a better deal With the 500 million it ought to play for our debt. Thank you Bernardo de la Garza Bernardo de la Garza

Bernardo had to leave, Mayor. Okay. So then, Stephanie, so three minutes. Thank you. Okay.

Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members. My name is Stephanie Reyes. I'm proud president and CEO for the Real Estate Council. I'm actually here on behalf of our chairman, Bernardo de la Garza, and our nearly 300 member companies and 1,500 industry professionals. REXA supports extending the Midtown TURs because it gives San Antonio an important tool to make strategic investments that can strengthen our urban core and leverage future growth. We have seen what strategic investment can accomplish in Midtown. The transformation of the Pearl is a powerful example of how investment in infrastructure and catalytic projects can attract significant private investment and create a destination that benefits the entire community. Today, we have another opportunity to use that tool. The proposed extension would allow the Midtown Tours to participate in the acquisition of the former UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures for a new Spurs arena and the broader development envisioned around it. City staff identified the Midtown Tours as the intended funding source for the acquisition back in February 2025. In August 2025, when council adopted the arena term sheet, it also confirmed the city's exclusive right to purchase the ITC property and that the city expected to exercise it. So this is a follow through, not a new ask. Rexa believes securing this land is a strategic investment in San Antonio's future. The arena is not simply a sports venue. Done correctly, it can serve as a catalyst for additional development, entertainment, retail, hospitality, housing, and other private investment in the surrounding area. And importantly, the tourist provides a mechanism to use future increase in property value to help fund that investment. This is the kind of strategic investment Atters is designed to support, leveraging future growth to catalyze additional investment and economic development. We just got a preview of what kind of investment could actually deliver. During the Spurs' most recent playoff run alone, the team generated an estimated $164 million in net local spending, including $3.4 million in city tax revenue and $1.4 million directly to the city's general fund. Now imagine that same energy sustained year-round with a permanent home for the Spurs downtown. Furthermore, the benefits also extend beyond the arena. Investments in the zoo, botanical garden, Breckenridge Park, and the surrounding urban core can strengthen some of San Antonio's most important cultural, recreational, and tourist sites. For the commercial real estate community, a stronger urban core means more opportunities for private investment, more economic activities, a stronger tax base, and jobs. Voters already said yes. to the vision when they approved the public funding framework for a sports and entertainment district last November. REXA supports extending the Midtown Tours, and we believe the opportunity to acquire the arena site is an important part of that strategy. At the same time, we encourage continued accountability and transparency to ensure these investments achieve measurable economic development outcomes and maximize the private investment of intent. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Veronica just for a point of clarification in case it comes up and informs anyone else's public comment can you can we just bring up the finance slide again that it's the one that reflects the impact of the projects yes mayor we can we can bring that up this one hard copy slide we've got here So for clarity, when we are thinking about the ITC, that's $60 million, and then the $10 million for the zoo, the botanical gardens, and the Breckenridge, when I look at that line, the 2034 to 2041, when you look at that line across and you do the math, if you get to that line for the zoo, By that time, by the end of this TERS, that will be $9.4 million. It's also the same for the botanical gardens and the same from Breckenridge. If you look at the ITC, that sum at the end of the TERS at 2041 is also $69 million. So the reason that the numbers, it doesn't seem then, if I understand, and then when you look at the amount of money that's left over for other projects, even by that time, there's $70 million. So I know I earlier asked, is there enough money to pay for just the ITC? But based on this, it seems like there's enough money in the TERS now to pay for the ITC. as well as the three projects, um, without needing to extend this with a sufficient buffer of almost $70 million.

I'm going to let the finance team come up, but I think, Mayor, we still need to continue financing those expenses over the long term.

And understood, but if part of the cost of financing them is higher based on the length of time that we are financing them, i.e., if we made those contributions by 2041, help us understand that, Troy. If we could, i.e., if by 2041 we've already contributed $9.462 million For each of the three projects per there's not much more to go But help us understand and you know and honestly if an option then maybe you know instead of ten million Maybe you get eight point five and you wrap it all up because there's no reason to add seven million dollars worth of finance costs just to extend it to 2060 and

Yes, ma'am, and I can kind of try to walk through it. So when we were analyzing this, we did go back and actually analyze the full $90 million.

Can you speak into the mic, please?

I think I'm going to be right on the mic. We did go back and analyze if we took the three cultural partner projects and the ITC, total $90 million, would that fit within the existing term through 2041? It did fit on a simple financing. However, when you look at the balances and you're correcting your assumption, you don't extend to 25 years, you're gonna pay less in financing costs. It did narrowly fit within the through 2041. We would need to go back and we still have a lot of additional work to do on the ITC side. When we actually developed the financing plan for this, in how we're going to finance the debt, we used a simple financing mechanism. Depending on how we ultimately structure the ITC, is it a revenue bond, is it going through some other type of financing mechanism, we may need more flexibility because we may need to build in reserves, debt service coverage. So it gave me pause when trying to fit it within the initial term of 2041, although it fit and it's very thin. Based on how we structure the debt, there may not be enough room and capacity within there. So ultimately, we went through debt through 2052 for the ITC and the three cultural partners.

2052?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. When you look at the, so for those that are watching, right, the public watching, when you look to the far right then, the far right column, and you see 2034 to 2041, and you subtract those projects, and you're still left with $70 million, How should they understand that number? Because it doesn't seem like a small buffer.

I can't tell you how much ultimately it would be, other than that we would need some capacity within that $70 million. Would it need the full capacity? Probably not.

So we don't need the full capacity of the $70 million to cover the projects as identified on this sheet?

Probably not. If you fit it within the existing term.

Right.

But we still are going to need some flexibility within that amount.

Flexibility within the amount, but the amount itself is sufficient for all the projects listed on the sheet?

Based on this finance plan, based on the assumptions that are in here, it's sufficient within that $70 million.

Okay. I wanted to make sure, though, because that informs their comment as well, which is... You could actually pay for everything with the extent with the current term of this chairs based on Just to be clear based on the assumptions that we have in here It will fit within the existing term and I appreciate that because those are the assumptions that were presented to the board when they when they voted on this and the assumptions that we are reviewing as part of this. Thank you. Yep, Troy.

Mayor, let me just add in that while it would narrowly fit within that term, I don't know if that's something we would recommend because if you look at those years right there, 28 to 34 example, There's no cash flow there at all based on our assumptions So I think while it looks like there's 70 million there and that makes sense because the turf deters Based on our assumption is growing at some rate three point two five in the other years We're layering in the obligation. All of them will do the same thing. They will grow and get wider as we go out unless you layer in additional obligations as you get out there in the future. The challenge is when you're doing it now, you've got to be able to fit within the existing cash flow. There's not a lot of room on the front end of this one. So when Troy talks about going to look at another debt instrument, that's what we would need to do is finish that work. to make sure we can structure something that fits and that we can make sure it can get paid from this TERS and that we don't have issues with meeting debt service obligations in the future. So that's the part I wanted to just caveat is that there is some additional work that we need to do on this one.

Thank you.

Kathleen Vale.

I have two individuals ceding time to me, Vilma Pena and Tomas Aguilar.

You have nine minutes, ma'am.

That should be a total of nine minutes. It shows, okay, okay. Good afternoon, Mayor, City Council members, friends, and San Antonio residents. I am here to ask for the public record, when is enough truly enough? My name is Kathleen Vail. I'm a District 1 homeowner. I have been learning, struggling, sharing, and speaking out on this issue for nearly two years now since being activated after reading Dr. Christine Drennan's September 2024 op-ed, Downtown Mecca Cuts Out Community. I support the San Antonio Spurs and I greatly enjoy our team. I attend a lot of games with the best NBA fans in the United States. But supporting the Spurs should not mean giving them an open-ended claim on San Antonio's future property tax dollars. I urge a no vote on agenda item number 20. This is so much more than the land for a new expensive downtown arena designed for a luxury experience. It is about what kind of city we are building right now as the third poorest, sixth largest American minority majority city. Let me take you back to 1968. It was the best of times and the worst of times in San Antonio. We were a tale of two cities as San Antonio opened hemisphere and presented itself to the world as a modern, prosperous, international city. I remember it well as a little girl. Inside the gates were the Tower of the Americas, international exhibits, a monorail, and a celebration of San Antonio's future. But outside the gates was another San Antonio entirely, deeply struggling with poverty, hunger, inadequate housing, and economic and education inequality two san antonios existing in one city fast forward nearly 60 years and i ask are we approaching that again investing heavily in downtown while our neighborhoods across the city continue pleading for the basics public safety streets sidewalks libraries drainage parks affordable housing and embarrassingly senior nutrition programs Today, the public cost for the stadium and sports district downtown is at least $489 million in city money, with a total public exposure approaching $1.1 billion when you add $311 million from the county, approximately $115 million for a 60 million property purchase plus financing and debt for 13 acres downtown actually outside of the TERS boundary under the public assembly legal exception that will allow you if you can afford to buy a ticket to assemble in public at that stadium. And additionally 220 million proposed not yet confirmed 2027 bond funding for the sports district infrastructure and more city costs will be coming future convention center expansion Alamo dome improvements transportation infrastructure public safety and waste management. I ask council to provide us today with a current comprehensive public cost picture and allow public input. Public trust in city governance is crucial. Transparency right now is a continual duty, not an inconvenient courtesy. Today, you may vote no or you may vote yes for all of these clusters of different topics in this one agenda item that I'll point out, the Midtown Tours voted separately on each one, not clustered them all together. But you will make your own decision. on whether or not the Midtown Tours will be extended to 2060 to sideline property tax revenue for decades and to make the financing work possible for a 60 million downtown land purchase projected to cost taxpayers possibly $115 million. Or maybe there will be a compromise. Some issues demand moral compromise moral clarity without any compromise, and this may be one of them. Your vote will tell the city what your priorities are and where your equity lens is focused today. I ask you to be cautious. Everyone knows the Midtown is now successfully redeveloped. Its original purpose is done, and we should give it all the flowers it deserves. But the property tax sitting there now belongs to the general fund to serve the entire city, rather than the hand-picked projects of our city's well-resourced donor class that has been given little public input. Please remember, the Midtown Tours Board went almost two years without a public meeting, yet has now met downtown in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day, without what I consider meaningful public engagement. Unlike the open public process and stakeholder committee that occurred with the Diversion Center pilot project with the Westside Tours, Where was the public engagement and input for the expanded plans for the zoo, the plans to expand across 281, the plans for a new state-of-the-art veterinary hospital to accommodate the gorillas, the plans for the botanical gardens and Bracken Ridge Park Conservancy Where were the Midtown Tours engagement with small business and neighborhood associations on a Saturday morning? I did not see them. We should be more considerate and I suggest have meaningful standards for public engagement with anything involved with the city of San Antonio, including all the tourist boards. The indirect cost of eroded public trust is as significant as the direct cost of inflation right now, increased skepticism and local governments priority to improve our quality of life. declining civic interest, persistent low voter turnout, and a weakened support for necessary civic improvements. Before extending this TERS or any of the other votes you will take on this one agenda item, I ask you for a complete accounting of every public dollar committed to the downtown area and sports district. land, infrastructure, debt, operating costs, and foregone tax revenue that shows unmistakable clear evidence of the net new annual revenue and economic permanent return this project will produce. I urge you to exercise fiscal constraint and to prioritize the needs of the people you represent. Please tell the Spurs, with respect, we've given you enough. Protect the shrinking general fund, prioritize a fiscal conservative lens for our property taxes, and for our neighborhood's critical equity-based needs. In today's modern, evolving, and struggling San Antonio, I believe enough is truly enough. Thank you.

Richard Aguilar. Richard Aguilar. Okay. Brett Finley, followed by Sandra Martinez, and then Martin Gutierrez, please.

Good afternoon, council members. My name is Brett Finley. I'm the proud leader of the Metro San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, present CEO, here speaking in full support of agenda item 20, extension of the Midtown Tours. First, I appreciate and recognize the support and efforts that city staff and you all up here on the dais have put into a really complicated and unique situation. But again, continue to express our full support. Extending the Midtown Tours provides the appropriate long-term framework for the investments and commitments already underway and positions the zone to continue delivering value for our community. Midtown has demonstrated the value of this economic development tool. The investments supported through the TURs generate benefits that extend well beyond its physical boundaries. They contribute to economic activity, infrastructure, jobs, and continued investment in the broader community. The ITC property is one of those examples. When Council approved the term sheet underlying this investment, it did so with the understanding that long-term framework would be needed to support it. That investment represents an important opportunity for this area and demonstrates how long-term public and private investment can work together to support broader economic development. Item 20 is not a new commitment. It is a natural step in carrying forward a plan Council has already endorsed. The extension through 2060 also provides the necessary time frame to responsibly manage the financial commitments associated with this tiers, allowing the life of the zone with those existing obligations is sound financial planning and provides greater clarity and certainty for everyone involved. That certainty is important to the business community. Businesses, institutions, and developers make important investment decisions over long-term horizons. Stable, predictable framework gives them confidence to continue investing right here in our community in San Antonio. We recognize these are ongoing conversations about the future of the Midtown Tours and those revenues associated with it. And those discussions should continue to happen and happen on their own merits. Today's action provides the appropriate framework for existing commitments while also allowing those broader policy conversations to continue to move forward. For those reasons, the MetroSA Chamber supports item 20 and the extension of the Midtown Turf through 2060. We appreciate city staff again and the council for their work on this issue and respectfully encourage your support today. Thank you so much.

Sandra Martinez, followed by Martin Gutierrez.

Okay. Hi, good morning. I signed up as well, but Susanna's going to give me her time. I don't know if I was on the list.

Okay. Can you show her your confirmation? Oh, yes. It's happened to a couple of folks.

Okay.

Tricia Granovic. Okay. So that is Sandra Martinez. Okay. So six minutes, please. Thank you.

Hi, good morning everyone, Mayor, City Council. It's taken quite a while to get here, so I appreciate everybody's patience. I think for me, as a fourth generation San Antonian, it's very frustrating to continue having the same conversations about lack of transparency and feeling that things are being done in a shady way, it's actually gotten to the point where it feels disrespectful. We keep pleading for more public involvement in a project that has been sold to us as a benefit to all of San Antonio. Again, I'm a fourth generation San Antonian. I remember promises from the Alamo Dome and the Frostbank Center to revitalize certain parts of town. that has not happened. Now we're trying to use the Midtown TERS as a slush fund to support a private entity. We hear a lot about socialism, and I just think it's kind of ironic what is happening, moving this money around to support an entity that can fully fund its own billionaire playground. I keep asking why, if it's such a good deal for all of us, then why has so much been done in the dark? So I am here again today asking that same question about the TURs. And I've also leaned a lot on the words of some of my community leader friends who've been having these conversations for a really long time, including Kathy Vale and Louis Escarino. You know, they noted that there has been zero uh... meaningful public engagement uh... conversations around this uh... in fact the midtown tours board went almost two years without a meeting and then in the past three weeks they just happened to convene two meetings in a conference room behind city council chambers at 10 a.m on a weekday that doesn't sound like the ideal open governance and civic engagement decision for a public meeting i really appreciate our mayor asking really hard questions but also basic questions right the midtown tours worked It worked. It did its job. Mission accomplished. So why are we extending it until 2060? I agree with it. It revitalized areas that desperately needed it, but $60 million for the former Institute of Texas Culture's land is not a necessary investment. Why are we talking about tying up another generation of property tax growth help purchase land for this Spurs arena and finance even more projects you know she's the mayor's also right on another point the Spurs ownership should put more of its money into the land and infrastructure required for its new arena Graciela pointed out the vast wealth of Michael Dell and how he's so quickly doling it out to certain entities, but not when it comes to his ownership in the Spurs. Every dollar that we devote to arena related infrastructure is a dollar that could be going to streets, sidewalks, drainage, parks, and long neglected neighborhoods. I support the Spurs. Again, I'm a fourth generation San Antonian. I want them downtown. I want them thriving. It's good for the community, but at what cost? And again, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Supporting the Spurs does not mean requiring San Antonio taxpayers to accept whatever financing package City Hall puts in front of us. Again, I feel disrespected. I feel like there's people that think we're stupid and we're not. We see what's happening and we see that billionaires are being subsidized every day. Make the private beneficiaries put more skin in the game. Protect our limited public dollars and prove to the public that this is the best deal San Antonio can get before committing us through 2060. Finally, Let's also remember studies and data over the past 15, 20 years have demonstrated time and time again that professional sports franchises, new stadium builds do not produce significant lasting local economic impacts after construction is complete. Yes, there will be a surge of construction related jobs, blue collar, engineers, et cetera, but those jobs are time specific and go away after the stadium is built. Once the stadium is open, the majority of sustained jobs are blue collar, minimum wager, slightly above hospitality and food industry type jobs that one almost is always less than full time and employed without any benefits. Be careful what you vote for. We're all paying attention. Thank you.

Martin Gutierrez. And to confirm, there's another Martin Gutierrez, Jr. You're the same person. Okay. Followed by Anissa Avina and then Don and Latios. You have three minutes. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Martin Gutierrez and I serve as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy for the San Antonio Board of Realtors. SABOR represents more than 14,000 realtors, nearly 4,600 who live within the city of San Antonio limits. and who sell the city of San Antonio every day. And I'm here to express our support for item number 20. From a real estate perspective, we see this as a strategic investment that can help unlock the long term potential for our urban core. It is also important to recognize the history behind this property. UTSA has been planning for a new permanent home for the Institute of Texas Culture since 2021, including a modern facility with greater accessibility and opportunities for new partnerships. This decision to sell the hemisphere property was part of that long term plan. The city's proposed acquisition provides an opportunity to put this strategically located property to productive use as part of a larger sports and entertainment district, which helps generate new private investment in economic activity downtown. That means new housing, commercial development, increased property values, and ultimately a stronger tax base for San Antonio. ATERS is designed to capture growth in property values and reinvest that growth to encourage further development. Item 20 puts that tool to work on a significant downtown property. Saber Billy's responsible investment today can create greater economic opportunity and a stronger tech space tomorrow. On behalf of Saber, we respectfully ask you to support item 20. Thank you.

Thank you. Anissa Avena, please. Followed by Don and Latios and then Seema Kyram.

Good afternoon, council members and the mayor. I believe I saw some of you during the midtown first meeting last week. However, I will once again reiterate my name is Anissa and I'm a Texas A&M University San Antonio student from District 10. This summer, through the San Antonio Ambassador Summer Internship Program, I was matched with Brackenridge Park Conservancy to act as their first natural resource management intern, a role the Conservancy has never had a dedicated position for. Most nationally recognized parks with Conservancies have a natural resources department. These departments act as stewards of their parks' ecological health. They conduct surveys, monitor the grounds, and program volunteer events to promote balance between recreation and preservation. During my internship, I pioneered this role by initiating a recurring volunteer event to remove invasive bamboo from the park. Through partnerships with the San Antonio Zoo and Gardopia Gardens, a local nonprofit, That Bamboo finds new life as food and enrichment for zoo animals and as tree sticks and community projects. More of this kind of work is possible with the right investment, and it's just one example of what TUR's allocation makes possible for Breckenridge Park operations. Beyond natural resources coming from a native San Antonian, Breckenridge Park is one of San Antonio's oldest and most cherished public parks by generations past and still to come. Its future currently depends on the sustained support of donors its partners, and the city, all while remaining open to everyone, regardless of income or zip code. Tourist funding ensures Brackenridge Park can continue to expand free, community-driven programming, from the park's iconic Easter weekend celebration to the hit success of Disco Alfresco at Sunken Garden Theater this summer. These events vitally connect inner-city San Antonians to nature and to no- or low-cost fun. I ask City Council to pass the full $10 million tourist allocation for Breckenridge Park Conservancy so this park's outreach may grow alongside our city. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Dawn Ann Laudios, followed by Seema Khairam, and then Sissy Yaddo, please.

Good afternoon, Council. And mayor, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. My name is Dawn and Latias, and I'm the executive director of the Texas restaurant association, San Antonio chapter. I'm here today on behalf of our local restaurant and hospitality community to express our support for item number 20. San Antonio's restaurants don't operate in a vacuum. Our success is directly connected to the strength of our tourism economy, our downtown, our convention business. and our ability to create destinations that bring people into the urban core to include our local community. We see the sports and entertainment district as an investment in the continued growth of downtown San Antonio, our community, and most importantly, our people. When we bring more people downtown for conventions, major events, entertainment, or simply to spend a weekend in our city, they don't just visit one destination. They eat at our restaurants, they enjoy the local bar scene and stay in our hotels. They visit local businesses and they support thousands of San Antonians who make their living in the hospitality industry. That matters, particularly at a time when restaurants continue to face rising costs and pressures on already thin margins. The restaurant industry is built on traffic. We need people coming downtown, staying longer, and spending money at locally owned businesses. This is also exactly what a TERS is intended to do. Use the growth generated within an area to make investments that can help generate additional economic activity and taxable value. For our members, this is about more than one piece of property. It is about continuing to invest in a downtown that is active, competitive, and capable of attracting visitors, our local community, and investment for decades to come. On behalf of the San Antonio chapter of the Texas Restaurant Association, I respectfully ask you to support item number 20. Thank you for your time and to your service to our city of San Antonio.

Thank you. Seema Khairam. And then our final speaker is Sissy Yaddo.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. My name is Seema Khairam and I'm a member of the Midtown Tours Advisory Board and co-chair of the Removing Barriers Subcommittee to the Housing Commission and also a River Road resident, so I live directly adjacent to the Tours. I'd like to express my opposition to items 1 and 3 within this resolution, which includes the extension of the Tours to 2060 as well as using Midtown Tours funds to fund the acquisition of the ITC site for the use of the NBA arena. Tourist funds are meant to invest in infrastructure in blighted and underdeveloped areas as a means to spur economic growth. When you look at the Pearl, River North, and the Broadway corridor, the Midtown Tours has been a success story. I believe that it has served its purpose. Now the zone faces the opposite challenge of gentrification and displacement. Pertaining to item 4, which is about the project plan and finance plan, the board has a project plan that was approved by council in 2022. Its stated purpose was to focus funding on the four city-owned cultural institutions and affordable housing in the zone. I believe that the three proposals that come today around the cultural institutions meet that plan and should be funded according to that plan that was approved by you all in 2022. However, I've also seen the board vote against its mission several times. For example, in 2024, the church provided $8 million to fund the two new bridges at the Pearl. That investment was technically considered public infrastructure, but I assume many would agree that that type of investment doesn't meet the standard of infrastructure improvements that are going to bring up a blighted area. The Pearl can fund its own infrastructure investments connecting one part of its campus to a new part of its campus. the TERS You know, this is an example the TERS lacks transparency and accountability Unlike other funding processes of the city the affordable housing bond has a rigorous evaluation standards The general obligation bond has 30 person bond committees but the TERS allocates millions of dollars which are negotiated behind closed doors and only come to the TERS once they've been kind of fully fleshed out as ideas an extension of the TERS to the 2060 generates millions of dollars beyond the commitments that you're going to fund today as you consider this item I would encourage council to consider adding an amendment to create strict guidelines within the TERS project plan for any future funds specifically I propose that you ask the board to create binding guidelines that require future dollars to be spent on Legacy homeowners and businesses who are struggling to remain in the neighborhood amid rising costs and create affordable housing and small business opportunities for lower income residents. Proposed anti-displacement guidelines should be specific and tailored to the zone, not just generic references to the ship or displacement assessment. And city staff should be use these you know required to use these guidelines through advanced projects Before the board I believe if we if you all did this it would be a more equitable tool.

Thank you Sissy Otto Sissy Otto, okay. It was our final speaker. I Is there a motion and a second for approval so we may begin council discussion?

I make a motion to approve.

There's a motion and a second to approve. Council member core. It's not she virtual or she's not here. Okay, council member monkey up.

Go ahead Thank you mayor and thank you to everybody who came out here today to speak on this issue It's certainly a lot of community attention to this. So I think certainly Ending this tours before 2060 could be a very prudent decision considering our constraints and and the work that's already been done in the Midtown tours and So at this point I'd like I'd move to amend item 20 to require city staff To present a midtown tourist finance plan an updated extension ordinance that allows financing of current projects with appropriate financial buffers So that financing obligations are completed and the midtown tours can end before 2060. I

I'm going to paraphrase that. There's a motion and a second to amend the item so that staff comes back with a finance plan that essentially flushes it out and allows the projects to be funded. Correct? All of the projects funded? Is that correct, Councilman?

kind of expand on the motion, but it says financing obligations are completed and the Midtown Tours can end before 2060. Okay.

Can I ask a question, Mayor? Just two points of clarification. Go ahead. We've read the first part of that. Again, please, Councilman.

Yeah, let me restate the entire motion. Move to amend item 20 to require city staff to present a Midtown Turst finance plan, an updated extension ordinance that allows financing of current projects with appropriate financial buffers so that financing obligations are completed and the Midtown Turst can end before 2016.

so two questions uh two or two points of clarification one is that contingent on the approval of the item today and then two like we talked about uh you know the additional financial uh flexibility that you're referring to in there last week we did present as part of the budget work session on tours that we are ongoing with jones street development we are not completed with that we're still doing due diligence Is that included in that amount? Because ultimately, and maybe this is helpful for the rest of the council, we still have to, if you approve today's item, we still have to bring the financing back to you. So what I'm hearing you say is when we bring the financing back to you for consideration, squeeze down the time, essentially.

Yes, so it's early. And it's yes to your two points because as the mayor pointed out during public comment, there is a substantial balance that it would be remain up to through 2060 that is not committed and so we want to make I want to make sure that that's pulled back as much as possible uh with the approval today so hopefully that's clarifying enough

Understood and what we will what I what I'm taking from that is that we will thread the needle because as Ben said and Troy said While there's a it appears there's balance. We haven't done the financing but but But we've got to bring you all the financing for approval. So you'll see that and we'll be more definitive in those in those dates 30 more transparency than we currently have.

Thank you.

I

not only the projects that have been identified, so that's the zoo, that's the Breckenridge, that's the botanical gardens, as well as the arena, the ITC land rather, as well as now the Jones property.

that that was my point of clarification because that's the only other project that we're working on that's not done okay so we're not completed with that so i wanted to make sure whether i wanted to make sure that you whether or not whether we stop working on that or we include that in that analysis that the council was asking for

For clarity, though, that Jones item was just an item for kind of TBD at the Jones, excuse me, at the TERS board meeting. That's not an item that was included as part. So are we now adding that to this finance plan from this dais without any analysis?

No, I don't think that's what the council. I don't want to speak for the council, but I don't think my point of clarification was as he's referring to projects, are we are we including what we presented to you all last week in the budget work session that we are also working on Jones Street? And is that we've got to bring that? That's got to frankly, that's got to go to the board and then it's got to come to council. Do we assume that that that we keep working on that and include that in that analysis that the council was asking for?

Councilman Munguia, is that your intention that they continue looking at the finance? One second. Look at financing for the MMD, the Jones MMD?

Yes, that's current projects as presented to us and to the Midtown Tours Board.

to be very clear I don't think it was presented to the board there wasn't a list of projects I mean Veronica please just clarify for us what was presented my understanding of that meeting is that it was a this is a kind of a TBD this is something that we'd come back to you too so there's not a list of projects and I want to make sure there's clarity on that point because what they could come back to come back with is something that would extend that I mean you might get to

2055 I don't know the estimate of the projects from the Jones from the Jones Jones project which is why we need to understand what that actually entails would you please clarify what was presented sure so last week during our department budget work session we mentioned that that was a project that was to be determined just like the lone star brewery project and what was shared with the Midtown Tours board again there was no amount proposed timeline proposed just that it was something to be determined

but no amounts or included and definitely not one of the action items for today and Eric just a point of clarification all the different finance plans as you'll bring back will have to be voted on individually Yes, sir, and as we do projects just right and so if the council decided to turn down that plan that you all are gonna work on That could make it shorter It could make it the time difference if we wanted to vote down all of those projects to come back to us with the finance plans Obviously that would mean that the midtown tours could be yes and it's shorter.

Yes for clarity, I mean There's also a different way in which you could do this. Instead of it being a yes until it's a no, it could be a no until you've actually justified what you want to have invested in. You could do it that way as well. I mean, as has been very clear, there is buffer even just to pay for the arena. If you took out the three projects, you have enough in there to go to 2041 and just pay for the arena. The other projects you could also scale back instead of 10 million for the animal hospital at the zoo, that could be 7 million. That could be 6 million. You wrap in those finance costs, all of a sudden, everything's taken care of in 20 by 2041. And so I understand, you know, folk really want to give $10 million to these projects. I think they're a community gem, but when you look at some of the other things and, and the, you know, intellectual gymnastics that we're having to do here, when we don't have exactly the numbers that justify forgoing all of these property taxes. So please restate your motion, Councilman. Do you need Eric to read it?

I got it right here. I move to amend item 20 to require city staff to present a Midtown Tours finance plan and updated extension ordinance that allows financing of current projects with appropriate financial buffers so that financing obligations are completed and the Midtown Tours can end before 2060.

There's already a second. Thank you, Council. Okay. Okay. So we'll begin discussion on the amendment. Please sign in if you'd like to speak on this item. This is just the amendment. Yeah. Thank you. Councilman White, this is on the amendment, Councilman White? Yes. Okay, go ahead.

Yeah, thanks, Mayor. I want to thank Councilman Munguia because he's been at the forefront of trying to find really a solution here to the conversation that we've been having over the past few weeks. I support the amendment. I want to join him, though, in making sure that we do include the Jones project In in what staff comes back with in terms of the financing Again, I think these tears are extremely valuable in promoting Development growth revenue jobs for our community and so I am in support of the amendment and look forward to approving this today And also like to speak on the amendment councilwoman core, please

Thanks, Mayor. I want to thank Council Member Munguia also for helping to figure out how we could get to more folks to a yes on this today. I just have a couple of questions because at the Midtown Tours board meeting on Friday, one of the things we talked about was actually creating goals and priorities for the Midtown Tours. to include what we would want to support for housing. One of the things that Justina sent out on Friday was our emergency preparedness plan and I had asked her about funding right now. Their plan takes away a million and a half dollars from NHSD's major minor home rehab program for this upcoming fiscal year. And so I was hoping that we could have that conversation around taking those dollars from the Midtown Tours and cash that we have open. but the process that we laid out on Friday by the board members was to have the goals and priorities setting session for the Midtown Tours board members that that would then go to the board to approve and then that would guide the future spending of dollars. If we were to vote on this amendment today, can someone tell me if we would be able to still use any of those funds that are in the Midtown Tours for the programs that we know that we need to support right now?

Councilman based on my understanding of the amendment we're going to take the finance plan and if you all approve the projects today we would build a finance plan that Pays those off as quickly as possible The what you just mentioned in terms of that project and funding that home repair Isn't a current project in deters, so we wouldn't pick it up in this analysis. I

unless you'd like to propose a friendly amendment to the Councilman Munguia's

okay um is that okay if i um i well then um let me let me let my colleagues speak and i'm going to write the language but essentially the other thing that we also uh asked for last friday was figuring out at what point we could do more housing like if we were to take out housing debt at what point we would have the capacity to take out housing debt from either any of the tours and particularly the midtown tours and those were information asks that I had requested come back to the TUR so that we could discuss. Would I need to add that too to the amendment so that when it comes back?

for clarity purposes I would so that we're all clear what what needs to be done and then we can take into consideration all those elements as part of the financing plan but also incorporate um the board conversation that that that you set up or that that was talked about last week My suggestion is for clarity purposes that we'd be very clear on what we're gonna do with with the marching orders and and know that the finance plan comes back with those things included and options for the council to consider right you could you could There are options for you all to consider at that later date.

Okay, I'm gonna write that real quick So I'm not just fumbling around on the word.

I think Liz is over there writing it right now. So back

Councilman McKee Rodriguez, please. Please raise your hands. There's something wrong with the system.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Munguia. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Councilmember Munguia, for the amendment and the thought and really working to try to get us to a solid point here. I do feel like it's become convoluted and a little bit more complicated than needed or desired. I would support... Reducing the length so that all four of the projects can be done, an amendment that would do that. I feel like adding in Jones is premature and I'm not sure that we as a body would do that anyway. And so amending our finance plan around a project that we are not approving today and that we don't have any details about is problematic to me. and then now adding in flexibility for affordable housing. It's almost, we're walking ourselves so far back that we might as well just leave everything exactly the way it is and just say that we want to, we'd like to prioritize affordable housing. I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think that's a good idea. But then everybody who applies anyway is likely going to get their dollars, so at this point I don't. And then couple that with the fact that I'm inclined to vote no on the item to begin with, so even supporting an amendment feels a little disingenuous on me. I might, I'll support whatever it is so we get closer to a better deal, but I'm ultimately voting no on the final item, so I don't know what that helps.

Liz, may I offer a friendly amendment to Councilman Munguia's amendment, which is an option that helps us understand how we would fund all of the projects, well, excuse me, all of the projects, one, the ITC, and then what level of funding would be needed inclusive of their debt and financing for the other projects, and then what does that look like to end by 2041?

So mayor that sounds like.

As part of the finance as part of the RFI that he's asked for.

Can I so we only allowed 2 amendments on one item so since I asked first in my able with the body allow me to make my amendment. Yes, that's fine.

Okay.

Okay, so I motion to amend into the finance plan everything that Councilmember Munguia listed out, including housing programs and potential housing bond previously discussed with the Midtown Tours Board. Councilman seconded. Castillo seconded. Okay.

There's a motion and a second.

Just to clarify, Mayor, if I may, Councilman McGee, is that accepted or do you anticipate a separate vote on the amendment? That's accepted, thank you. So we have one amendment to the motion that it captures Councilwoman.

And I'm so sorry. Can Councilman Dr. Kaur repeat that? I just want to make sure I'm following.

Go ahead. I amend the motion to include everything mentioned by Councilmember Munguia, including housing programs and a potential housing bond previously discussed with the Midtown Tours Board. So essentially, the emergency housing program small-scale rental rehab and Potential housing bond were the three that I brought up on Friday and that we've discussed with in previously that I'd like to See like basically come back with options for those Point of clarification how would that how would that work though if if the intent is to understand when those projects could end earlier if you're adding in those additional items and

It could extend beyond that.

What do you mean by that exactly? When we come back for approval of the actual finance plan for ITC, they could present options where they said if we close it without adding any of the other programs for emergency preparedness, all those three that I mentioned, emergency preparedness, small-scale rental rehab, or affordable housing, if we did none of those, we would be able to finish all of the funding by 2050 or whatever it is, and we would have a remainder of... 60 million that would be able to put back in the general fund at that point because all of the reserves that are staying there for debt coverage could come back to general fund at that point alternatively they could present us with the saying if you wanted to add in emergency preparedness and use half of what we have in cash right now we would need to extend to this point because we want to use those dollars and so and maybe ben i'm sorry you could probably explain it better than me

So I think based on the feedback that we've heard so far, I think what we would do is we would come back with the finance plan that's got options in there for you. You know, everything from take the current projects as they are today, show you what that looks like, and then we start to layer in an affordable housing bond. It probably wouldn't be in this first tranche. We talked about how tight it is, but start to layer those in. to meet both objectives, shorten the duration of the TERS, but meet the things that you just talked about, Councilwoman. The emergency housing program, at least as I understand it, wouldn't be debt financed. I think really what we're talking about is there is cash in this TERS. We may need some of that to put the financing together, but we may shake a little bit of that loose as we get through that process. That could easily go towards that because it would be cash funded and we get it out of the debt side. So I think it's going to be some options that we bring to you all that allow you to look at those priorities along with how fast do you want us to try to end this tourist.

And for clarity, as we're talking about affordable housing and the bond there, extending this TERS, how does it, just a yes or no, does it increase or does it decrease our bond capacity for 2027? If we extended the TERS to 2060 or even just, for example, say 2050, does that reduce our capacity for the 2027 bond? No. Councilman Galvan, please.

Thank you, Mayor. There's just a lot going on. But that's, I mean, I'll just say first before I go into anything else, my honest reaction is this is exactly why, this is actually the problem with tours that I have. We have separate pots of money for separate little islands in our city that go to a separate board that come back to us and then we debate them sometimes. and we unravel them when it could have just been that same pot of money in our general fund coming here during our budget conversations. That's always what this could have been. That being said, we're here. We're on this topic. I will always have my frustrations with TERS in general. But, you know, I think, let me ask just some clarifying really quick. I'm inclined to support this just in the matter of making sure that we are able to get the financing details that we need. When do we expect, I don't know if this question is for Eric, or when would we expect this to come back to us, the full financing plan for us to vote on?

probably be certainly before the end of the year okay and I think yes certainly before the end of the year okay and well the board review that first was gonna come straight to us the Midtown enters board it'll come straight to you okay

I mean, I guess another, just to clarify, is it going to be a similar kind of view as the one that we're looking at today, the paper sheet, the kind of broken down by each project within the total financing plan, or is it, how's it going to be presented, I guess? I know I'm reading too much into it, but I'm just asking if we're going to be able to clearly see which project, how much the total cost is, and therefore how much capacity we need, all of the above.

It'll be similar and it'll be kind of like what Ben just described.

The different options and everything. Yes.

So you've got options and plug and play.

Okay. Yeah. Got it. Well, that's helpful. I mean, I don't think I'll speak any more beyond this one on the main motion either, but I just want to be clear. More so than I thought I would receive, residents reached out to the District 6 field office and let us know their thoughts on this conversation. A lot of questions at neighborhood meetings about what TURs are and everything of the sort, because District 6 doesn't have any TURs. What does that mean in terms of how this all works? I can see a little bit of an understanding of where tourism can be helpful when we talk about investing in infrastructure in places that did not receive infrastructure for a long time. Maybe there's a catalog development going on that can help benefit the entire area. That's great. My constant question has always been, when does this reinvestment at some point just become continued investment into the next level of this area. I think about all the neighborhoods in District 6, no matter their value, no matter their property wealth, no matter anything of the sort, their history here in our city, have to contribute fully to the general fund and wait for those projects to come back, that tax dollars to come back around to the services, especially in large capital projects, right, thinking about our bond capacity. These are incredible projects. I mean, spoke with each of the entities before over the last year or so and had a good conversation about what they're looking to do. And I mean, they're beautiful, right? I would appreciate being able to go there one day to some of these great projects. I would also appreciate being able to see more than $600,000 be invested in Cuellar Park over the last 10 years, District 6, from the bond capacity that we have. It's just very frustrating to see one part of town continue to get the same or double, triple, quadruple the amount of money, not only from a TERS, but then a bond, but then something else too, while District 6 residents have to wait for a senior senator to never come, or feel like it's never coming, wait for improvements to a center that's been around, or a community center that's been around since the 1980s, and have gotten less than a million dollars over the last two bond cycles. I was 17 when they got, like, it's crazy to think about some of this, the way this is working. I'm expressing my frustration just because I think this is just what speaks to the concern that people have, and academic researchers and financiers have about TURs, is just that this is where it becomes cloudy and muddy. And I think it frustrates folks more when we look at even larger projects, right? And we're talking about the ITC, of course, and just how much that's going to be and how much investment that is into, again, one small area with other places that deserve reinvestment too. Does that mean we need TURs everywhere? No, that's not my intention to description here. I think if we TURs all the data centers in District 6, I think people have a lot of problems with how it would impact our budget. We don't do that, right? And so it's just a matter of, okay, well, at what point do we start investing in our community and making a decision as a body to invest in our community that is left behind. It's a conscious decision we're making here every single time. It's not a separate entity here that's doing X, Y, and Z. It comes back to us, and we're still doing it. And so I would appreciate one day that this council will largely, this body at some point would say, we'll bring this money back in. We'll be able to debate it fully instead of separating it out, these tiny little islands that we can then find funding for some of the wealthiest institutions in our community or wealthiest areas in our community. Anyway, thank you, Mary.

Thank you. Council Member Spears, please.

Thanks, Mayor. I need to add some complication here. Could you help me understand how we can evaluate the cost of service on all of the tours, Eric, and how that impacts what we're talking about right now?

I don't think it impacts the current conversation. It could impact future considerations. And I think the cost of service is, and I mentioned this to the mayor yesterday, we talked about this last summer when we did the budget work session on TERS. I do think that there may be some value to determining what is the appropriate cost of service for police or libraries or fire or EMS or code compliance that city-initiated TURs should contribute back. I also think there's different levels of TURs. There are There are some that are still in junior status, and I'm not sure that the application, I'm not sure if we did the analysis, I'm not sure the application of a cost of service study percentage to them would be the same versus some of our larger ones. But that's a conversation that you all could have. I think it's worthy of us as we go through the fiscal year 27, figuring out what that balance is. Several of you have raised this issue sort of in the past, and I think given, regardless of whether a tourism's in 2031 or 2060, there's an appropriate level of return back to home base, home base being the general fund which provides the streets, the police, the fire, and that type of stuff. So that's something that I've considered doing as a work effort this year in 27, and appreciate any feedback from you all on that.

Well, I know I would like to see that evaluation across all of the TURs to the extent it's applicable. as we go through that, what that metric looks like. That's all I really had was a question.

Council Member Castillo, please. Thank you. Speaking specifically to the amendment and the friendly amendment, I think there's shadowboxing and there's aimlessly swinging in the air. And I appreciate the strategy in which the amendment and the friendly amendment that is being put forth for us to determine and the board to discuss what that strategy looks like. I value the opportunity to potentially invest in more deeply affordable housing. And then, of course, with the response to the disaster that we experienced this past weekend. I understand you all have identified funding. I'm grateful for how quickly you all pulled that together. But again, thinking about, for example, the laterals to the people, shifting those dollars, I know it's urgent and we do have the responsibility to act quickly, but there's still going to be the need to connect folks to the laterals to ensure that water can go in and out and sewage can go in and out as well. I do think there is value with the TERS considering how it can contribute to that fund, but also just in regards to deeply affordable housing as a whole. So I'll be supporting the amendments. Thank you.

Council Member Villagran, please.

Thank you. And I'll just speak to the amendments and to the main motion. I think what we have here is we have a conversation about tax increment reinvestment zones, but we have a lot of confusion and ideals that we want to see, and that is because The of the nine city initiated tours truly Midtown and inner-city are getting to the point where we need to consider when we do sunset these tours and so I appreciate Councilman Munguia's efforts to identify how do we do this and how do we do this strategically making sure that while we still have the tours we get critical projects done and when we talk about why are we doing this this doesn't seem fair it should be general fund well that is because years ago this city moved towards an equity lens and when they moved towards the equity lens parts of six parts of eight and parts of nine started missing out And then we looked at our TURs to kind of meet that. So it was like, because we did a decade of downtown, we all remember the decade of downtown. So I think right now what we're seeing is two TURs in particular with 10 million plus in and spending a lot of money, which I'm going to brag on the next one about how they're using their TURs, is making sure that we are being strategic on how we do this. When you come up and you tell me, for my dollar, you give me $30 back, that's huge. For my dollar, you give me 40-something dollars back, that's huge. When the Conservancy comes up and says, we're free, and you've been able to do what you did with Mira Flores, that's huge. But we do need to look at a way that we can start taking some of the money back to pay for our police, for our fire and for our drainage. The other is, if we look at the city-initiated TURs, and that's why I would hope we could get a whole map up here to see it, is that I've got the west side TURs, and we've got Lone Star coming up, and they are gonna need help. The infrastructure is just not there. It is just so old. so i don't i think there's a larger conversation about what we do if you look at my tours which will look at mission san jose i have affordable housing to the left of me and the right of me what i need is businesses and to come in i need commerce to come in so people have jobs there in that neighborhood it's different for each city initiated tours i think it works But I think we are at the point, which I think this city should congratulate themselves on, that we are at the point where we need to think about when do we sunset? When do we ease off? When do we give this back to the general fund? Right now, we are not sidelining the money. We are not foregoing money. It's going back into specific districts. But is it time those specific districts give back to the general fund as we move forward? And I think I look forward to those conversations. The one thing Ben and Troy I'm going to ask, and I don't think this needs to be a friendly, is we do need to look at the TURs. We do need to look at the transportation and what that does for public transportation and VIA is they continue to do development and how that impacts the small businesses in around the line that we get that done in. Because I think I think there's potential for TERS to help there with the small business development. But again, some of the things TERS were created to do and that they do in my district, major roadway improvements, water and wastewater system upgrades, drainage and stormwater infrastructure, intersection improvements, utility relocation or expansion, Public transportation infrastructure. And I know it's easy to say these companies aren't doing that, but some of these companies are coming in and they're providing that through the developers are coming in and they're doing some of that work. The thing is, are the TERS boards asking them to do more? And maybe that's the thing we also need to do. So I look forward to supporting this today. I look forward to talking about TERS. I think they work. So I'll try not to be as long on the other two items. Thank you. Councilman Munguia, please.

Thank you, Mary. I just want to add real quick. I've heard a lot of the concerns that, of course, residents have brought up and my colleagues, including Councilman Speer. So I do want to ask Justina and Veronica that at either this upcoming PCDC meeting that we look at the cost of service item for TERS. They will look at the board makeup of TERS and possibly policy amendments based on the conversation. So there's a lot of work still to be done. Thank you.

Is there any other discussion on the amendment?

Mayor, one point of clarification. I want to correct myself. The financing plans do have to go to the boards, but what I'm suggesting is that before we do that, we come back to the council in a B session setting to lay it all out before we have that board conversation. And frankly, that gives you all an opportunity in a non-voting situation to provide some feedback before it's agendized on either the board or the council agenda.

The clerk has asked for clarification on the motion and who seconded it. So please restate the motion. Do you have what you need? Do you have what you need? Okay.

Mayor.

Madam Clerk, I'm happy to work with you on making sure we have the the amendment as amended that was added reflecting D1's language properly recorded. So we have one amendment to the motion.

Okay. Correct. We're able to do that. We're able to vote on all of it at the same time. Correct, Liz?

We have one amendment to vote on, and then we have the main motion as amended to vote on. So two votes, but we do not have two amendment votes in addition to the motion.

So right now we're taking up the amendment as amended by Councilwoman Corr. Okay.

Mayor, I do have one point of clarification. Thank you. Just so we're clear, Eric, nothing in this amendment slows or requires any sort of revote on the current projects.

That are on the agenda, Councilman? Yes. Correct.

It'll just be the Jones that will have to be coming back at some point for an official vote.

That has to come back regardless, yes.

Yes, okay. But nothing slows or stops the current projects? No, sir. Got it. All right. Thanks, Mayor.

I think for public clarity, please clerk capture, say, the thing that we are going to vote on so there's clarity on it. Or if you need Liz to do that.

You want me to read it, Mayor?

Liz or the clerk, please.

So with respect to the amendment, It's a motion to amend item 20 to require city staff to present a Midtown TURS finance plan and updated extension ordinance that allows financing of current projects with appropriate financial buffers so that financing obligations are completed and the Midtown TURS can end before 2060 and to include in the finance plan housing programs, potential housing bond previously discussed with the Midtown TURS board.

Thank you, Liz. Okay. Okay, there's a motion and a second on the amendment as read. Please vote. Oh, it's not coming up. Oh, no, no. For the public's edification, we'll do a voice vote, please.

Council Member Kaur. Aye. Council Member McKee-Rodriguez.

Aye.

Councilmember Villagran. Aye. Councilmember Munguia. Aye. Councilmember Castillo. Aye. Councilmember Galvan. Aye. Councilmember Alderete-Gavito. Aye. Councilmember Mesa-Gonzalez. Aye. Councilmember Speers. Aye. Aye. Councilmember White. Aye. Mayor Jones. No.

The motion passes. So now we vote on the main motion as amended. Thank you. Any further discussion on the main motion as amended? Okay. Go ahead, Councilman Kaur.

I just wanted to thank all of our partners that came out to speak today and the folks that are here supporting our cultural corridor partners. You know, it's interesting. We just had a really good discussion about economic development yesterday and what economic development means. And some of my colleagues said we don't actually do enough for economic development. And I think it's because economic development is such a broad term and how you define that. can be different for each individual. For some, that might mean giving more incentives to companies from Taiwan from coming into the city. And for some, that might mean supporting Toyota's expansion. For some, that might mean really ensuring that we are funding the number one. Chris was at the Tenters meeting a little while ago. Why can't we have the number one park in San Antonio? And I thought that's such an important thing to reiterate. And I hear Council Member Galvan's points around making sure we have that for all of our community. But at the same time, I also think sometimes that when we have these really precious jewels, folks from everywhere can try to get there if we provide the right transportation, which I know some folks mentioned, too, about what we're doing there. So all of that to be said, there's a lot of different ways to look at economic development and economic impact, and investing in our cultural corridor partners that provide such great opportunities, particularly for the kids, which I absolutely love seeing. Going to enjoy all of those spaces is really important. So I'm proud to support this. This was, in my mind, a way to help free up some bond dollars that are already going to be tight. We couldn't have projected how tight they would be, but at least you all will go and not only just use that $10 million, but you're going to double, triple, quadruple that impact, and that's what we want to see for all of our projects. So good luck with the fundraising, and I'm happy to support you all today. Thanks, Mayor.

Would anyone else like to speak on the main motion as amended? Okay. Uh, thank you to everybody that, that came to speak today. Uh, certainly that would, those that would, um, benefit from it as well as those that spoke so eloquently about the challenges with this financial construct. Um, you know, it's not lost on me earlier. We were, um, you know, celebrating the beginning of national Hispanic heritage month. and in a community that is the most economically segregated in the community, unfortunately, that also falls along racial and ethnic lines. And it's hard to look at some of the projects that are being considered here and the great effort to accommodate those when I think about, and all of us on this dais can think about neighborhoods in our own community that would not be afforded that same luxury Heritage of Marbach could not do what Jones MMD is going to do, which is pay for their own infrastructure and then bring the bill back to somebody else and say, hey, please, can you reimburse us for this? in a city where, again, living south of Highway 90, your life expectancy is 20 years lower than if you live north of that. That is why we have to interrogate these financial structures and really understand, is the best thing really the animal hospital at the zoo, or maybe it's something else, especially when you look at the great need in our community, but also the ability of those institutions to fundraise individually, as well as, if needed, dip into their own assets. Because as was just described, there is sufficient financial capacity in the TURs currently to cover not only the arena, but even if you wanted to scale down just a little bit. So the Breckenridge Park just got a little bit less, or the zoo just got a little bit less. You could do all of that by 2041. And then we could have that money back into the general fund to do all the things that we just described as important to our community. In my mind, there's no other way to say it than as bluntly as, you know, extending this TERS and some of the things that are being considered is the modern day redlining. There's a motion and a second to approve the main motion as amended. Please vote. The system's still not working. Please do a voice vote.

Council Member Korn. Aye. Council Member Mickey Rodriguez. Nay. Council Member Villagran. Aye. Council Member Munguia.

Aye.

Council Member Castillo. Abstention. Council Member Galvan.

Abstention.

Councilmember Alderete-Gavito. Aye. Councilmember Mesa-Vanzales. Aye. Councilmember Speers. Aye. Councilmember White. Aye. Mayor Jones. No. Motion passes seven.

The motion passes seven to four. We'll take a 10 minute break. Okay. We're going to reconvene. We'll begin with item number 21. Item 21 was pulled by Councilmember Villagran for individual consideration. Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item number 21 is a public hearing and ordinance authorizing the following items related to the inner city TERS. Extending the inner city TERS to September 30th, 2060, negotiation and execution of development agreement to support the issuance of debt for up to an amount of $46 million plus financing costs for construction and design of the District 2 Senior Center and Aquatic Center and approving updated finance plan and project plan. Funding is available through the inner city TERS.

Councilmember Villagran, would you like a presentation?

I just need one slide. So for Troy to come up, I don't need a presentation unless the city staff would like a presentation. Oh, actually, okay, Troy, give the presentation. All right, presentation, no presentation. Let's get it. All right, let's get the presentation.

We're already been here for nine.

Mayor, Council, Ian Benavidez, Deputy Director for the City's Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. Item number 21 is a public hearing and ordinance authorizing the following actions related to the inner city TERS. One, extending the inner city TERS to September 30th, 2060. Two, negotiate an executed development agreement to support the issuing of debt for an amount up to 46 million plus financing costs for the construction design of a D2 senior center and aquatic center. And three, approve update finance and project plans. Here's a map of the inner city TERS. This encompasses council districts one and five. For the extension of the inner city tours, it was first designated in 2000. The extension of the inner city tours to September 30th, 2060 will support the proposed projects under consideration, provide additional flexibility and financing for future projects and align with other city initiated tours. The inner city tours board was briefed on August 7th, 2026. The approval for the request up to $46 million plus financing costs for the construction design of a senior center and aquatic center. This project has been in the works since May 2024 with the acquisition of land adjacent to Copernicus Park. Since then, Capital Delivery has worked on call to undergo a master planning for the area. The senior center design is expected to be complete in winter 2027 with construction start in winter 2028. and the aquatic center design is expected to start in winter 2027 with construction starting in winter 2029. This agreement was approved by the board on August 7th, 2026. The project plan and finance plan updates, again, these are required by Tax Increment Financing Act Chapter 311. These reflect the extension of the TERS to 2060. The project plans are to align with updated city policy, such as I say tomorrow and our ship and remove obsolete language. And our updated finance plan will include a list of projects, the total appraised values and estimated capture for those appraised values. The board adopted this project and finance plan on August 7th, 2026. Staff recommends approval.

Great.

Thank you. Is there a motion and a second for approval so we may begin discussion?

Did you hear that?

Okay. You got it? Okay. For those of my colleagues, I would like to speak on this item. Please sign in. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez.

Thank you, Mayor, and happy TURs Day, everyone. Following up on the conversation we just had about Midtown TURs, I want to explain that Midtown TURs and inner-city TURs are different. To compare the two entirely neglects the context of both zones. The inner city TERS houses 78202, 78203, and 78208, among others. And these are three of the poorest zip codes in our city. The reason the inner city TERS has generated increment is not because we have established a catalytic investment or we've accomplished our goals. It is not the same as the Midtown TERS where the corridor has been revised and is no longer blighted. There have not been, as I said, those catalytic investments to this point that structurally changed the community or gotten us closer to equity. It is the gentrification that's taken place in these areas that has generated increment. And even so, there is blight. There is a need, and we as a TURS Board have led in the creation of a set of values and priorities, including affordable housing. And to that end, we've even contributed to citywide home rehab, taking that out of the general fund in previous years. And now council is expecting these conversations that have already been had at the inner city tours board to take place in others. And now that we're at a point where we're making major investments for the community, it does not make sense to say, take this tool that can support some of the most marginalized in our community and in district two and take that resource away so that other districts can benefit from the gentrification of the East side. For that reason, I support the extension and look forward to my colleagues support. Over the past two years, we've engaged in a master planning effort at Copernicus Park to include improvements to the park, Copernicus Community Center, affordable housing for seniors, an aquatic center, and a senior center. And today I am excited for the council to approve a first of its kind investment in District 2. District 2 residents always advocate for affordable, safe activities for residents of all ages because it's something that's missing in our district. And with our votes, we'll be funding the design and construction of the aquatic center. At our budget town hall, that announcement received unanimous applause and excitement. And we're thrilled and excited to bring this amenity to the east side. In addition, we are funding a brand new senior center. And my colleagues have heard this story time and time again. Back in 2021, I began visiting the senior center on a monthly basis. And we've brought flamingos and other animals from the zoo. We've done line dancing. We've hosted drag shows and bingo and fiesta parties and Valentine's parties, holiday parties, Mardi Gras parties, all types of parties. and it's always been clear to me that what makes the district to senior center so beautiful is the people inside and from the staff to the seniors to every guest who makes their way over that is where the beauty of the senior center lies but my seniors deserve more than the least unit of a strip center next to an electrical supply and auto repair shop they deserve the best of the best And so my mission since 2021 has been to bring my seniors not just the best senior center in the city, but the best senior center in the country. And that's a competition that I want us all to be in together. This facility will set a new standard for San Antonio and open the door of what's possible for seniors across the city. And it will also become the single largest investment in a community facility in District 2's history. I'm so grateful for city staff for helping clear a path to make this possible. My district two team who stayed on this issue with me for the past five years, the housing trust who will play a role in the affordable senior housing at the site, the members of the inner city tours board past and present who have brought who have bought into this vision. And of course, my colleagues past and present who have been supportive of and with that support have made every step of this possible from the location and feasibility study back in 2022, the land purchase in 2024 to the design funding in 2025. and to this vote we're about to take to finalize this investment. Lastly, but most importantly, thank you to the seniors who inspired this vision. I hope you see that once this senior center is built, it is a love letter to each and every one of you. Right now at the D2 Senior Center, we're hosting a watch party that has been going on for a very, very long time now, and they've gotten to see much more of the meeting than I think they originally intended. And largely it was so that the seniors could be a part of this historic vote. And so for those of y'all watching, I'm sorry it's taken longer than we anticipated, but it is coming very soon. This is a project that has had over five years of community engagement with participation from hundreds of seniors and district two residents and a buy-in throughout my district. This project has also previously been supported by the interstate tours and the board enthusiastically and unanimously voted in support of the plan. What also makes this an amazing project is that Again, I mentioned it's going to be the largest investment in a community facility that has ever taken place in District 2. And so I think it's what my community deserves. It's what they've been asking for for so long. And I'm excited that we're going to be able to give that to them today. So I look forward to y'all watching at the Senior Center. I look forward to y'all getting to see the council vote yes on this item. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council Member Kaur, please.

Thank you, Mayor. I proudly also serve on the Inner City Board and have had the opportunity, which I was hoping for the Midtown Tours to get, of setting goals and priorities for the Inner City Tours. Both Council Member McKee-Rodriguez and I have been able to sit on the Inner City Tours, but neither of us were on that Midtown Tours until just recently. So, unfortunately, some of the planning that has happened in some of the other tours has not happened in Midtown. But I did also want to say that since we are having this TURS discussion, I just wanted to show the financial plan for the inner city TURS as well because there is a significant amount of dollars there that I just wanted to make sure that everyone gets to see.

Who's the back side of the presentation that had the finance plan?

As of bringing up the finance plan, this finance plan is a little bit different than what the board changed. We refined it slightly for the debt and also for the valuations to align it with the rest of the city. But in terms of walking through this slide similar to I did the other one, this operates similar function. So on the left, you have the total and actual projected tax increment. Against that tax increment, we add in any interest, we add to that. Any administrative fees are deducted. Then any projects that have been contemplated and approved by the board. In that total reimbursement to developers and projects, that's all the commitments inclusive of the $46 million in the debt for the aquatic center and the senior center. That amount, that $46 million, that results in about $71 million in total costs including the principal and the interest to support that $46 million. After you subtract those out, you have the total available for other projects you can see on an annual basis. In 2026, there's about $4.7 million. $7 million in 2027. That $1.7 million, the debt comes into play in that year. Also, we're establishing reserve for that debt as well. So that's why you see that big dip. And then it levelizes through the rest of the term, through 2060. So that's the finance plan. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thanks. I appreciate it, Troy. I just wanted to make two points. One, again, wanted to commend Council Member McHugh-Retrievers' leadership on the board, but wanted to share two things. One, anytime we do a project, we always talk about total project value and net present value. We're not saying a $46 million senior center and aquatic center is actually $75 million. So I just want to say sometimes we pick and choose which dollars we want to use in terms of how much things cost. And so anytime we take out debt there, if you think about your house payment, anytime you take out debt, your house may cost 100K when you buy it, but you're definitely going to be paying more. That's how banks make money. And so that's just one thing I wanted to note about costs of projects. The second thing I just wanted to note is that there is a significant amount of funding. And the only reason that we're extending inner city tours as well is because we were trying to match it to all of the other tours. So initially we were trying to match the same end date. So if we're no longer going to be amending them, if we're not going to be extending Midtown TURs and we want to shorten all of the TURs, I think we should do the analysis on this one too as far as what those options could look like for shortening the length of terms for the TURs as well. So those are my two requests. Thanks.

To clarify, that's a request, not a motion, correct? Okay. Okay. Councilwoman Villagran, please.

Just to clarify Eric, can we just direct you to direct Ben and Troy to look at into that? We don't have to do an amendment, do we?

You're basing it off the prior items conversation Same attributes. Yes I'll take direction from the council.

I don't think it's necessary to go through the emotion there with the amendment process process Yeah, because I I think when we find 2060 is going to be adequate I think for both but especially for the inner-city tours and if we could bring up the slide where it it shows this because if the seniors are watching I want y'all to understand what your council member just did can we bring up the slide of where it's going to go what number is that the the land that the land that the senior center is going to sit on This is what TERS is supposed to be. In District 3, which we're going to hear next, kind of providential, we'll hear about the mission drive in TERS, is I have a... A library, a Y, and the mission marquee, which is taken probably over, and I'm going to get an aquatic center next year, which is taken over 12 years. It'll take a total of 16 when it's complete, because it started in the last generation. What your councilman is doing today is he is approving a senior center to begin construction in winter of 2028 in one fell swoop because of his thoughtfulness and his insistence in terms of I do not just want a center. I want it to all come together. And so I think that you should be very excited, and he's talked about it incessantly for the last five years, about how this is going to look. And this is what TERS was created for. People want to mention redlining like it's just a term. It is not a term. It is a lived experience for me. It is a lived experience for the people in these zip codes. So that's why I definitely want to look in what we can do for the TERS. I understand people are saying we're forgoing money, we're losing money, we don't have this. No, what we're doing is we're righting wrongs from a really long time ago. And do I get sad about thinking of all the District 3 residents that are going to go to the District 2 new senior center? I do. But it is community. And I think what the council member has done and what we approved today is something that is what TERS is intended for. And as we move forward and intercity TERS is thoughtful, I think they can begin creating the framework so that for councils to come they're going to do thoughtful development so that new people can come in but that the legacy homeowners that the families are there that the seniors that are aging in place can also have a place to do this so i want to thank my council colleague for bringing this forward i think ters again is an incredible tool that we have But this one's been around for a while. But when you look at it and you're like, well, it's been around since 2000. Maybe we need that money back in the general fund. No, we don't. Because if you think about how long this city ignored the east side, the south side, and the west side, this is just the beginning. So I look forward to approving this today. I look forward to hearing what Ben and Troy have to do in terms of math and financing-wise, but I really look forward to seeing what we can do with affordable housing as we move forward. So I'll be supporting this today, and thank you all for being so patient over at the Senior Center. Thank you.

Councilmember all that I think if you don't please Thank you. I also definitely want to give kudos to councilman McKee Rodriguez. I know he's been pushing hard for this And so I'm excited that your seniors are finally getting this I agree with councilman via grounds comments and churches are not a bad thing and They do help with economic development. They help bring things like senior centers and other needed infrastructure to communities that have long been ignored. We can twist and turn those words all we want, but the chairs are working exactly as intended. I do agree with Councilman Kaur's request of Looking at the financing and seeing like if it could end earlier or not I think that's that's something that we should do with all of with all the the city initiated jurors.

Thank you Councilman white, please Yeah, I'll just echo the comments first congratulations to councilman McKee Rodriguez, this is a this is a big deal He's worked hard on it for his community and I know the residents of district 2 are gonna be enjoying that that senior center for for for really decades to come. So congratulations on that. I also agree with Councilwoman Corr. Let's agree with that directive, Eric, and see, you know, if we're gonna look at it for Midtown, let's look at it for the inner city too and see. what the timeline or the time frame for that TERS really should be. And again, I agree with the Councilwoman from District 3 on what TERSs are supposed to be for. I think the Senior Center is a good example of that. In my district, the Northeast Corridor, we're approving today the funds for those neighborhood signs to help make our entryway to the neighborhoods in District 10, you know, have some identity there and really spruce up the neighborhoods in that northeast corridor. So, you know, I think that's really the objective of the TURs, and I appreciate my colleagues supporting that today. Let's use these economic development tools to to improve our city make quality of life better for the citizens of San Antonio And I think that's what we are what we're doing today.

Thanks Thank You council member Castillo, please

I think you wanted to quickly chime in to commend Councilman McCree-Rodriguez for his leadership. Oftentimes when I'm interviewed about the impact and role of TERS, I point to your TERS as an example. Under your tenure, you've made systemic changes to your district, ensuring that the items agendized within the TERS reflect your community needs and values, and you're using your role as intended in terms of the TERS itself, right? Righting the wrongs of history and ensuring that communities that have been left behind for far too long are receiving the investment that they deserve. And as a lifelong and generational resident of San Antonio, much of my family are very proud Eastsiders, and for too long, like the Westside, communities have been neglected. and leadership matters. When we hear the conversation about the AT&T Center and communities being left behind, they have been, and they've been left behind by failed leadership that has failed to facilitate the redevelopment that you have that's been mindful, that's ensuring that you're bringing along the existing constituency along as we re-envision and redevelop the city of San Antonio. So always grateful, always pointing to your tours as an example of how it can be used as a tool to right our wrongs in history. Thank you.

Thank you. Councillor Munguia, please.

I also want to give my kudos to you, Councilman, for your work. These projects like this don't happen overnight. They take diligence and intention over years to do. You've engaged the community. It's going to have an affordable housing project with the Housing Trust, which is awesome. And it's a world-class facility, and the folks there deserve nothing less. And I just really appreciate you for doing all this. And I hope that when that is finally open I can go to the ribbon-cutting and see that I think it's gonna be phenomenal and I hope that it will also be a base for New when we do new facilities to think big and to think about what our community deserves And I think we'll be able to say I want what he has over there now.

And so thank you for moving the needle forward Councilman McKee Rodriguez on the second round

Yeah, I just wanted to be, just for Eric, just for the direction, right, and having the discussion about potential future sunsetting and whatnot. I want to be clear to my colleagues a few things that the finance plan won't project, and it's the number of requests and asks that I've had about major land acquisitions, property acquisitions, developments that could be catalytic in nature. And so there's a number of requests that I have in the pipeline and queue that aren't necessarily here. So the same way that we're treating the Jones property in Midtown, that's the way I want to view those requests and those things that are already in the pipeline. Thank you.

Councilman McKee-Rodriguez, I want to echo our colleagues' appreciation and admiration of your leadership in bringing this into fruition and aiming to set the standard for your community. I grew up on the far west side, but our church was on 410 and Rigsby. So we'd exit 90 onto Rigsby and drive that whole street. And so when you think about your leadership and what it means for that side of town, I am appreciative of your willingness to say, no, my community deserves just as good as any part of town, so thank you, and I look forward to approving this item. Okay, there's a motion and a second to approve item number 21, please vote. We'll do a voice vote, please.

Excuse me.

Council member Cora. Aye. Council member Mickey Rodriguez. Aye. Council member Villagrad. Aye. Council member Munguia.

Aye.

Council member Castillo. Aye. Council member Galvan.

Aye.

Council member Alderete-Gavito. Aye. Council member Mesa-Gonzalez. Aye. Council member Speers. Aye. Council member White. Aye. Mayor Jones. Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes.

Thank you. Item number 22 is our final item. This item was pulled by Councilman McKee Rodriguez. Madam Clerk, please read the caption.

Item 22 is a public hearing and ordinance authorizing the following items related to mission drive inters, extending mission drive inters to September 30th, 2060. negotiation and execution of a development agreement for amount up to 1.8 million dollars for these district 3 aquatics facility negotiation and execution of a funding agreement for an amount of seven hundred and fifty one thousand six hundred and sixty eight dollars for a pavilion at the World Heritage Center negotiation and execution of a funding agreement and the amount of up to forty five thousand dollars for a closed-circuit television system in the San Antonio missions Historical Park and and approving updated finance plan and project plan. Funding for these agreements is available through the Mission Drive inters.

Councilmember, would you like a staff presentation? No, okay. Okay, and we don't have any members of the public signed up to speak on this item. Okay, is there a motion and a second to approve this item so we may begin discussion?

I make a motion to approve.

Okay, there's a motion and a second to approve. Councilman McKee-Rodriguez, you're recognized.

Congratulations, Councilwoman.

Thank you. Okay. Would you like to speak? Go ahead, Councilwoman. Go ahead. I did not have him pull this so I could talk about the World Heritage Festival, but since it got pulled, we are approving things for the World Heritage Festival. As I mentioned, this has taken years. Our Aquatic Center is finally happening. That's going to be there. We've got an event tonight. Come do the 5k tomorrow council members. You all got your t-shirts, but we again are trying to do the 2060 I don't know if you want to look at my finance plan It would be very sad if you did because we don't have a lot of money because we have been waiting since the 2017 bond to start on Roosevelt and we have it but once we do I My hope is that I've got as much money and as much investment as the Midtown and Inner City Church so that we can continue to do improvements, affordable housing there. But right now what we're doing is one project at a time. So thank you for your support, and I look forward to seeing you all at the World Heritage Festival. Thank you.

Thank you. Any of my other colleagues like to speak on this item?

Councilman Kaur, please. I just wanted to shout out Mission Heritage Partners for their work at getting security and better security for their park. Their CEO is a D1 resident, Carla Vasquez, and has been here supporting. So I just wanted to say thank you for your advocacy. Thanks, Mayor.

Thank you. Anyone else like to speak on this item? Okay. There's a motion and a second to approve item number 22. Please vote. Sorry. We'll do the voice vote, please.

Council Member Kaur. Aye. Council Member McKee-Rodriguez. Aye. Council Member Villagran. Aye. Council Member Munguia. Aye. Council Member Castillo. Aye. Council Member Galvan. Aye. Council Member Alderete-Gavito. Aye. Council Member Mesa-Gonzalez. Aye. Council Member Speers. Aye. Council Member White. Mayor Jones.

Aye. The motion passes. Thank you. Okay. Eric, do you have what you need?

Yes, ma'am.