City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Perez, recreation leader for the city of Sakuro. Thank you for joining today's meeting. Before the meeting begins, we would like to remind our guests to remove all hats and silence all electronic devices. No destructive behavior or outburst will be tolerated and vi subject to ejection and possible prosecution. Judy Rodriguez Uh, good evening everyone. I want to welcome you all to the March 19th, 2026 uh, City of Sokoro regular council meeting. Um, it is now 6:04 p.m. and I call this meeting to order. Okay. Um, at this time, as always, we're going to go ahead and begin our meetings with the pledge of allegiance. Two of you all would please stand als.

Thank you. At this time, we'll go ahead and establish quorum. Ruben Reges, yes. Caesar Near here. Alejandro Garcia here. Rudy Mayor here. Gina Cordero here. And Irene Roas is absent. Mayor, we have a court. Okay. Thank you, Miss Navaro. At this time, we're going to move into the public comments period of our uh of our meeting. Mayor, we have one person signed up for public comment. La.

Okay. And and just as a courtesy, uh since we do broadcast live, uh we need to speak into the microphone for all of our viewers who are at home, if if you would please. Miss Lara, you have three minutes. Good evening.

My name is Laara and I'm here today because I really need information. Um, I had a concern. Um, it's been years of it, but in December it got severe. I have huge weeds coming from agricultural or I'm not sure what it's zoned off of Arlene Circle and Patty Joe. And I'm having these huge weaves come to my porch, onto my property, scratching my vehicles. and my arms when I'm removing them. I reached out in December to my representative. I live in district one. The conversation went, "What did I want happen? Do I have photos?" And my understanding was that a barrier was going to be put up. I left it alone. These months kept on. You know how the winds are. I kept getting the the weeds. I filled my trash bin. I filled our dumpster and still I had weeds. My dad is disabled. He had knee surgery. I have no one else but myself. I'm a single person and I can't be cleaning up after other people. So, I left it alone. I left it alone. Just last week, I was upset. I I couldn't My parents came over, my mom and my stepdad, and they couldn't leave my house because the tumble weeds were in my porch. So, following day, I reached out. Conversation didn't go so well. A phone call with my with my district rep. So, I called the department. I called

the city of Sakoro. Um, Alejandra answered. She was courteous. She took my information related to the city manager. Then I called the proper department. She forwarded me. I spoke to Marisella there. She was very informative. I had to ask her a couple of questions. However, she didn't lose her temper. She was professional. She got the job done. Then I reached out to my at large. He went ahead and listened to me as he I was speaking to him. The city drove up with a truck and a cage. They filled up the cage. That's a lot of weeds. The weeds are bigger than me. My point today is I want to know my representative, my district rep told me I needed to take pictures. Do I really have to file a formal complaint for things to happen? When I call the police department, they show up.

Miss, your time is up. Thank you. Uh, would any member of council like to suspend the rules? Make a motion to extend her time. Second. There's been a motion in second. All those in favor say I. I. Go ahead, Miss Lara.

Thank you so much. It's appreciated. So, as I was talking to Mr. Deas, the city was there. They helped me. I appreciate it dearly. Everybody showed up. I mean, the first time in December, it was I think after the holidays, so you know, I'm sure they had a lot of calls. I didn't get it back, you know, a response, whatever. But what irritates me the most is that I reached out to an elected official. And I'm not going to lie, I haven't been voting for a while. And that taught me that was a lesson to be learned not only statewide but local. I did not appreciate that I'm expressing what is happening, who I reached out to, what I'm doing, and I'm being hollered at that I'm not letting you speak. and then you hang up on me off the phone that I'm sure my tax dollars paid for. So today, I just want to make it clear. I want you all to make it clear to me. What do I need to do to get this resolved? And in all fairness, I did see where they kind of lifted the dirt. So things were done. But in the future, how do I handle these things? You know, because I know we all have our bad days, but do you really have to go there? It was early in the morning. It was before 9 and you're already hanging up on me, and I'm a constituent.

I've never asked you for anything. So, could you please direct to me in the proper etiquette to do this? Do I just call like I do with the police or do I have to show you proof of what's happening? I I think that's uncalled for to be honest with you. It's a little far. So, I'd just like to know. So, Miss Lada, just uh just to let everyone know during public comment period, uh our job is is to remain silent and listen to uh the speakers.

Um but what I do want to ask is staff, can you please get Miss Lada's information so we can identify the property that's causing Actually, Mr. Mayor, we've already taken steps. Um just uh when I got the report, I went ahead and submitted a work uh request to the code enforcement um requesting to do a sweep of the um property maintenance in the area. All right. Of the of the of the empty properties for those specifically for tumble weeds.

Okay. Uh Miss Lada, um do you have any other comments to make here this year? No, just that I just wanted to make sure that I submitted my concerns or, you know, as part of the community, I do it correctly. I understand you all have a lot to on your plate, um, especially with these times. Um, but that's all I wanted. I just don't want to be calling my representative and getting hung up on, you know, it's it doesn't help the situation. But I appreciate, like I said, you have Alejandra and Marisella, Mr. Reyes, help me the, you know, the gentleman that went and picked up the weeds. We appreciate Yes, ma'am.

Thank you so much. Thank you for your comments. Have a blessed week. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Mr. Martinez. Oh, you're good. All right. Let's make sure that we get uh let's follow up. Let's follow up with that. Do we have uh before we move forward, I do want to recognize uh former city representative uh Mr. Molinar who's with us here today. Mr. Molinar, thank thank you for your service. And I also want to recognize our state representative for district 75, Mary Gonzalez. And I'd like to invite her to the podium because I know sorry 76, right? 75 75 I got it right.

All right. I know I know that she has some other meetings that she needs to get to. So, I want to um let her speak at the mic at this time. Representative Gonzalez.

Um good evening. Thank you for letting me speak. I wasn't intending to come here today and you're right. I was trying to meet with Orneo School Board on another issue. We're trying to increase literacy. So, yay. Um I normally don't come speak during public comment. I think in the whole 14 years, I think we talked last time, it's only I've only been here once. I just wanted to come and publicly show my support for items 11 through 14. I think that right now more than ever all of us need to band together and say hey got your back if you're going to make take action on this to know that me as your state representative at all levels will support anything we need to do to stop both detention centers and data centers and at least for this moment in time right like there are so many questions that are being asked and I'll start a little bit on the detention center issue um one of the things I was talking to the water district about is I know everybody keeps talking and also I chugged a red bull so I'm speaking really fast Um, I know everyone keeps talking about water and I think that's very critical. One issue that is not being talked about is wastewater. So, right now, Lower Valley Water District does not have a wastewater treatment plant. We get most of our wastewater treatment, our most our waste water um goes into um pumping stations. And so, think about 8,500 people. That's eight times the size of Clint. that this wastewater alone is not anything that we have thought about and if we think about the impact to Soro Sanelli Clint that is a huge thing. So that's one thing that's getting left out of the conversation. I'm glad you're addressing the water that is obviously critically important but let's not forget the wastewater which I also think if we don't handle wastewater correctly that does impact not only um our water but our public health. So that there's that element and on the data centers I mean there's lots of consternation on what to do on data centers and I think what we need first and foremost is some guidelines and some guard rails as an entire region. So even

though we can say well it's going to happen here in Soro what happens if it happens in Horizon and then Montana vista how much water does our region have to really handle it and so I think until we have a regional approach a moratorum is only fair and responsible so I just want to say I'm glad you're having these conversations these are critical conversations that require um strategic thinking um political leadership and courage and I just want you to know I'm here as your partner your friend your ally and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone and someone who's also critically involved in these issues and I wanted to say thank you for for addressing these important topics and I'm here if you need me and you know myself. Okay, love you. Bye. Thank you.

You know, we're the the second largest municipality in the in the county of El Paso. So, I'm hoping that there's other elected officials that are watching this meeting tonight and they're and they're and they're going to they're going to follow in Sakoro's footsteps cuz uh we're we're the little dog in this big fight. But uh we we appreciate y'all support. Thank you, Representative Gonzalez. Thank you all. Before uh we do continue, I I do also want to recognize former state district judge, Miss Linda Chu. Yes. Thank you for Thank you for joining us. And I also want to recognize former ETH Court of Appeals Chief Judge David Chu as well. We have so many celebrities in the house tonight and we appreciate you all visiting Sakoro. Thank you. Miss Navaro, do we have any more speakers?

We have one more speaker, Mayor Ivon Diaz. Miss Diaz, you have three minutes.

Good evening. My name is Ivon Diaz and I'm with the ACLU of Texas. I live 10 minutes away from the proposed detention center here in Sakoro and I'm here in support of the moratorum and to suspend the permits for large-scale facilities as it will substract from essential resources from our community and to prevent shortages for essential public facilities. This ordinance is not extreme. It is not it is responsible. It is asking to pause and ensure that the residents of Sakoro and surrounded areas are prioritized over any corporations that are incentivized by the Trump administration. It will be responsible to approve a project that not only endangers our natural resources such as water, but also diminishes the human dignity of many people detained. It will create long-term damage that cannot be easily undone. At Camp East Montana, ACLU of Texas has documented beatings and abuses, people not having access to medical care or life-saving medications, and the deaths of three human beings. Water is essential to our daily lives, our health, and our future. This moratorium, although temporary, ensures that we protect this precious resource for our neighbors, for our farmers, for our small businesses, and for ourselves. This ordinance do not does not decide everything today but it gives us time time to study to plan and to listen to the people directly impacted. I urge you to support this moratorum. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you mayor. Those were all our speakers. Okay. Thank you so much. Um did you want to make that?

At this time I would like to make a motion to move item 28. Stout for Congress. Democratic nominee caller with the numbers ending 1169. Can you go ahead and present yourself please? caller with the number ending in 1169, if you could go ahead and present yourself, please.

Oh, yes. I'm calling on behalf of Katie Padia Stout for Congress. She's the Democratic nominee for Texas 23rd, and we've been trying to get in the phone line, so she might be behind me, but just to give her support that she does not, you know, she is anti the data center detention center. She supports the people and she was trying to get on so we're having a little mixup with the phone line but thank you. Okay. And where was this going to be for a specific line item? I'm sorry I we can't hear you. It's like super muffled. We're trying to watch it online too.

Was this going to be for a specific line item 11 through 14? Thank you. We'll we'll take those comments. We oppose data center. We oppose detention center. Okay. We'll take we'll take those comments when the agenda items come up. Okay. If the caller still on, we'll take their comments. Miss Miss Corduro. At this time, I would like to move item number 28, 26, and 25 up, please. All right. There's been a motion. Second. There's been a motion and second to move agenda items 28, 26, and 25 up on the agenda. All those in favor say I. I. I.

Okay, that motion carries. At this time, we're going to go ahead and move into agenda item number 28. This is uh the discussion and action on approving the fiscal year ending September 30th of 2025, the annual financial report presented by SBNG, Certified Public Accountants. Motion to approve. Second.

Good evening, mayor and council. Uh I'm Victor Pittz, deputy city manager. Um we are asking that uh you consider an approval the approval of the annual financial report for the fiscal year ending September 30th 2025 which have been which have been prepared and and will be presented by SBNG certified public accounts accountants. The report includes the financial statements of the governmental activities with each major fund of the city of Sakoro, Texas as of and for the year ending September 30 30th, 2025 along with the related notes to the financial statements which collectively comprise the city's basic financial statements. At this time, I'll go ahead and turn it over to SBI.

Thank you. We do have a presentation and good evening mayor and council members. My name is Abigail Tees. I am an audit manager at SBNG. And today I'm going to be going over the results of the financial audit for the city's fiscal year 2025. Where do we point? Okay. So, quick overview of what we're going to cover today. Uh, I'm going to go over the audit highlights for 2025. Uh, I'm going to go over a brief analysis of two of your major funds, which are the general fund and the capital improvements funds. And then I'm going to go over the results of the actual financial statements, both fund basis and governmentwide basis. Then I'm going to move over to a five-year trend analysis, and I'm going to close with some audit recommendations. So, first of all, I'm happy to report that the city is receiving an unmodified opinion for 2025. Now, what this means is that um we didn't find any material misstatements. The financial statements are materially correct in all respects um as far as accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. So, congratulations on a clean audit. Um in addition to that we also work on what we call a single audit. A single audit is um an audit of the compliance

requirements of your major funds uh or of your major federal funds. In this case for 2025 we looked at your ARPA program and your homeland security grants program. And again happy to report we didn't um we are reporting an unmodified opinion on those compliance requirements as well. Okay, now moving on to the numbers. This is um this slide shows uh the general funds budget to actual analysis. And this give you this gives you a little bit of insight as to how the city compared um actually to what was originally planned. So, as we can see over here, we're looking at the revenues. And if you see, most of the categories um have favorable variances, which is what we want to see. Most your property taxes are over and from down under everything everything looks good. Moving on to the expenditures as well, we can see an overall favorable variance of 100,000. Um that unfavorable variance of 995,000 is just for it's due to presentation purposes over one expense that is the capital outlay expense that for budget purposes is budgeted into each of the functions but we for financial statement purposes have just one single line item. So what's what what makes up that unfavorable variances but overall we can see expenses were very well controlled throughout the year. So we don't see any any big unfavorable variance overall. Over in this slide we can see a three year three-year trend analysis for the general fund.

As we can see here um it has kept a steady fund balance um average of 8 8.5 million throughout the last three years. Um what I do want to notice here is the expenditures the trend in the expenditures they have they show a big spike up from 2024 to 2025 and that's what gave rise to the net loss in 2025 and of course that that that was budgeted for. This is the capital improvements trend analysis. The capital improvements fund keeps track of all of your major um infrastructure pro projects and it's um it keeps all of the funds from your general obligations. So um pretty much all of the of the monies from that funds are spent already. So that's why we we see a 300 negative fund balance at the end of 2025. Um the recommendation we we we are providing as far as um offsetting this this negative fund balance is going up for issuance of new bond obligations and I'm sure Teo the shareholder has has already presented on on those recommendations as well and talk to management. Here's an overview of the fund basis financial statements. These include all of the city's uh funds. And we can see that at the end of the fiscal year, um assets ended up to 28.5 million, liabilities 12.4 million, and the fund balance of 16.1 million, which represents a healthy fund balance for

the city. Here's a breakdown of all of the funds from the city. We can see that most of them ended up the year with negative um fund balance or or a net loss. Um and this is this shows how much the expenditures have grown in the in the past years. Um so we can see over here that that trend amongst all all of the of the city's funds. Now moving on to the statement of net position. This is related to the governmentwide view. So it includes all of your long-term assets and liabilities. We saw a 4% increase in your assets. That includes a big increase on the infrastructure and equipment. for the city and a 9% decrease on the liabilities which includes the payments on the on the outstanding bonds that the city currently has and also a decrease in the deferred revenue um related to the ARPA ARPA grants because mo most of the grant was already spent in the previous year ended up with a net position of 50 58 million um which represents a 14% increase from last year which is again a pretty good um financial position. Here's a little bit of a breakdown for the net position statement. We can see the city ended up the year with close to 13 million of cash. 11 million is um restricted cash which which is going to be used for your special revenue um special revenue funds Texas water development um total investment of 6.8 eight. This one did see a decrease from previous

year because of all of the expenses from the ARPA program. Total infrastructure and equipment, 79 million. These are all of your road projects, um building improvements and equipment for for the whole city. So it does represent a big balance of of the of the total assets, but it's pretty common for for a municipality. Total balance of the certificates of obligation at the end of the year represented 28.6 million. Moving on to the statement of activities. Um this statement shows the operating results of the fiscal year for the city. The city ended the year with revenues of 26.6 million and expenses of 19.4 million. So having more revenues than expenses, it gave um as a result the city had a net income of 7.1. And just to note capital outlay of 9 million, that's all of your investment in infrastructure and equipment for the fiscal year. and that is not counted as an as an expense on the governmentwide financial statements. It's included in that 69 u million balance on the infrastructure. Here's a breakdown of the revenues. We can see the first, second, and third largest sources of revenue. The first one being your property taxes, which make up to 55% of total revenue, followed by your federal and state grants, and then your sales taxes, which make up 10% of total revenues. Okay. And now um on the expenses side, we can see the largest expense for the

city is the police department and that has been the case um pretty much every year followed by the infrastructure department and the government administration expense. Um there was some interest expense related to the bonds and also just to note depreciation expense. It's not an actual cash flow. is just um keeping track of all of the wear and tear of the of the buildings and infrastructure, equipment, etc. So, I mean, nonetheless, it impacts the final number. So, that's why we we have it there. And for fiscal year 25, it was 2.3 million. Here's a five-year analysis of how the city has been doing. we can see revenue for property taxes have has been um increasing slightly and I don't have I actually don't have the expenses here but I want to note that the property tax revenue has not been increased at the same at increasing at at the same rate as the expenditures has been increasing um so that's why the city has had to pull from the investments as we can see a big dropped from 2024 to 2025 on the investments. Everything else has been looking pretty steady. We have um grant revenue that has been has been slowly going down since 2023 and that's because of all of all of the well the the ARPA funds that are coming to an end. Uh but also we see the efforts from the grants department to going out and going out and finding more more grants. Um infrastructure as I mentioned before we can see the big increases since 2021.

And then long-term debt well we can see no no debt has been issued since 2021. So we can see the balance very very consistent over there. Wrapping up, we do um well I we did present a finding for 2025 related to internal controls over reporting. So as I mentioned as part of the single audit, we looked at the reporting requirements for your uh stone garden grant the award number ending in 7209. And what we found is that the city failed submit timely reports for four out of four required performance reports as well as quarterly financial statements reports. So um the finding was already um reported to management and discussed with them. They already prepared and provided a corrective action plan. So um the recommendation from us is just to keep a centralized um reporting system. so that there are specific um responsibilities assigned and that reports for these grants are submitted on time and properly reviewed and approved. The following are not findings. They are audit recommendations that we observe observed throughout the audit process. One of them being the timely response to granters. So from time to time the city receives or management receives um letters from granters requiring a response. So it's very important that management responds to these communications on time in order to avoid any any penalties and specifically if the grtor is requesting a corrective

action. Another one is the interfund balances. Um so what we saw during the past two years is that well the city keeps its funds each fund has um a bank account right. So whenever a fund um has to borrow uh money from another fund to make up some of the expenses to cover some of the expenses that fund needs to pay back the fund that lended the money. So, um, we're seeing an increase in the inter funds payables and receivables, specifically within the general fund and the capital improvements funds. So, our recommendation is just to to make sure to pay pay those funds back to the to the original fund. Our reporting um this one had been a a finding in previous year. Happy to say well this is not reported as a finding this year it's just a recommendation the grants department and the finance department have been doing a great job as to reconciling the ARPA expenses and reporting them. Um however there are still some issues with the cuto off of some of the adjustments and the expenses. So just the recommendation is to keep um a proper list of all of the open POS and keep um good communication between the both departments so that big uh cut off issues do not happen. The last one is just to increase the capitalization threshold. Right now I believe the current limit it says to it's set to 5,000. So keeping track of every every asset is pretty I mean it's time and effort that needs to be consumed and increasing the the threshold will be will be better and there's there won't be a need to to keep track of all of the

small assets that that the city spends on. This concludes the presentation. Are there any questions on the on the report the financial statements? Do any members of council have any questions or comments on this presentation here? Mr. is no just um what you said about already telling staff and they already they already have a a corrective action plan. That was um my only comment comment. Yeah, I'm I'm glad that uh staff's already taking care of whatever issues that were found. The last thing we want is not to receive those those funds.

Yeah. And for the most part, our staff's been doing a good job. That's that's the reason why we are um we are one of the municipal governments that has one of the highest um amounts or influx of grant uh funding because if we don't pass these types of audits, we we are not eligible to uh receive any of these grants. So my question and my only question to you is if you were to view the city of Sakoro as a household and all of our residents were our children, would you say that we have a very good credit score and and we can go buy that Cadillac that we want?

Well, I can only say what the report says. U and we are providing the the best opinion we can give this that's the highest level of assurance. Um, so I'm sure that's good for if you are trying to present to your granters and everything, they'll they'll take it as good. We're in good standing as a city, though. Thank you. All right. We appreciate the presentation. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right. At this time, we're we're going to have to take action on this one here because we have um we need to approve the financial report. So, there was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain?

Okay, that motion carries. We're going to be uh taking on agenda item 26 at this time. And agenda item 26 is the discussion and action to ratify resolution number 841 dated March 5th of 2026 declaring March 2026 as El Paso Veterans and Writers Association appreciation month in the city of Sakoro, Texas. Motion to approve. Second. And I believe we have a resolution that we that we'd like to read today. Mr. Man, is that okay with you if we get that? All right.

Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Isabella Pettis and tonight I will be reading resolution 841. Resolution 841, El Paso Veterans and Writers Association. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association has formed a partnership with the city of Sakoro, Texas to assist both local veterans and the broader community. EPVR8 President and Army veteran Daryl Gond along with retired Marine Sergeant Major Fernando Lasso have shown their ability to provide excellent support to Sakoro. Whereas, the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association in response to the impact of the 2025 government shutdown on Sakoro partnered with municipal authorities and the Sakuro Police Department to coordinate the collection and delivery of more than 1,200 bags and boxes containing food and essential supplies. Following transfer from EPV, distribution was efficiently administered by the Sakora Police Department. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association and Mayor Rudy Cruz Jr. gathered and handed out gift cards to the Sakoral School District students to enhance their Thanksgiving dinner with greater meaning and nutrition. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association has consistently demonstrated and dedicated commitment to serving the Sakoro community through its annual programs. Notably, EPVA organized its 9inth annual veterans and community food drive, reaffirming its tradition of assisting Sakoro families facing hardship. This initiative provided food and essential supplies, thereby ensuring local families received meaningful support during difficult periods. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association received an unexpected donation of toys from Group One Ford, El Paso, Texas, and distributed them on Christmas Eve through Die Les that helped brighten our children's holidays to Sakoro and the surrounding communities. Whereas now, therefore, be

it resolved that the mayor of Sakoro, Texas, and the city council do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association Appreciation Month. In official pride and recognition thereof, the Sakoro City Council proudly affects their signature this fifth day of March 2026. I didn't want to get in trouble again. Uh we're very honored to receive this recognition. We really appreciate the support. Um we owe a big thank you to the Sakuro Police Department. They were there from the get-go storing the food for us. Someone sprayed it down and get it ready for us. When we got on site an hour before the event was supposed to kick off, we already had 92 cars in the parking lot. Chief came to me. He says, "I what do you want to do?" I said, "Get out." In 20 minutes, we emptied the parking lot. Everybody got what they needed and they were gone. That was a record time. And we did because you are out there, Chief. We appreciate you. I I know that you know you you think we don't or we recommend, but you guys were right there for us the whole time. and we are very successful because of you. Um, with great honor, I would like to introduce, well, I'd like her to introduce herself. She's the newest EPVR member, retired Navy, and a resident of Sakoro. She'll be coordinating efforts between uh Carlos isn't here, but she'll be coordinating efforts between the EPVR and the city of Sakoro.

So, we have boots on the ground here so she can keep us informed and everything like that. Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening. and everyone else. Happy to be here. Happy to keep serving. Uh my name is Lupe Garcia. Long name Lupe. Call me Lupe. Uh I'll be I'm here five minutes from here. Um I have the pleasure to keep serving. I did 26 years in the Navy. Happy to be back to my hometown. And uh Sakoro uh you know I walk the streets every night with my dog, my mom's dogs too. Um, so I'm happy. I'm very blessed and honored to be here serve this community and with these two fine gentlemen. It's going to be great. Thanks for the opportunity and um happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Thank you. Appreciate welcome back. And Marine, you got something? You sure? Okay. You know, this is really awesome. If we can get the army, the Navy, and the Marines to stay together without getting in a bar fight. Excuse me. Can I say that?

Well, that's cuz we're not in the bar, but it is reality. And mayor, thank you for helping us, too. You're out there with us. You're all working. U we threw it together at the last minute. We need exercises like that because the last time we did something like that was the COVID pandemic. So, we were out of practice. We It was very successful. It's been presented. It will go all the way up. has been noticed all the way up to um the National Guard headquarters in Washington DC and what we did and what we accomplished out here because the last time we were out here was with the National Guard. This time we had the police force. So we're very grateful.

We appreciate you all for your service to our country and also now as retired veterans uh you guys are serving the great community of Sakura and we truly appreciate that. It's not every day that we get to take a photograph with a good-looking gentleman like you, Mr. Man. Would you grace us with your presence here in the front so that we can uh present you with this resolution on behalf of the city of Soooro's uh council and our community? We would be honored, sir. Awesome. Great.

Chief, would you join us? Uh, we're gonna Yeah, we're going to go to 25 now. Okay. At this time, we're going to go ahead and move into a I'm sorry.

Can you ask for the question, please? Oh, I'm sorry. There was a motion and second on that item. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain? Oh, that motion carries. We're moving into agenda item 25. After this item, we're going to go ahead and move back into our regular uh agenda. So, you all can follow through as I call the agenda items out. Agenda item 25. This is the discussion and action to approve an event permit for the Filipe de Jesus Catholic Church via Cusi's procession on April 3rd, 2026 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and wave associated event permit fee. Motion to approve. Second.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Lorine Kimo, city planner. Uh the item before you is an event permit and waiver request for a procession. It's the last item procession for uh the San Palipe Catholic Church. This will be a traditional u procession in celebration of Easter. The again the event the request is for an event permit and waiver of the event permit fee.

Miss in your backup is the uh agenda is the map showing the procession route. And with that staff can answer any questions. Do any members of council have any questions uh for this item here? No, sir. So will this is a a a fee waiver uh for this event permit. Correct. Yes. Uh fee waiver for the event permit and approval of the event which is viais procession through the neighborhood uh to start at the church and end at the church. Okay. Be for Friday, April the 3 uh from uh I believe it's 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Okay. Any any questions or comments uh from council? Mr. real quick. The the closing are they going to close the streets? Yes. Do they provide their own security? We provide them. Good evening. Uh Robert Roas, chief of police for the city of Sakuro. So they've contacted us and I've provided an estimate. Uh but I've also given them the option of uh contacting Constable Javier Garcia. Okay. and uh actually talked to council Garcia today and he's going to be providing the escort to be able to ensure that everything is good to go on their part. Okay. Thank you. Uh there's

mayor, we do have a speaker for this item. Oh, okay. Cecilia.

Hi, good evening. Hello. Hello. Good. Um, my name is Cecilia Hara and I'm just here representing San Filipe Jesus Catholic Church. We're going to be having our via Cruises on Friday, April the 3. So, I'm just asking for permission that we can celebrate our Good Friday with uh with the community uh we're going to be in the neighborhood and then the new neighborhood next to us. Um, so thank you. Thank you uh Major, thank you Chief also for helping me and um Constable. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. There's just one thing that I I don't like about this item is that up until this point, I we still haven't gotten an invitation to attend.

No, I'm joking. You are invited. I'm joking. You actually said that you were going to go. Yes. Yes, I did. I'm I'm already committed. So, you're all invited. Um it is uh very important to gather all our community and and get the new community as well. So, um, yes, everybody is invited. I hope to see all of you at 12 p.m. at 3, uh, April the 3. Thank you. At 12 p.m. Thank you. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. As as there are no more comments or discussion uh for this item here, there's a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose or abstain? And that motion carries. Thank you.

Okay. Where do we leave off? So, we're moving on to consent. Consent agenda. Yes. Okay. Uh, we're moving on to consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Motion to approve consent agenda. Second. There's been a motion and second to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say I. I.

That motion carries. We're now going to move into our uh regular agenda and we're going to begin that with agenda item number 11. This is the public hearing of an ordinance adding article 6 permits division 1 permit guidelines section 6-137 temporary moratorum on property development to temporarily seize the acceptance processing and approval of certain development actions and permits for new construction to prevent shortages of essential public facilities including infrastructure dependent on natural resources such as water or sewer systems. and establishing a city-wide moratorium on large custodial facilities including prisons, jails, and detention centers housing more than 100 persons. The penalty is provided in 6-137 U.5 of this section. It is now 653 p.m. and the public hearing is now open.

Mayor, we have several speakers. Okay. Our first speaker is Samantha Singleton. Hello. Are you able to hear me? Yes, ma'am. Good evening.

Good evening, mayor. Good evening, council members. My name is Samantha Singleton and I serve as the policy director for the border network for human rights and I'm here today to express my strong support for this ordinance and to urge you to continue strengthening it in the best interest of the community. I definitely want to say that I appreciate the city of Sorl's efforts to preserve its identity as being a tight-knit community rich in history and so strong in solidarity. that identity is definitely worth protecting. I also want to emphasize the importance of requiring conditional use permits and thorough environmental review for large-scale facilities, especially those that are deemed essential services like water, sewage, waste collection and disposal. These are not small considerations. They directly impact the daily lives of residents and the long-term sustainability of the city. This region is already struggling with water scarcity. So this is not a future problem. It is a present reality. Protecting this resource must come first. Any project that places additional strain on the community's limited water supply should face the highest level of scrutiny. Facilities like these don't just occupy space. They divert critical resources. water, electricity, and even access to health services are redirected away from local residents. And beyond those visible impacts, there are hidden costs, increased strain of policing, local hospitals, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency services. And so these are long-term financial burdens that fall not on the developers, but the taxpayers. And this ordinance is a great step forward. But I do encourage you to

continue researching and accounting for any hidden cost that may affect the community whether it's a decrease in property value and this is something that is unfair to members of the community of Sakoro because they truly invested their lives in this community and so I support regulating large facilities in Sakoro and I also support creating oversight for projects that are not community serving and do not generate long-term local benefits. At the end of the day, local tax dollars should support local priorities, schools, infrastructure, and health care systems. They should not subsidize federal projects that do not serve the residents. So, I urge you to just continue to stand firm, strengthen this ordinance, and continue putting the needs of the Sakoro community first. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Miss Singleton, for your comments. Diana Martinez,

she's left the the meeting, Miss Martinez. Okay. If she jumps back in during public comment, we'll we'll go ahead and uh recognize we'll tie her in.

Stephanie Aosta. Hi, mayor and city council. My name is Stephanie and I'm here in support of item 11 and 12 of the temporary moratorum. This was in the hallway as we walked into city hall today and has stayed with me since I first saw it. There's no doubt you've all have seen this, but I'd like to read this for the record. The Pueblo Revolt. The Revolt of 1680 was a pivotal moment in Soro's history. The successful uprising allowed us to reclaim our land and culture. Soro became a place where people from different backgrounds supported one another, fostering a sense of belonging. The legacy of the Pueblo revolt reminds everyone of the power of collective action and the important of and the importance of preserving cultural heritage. I'd like to thank you, Sakoro, city council, mayor, staff, and residents for your leadership and collective action on this moratorum. Our shared community must come first and ensure that essential public utilities and basic needs such as water, infrastructure, and public safety are stable, equitable, and able to support residents before taking on additional strains. This pause is an opportunity to prioritize thoughtful planning and protect the long-term community.

Diana Martinez. Sorry about that. That's okay. Should I keep going? Yes. Okay. I'd just like to close out by saying thank you, Mayor Cruz, city council for your courage on this effort. History has its eye on all of us. And I hope that in the next 300 years, those that come after us walking into this city hall read about this piv pivotal moment in history and your leadership on this moratorum. Thank you for your courage. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Thank you, Lynn Coley.

I didn't catch that last name. What was it? The last name is Coyle, but thank you. I know it's a weird last name. No, it's not weird. Mine mine's weird up north. So,

so, well, good evening, mayor, city council, staff, um, community members. So, I'm here as well to speak on item 11 and also item 13. Um, I am a retired civil rights lawyer, semi-retired. A few weeks ago, we were here uh speaking at really one of the most remarkable uh meetings I've ever got to participate in. Um I thought it was just an incredible show of uh intelligence, passion, knowledge really on the part of the community and with the intremendous respect that you all showed. And here we are. you you all listened uh you thought about this and we wouldn't be here without that incredible attention and having this moratorum now uh in the process and so I'm fully in support of the moratorum on the large custodial facilities as well as the uh ordinance to take a hard look at the data centers both of these types of developments as you all know and as your your legislation shows may not will not benefit the residents of Sakoro. Uh they will harm the quality of life here and um and they will deplete our precious resources that I think you're all showing to be very good stewards of. So, you know, we had our state rep, Mary Gonzalez. You can't get a better state rep. We've had PSB, Lower Valley Water District, ESD number two, El Paso County, the city of El Paso. They've all shown great leadership on this. But tonight, it is Sakoro's moment to shine, to lead the way with courage, and we fully support your efforts. We know that this is just the first step and we're

not going away. Um, it's not a oneandone. We recognize the moratorum is temporary. there may be challenges in in um executing that and carrying it out and you're going to maybe continue to need our support. And so like Representative Gonzalez said, we got your back. We're not going away. And thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ivon Diaz.

Okay. Marisa. Good evening everybody. Mayor Council, grateful to be here with you all.

Um stand with my colleagues in awe and admiration of the courage that you've taken. I'm sure that you're hearing from your community members whether it's in the pews or in the grocery store or at the pickup for the kiddos. And so I know that it's a big step. I work um as the director of a legal services organization and I just want to paint a little bit of a picture. My colleagues are all right on the use of water but also the all the other additional you know human costs that are associated with the house mayor that you were talking about. You got to pay for the water, you got to pay for the electric, you got to pay for all of the things, right? And so those definitely have an impact. When I looked at some of our call data as it refers to people wanting information about loved ones in detention, the age that we're talking about is um as young as 19 years old and as old as 67. So this is not a universe of a small population of people. maybe however we would define a traditional uh suspect as you might think, but these are just regular folks who are in our community who are beloved, who have dignity, who have rights that are being roughshotted over left and right. And so I just want to remind us of that as we make these really challenging decisions. I am impressed by all of what you've been able to pull together with the mortorium and the other actions. We're up against a big fight definitely and every step matters. every day matters and so just thank you again for your leadership, your courage and we stand here committed to stand with you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Connie Crawford, Yolanda Agiri She left a meeting and Diana Martinez. Miss Martinez still on uh online. Let's give Miss Martinez.

Hello. How are you everyone? Thank you. I'm very appreciative for being able to speak here today. Um I'm very much against um the data center and the detention center. We need to make both of them stop. They are not separate issues. Both of those two issues go hand in hand. The um surveillance information and data um is going to be supported by that data center to report migrants and to report people who advocate on behalf of marginalized communities. And so that data center is part of that support and infrastructure system to make money off of migrants. The detention center obviously is going to make money off of migrants. And it is not the community that is going to benefit from this economically at all. It is going to be a very few handful of small and corrupt people, uber rich people. And so this will not economically benefit our community. We cannot drink our money. And um the jobs that are going to be there are going to be the type of jobs that are going to make people sign NBA agreements telling them that they cannot report the horrible things that they see because we already know the horrible things have been happening at the East Montana concentration camp and a terrible death there and abuse And um and so people should not have to work at a place where they cannot report things that absolutely need to be

reported. So I'm completely against the data center and I'm completely against the detention center. Those things need to be stopped. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Martinez. And that is all I have for today. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Those were all our speakers, ma'am. Okay. Just want to make sure, are there any other speakers on online waiting? Okay. All right. So, uh that was uh the end of public hearing. The public hearing

for item number 11. It's 7:06 p.m. and we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing at this time. We're moving into agenda item number 12. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance adding article 6 permits division one to temporarily seize the acceptance, processing, and approval of certain development actions and permits for the new construction to prevent shortages of essential public facilities, including infrastructure dependent on natural resources such as water or sewer systems. and establishing a city-wide moratorum on large custodial facilities including prisons, jails, and detention centers housing more than 100 persons. The penalty is provided in 6-137.5 of this section.

Motion to approve. Second. Good evening again, mayor and councel. I'm Victor Pittz, deputy city manager. Um, city staff was directed by council on February 11th to develop methods such as an ordinance preventing the development of large custod facilities such as you described just now. And so we are here to answer any questions that you might have on the particulars of the ordinance. Do any members of council have any questions or like to discuss further on this item? No. Okay. I believe there was a motion and a second. All those in favor say I. I any oppose or abstain? Okay, that motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Pettis.

The next item here is a agenda item number 13. This is the public hearing of an ordinance amending the city of Soooro zoning ordinance to establish regulations governing data centers, providing purpose and findings, adding definitions limiting locations requiring specific use permits, establishing water infrastructure and operational standards, providing for enforcement, severability, and an effective date. It's now 7:08 p.m. and public hearing is now open. Mayor, we have several speakers. Our first speaker is Veronica Carvajal. Mayor and council, thank you for for placing this um ordinance up for public hearing. Um I'm Veronica Carvajal. I am an organizer with Sbrand Sparansa Coalition. We're your neighbors um a little bit west from here. Our neighborhoods are from La Cala Vera to uh Ramona Styles Garden and the Montana Vista and the Rio Grande Neighborhood Association. And our members brought the data centers to our attention primarily for two reasons. The water consumption and the impact on utility bills including water, gas, and electricity. In fact, uh, President Trump announced earlier this month the rateayer protection pledge which was signed by Meta and other major data center companies in which they agreed to pay for all of the infrastructure costs for energy but not water. Um, and also this pledge is not binding. And what we have found through the research that we've done, not just locally, but at the state and national level, is that these companies really are intent on not putting anything in writing and when they do, making sure that it is not legally binding. So, this ordinance that you have crafted is extremely important. Um, and we we congratulate you for using your local power to really limit the

proliferation of these data centers in our desert. That said, there are some um concerns um in terms of potential omissions that may be detrimental to the community. Um one of them is in section one um one um I which is estimated daily and annual water demand. We would um ask that you consider um including the words related to on-site operation as well as off-site power generation. So if they're not going to use renewable energy, you will see that either El Paso Electric, whatever energy provider, or assuming that's going to be the energy provider, will be consuming water through the natural gas um powered power plants. Um although there are new technologies which we're looking into for the meta um mloud facility, but that is not a guarantee. Um the other issue um under the same section um would be our proposed three which would be to look into the impact on utility rates um to again ensure that the facilities pay for all of those expenses and then to add four which would be air pollution. Now under section F1 you um you're allowing for the use of water so long as it is 100% reclaimed or non-potable. And I will, you know, as you might know, El Paso Water is investing millions of dollars into the pure water system, which I refer to as the poop water system. Um, only because it will transform sewage water into drinkable, portable water. And so at this point, we can no longer say that reclaimed water is disposable. All of it is valuable. Every single drop is precious. and we must do everything to ensure that th this industry is pushed to not use water and to not use fossil fuels. Um and later on under section G1 you have

approval of a data center shall not obligate the city to and then you know you talk about infrastructure expenses. I would offer that you say you will not pay for because if you're not obligated to it still means that you have the discretion to pay for those infrastructure. Um, and if council changes, if momentum changes, um, then the community would be burdened by those utility rate increases. Um, and we really appreciate the noise provisions. I mean, you've given this a lot of thought and we really appreciate this and hope that the other municipalities, including our own, the city of El Paso, um, will adopt something similarly. As you know, they're still working on the best practices guide and we're asking them to void all of the contracts with meta. So, thank you so much for your for your time and for your attention to this because we don't want to push our problems on to you. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, Saul. Gonzalez.

Uh, good afternoon, mayor and council. Good evening, the public.

Uh, my name is Saul Gonzalez and I'm also an organizer with Sanosansa. Um, I graduated from Sakoro Middle and Sakoro High School. Uh, I remember walking the cotton fields to go to Sakoro Middle, walking through the canals and seeing the water. Now, I live like pretty close to a refinery. So, I really miss the water, walking to the canals. But you you know who else miss the water? The people that uh get the irrigation, they have irrigation uh water rights. uh they used to get 10 water days now they get four for years we have been conserving a lot of water and for who is it for data centers or is it for us for our future so I'm really impressed with this ordinance that you are putting uh thank you to all the staff to the to all of you um as my colleague mentioned uh there's some changes that that we like to see Um but like my grandma used to say um unfortunately the city and our county of El Paso approved a data center in 2023 that without looking into all of these details. So, I'm really happy and I'm proud of the city of Sakoro that before approving a data center or even considering you guys are taking this this seriously. So, I really appreciate everyone that put this together um because what affects one city affects all of us. So, uh if you have more questions about data centers, Sanrandos Paransa is here to support. Uh, and I I ask if you can influence the cities of El Paso and the county to avoid those contracts with MEA. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you for your

Joe Molina. Good evening, the honorable mayor Cruz, the members of the esteemed council leadership for the city of Soo. My name is Joe Molinar. I am not a resident of Soooro. I do reside in the city of El Paso District 4. At one time, I did serve my community as a city representative. So, I'm against the data centers. However, in full disclosure and full transparency, I was 18 or at least one part that voted for the data center. call it the meta data center in district 4 located in far northeast near New Mexico. However, there's three things that I'd like to talk about. Number one is the water. We live in a desert region, desert area where water is precious. It's absolutely sustainable for life, uh our way of life, and it's not good that they're going to be taking so much water. And I'm not just talking about meta, but if anything else comes here to the city of Soo, guess what? They're going to be taking your water. January this year, we in northeast El Paso, we had a huge uh pipe burst and that was and I was affected by that. Couldn't take a shower for three days. But anyways, and parts of the city, other parts of uh north uh the city of El Paso have had multiple uh infrastructure collapses of pipes, aging infrastructure. So that's one thing you will need to have water. Water is life. And it's not just for the city of El Paso, it's for the city of Soooro and all of us here in West Texas. Number two, the electrical power sources. Where is that going to come from? When I was on city council, we were disclosed on three different things. Number one was going to be Newman 6 power plant that's out there on Stan Roberts Road, which is a huge, huge, fairly new generator of electrical power. Number two was going

to be the Buenav Vista Powers solar farm that's located right next door in Chaparel, New Mexico. In addition, they have metabought the 1,00 plus acres of land in order to build a solar farm. So now, just recently, I discovered that they're going to want to get a gas generated electrical. So now, instead of three, you're going to have four. And what's next? Five. How many sources of electrical power do these people need? It's unbearable. It's just unthinkable. I would hate I would dislike for you the citizens of Osokoro to put that stress upon you on your daily life. Number three, the pollution part of it, the noise pollution. This is going to be operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Who is going to handle all that? Yeah, you're going to have a few employees that could work remotely. They don't even have to go to the job site. They don't even have to be from this area, but they're being paid and compensated well. But are they putting up with the noise? Are they putting up with a lack of water resources? Are they putting up with a high utility bills for electrical? No. No. No. They're not. So, I do not support data centers anymore. Thank you very much and appreciate this opportunity to speak. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Those are all our speakers. Thank you, Miss Navaro. It's now 7:18 p.m. and we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing for this item. Thank you all. Agenda item number 14. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance amending the city of Soooro zoning ordinance to establish regulations governing data centers providing purpose and findings adding definitions limiting locations requiring specific use permits establishing water infrastructure and operational standards providing for enforcement severability and an effective date.

I'd like to make a motion to approve. I'll also add an amendment to look into u the provisions that uh Miss Carvajal talked about if that's possible. Second. I think for we need to be more specific in the motion about what additional provisions are. Oh, I I couldn't get all of them, but I would like them to be looked into. um you know I don't have them uh wrote them all about you know section one the air pollution the infrastructure the noise provisions the offsite on the contract if that's possible

I mean the answer is it is possible but we'd have to be very detailed

Mr. Martinez, can can I can I um can I ask a question really quick before before we move forward and and and we we present uh the item if if it's the desire of of of the table tonight to uh adopt this ordinance, we can always come back and make additions under legal review. I think um Miss Kimo, our city planner, has taken uh notes and listened to the uh public comments being made. I'd like for our staff to also research and formalize and solidify the recommendations through public comment, but also be looked at by our legal team before actually adopting such um item. Does that make sense? It's frustrating when you're right.

Yes. Okay. The short answer is yes. Um as I and to answer the the the other question, Mr. Garcia's question. Yes, it's possible. But as I always do when there's our proposed floor amendment to a to a ordinance that has already been published and introduced once, if we're going to have floor amendments, we almost always want precise text. Okay. And and almost a redline version, like a scratch through and a redline version. If it's more general ideas, I I would say that's probably better saved for an amendment, a separate amendment to the ordinance that is drafted and developed by your staff and brought forward, reviewed by legal and then brought forward at a later date. Can we do that? So forth.

We we certainly can, but then if if that if it's councils wish to do that in a separate procedure later, I would recommend amending the motion to simply approving this item. Okay. So I'll amend my motion to approve. Second. Okay. So, there's uh Yeah. And by the way, Mr. Mayor and Council, uh I'd like to offer Miss Carvajal my card. That way, she can email uh the the suggested text and then we will take the appropriate steps to get it reviewed. Thank you, Mr. Pettis. Thank you, Mr. Pettis.

Mayor and Council, uh again, you have before you a proposed um ordinance to be to be uh possibly adopted. This ordinate ordinance intends to recognize data data centers as a distinct land use. Number two, ensure protection of the city's limited water and infrastructure resources. Three, require enhanced public review and city uh council oversight, prevent approval of uses that exceed the city's infrastructure capacity, and preserve the city's discretion to deny or condition development where impacts cannot be adequately integrated or excuse me, mitigated. And so with that, uh if you have any questions regarding the proposedness, staff can answer questions. Uh, do any members of council want to discuss further on this item here? No. Very well. I believe there was a motion and second on the table. All those in favor say I.

I. Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you. So, I just want to let the uh speakers that are here with us today know that our our meeting is about to get really really boring. We appreciate your support and your comments. Uh and if you all want to stick around, you're more than happy to. If not, go visit Windown or the Dusty Tap. They're open and we got the coldest beer in town. Thank you. I must I must add that Miss Scamito as a presenter is cintillating the content of the of the presentation may not No. Um,

do we still we have quum? 15. Yeah, we have quum. Okay, we'll present item 15. Uh, this is the public hearing of an ordinance approving a request for a preliminary plat for the Ohanas being a portion of tract um 1x. Is that 1x? Yeah, 1x. Now known as track 1x1, Lake Clark survey number 293 and a portion of lot 17, block 6, cello de Rio, unit 2, amending plat and addition to the city of Sakoro, El Paso counties, Texas at 7:24 p.m. Public hearing is now open. No speakers, mayor.

As there are no speakers, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:24 p.m. as well. Thank you. Agenda item 16. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance approving a request for a preliminary plat for the Ohana being a portion of tract 1X, now known as tract 1x1, Lake Clark survey number 293 and a portion of lot 17, block 6, yellow de Rio, unit 2, amending plat and addition to the city of Sakoro, El Paso County, Texas. Motion to approve. Second.

Thank you, Mayor and Council Loren Kimo, city planner. Uh some quick uh details regarding the Ohanas subdivision. The property is located on Stockyard Drive and Sel Blanco Drive. The property property owner is Thang John Wyn. Their representative is Alonso De Perez with ADP Engineering. The property is 1.5 acres in size and currently zoned R three highdensity residential. The property is vacant. And in summary, the request is to approve a preliminary plat for the ohanas. Staff recommends approval and the planning and zoning commission voted for approval of the request. Four yeses, no, nos, and zero abstensions. They voted as such at their March 3rd meeting. The next slide shows the subdiv the subdivisions uh surrounding the Ohanes subdivision and the property zoning is R3 and it is surrounded by R3 uh zoning highdensity residential zoning. The aerial photograph shows the vacant land and the surrounding homes, single family residential lots, and you can also see some ponding sites. These are photographs taken from Cello Drive and Stockyard Drive showing the vacant property and the preliminary flat for the Ohanes containing eight lots, eight residential lots at the culdesac. Additional rightway is being provided through this flat for Stockyard Drive and the lots

are between uh 5,311 ft and uh almost 7,000 square ft. In summary, the request is for approval of a prelim preliminary flat for the Ohana subdivision. With that, staff can answer any questions. Any members of council have any questions or comments on this item? No sir. No. Okay. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I.

Any oppose or abstain. That motion carries. We're moving into agenda item 17. This is the public hearing of an ordinance for the proposed La Hoya subdivision replat K being a replat of lot 14 block 4 and La Hoya subdivision and located at 100 Escalante Drive, Sakoro, Texas. It's 7:27 p.m. Public hearing is now open. No speakers, ma'am. As there are no speakers, we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing at 7 20 7 28 28.

Agenda item number 18. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance approving the proposed La Hoya subdivision replat K being a replat of lot 14 block 4 La Hoya. Am I pronouncing that right? La Hoya or La Hoya Laoya. La Hoya. All right. La Hoya subdivision and located at 100 Escalante Drive, Sakoro, Texas. Motion to approve.

Second. Thank you, mayor and council. And item number 18, the La Hoya subdivision replac. Uh some general information regarding the property. This property is located at 100 Escalante Drive and the property owner is Rosa Peralta. Their representative Escalderon Engineering. The lot is 21,61 square ft. It is zoned R1 and the current uh land use is residential. In summary, the request is for approval of a replat for La Hoya subdivision replat K and staff recommends approval of the replat. The planning and zoning commission voted for approval at their March 3rd meeting uh with unanimously with four members present. This is a zoning map showing the single family residential zoning for the property and the surrounding properties. The aerial photograph shows the location of the existing single family home and the surrounding residential um residential lots. These are photographs taken of the property. The top photograph was taken from La Sa Drive and the bottom photograph was taken from Escalante Drive. This is the original for the La Hoya subdivision. This was platted in 1986. It it had originally 119 lots. Of those 119 lots, there are still currently eight vacant lots on this property in in this subdivision. The next slide shows the replat showing the division of the one lot into two. The second sheet of the replat shows the I'm sorry, those were out of order. that this is the replat and the

uh second sheet shows the location of the first home, the ponding and the ponding for the second home and the location of the future home on the second lot. Uh both lots still are 10,000 square feet which is a minimum for a single family R1 zoning district. With that, staff can answer any questions. Got a quick question. Are they building another home or they already have a There's one home there and they're building and they're going to split the lot and build a second home. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments on this one here? No, sir. No. That was a motion and second. All those in favor say I.

I. Any oppose or abstain? And that motion carries. The next item is agenda item number 19. This is the public hearing of an ordinance approving the proposed request for approval of a replat for thruo subdivision unit 2 replat B being a replat of lot 1B block 1 through subdivision unit 2 replat A located at 10330 Soro road Sakoro Texas to allow for duplexes. It's 7:31 p.m. and public hearing is now open. No speakers mayor.

Okay. As there are no speakers, we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:31 p.m. as well. Agenda item number 20. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance for the proposed request for approval of a replat for thru subdivision unit 2, replat B being a replat of lot 1B, block one, thruo subdivision unit to replat A located at 10330 Soro Road, Sakoro, Texas to allow for duplexes. Motion to approve. Second.

Thank you, mayor and councel. Item 20 is a replat. The legal description of this property is all of lot 1B, block one of the thruo subdivision, unit 2, replat A. The property is 10330 Sor Road. The owner is Alejandro Padilla. No, Portillo from Ava Developments LLC. Their representative is Dorado Engineering Group. Mr. Dorado, their representative, is present to answer any questions that you might have. The property is uh just a little over 2.3 acres in size. It is currently vacant and zoned R2 medium density residential. In summary, the request is for approval of a reply. This replet is of Trujillo subdivision unit 2 replet B to allow for duplexes. Staff recommends approval of the request and the planning and zoning commission voted for approval at their February 17th meeting meeting with four members present all voting unanimously unanimous unanimously to approve the request. The zoning map shows the R2 zoning district for the subject property and it is surrounded by a mix of zonings. The R3, R1 in yellow agricultural and C1 Uh just to the south, the aerial image shows the vacant lot, adjacent vacant commercial lot, and surrounding mix of residential single family and more rural uh single family homes. These are photographs taken from McKenzie an place. Uh the top picture, the bottom picture was taken from the end of Carter Scott Place. This is the original replat A of thruo unit 2

and this is the proposed replat with 11 lots. The flat also dedicates additional right of way for QC drive. In summary, the request is for approval of a replat for Duhillo subdivision unit 2 replat B to allow for duplexes. And with that, staff can answer any questions. And as mentioned before, the representative is in attendance to answer any questions that you might have as well. Any questions or comments or concerns for this item here?

Mr. It is for the for the right of way. They're giving a a piece of of the land.

Additional right ofway. Yes. So, currently we have an undeveloped road at the edge between this subdivision subdivision and the subdivision just underneath the and an additional strip of rightway that was a part of the original of the original coral grant. So, this um is an additional 17 a little over 17 feet. That's pretty much the the area outlined in gray that will be uh used to construct Coupec Road. And if you this sounds familiar, planning and zoning uh presented a development agreement where the city and uh it was going to allow for certain um um changes to the replat in order for the developer to build the entire street.

Okay. So the owner would be responsible of building the street. Yes. Okay. That was the that was the question. Thank you. That shaded part there on Sor Road. What was that again? Cupc road. Oh, like like a deceleration. No, no, no. It's a Right there in gray is the additional right ofway for the new road that is to be built. Oh, that's not off Sakuro Road, right? It is off Sakuro. Oh, is it? Oh, okay. It is off Sakoro Road is to the right. This is Sakoro Road. Mhm. Okay. Okay. Now I see it. Yes. Okay. And if you remember, if you look back to the photographs of the site,

they were taken from the end of the subdivision where these streets, Mckenzie and Carter Scott Place are locked off by those barriers. They're now going to be opened up and and there'll be connectivity now there. Okay. Correct. A lot of those residents that live there, they complain about the uh ATVs and off-road vehicles going in there. So, that that won't be happening. Hopefully much anymore. Hopefully. All right. Well, there was u any more questions or comments on this item. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I.

That motion carries. Thank you. Agenda item 21. This is the public hearing of an ordinance for the proposed Bowman Estates unit 2 replat N being a replat of lot 10, block 8, Bowman Estates unit 2 and located at 11301 Sheffield Drive. So, Texas at 7:37 PM and the public hearing is now open. No speakers, ma'am. As there are no speakers, we're going to go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:37 p.m. as well. Agenda item 22. This is the second reading and adoption of an ordinance for the proposed Bowman Estates unit 2 replat N being a replat of lot 10, block 8, Bowman Estates unit 2 and located at 11301 Sheffield Drive, Sakoro, Texas.

Motion to approve.

Second. Thank you, Mayor and Council. Item 22, Bowman Estates Unit 2, replat N. This is a replat request for a replat of lot 10, block 8 of Bowman Estates Unit 2, located at 11301 Sheffield Drive. The property owner is Golden Homes JNL LLC. Their representative is Enrique Ayala with CAD Consulting Company. The property is just over 21,000 square feet in size and zoned our one single family residential. It is currently a uh residential. In summary, the request is to approve a replot to create two residential lots from one lot and staff recommends approval of the request. The planning and zoning commission voted for approval at their March 3rd meeting, voting for yes, zero no and zero abstensions. Next slide is the zoning map showing the R1 single family residential uh zoning for the property and the surrounding properties. The aerial photograph shows the vacant lot. I'm sorry, the residential lot and the surrounding uh residential lots. These are photographs taken from Wman Drive and Sheffield Drive. and the original Bowman Estates unit 2 plat. Uh the next slide is the replat showing the two lots both being within the 10,000 foot min square foot minimum for R1 residential zoning. And in summary, the request is for an approval of a replat for La Hoya. No,

sorry. This is incorrect. For Bowman uh for the Bowman Estates Unit 2 replat N uh being a replat of lot 10 block 8 of Bowman Estates Unit 2. And with that, staff can answer any questions. Any uh questions or comments on this item? No, sir. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. Thank you, Miss Kito. Thank you.

Uh we're going to be moving on to the grants department with agenda item 23. This is the discussion and action to adopt a drug and alcohol testing policy and program in compliance with the Federal Transit Administration's FTA requirements. Motion to approve. Second. Second.

Good afternoon, mayor and council. Alejandro Lades, si city, not silly city development director. sometimes silly. Um, we are here to request your approval to adopt the proposed drug and alcohol testing policy that you have in your backup. This policy was developed to ensure that we are compliant with Federal Transit Administration requirements for all agencies that provide public transportation to um to members of the public. Some of the uh required items um include uh instructions on when to test um employees, how often based on a list of behaviors that are uh seen by the supervisors, some required training that the supervisors also have to take in order to determine if there is a behavior that would require an employee to be tested. Um, and there's some responsibilities for HR, for supervisors, for and for the employees themselves. Um, so there's a lot in there that is required of of us and is included in this policy. I can answer any question if you all have any any questions at this time.

Any uh questions or comments for this item? No, sir. No. So our our drivers can no longer drive under the influence after we adopt this. Unfortunately, no. Yes. Okay. And this policy will ensure that that does not happen. Very well. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. The next item is 24. the discussion and action to adopt the city of Sakoro public transportation agency safety plan in accordance with 49 CFR part 673 and designate the city manager as the accountable executive under this plan. Motion to approve. Second.

Good afternoon, mayor and council. Again, we're continuing with our list of policies that we need to adopt in order to get us ready to become uh direct recipient of Federal Transit Administration funds. uh a a public transportation agency safety plan is required of all agencies that uh provide public transportation uh regardless of how big that entity is or how small it is. So even though we do have a small microtransit service, we have to make sure that we have a uh transportation safety plan. The safety plan requires the inclusion of annual safety performance targets based on national uh public transportation safety plan guidelines. Um it requires for us to have a process to document our safety management system. Um it requires for us to describe how we're going to cooperate with our frontline transit workers. In this case, it would be our our transit drivers. um to put this safety plan together and to establish a process for annual review and updates to ensure that we're meeting those safety targets. Some of those t safety targets um include things like uh number of uh vehicle collisions with pedestrians. So our safety target is going to be zero right for the year. Um, so those are examples of the the kind of things that we're trying to uh avoid and then track over time to make sure that we're putting out a safe service for our residents.

Any uh questions for Miss Valdes? No, sir. I I have just one question. I know that um maybe we're not there yet. Our our transit uh program is is fairly new. uh some of the units that the city and county um have they they've installed some type of a simple software that tracks speed or um I I guess uh unsafe uh action by the driver and then there's a report that the administrator can download and they can they can track the driver. Are we looking into installing something similar?

Yes, we actually do have a transit software already installed in our vehicles. It tracks participants, uh, miles. Does it track speed, Miss Bella? It does also. And our transit coordinator does put together monthly reports to the supervisor on all kinds of tra um um metrics. Okay. We are also doing a lot of the things that are already in the plan like a pre pre-trip um check of the vehicle checks. Yeah. Yeah. Safety checks. This documents everything that we are already doing and adds additional safety components.

Good. Thanks. Okay. Mayor, also if I can add as part of information, uh we the city does have the Michelin connected fleet, uh which is the the exact software that you're talking about that we that tracks speed and possibly unsafe behaviors while driving and is reported back to the city. Okay, awesome. Thanks. Any uh questions or comments for this item? No. Thank you. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. And that motion carries as well. Thank you. Thank you.

We already took action on items 25 and 26. So we're we're going to move to uh 27. And all this is is the discussion and action to ratify uh the resolution number 842 dated March 5th, 2026. Recognizing Charles Hassoon of Group 1, Ford, El Paso, Texas for supporting the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association community initiatives. Motion to approve. Second. Um,

good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Isabella Perez. Reading resolution 842. El Paso Veteran and Writers Association. Whereas Charles Hassoon Group 1 for El Paso, Texas. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writer Association in response to the consequences of the 2025 government shutdown affecting Sakoro collaborated with city officials and the Sakora Police Department to organize and deliver more than 1,000 bags and boxes containing food and essential supplies upon receipt from the EPV. The Sakora Police Department administered the distribution efficiently. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association and Mayor Rudy Cruz Jr. gathering and handed out gift cards to the Sakor School District to enhance their Thanksgiving dinner with greater meaning and nutrition. Whereas the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to serving the Sakoro community through its annual initiatives. In particular, EPVA conducted its 9th annual veterans and community food drive continuing its tradition of supporting Sakoro families in need. Through this effort, EPVA provided food and other essential items, ensuring that local families received valuable assistance and support during challenging times. Whereas, the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association received an unexpected donation of toys and distributed them on Christmas Eve through the Roses that helped brighten our children's holidays to Sakoro and the surrounding communities. Whereas now therefore be a resolve that the mayor of Sakoro, Texas and city council do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026 as the El Paso Veterans and Writers Association appreciation month in official pride and recognition thereof. The Sakoro City Council proudly affix their signatures this 5th day of March 2026.

Thank you. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. Agenda item number 29. This is the discussion and action on an agreement between the city of Sakoro and the Sakoro, Texas veterans to support funding and improvements at Cougar Park. Motion to approve. Second.

Good evening, mayor and council. Victor PZ, deputy city manager. The city of Sakoro owns and maintains Cougar Park, which is in the location of the Sakuro Veterans Memorial. The memorial serves as a community space honoring the service and sacrifice of military veterans. The Sakoro Texas Veterans, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and honoring veterans, has expressed interest in assisting the city with efforts to enhance and beautify the Veterans Memorial Area and surrounding portions of Cougar Park. The proposed cooperative agreement establishes a partnership between the city and the organization that allows the nonprofit to seek grants, donations, sponsorships, and other funding sources for park improvements. Potential projects may include improvements such as walking paths, lighting, restroom renovations, landscaping, memorial enhancements, and other public public improvements that benefit the park and the community. Since Google Cougar Park is owned and maintained by the city of Sakoro, the agreement provides a framework to ensure that any projects any project funded through the organization is coordinated with the city and meets applicable municipal standards. And with that, and if you have any questions,

you know, um I I was a little unsure of the of the item and and and once I I asked questions, I think it's the Sakoro veterans now have this nonprofit and they uh look to seek in the future some grant opportunities that could potentially invest in in the upkeeping of of Cougar Park.

Yes, sir. And then also in conversations with the veterans group. Um the intent is to beautify Cougar Park which which has a double effect of attracting more people to the memorial and then also people coming in possibly from out of town enjoying the park and then also maybe spending their money in in in Sakuro and or just enjoying Sakoro. Yeah. Just the tourism in general. I think it's long overdue. Uh so uh any questions or comments for this item? No, sir. No. All right. There was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. I. That motion carries. Thank you.

Uh the next items here, I'd like to take them all all together in one vote. Uh only because they're support letters that were signed um days before just because they were timesensitive and I had to put ink to paper. Um, but again, you all can stop and and discuss any of those items. I'm going to read through through them all, and all we're going to do is ratify those here today. And I'd like to take it all in one vote. So, I'll start off by reading agenda item number 30. This is the discussion and action to ratify the letter of support submitted to Congressman Tony Gonzalez for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office community project funding request for the special operations package. Agenda item 31 is the discussion and action to ratify a letter of support submitted to Congressman Tony Gonzalez for the city of Sanisario fiscal year 2027 community project funding request for a regional public health and animal control facility. Agenda item number 32, the discussion and action to ratify a letter of support for Isleta PBlo's fiscal year 2027 federal appropriations request for a new housing initiative in district 2, Sakoro, Texas. Agenda item number 33. This is the discussion and action to ratify letters of support for the town of Horizon fiscal year 2027 congressional community project funding requests for the construction of a government complex.

Motion to approve. Second. There's a motion and second to approve. Uh if you all want to discuss any of these letters of support, uh we're more than uh happy to do so at this time. If not, there was a motion and second. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose or abstain? That motion carries. Do we have any items posted for 34 or 35 or 36? Yes, sir. No. Motion to delete items 34 through 36. Second. There's been a motion and a second to delete items 34, 35, and 36. All those in favor say I. I. That motion carries as well. I have a motion to adjurnn.

Motion to adjurnn. Second. There's a motion and second to adjurnn this meeting. All those in favor say I. I. This meeting adjourns at 7:53 p.m. Thank you.