--------- All right, good morning everybody. It is uh 10 a.m. We're going to go ahead and call to order the public safety committee uh meeting for Tuesday, February 3rd. First order of business is the approval of the December 2nd, 2025 minutes.
All right. All in favor? Any opposed? All right. Motion passes. Next is a uh well the written report uh considering that regarding the lift help fees uh from Fort Fire Department. Do we have a presentation on that or just just a report?
>> Just a report for the committee's information in response to the request. >> Okay. So, as expected uh whenever we we'd asked for this um just because of the large number of calls to private facilities for lift assist uh and non-medical emergencies
uh and the amount of time and resources it was taken uh seeing what other cities are doing to try to mitigate some of those um resource uses um you know whether that be in the form of you know smaller fees or higher fees and I don't
know if everyone on this uh this body has had a chance to take a look at that report Um, but I would certainly recommend taking the mayor and council um a policy where we do enact some sort of fee structure for those non-emergency lift assist fees, especially for those
private facilities. Again, these are for the facilities that are really taking these resources uh when they should be employing the resources to be able to do that job for them. Uh not leaning on our taxpayer resources, taking them away from what could be real emergencies. Uh it's
unfortunate situation they're in there. However, that's uh that's something those facilities I believe should should figure out. I don't know what the city stance. >> Mr. Chair, if I may, I would um just like to add that staff is looking at a number of fees in addition to this
fee. And we are planning to come back to you later in the year, probably as part of the overall budget process to make recommendations that would in that would address this fee and many other fees that we're looking that we're looking at
now related to fire, EMS, public safety, etc. >> Got it. And then looking at some of the other fees that were in this report uh regarding uh vehicle accidents um is there any process now where insurance
companies are charged? I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Are there any um are there any processes now where these insurance companies are are being charged for the resources that the city is using to help clean up uh and take care of some of these motor vehicle accidents or is that just something that we take on? I think
we we take on most of the cleanup, but I know that we work with risk to to look at opportunities to go back and subregate, go after other insurance companies, etc., or damages that might be caused to our equipment, etc.
>> Okay. because I do remember at one point I believe it was last year we discussed uh you know some accidents that were you know when they damaged city property where it be signals um you name it and the success rate of getting the insurance companies to pay for those was
so low that from what I understand or remember was we just kind of stopped going after that. So, if we can just get an update on where we're at with that so we can make sure that if damage is caused by motor vehicle accidents and someone just not paying attention uh that their in that their insurance if they are insured is covering those those
charges so our taxpayers aren't having to pay for that. Um, and then in the meantime, while we wait on those reports for the uh the the lift fees, um, is there a way to to look at because I I'm just trying to make sense of the uh like this these institutions where it looks
like like uh Green Oaks Boulevard for example, 88 calls in 2023, 109 in 2024, 83. Is that one specific facility that was that's having all these calls out callouts or
I know Chief Hill if maybe might have any insight on that. So looking at that report um where it has the uh the the the chart uh for all these different roads but it says institution but it has this the street name and then how many calls for lift assist they got. Is that
one specific facility that's >> Ray Hill interim fire chief? Uh actually it's the independent living facilities and we do have a high number of repeat uh dispatches to those places. So those are the majority of our non-emergency lift help
>> calls. Got it. Um >> so these are specific like one specific facility with numerous calls. >> Got it. Is now on those calls is explain like because right now the policies we we go out there we provide the assistance correct like there's no questions asked. Yes sir. Um, are we
doing anything at the city leadership level to basically tell them, hey, like you're taking advantage? >> So, at this point, we're looking at what we what we're going to be able to come back with in terms of proposing fees.
>> Okay. >> Uh, to address the especially the excessive repeat folks that are calling for lift assist. Right now, it's there's no charge for that service. no additional charge for that service. It's just something that historically has
been done, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Uh at no at no cost. So, we're evaluating everything now that we have um I guess had to really focus on this with incorporating EMS into fire and a lot of those calls, some of those calls
may come to what used to be MedStar, etc. We're looking at all all of the fees associated with it and uh the impacts that it has on operations, response time, and revenue generation. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you. Um Okay. So, we
will look forward to to getting that report. Chief Hill, thank you so much. Um anyone have any questions on this? >> Yeah, I don't I hadn't seen what we're talking about, but are they going to the hospital? What where are they going? >> They're not going anywhere. They're just simply going there to help get them because they fell down and they're large
or they don't have the staff on hand that can actually get them back up. So, it's not emergency. They're not taking them to the hospital. They're just putting them back in the >> the lazy boy or the bed. >> Got it. Thanks. >> So, any other questions, comments on this one?
I think if we're going to talk about a fee structure though, we need to make sure that we are delineating between uh frequent users that are private citizens who need that support. We shouldn't be charging them like even frequent flyers need help. Um but institutions where
they should by the nature of the facility have people on staff that should be able to provide that level of support. I think the problem that we're going to run into is that for many of those um institutions, the reason that they call for a lift assist is because
of liability purposes. They don't want to be the person lifting in case there's a a drop or a fall. And so I think that's probably a a bigger reason why we're getting those and it shouldn't be for us to mitigate risk. So in that
essence or to that end, we need to be looking at institutions, not individuals. So that's 100% what this is is this is not as far as the uh the home calls that would be status quo. This is for those facilities who >> probably don't like you said that
they're trying to mitigate risk there and maybe they have workers comp issues there too. So um okay so we'll look forward to getting that report. Um the next is a opioid responses presentation from Kesha Light. Good afternoon, good morning, excuse me.
Kesha Light, assistant neighborhood services director, here to give you a report and overview on the Texas opioid settlement funds. These are some funds that we've received from a pharmaceutical settlement in the last few years. Um, also here is Deputy Chief Horton and Bethany Warner and Tower
Perez. So, they'll also be available to answer any questions specifically to their funding requests and the programs that they're um that they're doing with these funds. I'll first give an outline of the presentation. Um I'm going to do a timeline from where we started to where
we are now to where we're going. And then we'll talk about the awards that we received to date. Talk about some allocation unprogram funds and how the funds are being used. And then we do have some monies we need to allocate. So we'll talk about those funding requests and at the end we'll have time for
questions and discussion. November 2021, city council approved a resolution which approved city council approved city of Fort Worth being able to receive some of the funds from this settlement. In March of 2023, we received our first payment of around
$665,000. The following month in April, there was an MSC approved by city council to not only approve the funds to be used in our city, but also to designate neighborhood services as a lead department to oversee the allocation and use of the funds. So,
we're anticipating over the 18 years a total payout to be nearly $2.6 million from the initial settlement. There has been a subsequent settlement and we're anticipating an additional $2 million from that one over during this time period. In October 2023, we conducted
our first RFP soliciting nonprofits and social service agency and city departments to be able to um request funding to be used for um the opioid crisis that we're experiencing to be able to use those funds.
In December of 2023, there was a another MNC um actually awarding the agencies that had applied to the RFP and were awarded and that was Health Science Center, My Health, My Resources of Tarant County, and the City of Fort
Worth Fire Department. In April the following year, we received our second payment around $129,000. And in March, we held a second RFP process and also two information sessions were held. um to explain more to the community and have opportunity
for them to come and hear more about the the funds and how to apply. And in April 2025, we received a third payment of $631,000. That's the amount we're looking today to discuss with you for the funding request that we have received. In June, um, city
council approved the MNC, approving the use of the second and third payments, reducing the fire department's allocation, and awarding funds to only one agency at that time, and that was Health Science Center. This chart here shows our initial settlement award in that first column,
the second and what's been revised, and then what we spent today. So, to date, we've spent $427,000. Um, and you'll see the remaining funds is just under a million dollars. You see that 632,000 that I mentioned earlier.
That's what um needs to be allocated. That's um program funds right now. Um we are um anticipating, you'll see in a moment to give those funds to the fire department, to our homeless strategies team, and then also a small very small amount to admin expenses. We've also
learned recently um with these funds we have um interest earnings around $75,000. So we're working with FMS right now to figure out how to allocate those monies as well. >> Can I stop you real quick? Can you let us um can you tell me a little bit more
about what the program the uh the health science program does? that program, safer care Texas program. >> Yes. >> I'm sorry. I'm not as familiar with this
program. Just I don't know if some of my helpers here have deputy chief or home strate are y'all familiar homeless strategies. We can definitely get that answer back to you. >> Thank you. >> Here's a list of how those funds can be
used. So we can use to purchase medicine, treatment of incarcerated populations, uh services to pre pregnant and postpartum women. There's a host of activities that we're able to use the the funds for. And you'll see in a moment with the two um new funding
requests how they plan to use the funds. This list um shows the approved uses based on treatment, prevention, and other strategies. And here is um funding request allocation. We'll get into the details in just a moment. So the fire department
was was requesting a $410,000 for peer support expanded treatment access and community out engagement on do outreach out in the community. Homeless strategies requested $297,200 for their high impact program. But just with the numbers that we received, we
had to reduce that amount a little bit. So they'll receive $221,385. And then neighborhood services, as I mentioned earlier, it's a very small amount of just $500 for administrative expenses. >> I'm glad they're getting that extra penny though. That's that's I'm sure
they're very thankful for that. >> Okay. So, the fire department's funding request, the ultimate goal is to improve recovery, reduce overdoses, and build community resilience. So, in both um in the positions that you would hear from fire department and in um homeless
strategies, they would be contracted positions or working with a nonprofit organization to um actually contract those. They wouldn't be cityled positions. So, first is to fund a peer support specialist for the overdose response team. They also want to get
more out in the community and um provide more awareness and reduce the stigma. Do more community events. Then continue to support existing roles of peer support specialist and a mobile integrated health parademic and then also expand medication assisted treatment. So
purchase more medicine to assist our residents. Yeah, mayor. >> And this may be a question for the police, for the fire department, but related to the overdose response team prior to our our partnership with MedStar coming inhouse with the fire
department, those services were in partnership at MedStar with recovery resource council and it was a very effective program. My question for the fire department is to make sure we're not creating redundancy and have they had a conversation with recovery resource council to make sure that's not a service that they could be providing
today in the community? Mayor, yeah, I I can answer some of that question for you because we actually recently just had a meeting with the fire department and uh resource recovery council to make sure that we weren't duplicating efforts. And um I don't want to speak for Chief Hill um but I did hear from uh his
counterpart at the resource recovery council that um thanked them for that meeting and has said that since that meeting there has been enhanced coordination and communication. So I'll let you tell us what we're doing, but that's my uh pat you on the back for doing it. So, the um the funding that
we'll receive, we're going to use that to increase the overdose response team. Uh right now, we have a uh MIH paramedic which is already authorized staffing for the fire department. They will team up with a peer support person. Uh right now, we're going out two days per week.
With the additional funding, we'll be able to offer services four days per week. So, it's not duplication of services, it's expansion of services. For clarity, how do you work? How do you currently plan to work with recovery resource council?
>> I will use this funding. What we don't have funded is is the social worker, which is another component of the overdose response team. >> Okay. >> So, that funding will help. We'll partner with another agency for a social worker. We will expand uh expand our
services from two days to four days. And that partnership is with recovery resource. >> Okay, that's great. Thank you. Here's the layout of their budget request. So that existing mobile integrated health parademic paramedics,
excuse me, 223,000, the contracted peer support specialist 114,000 the community events 30,000 medication 32,000 and then administrative expenses for $10,000 for a total of $410,24.
>> I have some questions. Okay. Uh thank you so much for putting this together. I appreciate it. Um, so in regards to the funding that was that was requested from the high impact program, is that going to uh be additional resources that we're
putting into the high impact program or does that help subsidize the total budget budgetary cost of the high impact program? Terra >> here. Come on up, Tara. Tara Pres with Homeless Strategies.
Thank you. It is an expansion. It is to add a position through MHMR for a chemical dependency counselor. And what this does is, as you all know, we're in the process of expanding the program um that that you requested we do. And so
when we add another staff, we also are able to utilize 10 more housing vouchers. So this helps us on the housing and the services side. >> So um with this addition, what is the total number of housing vouchers we'll get?
>> We'll be able to request 10 more because of this position. So, if we added, say if we decided next year we got um $800,000 and we wanted to add a second or you know another um chemical dependency position that would open up
again another 10 more vouchers. >> Yes. >> Okay. Well, this is exactly what I was going to ask that we do with these funding. So, I appreciate y'all uh reading my mind on this. um that I wanted to make sure that um in our high impact program that um we were looking
at funding specific to chemical dependency. Um and so I like what we're doing with it. I don't like that I don't know what health science did with it, but I think moving forward it would be my preference that we keep this money in the city. um just by the two funding
requests that we've seen here um with our high impact program and our um hope our fire department expansion, I think that um there's more than enough that we can do um to capture that money and do it here within the city as opposed to our current programs as opposed to
future RFPs um for um for outside agencies. So the funding the funding requests today we did decide not to do an RFP and just allocate the city department. So I believe that probably be what we do moving forward. >> And then my one last question. So I
noticed um it looks like we got 600,000 and then 100,000 and then 600,000. So is that a pattern that we can expect over the years because it says it's going to pay out over 18 years. So do we have a schedule for how that funding is going to look for budgeting purposes?
>> From my understanding is pretty random. Um so we're anticipating another um set of funding sometime this spring but we don't know when or the exact amount. >> Oh that's perfect. Great. Thank you. >> Unpredictable government say it ain't so. >> But to Elizabeth's point that's a even more reason why if you keep it in house
within our own departments you can create consistency so that if there's a delay in potential funding say on the program we're working on then they have a better chance to keep it sustained rather than having to wait on funds or cutting things off. So >> exactly. Yeah,
>> sorry. Go ahead. >> So, here, Lissa, we want to make sure we're measuring our impact and make sure what we set out to do that we're actually having that impact out in the community. So, this is the evaluation plan from the fire department based on their current funding request. So, they want to track the number of individuals
supported by the parade, excuse me, why do I keep saying that? paramedic and peer support specialists as well as monitor the de decrease in repeat overdoses within six months post intervention and then track the percentage of opioid use disorder patients. Measure attendance and
engagement at those community outreach events we discussed earlier and then also do some uh feedback surveys and focus groups with those that actually participate in their programs. the homeless strategies funding request. The goal is to increase the use of
substance abuse services and benefit clients as well as the public safety and well-being of the city as a whole. And um Tara just mentioned they're wanting to um hire a licensed chemical dependency counselor um hopefully to be able to keep that person in place over
the next two two years and increase um their number of clients they're able to serve by 10 and then of course purchase some medication as well. Here's a breakdown of their budget. So, 140,000 would go to the counselor um that would
be um contracted through MHMR. Operating expenses of $3,200, administrative expenses around $10,000, and then the medication around $68,000 for a total of $221,385. They too want to make sure they're having an impact. And you'll see their
performance criteria, what they're planning to track. They're going to track the percentage of individuals accepting a housing offer after being housed, percentage of clients that stayed housed, and then a percentage of clients being treated for opioid substance use disorder.
The this particular funding after she strengthens our through peer expertise and expanded treatment at emergency point of care. those community events as we mentioned will increase awareness and reduce stigma out in the community with these types of activities. Funding also
provides opioid substance abuse counseling services and medications for formerly unsheltered residents for those really in need in these services. So combined efforts our overall goals are to mitigate overdoses in Fort Worth, promote healing, and build community
resilience. Next steps. So, next month, February 24th, those meeting requests for those um program funds will be presented to city council for approval. We're also working with, as I mentioned, we have that $75,000 um monies that we need to allocate as
well. So, we're working with FMS to figure out um where we put those funds and then identify additional funding opportunities as future settlement payments are received. With that, I'll stand for any questions or open discussion. Uh any questions on that? Something uh
Mr. Johnson's just brought up is being possibly being able to use that those um those interest earnings and increasing some of those numbers since it looks like there's some that were lowered because of budget shortfalls, but then looking to see where we can allocate the 75 really makes sense to be able to allocate to that. So looking forward to
hearing back on that. Um any questions or comments? >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right. Next uh is a public safety partnerships and homeless strategies programs and Tara Perez is here to give
that presentation. >> Morning. >> Good morning. So, really quickly, I'd just like to overview our our homeless system and homeless strategies and then talk about two programs specifically that um
overlap with public safety. So, this is our homeless population. Um as you can see, the light blue line is our continuum of care, which is Taran Parker counties. Um whereas the city of Fort Worth is the black line. The city of Fort Worth is has about 81%
of the homelessness in our area. This is a snapshot of our continuum just for this past December. Just breaks it down a little bit about who is homeless. As you can see, um we've had a lot of success in being able to house a lot of
veterans. Um also there's some dedicated funds for young adults and families. The vast majority of people are single adults over 25 though. This is our continuum of care structure. The continuum of care board is the
policymaking body. Um, Mayor Parker serves on the leadership part of that COC board. I serve and represent the city on the membership part of the board. Partnership Home is the 501c3 nonprofit, formerly Taran County Homeless Coalition, that carries out the
mission of that board. The city participates in several ways, funding different interventions. So, homeless strategies is a two-person unit in city manager's office. We oversee about six million in general
funds and also some state funds. And we also work cross-dep departmentally on problem solving and organizational alignment because there are a lot of departments that are involved in homelessness. This is an overview specifically of our
general funds. Um as you can see today we're going to talk about two programs specifically which are the high impact program and also our street outreach program. wanted to point out that um through
conducting stakeholder interviews and in particularly listening to the wishes um of many city council members, we were able to triple the budget for street outreach. So instead of having two street outreach workers, we now have six. So that tripled that outreach budget.
Okay. The first program that overlaps with public safety is our high impact program. As you all know, we targeted seven specific areas of the city with um a lot of unsheltered homelessness. And these are the areas in several different
council districts spread throughout the city. The criteria to be referred almost all the referrals came from our NPOS. um and the person had to be unsheltered in that area and either unsheltered in that area
two years or more or suspected of having severe mental illness. So what our hope is is to reduce the law enforcement time and interactions with these individuals. So a lot of these individuals are very disruptive not only
to neighborhoods but also to businesses due to their severe mental illness. These were our goals and these were the outcomes of the 17-month pilot. At that time, 86% of people accepted their
housing offer. 94% who were housed were still housed one year later and we hit our goal of serving 80 clients. Um, as we mentioned earlier, we are adding 30 vouchers. So, we're in the process of expanding to be able to serve
110. The profile of the client in high impact has been unsheltered homeless 7 and a half years is 54 years old. Um, the median number of times people had to ask if they wanted housing before accepting is one.
So when we look a little closer at our client profile, 95% of the folks suffer from severe mental illness and 73% also have substance use disorder. Um when we looked more closely, we found that 10% of those clients suffered
specifically with opioid disorder. One of the things that we've noticed is we're tracking is what percentage of clients uh accept services. So, there's a psychiatric physician assistant on the team and we're now seeing a rate of 63%
of clients that are receiving psychiatric services. Um, we have 29% of folks that are accepting drug treatment services and that was behind our ask for the chemical dependency counselor from the opioid settlement because we hope to boost that
number. Although we had some high utilizers of our health system, a lot of the folks in high impact were not really on the radar of our outreach teams in the community or the health systems. It was law enforcement was the one that they were
interacting with very frequently. Um, again, we saw this working with NPOS really influence some of our future decisions about outreach. just understanding how NPOS's know their areas so well and are able to leverage those relationships.
We are in conversations with fire and EMS thinking about our program growth and effectiveness for high impact. So the second program that we think overlaps with public safety is our targeted outreach. So we have six outreach workers that are
funded by the city. So, it's now three teams of two. And so, we have divided them up. We selected the high impact areas because they have large percentages of unsheltered homelessness. And again, high impact just serves those with severe mental illness, but those
areas have a lot more unsheltered folks than high impact can serve. And so, we went back to some of those same areas. So, now outreach is targeting in north side stockyards. We also have folks that are on um near
southside and east Lancaster. So in the first quarter um they met with over 613 unsheltered folks. Um the big emphasis now is that traditionally outreach has been the purpose of outreach is to
connect people who are unsheltered with housing. So, it's it's been um a lot of discussion about when there is a pause in housing resources available, what is outreach's new role? And so, we are really exploring more pathways leaning
more toward employment or diversion or treatment. We continue to find that it does make a difference who ask people for services. um outreach continually has more people that say they accept services um than a lot than if someone in law enforcement
asked them. Any questions on those programs? >> Thank you so much, Tara. Any questions? So, one um for me is on the severe mental health whenever you said they they're uh they're disruptive. Can you
explain a little bit more like what do you mean by that just just the presence or they're causing issues in the neighborhoods or the businesses? Can you provide clarity? >> Okay. So, some examples from some of our high impact clients. Um,
so like if you have someone that's downtown that's not always clothed or that's screaming at people, that's disruptive to the businesses in that area and so they get a lot of calls on that person because of that person's mental illness. So when we're able to house that person, that gives them the
opportunity to connect with treatment and to be in housing and not to be that disruptive person in that area anymore. Got it. Okay. And then for those um I thought it was great that 63% are receiving psychiatric treatment. Um, and
then seeing as how 95% uh do have severe mental health issues, what's I guess what's happening with those who aren't receiving that psychiatric treatment as far as like still being disruptive or you know they're their house now so they're not they're not disruptive or what are they doing as far as like
ensuring we do get them the care they they obviously need if it's severe enough. Uh knowing that we can't force it on them, right? But if we're going to house them and then not provide or we're trying to provide services but they're not accepting them, how do we what are we doing to handle that? >> Right? That's a good question. What
we've seen is um it's been gradual. So when we checked in at the beginning of the program um hardly anyone receiving psychiatric services. So we've checked in over the life of the pilot about every six months or so and have seen that increase. So at 6 months it was not
at 63% I think it was around 15 or 20%. And so that's something that's growing gradually. Um we're very fortunate to have um an excellent psychiatrist and this is a unique program serving really hard to serve people and so sometimes we
just have to do things differently. So sometimes um if you don't have a lot of money just getting your laundry done is really difficult. So some of his psychiatric visits are taking people to the laundromat and doing their laundry with him as a way of building rapport
and getting people into treatment. And so they've been very creative and so far like we've seen a lot of success and success we define as like is that percentage of people that need that treatment increasing that are receiving that treatment? And so we've seen that
gradually go up and we anticipate that that will continue to grow. as far as if they're still disruptive in the home. So, everyone has a hey lease and so they're not on the street being disruptive. And I think some of the behaviors, so for example,
um like yelling or cursing or not wearing all your clothes, it's not a disruption if you're in your own home, >> right? >> And so we haven't experienced those problems like we have when that person's on the street. >> Got it. Okay. Um well, so I think that's
certainly helpful information and I think it'd be really good um especially in future presentations to make sure we include that as well because I think the image in a lot of people's minds is going up to somebody and throwing some pamphlets at them and like here take services and like I don't want them and then that's it. But hearing about some
of these more creative ways of getting them the help they need um I think it's great. I think the statistics too uh moving forward in future reports, you know, where it was 15% then it goes up to 20 and then up to 30 and then 60. I think that'd be really helpful as well just kind of help paint some of the successes of the programs and also where
we need to work on more uh and how potentially more outside resources could help with those. Uh because I'm sure if there's more psychiatrists or if we had more that were willing to think outside the box like that, it'd certainly be be more helpful. Um so any other questions
or comments? Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. >> Okay. That was the the last of the presentations. Um any uh any requests for for discussions? Council
>> uh William, I read your email that you sent uh this morning about the hope team, and I appreciate that that y'all are going to bring some information back to this committee. When you do that, can you make sure that you include um like resources allocated for PD and fire? Um
but I'd also like to see historically what we've done, how we've allocated resources over time to the um to the hope team. >> Absolutely. We can do that. Anybody else? >> I do. I have something. >> Oh, yes. >> Thank you. Um I just want to take this
opportunity to uh bring up the uh topic of illegal gunfire. Um and in the fourth quarter 2025, District 6 experienced the highest number of homicides in the city of Fort Worth. Um with five lo five lives lost in our area alone. Um during
that same period, there were 24 murders during that uh during quarter 4 of 2025. And this past weekend on Friday, we lost yet another life to a stray bullet. Um, and so this is not just providing you with the statistics. It's just the fact
highlighting the fact and emphasizing that these are real people. These are neighbors, our families, and our kids. Um, illegal gunfire and gun violence. They're not just affecting District 6. It seems to be an issue impacting the entire city. And it's stealing the sense of safety that every Fort Worthian uh
deserves. So, because it's preventable, I think um that there should be some action taken. Um, and I'm actually calling on our PD uh to launch a comprehensive campaign to educate res residents on the dangers of illegal
gunfire. Um, its ille illegality and the consequences for those involved. Um, I want to encourage neighbors to get involved. Um, organizing citizens on patrol groups and partnering with the city's police department to prevent these incidents and providing ongoing public service announcements and
community meetings. So, I don't want this loss to just be um an opportunity for us to say a message or share a message one time. I really think there's an opportunity for education here. Um I
think there's a lot of guns in the hands of youth. Um I feel like this is a senseless, avoidable uh death and I feel like we need to have a campaign that's visible, consistent, and collaborative. And this is not assigning any fault or blame at the foot of anyone. But I do think this is an opportunity for us to
work as a city to wrap our hands around each other um and reduce illegal gunfire and empower our residents also to take some action. So that's the challenge and that's the ask. >> If if I may, um thank you for that request, Dr. Hall. That is not the first
time that this request has been made at the city. I first made a request that we go um get, you know, do a creative truly media blitz style PSA campaign about gunshots back in 2021. I think it was 2023 that I asked again that we um
seriously look at how we're communicating this. For some of our residents, um it's a cultural thing. Um they don't know, they might not know that it's illegal. Um, for others, they need to understand the harms associated with it and that Fort Worth PD is
cracking down. And I don't think we do that through our normal media channels. Folks, uh, firing uh, weapons in the air probably aren't also following Fort Worth PD on social media. And so, we need to look at um, a true media campaign when it comes to this, which is
television, print, um, you know, out getting out there, make sure we're getting this message out. Okay. Um William, I think it' be great. Oh, sorry. >> We're still taking IRS, right? >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh I have one. Um
during the point in time count, uh saw a lot of familiar things, but also saw some new things come up. One of those things that I saw was damage to playground equipment. Apparently, in parks where a lot of homeless people
tend to congregate, especially after hours, there's been damage to facilities there. Uh from roofs to pavilions to playground equipment that's been burned. So, I'd like an IR on that. Uh how much has that been, you know, affecting, you
know, our parks, uh costs incurred, uh what what types of preventative measures that we're taking to, uh prevent that from happening. Um, and then William, I think it'd be great if this body could get a presentation on some of the diversion
programs that we have in the city. Um, which ones are more proactive versus reactive. Um, and which programs that exist for the teens. um and where well utilization rates figuring out you know which ones should be sunset which one should be expanded that we can take back
to mayor and council for um you know consideration to expand um I think that'd be incredibly helpful for this body and then another one that I know is at the top of everyone's mind right now because it's certainly been the top uh top of the media I know the mayor has been incredibly helpful uh in this endeavor as far as getting getting
things fixed where we can as well as city manager Jay Chapa and and yourself Mr. Isconin. Uh, and that is in regards to the workers comp uh, issues that have been brought to light uh, that have been going on for for quite some time. And, uh, so I think it'd be great if the if
we this body could get a presentation for I mean, not just for us, but for also public consumption for uh, the Cedric claims process. I mean, almost step by step average time it takes the appeals process. Um, and then really ensuring that we're holding Cedric
accountable for ensuring that our first responders are treated not just promptly, uh, but properly to get them back to the warrior athletes they were prior to the injury. Um, and then something else, you know, hearing about was, you know, some things being cosmetic in nature. Um, and maybe this
is way off base, but the way I see is if a a firefighter or a police officer, if they go into um, you know, they run towards chaos and they are injured and they are something that is a cosmetic injury, whether it be from a fire or uh, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, you name
it. Um, I think the city should be looking at how do we get them back to their former selves the best as possible. Not just from a health perspective, uh, but you know, you consider something as simple as scars. uh we may consider that cosmetic in nature but what's that doing uh for that that first responder that that young
woman young woman young man uh their mental health uh we asked them to run to that chaos and so I think we should be restoring them back to them their priorelves the best we can whether that's cosmetic or just strictly from a physical standpoint so I think the city has the ability to do that we should
absolutely be looking at that because I think if you hear from our police police officers and our our first responders our firefighters our EMS I mean they they come here to work here because they love it here and while we appreciate them, we want to make sure that we're we're taking care of them. So, I think just to kind of shed some light on what we can do better, where our hands are ti
tied from maybe a state perspective, uh, but where we can do better, u, and I think that'd be incredibly helpful. But again, mayor, thank you so much for your your help in getting some short-term and and long-term things taken care of and working with our state uh, level partners. Um, but I think it'd be
helpful to take that to public so that way we can also dispel any rumors or myths. uh and also, you know, hold us uh as leadership accountable uh if we could be doing something more. So, >> okay, we'll bring all of those back to this committee.
>> All right. Uh there's nothing else. meeting a journ Part: 2
Okay, counsel. I'm calling to order our work session meeting, and then we're actually going to quickly recess the work session and go into executive session. The city council will now convene into executive session on the following matters. Seek the advice of its attorneys as authorized by section five five one dot zero seven one of the Texas government code. Deliberate concerning real property matters as authorized by section five five one dot zero seven two of the Texas government code, deliberate concerning economic development negotiations as authorized by section five five one dot zero eight seven of the Texas government code, and deliberate concerning
security as authorized by section five five one dot zero seven six, and section five five one dot zero eight nine to the Texas government code. Council, I think we can get started. Welcome to our city council work session. Today is Tuesday, February 3, all day. All calls to order And turn it over to Jay Chop, I think, for staff announcements. Good afternoon. I do would like to start off by, calling up DJ Harrell, to recognize his department for this current, recent, accolades that they received.
And in fact, he's got a little video he'd like to show. So, Being number one in permitting really embodies our one city, one team mentality. Leadership has had this vision for years of streamlining development in the city of Fort Worth, being innovative, forward thinking, and propelling Fort Worth to the top spot and permitting efficiency, energizing our community with smart growth concepts as well as orderly development. The addition of the customer center on the 5th Floor Of City Hall is just
more evidence of our commitment as a city of Fort Worth to bring all development services under one umbrella. We've streamlined the whole process by having the 5th Floor designated to customers to come directly. So with the new consolidation, we're very customer focused. I think that shows from our kiosk to our information desk to our walk in area. So this just shows that our team can keep up with continued growth and still process permits effectively and efficiently. We work really hard to foster a get to yes mentality, ownership in every project. But it's taken getting the right people to come and work for us to realize
the success. We are here for the customers. We wouldn't have this ranking. We wouldn't be the tenth largest city if it wasn't for customers coming in and needing our assistance and just having a great team who works well together. This recognition serves to energize us even more. We have a great core team of individuals that are empowered to make decisions as well as they have a sense of community and a sense of pride in the city of Fort Worth and what we're building here because we're working to build the best city in the country. One city, one team. Good afternoon, mayor. Good afternoon, honorable mayor Matty Parker, council, city manager Chapa.
I I thank you for this opportunity to stand before you, represent an amazing group of individuals that work extremely hard every day to realize your collective vision and and set the you know, and work on the policies that you guys have set for the city of Fort Worth. I brought a gang of them with me. I'm gonna ask them to make their way closer and potentially get a photograph with you all. But, you know, the important thing that I wanted to leave you guys with, it's it's a one city, one team concept. You know, for years, you guys have set the vision and invested in, development in
the city of Fort Worth, and we've realized a lot of the gains year over year because of that investment. In fact, on last year, we were here celebrating. We were ranked number one in Texas for permitting and zoning. And this year, we're here celebrating ranked one number one in the nation. Right? So who knows what's next? Right? So So again, it's, the work of multiple departments, multiple stakeholders. Our development community has been a huge support. But most of all, your vision has set, you know, the path for our success.
Thank you so much. I think we are gonna take a picture, counsel, but everyone on this diocese is probably guilty of calling you, DJ, or someone else on your staff when there's a problem. We probably don't do a good enough job calling you when we get praise and thanks from the city of Fort Worth and people in it. They've seen a difference, and your leadership is incredible. Your entire team should be commended. You worked tirelessly. We are one of the fastest growing cities, so as a result, your staff has to try to keep up with that amount of growth and progress that's happening. And I know that you're not done yet. Again, you mentioned the development community. They're also really proud to work with you. The development advisory committee, real estate council, and others, have all been collaborative, which we
appreciate. I don't think we'd be here without that. And, also, the continuity of leadership between David Cook and Nada Jay and all the management team really focused on this to support you and your serve and your team and also that other departments that you interface with, whether it's TPW or water. So this is a big deal. We recognize that, and I think this entire council is incredibly proud to work with all of you. So congratulations. Thank you. Okay. We gotta take a picture, y'all. Over here? Yeah. Maybe so. Let's go on that side. Next, I'd like to invite Dana Bergdorf to come up to the podium for a recognition on the library side.
Thank you, Jay, and thank you, mayor and members of the city council. I'd like to welcome Cynthia Flederer, who's the immediate past president of the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association, who's joining us to bring another honor here to the city of Fort Worth. Cynthia? Good afternoon, mayor, members of the city council. I'll pull that down a little bit. It is a wonderful day to be in Fort Worth, and I am honored to be here to help you celebrate the many teams that come together to make your city great.
I am here representing the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association. The association supports library directors all over Texas, over 500 libraries, by offering opportunities for training, networking, and highlighting the great works that libraries do to make their communities, life, experience more enhanced. Today I'm here to recognize the Fort Worth Public Libraries, and I would love to invite them up, Midori and her team, so that I can read the announcement to
them, for their award. It looks surprised, like they have no idea what you're gonna say. Congratulations to the Fort Worth Public Library. On behalf of the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association, I am pleased to inform you that you have been awarded the 2025 Achievement of Excellence in Libraries Award. Your application clearly demonstrates your commitment to providing exceptional service to your community. Of the five forty five public library systems in Texas, yours is one of the 101 who have earned this year's award.
And your library is now in the top 20% of all Texas public libraries. We know you'll want to proudly display your accolades, which includes this congratulatory letter, your medal, press releases, and all the wonderful things that we've given you to celebrate your achievement. Again, again, thank you for your accomplishment, and thank you for enriching the lives of your residents and providing your community with outstanding and innovative services. Yes, absolutely. But maybe stay right where you are, and we're gonna come that way, since the podium was a problem.
Next, mayor. I do have some updates on the organizational side. Last week marks a year since I, became city manager. And one of the first things that I did overall after observing the the organization was reorganize the portfolios of, the ACMs so that similar functions were together. Now that we're a year into the whole process, what's become obvious is there's some imbalance where, one ACM specifically has has a lot more of kind of the grunt work associated with the rigors of getting business done at the city, especially when it
comes to M and Cs and meetings and, the documents that are involved. With that in mind, I've been down seeing a little change, a little tweak in the portfolios of the ACM so that to better balance everybody's workload. So, two departments that were previously under Jess McEachern are being moved now. Economic development will be under the Dana Bergdorf portfolio going forward. And public events will be moved under Diana Giordano. Those adjustments will be through a transition period. So Jess will work with them to get them all up to speed and make
sure that our partners, involved in the overall, everyday things that we do are comfortable, and and everybody's up to speed. And so as we move forward, that's the the makeup of the portfolio. So we'll be publishing or creating new organizational chart, and we'll provide it to everybody and make sure it's updated on the website. So I think going forward, we'll have a much better outcomes on things as we move forward just with that balance going forward. And also the fact that Jess had those portfolios, she's available to step in if
there's ever any gaps, as we go forward. So with with that, that is, on the organizational updates and employee recognitions. I can move into informal reports. Let's roll on. Sounds good. Alright. First and formal report are twenty twenty six recommendations for resolutions of support for 9% housing tax credit applications. Any questions or comments from counsel? I do. Okay. Council member Nettles. We have Casey Thomas here to answer any questions. It's hiding. Or Dana is here to answer any questions. Casey or Dana. Just, just a brief overview, but I wanna kinda hit on the fact of the
resolution and how we get to, the approval of the resolution. I know we have a lot of questions within our communities, that some of these still require zoning changes, and it's just the resolution part a part of our ordinance. Yes, sir. That's correct. So the we bring forward all of the applications for the competitive 9% housing tax credits that comply with the housing the city's housing tax credit policy and have identified within the informal report those that require a zoning change and those that do not. And so it's still within the city's council discretion whether to approve or deny those
zoning change requests when they come forward. And so the it's not a guarantee that those projects will move forward just because you act on that resolution. And per ordinance, the recommendation is for all these to be approved on the resolution. So there there is an m and c yeah. So there there is an m and c that would be, that contains the resolutions for each of these sites that would be on your February 10 council agenda. And then, it comes to you with because they all comply with the policy, staff brings them forward to you altogether, and then it's up to each council member.
It's your discretion if for some reason you want to do something different for any of the sites within your districts? This is part of the pro state process. In order for these are competitive. So in order for a developer or development, they have they have a scoring system. If they don't comply with the city's portion of that, they don't get the points. So there's likely they're not gonna get picked because it's competitive. And so in order to create a an even playing field, we have our ordinance, and we review it to make sure that it meets that portion of our housing
requirements. It doesn't necessarily say the city is gonna allow any additional steps to go forward. That'll be a separate council decision as we go forward. Okay. There's typically about Chatter Road, Neighborhood Services. There's tip typically about two to three projects that actually get awarded tax credits, 9% in Fort Worth every year because we are competitive with the whole all we're the same region as Dallas Fort Worth. Dallas, we're all one big region, so we have to compete with all those other cities.
I do I have a question. Okay. Council member Hall? Thank you. My question is about, I know there's a requirement for there be a community information session held. And, according to this IR, there were sessions held. There's one particular in my district, the view at Alta Mesa that I didn't know anything about, and perhaps that was my oversight. But my question is when I did inquire about it, there were no attendees at this community session, and it was a virtual session. Does that amount to to me is that community input if there's no one present?
How do we know the efforts to market that to ensure that there is someone there, to voice their opinion either in support or denial? I mean, how does one have a basis of support or opposition when there was no engagement at all? Yeah. We can, excuse me, we can request a developer reach back out and hold another meeting, prior to prior to final approval. But and and, if I was correct, they did reach out to the neighborhood associations and they not receive any response, from those it was from Wedgwood, it looked like.
Okay. And I've also, the developer reached out to community engagement just to see if there was any other additional contacts and So I I did see what I what amounted to when them reaching out, but there was no publishing of, like, the actual link for the meeting. There was the notice that they were going they intend to apply and this, that, and the other, but there was not necessarily, we are having a meeting on this date. Here's the link. It's a virtual meeting if you want to engage. And so I guess what I'm just highlighting or lifting up is that, there has
to be a good faith effort, I think, to engage people in order to check this box that a community meeting was held. And I think the absence of any neighbor, even the person they reached out to, being either neighborhood services or that HOA leadership, if no one was there, I would say that that kinda throws in the face of community engagement at all. Can I just add Councilmember Nettles? A port per our ordinance, I think the support that we're giving us a resolution is simply per the ordinance. Does the ordinance require, the public engagement piece from the, developer?
It only requires it if there's a registered neighborhood association within one half mile of the development site. However, they can reach out to the council member and get additional, recommendations for outreach. There's no neighborhood association within that one half mile. Okay. The requirement is to have a meeting. It is it's not whether or not you get support or not from the it's just it's it's part of the process. I understand what you're saying is that they've reached out, nobody responded, and they went ahead and had the meeting. And nobody was, nobody attended because nobody had responded to them.
So, I guess technical on the technicality, it met the requirement, but maybe we need to look at our ordinance to ensure that there's there's meeting that actually filters to our citizens. Yeah. I mean, excuse me. In the future policy, we can look at, you know, requiring a meeting and make sure a link's sent out to you know, we'd have to get a list of stakeholders from Yeah. And member and I just think I think at the the point I wanted to highlight is I believe this meeting happened during the ice storm. So, I mean, not only was there no one there, it happened during, you know,
an incident in our city. So it just doesn't seem in good faith to say we checked the box and that we met that requirement. So if there I mean, if there's an opportunity somewhere I'm new at this. So I'm I mean, again, not trying to issue blame, but just making sure that what we're asking to be done is actually done in good faith and realizing the outcomes that we're seeking. And I believe the the meeting was a virtual meeting, but we'll reach back out to developer and have them they can reach back out to the neighborhood and and see if they can have another meeting before next week.
Mayor, just wanna Yes. Councilor Loyersdorf. To that note, there's there's also a time requirement. Right? Like, do they they they have to provide at least seven days notice? Every seven days notice. Correct. Okay. Because I I believe, if I'm not mistaken, it for another because we've had quite a few of these in District 4. And I can't remember if it's the Thompson or not, but one of them, there was, like, a three day notice, which obviously is not nearly enough. So if they they don't provide enough notice, tell them, like, well, that's not gonna work. I mean, they could still hold the meeting. I'm sure because it's Sure. It's their call. But then we require them to hold another meeting and give proper notice. And if if they don't do that, is that the point where we'd come back
to you and be like, hey. Like, we're not in support of this? Because it's a support or no support. Right? Isn't that Correct. If they did not have the proper notification of seven days, then that is not meeting the policy, so we would not move forward. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. Any other questions from counsel? No. Thank you, Chad. Next IR is next steps on the council priorities. And Christianne Simmons, I believe, is here to answer any questions. Questions from council? No? Next is collegiate and vocational student internship placement. And Kristen Smith, HR director, is here to answer any questions.
I'd like for Kristen to just give us a quick overview, if you don't mind. Not at all. Kristen? There she is. I couldn't hear at the back. Did you was there a question? If you could give a little overview of the IR. Oh, sure. Absolutely. So, there is a prior, guidance around internships, and this is, an attempt to update that just to make sure that there is framework. And so it talks about both, paid internships, what the limit is on, both age for minimum age for participation, the hourly rate that those interns are paid, and then
what the framework is for, students that are returning to us. One thing that is different about the current, draft AR is that there is, specific guidelines for city council interns, including, funds to be able to cover cost, for intern one annual year, intern placements. And so I can defer to the city manager to speak more about the funding, but, it really is just for all of the student partnerships and student internships that we have across the city, making sure that there are consistencies in how we are,
both recruiting for those students, how we're selecting them, that there's transparency in the process, and that it, you know, creates opportunities for, many, and that the framework is, reflective in every single department. Other questions or comments? Any other questions? I do have a question. Yes. Councilor Hall? Yes. Is there, a limitation? It says here that, 2,240, it looks like it could be intermittent if you'd like, and it could be, I guess, across various interns. So you could determine the term, if you wanted a six months intern or three
for two months is what it sounds like. So the you this the area that you're mentioning is specific to city council interns. The number of hours is representative of the funding. It initially was intended to be for one placement, but I'll defer to the city manager if you'd like to speak to that. I mean, the idea is that you'd have four months available for interns at part time. And if you wanted to divide it, I don't see if there's an issue if you wanted to divide it two months with one intern and two months with the other. Because, traditionally, the interns have been in the summertime.
Council is not here in July, so that kinda creates an issue, I think, for, for some of y'all and the ability to have an intern have a good experience because there's nothing really going on in July, oftentimes. The idea is to provide the four months, and the the council member could choose when when that occurred. And is there a limitation? Meaning, it could you, if you chose to supplement that program, that that allocation that's being provided to each of the council district's office with your own council district budget? The intent was to have just one per group, but we could have a conversation
with the council who wants to use other funds. But there's a lot of technical parts of that as well. One of the reasons we needed this is we started looking at there's a lot of questions about interns, is the city didn't really have a policy that was following IRS guidelines when it comes to interns because typically, interns are tied to folks that are in school, and they have a different they have a different tax withholdings and all those kind of things. We're trying to make sure that we're, we're following the letter of the law. And so, looking back into how things were done before, it was there there was
not a uniform system. So this is our attempt to try to put something in place. Well, thank you. We were here last July. So the mayor had some great interns, and I snuck some of their time. So we would use them during the summer because we worked all at July in my office. Yeah. And good point. And making sure the council feels good about what's outlined here too. All of you have also used, interns or folks in your offices when it worked best for you when you have a high season. I know summertime, June is very, very busy. July, it it is if you have intentional projects.
But as long as everybody feels like this is helpful to their office, which I think it I think it is, I like it being integrated with the whole city. Because before, it kinda felt like the council was an afterthought, and we were kind of on our own to figure out what we needed, customer Flores. Is this applying to the next gen program as well? I actually just left a meeting about the next gen program. So we are looking at the parameters of that program to make sure it aligns with the new guidelines. It's very close and just slight difference in the hours and age. But we are any of the existing kind of partnerships or programs that we have in house, we're looking for alignment opportunities with this new guideline.
K. Because that requires coordination with the ISDs. Right? Right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Yeah. It's great. Alright. I do wanna go on the record, and I appreciate you, to the manager Chapa saying that there's an opportunity to discuss this further. I just wanted to make clear. I mean, the question that I had was could you supplement the program if that's something that you chose to do? And I think that that's a great area. So I do wanna leave that opportunity on the table, to decide if you want to have two hundred and sixty hours or if you want to do it longer or whatever.
I understand the the requirements of the IRS and the limitations of them not going over a certain amount of hours and all of the the legal ease that goes along with that and the and the rationale. But I do feel like there's some areas that we could iron out. And I do have that I have that noted for follow-up as well. Councilman Nettles. This IRR is pertaining to some of the interns that we have now, or is this something separate for just the summertime? It would it would apply to all interns going forward. Okay. And so this outline that instead of I think we had some that are working
since the summer. This was this makes a sense that they'll only be able to do it for four months. Four months starting going forward, an intern for four months on it. On this fiscal year, it would be the four months left in this fiscal year. Next fiscal year would be four months in that fiscal year. Yeah. Well, I'll just add to I think if it's some So we currently you the the council does not have funds in the budgets for interns. Sure. So that's why looking at this and I get questions from the media. I get questions from others as far as how does the city govern this, and
we don't currently. So we're trying to put a framework around it and recommend putting funds behind it to allow there to be a system that is followed, and that that this funding is being paid out of the correct you know, we have the different accounting, pieces that we put into place that are being paid out of the correct, you know, places and all those kind of things so that when questions come up or a request comes up for funding and for charges out of all the council members, you
know, district offices so that we can make sure that everything's aligned. That's the attempt here. We can have additional discussion around, but this is our attempt to try to put the framework around as we go forward. So I would like to have some additional conversation about, possibly adding it within the city council budget. We talked about, like, travel, how some of us don't travel as much as others or don't use certain things in our budget. And if there is a mechanism of putting the interim or switching it to keeping the interim policy, but switching it to a part time that allows it to be
more than four months, throughout the, physical year is something I'll be interested in looking into. Right. So Something I'd be looking into. So this is one of the issues. There's interns that have been hired, and they're here all the time. That's a full time position that should go to the city council, be part of the budget budget process, and should be added to the budget. It's not an internship. And that's a whole different thing with the IRS and all those kind of things. So that's why there needs to be a framework that we can then use it as the the what we use to govern how we move forward with this program.
If the city council wants to hire additional positions that are part time, we can do that through the budget process if that's the desire of the city council overall. But we would need to figure out what all these people do. Yeah. Also, I mean, that would be my recommendation. Again, I am grateful for this because we last summer, the mayor had high school students, and it was excellent that we had one young woman from District 5 that it was really a great experience for her. And we were able to use her, and I am appreciative that at least we've
approached this to try to bring some of these young folks on board. Well, and I volunteer, Kristen, to meet with y'all individually to get your feedback on the IRS to see if we can see what everybody's questions, desires, where there's kinks, where there's issues, to see how we can address that and bring something back. And if it's helpful to the council members, doctor David Saenz, who runs Tarrant two and three, but also mayor's council, he's a great resource for all of our ISDs. Maybe we could also work on sort of what everybody would like to see and if you have preference on your district, of course, or schools to make sure you
have better representation and opportunities for students. To Deborah's point, you know, especially when you offer to high school students that never thought it was possible to come work at city hall for a summer, it really is eye opening for them. So and I don't wanna overwhelm you because it is hard working with school districts at the end of school. We could maybe have a one funnel for you to send out those applications for for every office. Okay. Sounds good. And I did just wanna add in it's not unique to the city. You know, the term intern is kind of loosely used to define a bunch of different things. So there are options, for departments that want, you know, kind of early career professionals
and need to retain them for longer, you know, full time or part time positions. But this is truly where it's an internship, and it's a cooperative educational relationship, but, you know, happy to discuss further. Thanks, Kristen. The next is floodplain management plan. The five year update, Jennifer Dykes, is here to provide answers to any questions you may have. No questions? Nope. Jennifer's great. Wherever you are, Jennifer. I don't know where you are. She's hiding. Next is Panther Island Public Improvement District and Brady Kirk from the Fort Worth Labs
here to answer any questions. Yes. Councilor Martinez? Hi, Brady. I really just wanna know if this is a staff led effort to secure, I guess, the the application from the different property owners, or or how how does that work? Do we use a third party? Absolutely. Brady Kirk with Fort Worth Lab. And so, usually, the staff would not be leading a petition effort on the creation of a PID. In this specific case, TRWD has been very involved, but the lead petitioner in requesting that this district is formed is a company and property holder named Saco within the
Panther Island District. Thank you. That was it. Thank you. The next is a proposed council initiated zoning change for 5329 And 5335 East 1st Street between the East 1st Street and the Trinity River. And Lashandra Stringfellow is here to answer any questions. Councilor Peebles? Well, no questions. But I do wanna thank, city manager Dana Bergdorf and her staff for being willing to look at this. It's in Council District 11, but, Jeanette and I have worked together on this because it's very close to District 5, and I just appreciate the fact that you were
willing to work on this. Yes. I just wanna echo that as well. Thank you to the staff. We really need to protect certain areas of in the flood plain. You know, just there's concerns, from various groups, but we really thank you for this quick turnaround on this. Thank you. And this last one is about twenty years in the making. I had dark hair then, a proposed subdivision ordinance amendments to promote infill development. DJ Harrell is here to answer any questions. And I think if just an overview, DJ, if you don't mind. I think to Jay's point, this is a long time coming.
So I actually had heroin that started. Oh, you did? No. So this is just our efforts. This, you know, like like, we laugh about it, but it's been multiple years where we've tried to figure out how we wanna grow as a city. Right? We've embraced, in the city of Fort Worth, the smart growth concepts, which are basically, you know, smart development, you know, compact development, walkable developments, development in the interior, not on the fringes, you know, where we know it costs us more to serve those communities, and it's just harder to get to them.
So, you know, this is another effort to to to to make it easier to build within the loop of the city instead of, you know, going out on the fringes for every development. We wanna incentivize the developments that we like to see. So, quick question. Like, an overarching theme here. What does an optimal result look like from the creation of this new ordinance long term for infill development? So we've got about, Mary, we've got about 22, 23,000 people moving here every year. Right? And, you know, the the most housing starts and the most of the density is
starting to end up on the fringes, you know. You know, Chisholm Trail, Walsh Ranch, you know, Alliance area or whatever, which is which is great. However, what we wanna do is grow from within, you know, in in inside the loop. So, you know, when you ask what it looks like, what success looks like, it looks more like, you know, a lot of that density coming down downtown in the downtown periphery, because we know that that's that's an area that we can serve. The roads are fully built out. The infrastructure's there, and we don't have to, you know, invest a whole lot in
those capital improvements over time. Yeah. And how would this ordinance help, say, in more established neighborhoods where there's redevelopment opportunities? There are current lots. Maybe they're not cleared yet. Maybe we don't own them yet, or they're privately held individually. How would this option make it easier for infill development there? Yeah. So those areas that fit into the in infill development overlay, you know, basically and here's the other thing that we're gonna be bringing to you soon. A lot of our, ordinances are updated. You know, we we just you know, as a city, as we've been growing, we've
been focused on, you know, the thing in front of us. Right? The new permits, the, you know, the new whatever is on our plate today. So what we're gonna do is actually step back, and this is one step in that direction as well, step back and look at holistically where we're trying to go and start focusing on those those text amendments and ordinance improvements to to get us there. So, you know, what this does, it gives us a little discretion, you know, because, you know, sometimes when we're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, but in those neighborhoods that you're describing, it just doesn't fit. Right? And so it gives more discretion to the director level and director's designee to to
make concessions when necessary, when it doesn't justify I mean, when it doesn't, it doesn't create an unsafe or disorderly development concern. Thank you. Christopher Hill. Thank you, DJ. I know this has been a lot of hard work. Does this change the relationship at all between your department and the city plan commission and any kind of decision making that they have? No. No. No, ma'am. We actually presented this to the city planning commission three times? Three times, and we kinda talked through a lot of that. You know? You know, there was concern about the administrative authority that, you know, we're kinda shifting
toward. And, you know, we kinda judging from the pulse of you all and, you know, where you were, directing us as a department to, you know, try some of those things that, you know, we always approve in plan commission, they, you know, they they go through that entire process, and they always get approved. So those are some of the things that we put in this ordinance to to just not have to take through that bureaucratic process when we know we're gonna approve it anyway. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions? No. Thank you, GJ. Thank you. And that's all for the IRs. Thank you.
We'll move into any changes on boards or commissions for February 10 meeting, zoning cases, or MNC log questions or concerns. Okay. Our first presentation is the Fort Worth Convention Center phase two expansion schematic design. Michael Crum, our public events director, is here to present. Aaron, counsel, good afternoon. I'm gonna ask Bob Jamieson and Michael Bennett to join me here at the podium, and we will serve as the three headed monster today to introduce to you the phase two designs for the renovation and expansion of the Fort Worth Convention Center.
We're gonna run through a phase one real recap real quick, and then we'll we'll show you the renderings and the floor plans, for the, the phase two, design, talk a little bit about schedule going forward, and, of course, we have a sizzle reel for you, to conclude our presentation today. So phase one. We completed phase one ahead of schedule and under budget, and celebrated that recently with
a ribbon cutting. I believe that by now, the mayor and council member Beck have recovered the feeling in their fingers and toes because it was a little brisk, on the day that we cut the ribbon. Hustled inside to celebrate, with the convention center's new coffee retail, Belt Buckle Brew. And, you know, just the result of this project, again, remember what we set out to do. New back of house food and beverage facilities that brought the quality of our food and beverage operation into this century.
A new entrance, on the southeast corner of the building, to respond to what's happening with our new neighbors, over at Texas A and M. A redirected Commerce Street and you can see here we have completely changed the vista, from standing in front of the A and M Law School down into into the center city and have created that connectivity that our A and M friends, felt was so important. Get a better sense of that in this picture.
And then here are two things that are are very important to us. One is that we have more than doubled the loading dock capacity of the convention center, making it much easier for our clients, present and future, to load in and load out, of the facility. And also we've created, a piece of property there on the east side of the building, on what we call the Commerce Street property. And we'll be talking to you in the future about the redevelopment of that property
as we move forward with phase two. So, with that, I'm gonna hand it to Bob to kick off our phase two design overview. Thank you, Mike. And it's a pleasure to be in front of you with this update. Phase two, you know, move quickly through a lot of the floor plans that are gonna be in front of you. But just to give you a sense of what's ahead, there's two parts to what's happening in phase two. What I'm talking about is how it works on the inside. Michael will then follow with, you know, what really is the, you know, the presentation
of the building itself, from an exterior standpoint. And I think, you know, in many respects, that's part you wanna see. The part here is what's most important to Mike's team and my team and how we present it to our customers and clients. And, and I can tell you we have plenty of people that are very anxious to get an idea of what is gonna be available to them in 2030. Now there's, a couple of things that I wanna highlight about this, and that is that this was customer driven in terms of what how the facility worked, how the
building was gonna support future meetings, and expanded meetings. And we used a multitude of ways to get information feedback from our clients. And so, you know, a lot of what we presented to the designers was, driven by their comments. I wanna emphasize also that a major consideration was how to take space, particularly what has been the arena, you know, and served its purpose many years ago, but has proven itself to be very inflexible space as our clients have tried to activate the
building. And how do we do things behind the scenes and within within the building to make it more flexible? Functional back of the house, the reference to the loading docks and expanding the number of loading docks pretty dramatically. Here is a, you know, just a quick list. This is all new construction, the space that is affected, the amount of square footage that's affected by new construction, 360,000 square feet back of the house, front of the house space, that is as a result of this second phase.
In addition, here we look at the new rentable space. And so we've got about 155, 160,000 square feet of additional rental space, broken out into, you know, exhibit hall space and its expansion. The addition of meeting rooms, or expanding the number of meeting rooms, and then adding a second ballroom. One of the things that I wanna highlight for you in the thinking here is that the emphasis on exhibit space in the way meetings are held today is much
less than it used to be. And the justification that many, many clients present to their attendees in order to come to their meetings is the education that takes place in these smaller meeting rooms. And we have worked to right size the ratio of those smaller breakout and meeting spaces compared to the amount of exhibit space that we have. So here we get to some floor plans. This is Level 100, this is street level. The brighter yellow is the new exhibit hall space.
And I would just suggest to you that in that space, we've been able to raise ceiling heights above what is currently existing in the current, exhibit hall space. That's gonna give some flexibility for some sporting events that we've not been able to accommodate before, and so that's one way that, the work here will support that particular market segment. This is Level 200, which really, is mostly back of the house because of the
ceiling heights within the exhibit hall. You know, that's, you know, that's still looking largely at the exhibit hall floor. This is a 300 level, and the lighter yellow on the right side as you're looking at it is our current space, our current ballroom, our current meeting rooms, and then on the left, the darker yellow, are the new meeting room spaces that, will be created. And when we get to this page, you can see how, you know, on the
right side, it shows what they look like when they are in their larger, floor plan. And on the left, it shows what they look like in terms of the number of smaller meeting rooms that are available and how they break out into sections, as needed by our clients. Level 400 is on the North Side, a new 40,000 square foot ballroom. And so, ultimately, what we end up with is a building that can handle larger
groups than we've been able to accommodate before, two groups of about the same size. We can move people in and out more efficiently. We can shorten the number of move in days and move out days. All of those things heightening the opportunity and the flexibility of the building. This is just a look at all of those floor plans. And, so that's that's what it will look like for our customers, and we're excited to be able to take those drawings because that's what means most to the folks
that are standing posted up, anxious to hear what this new building will look like for him. Now let me turn it over to Michael, and he'll tell you about what the exterior of the building looks like. Good afternoon, mayor and council. Sometimes when you're designing a building, especially one like this, it's very public building. It's it's informative, when you're looking forward to look backwards first, and understand the context of where you are, understand elements within the city. And so that's one of the things we did here. Fourth has a long history of tower elements that that define and terminate views.
You see Will Rogers on the left, the Public Market Building, which has come back to life. That's an older photo, but but, that's come back to life as well. And they're really signature kind of moments in the city. On the right hand side is a building that that a lot of us don't know about. It's even older than me, actually, I I will say. That building, was the original Texas And Pacific, train terminal. And that tower that you see anchored the very far south end of Main Street. So there was a point in time, that if you're walking north on Main Street, you would have seen, one of our county courthouses since the late eighteen hundreds, the
one that's there today. At that same point, you would have seen this building at the far south end. And so we felt like a design team, it was important to think about that idea and and to maybe revisit that idea in in what we're talking about here. It's certainly a strong kind of urban planning idea, but as well for a building like the convention Center that that is both a functional building like Bob was talking about, but also has an herb has an urban planning element to it that's important as well. Upper left, that's hard to see, I apologize, but that's Main Street, in the in
the nineteen thirties. And so you see at the very far kind of bottom left center of the of the, photo, that original TMP Terminal Building. It was replaced in the thirties by the TMP Building that you see today. And so that corner element at at the TMP Building today anchors the end of Throckmorton Street. There's not a tower like that anymore. And so when that when that was built, the the, we went through a period of time after that that original terminal was was demolished that there were about thirty years where there was no no terminus at the end of Main Street until the
sixties when our current convention center was built. You see on the upper right of what we've all seen for a long time looking south on Main Street. These two photos were taken, the one in the middle and the one on the right, from about the center of Main Street. So we're trying to get an idea of the scale of things as we as we design this. Those diagrams on the bottom are a little bit hard to see, but but, what we were trying to do there was analyze kind of the size comparison between the courthouse and and the future, convention center, terminus, building there at the at the South End Of Maine, as well as trying to understand kind of the relationship of what
that's like with the existing, existing convention center arena. Then one of the other things that you'll see as you as you see the design stuff that we're gonna show here in a couple minutes is, much like, what we did on phase one, we're we're taking the idea of the modern West about Fort Worth being not only a place that's proud of its history, but it's also, innovative and forward looking. So we're using many of the same materials, many of the same kind of open transparent ideas. You'll see that the the north end of the convention center is really transparent and open to the city that it embraces.
And then thinking about too the vernacular and regional response so that you feel like you're in Fort Worth when you're in Fort Worth. One of the things we still have left to do is there is actually, the the north end of the of the new building will be a little bit shorter than the than the north end of the of the, arena today. And so we're gonna end up with a little bit of extra plaza space there, that that we're gonna be working with downtown Fort Worth Inc to think about how that gets programmed so that the design can follow the programming of that plaza. And think about how that might be if we close close streets off for some
some special occasions and things like that of how that plaza might work. And also thinking about the idea of bringing the kind of Fort Worth Prairie landscape into the plaza. So again, when you're at the convention center, you feel like you're in Fort Worth. With that, I'm gonna hand it over to Mike Crum, who's gonna kinda walk you through the the building. Thank you, Michael. So, we'll start off on the north side of the building. And, to Michael's point about the modern West and, honoring our history and looking to the future, this is an expression of that idea.
I'll tell you that when I came here six years ago, one of the first meetings I was in was the original convention center advisory committee that had been Convened by mayor Price. And one of the marching orders that we had from that group was to create an iconic counterpoint to the county courthouse, and we have have maintained that idea through the pandemic and into the reboot of the expansion project.
And I know I thanked you for this before, but, the $47,000,000 in ARPA money that, you committed to phase one of the project gave us a jump start on this. And, so we would not be where we are today without your support. If we look at it from ground level, again, it's a a very transparent, very open facade. Again, this is this is, feedback that we received from our customers. And what you'll what you'll see as we walk through the building, is the idea
that the building needs to be functional and comfortable for our attendees so that they are spending eight hours a day in the building, yet at the same time transparent enough so that, they have that sense of where they are. They have that Fort Worth destination experience. Michael's already mentioned, that in our advisory committee meeting, which we had a couple of weeks ago, we had an extended conversation, about the plaza and, the need to activate
the plaza so that it is just not a sun baked space. So, in fact, Michael came up with the idea of, going for going forward with design, we're gonna take a little time to deal with this plaza issue. So we are gonna segregate it from the conversation with the Downtown Development Review Board about the building. We'll do the building first and then we'll come back and talk to them about the plaza later when we have a more comprehensive game plan for that.
The building at night, will be a, a beacon for our visitors to the city. So, once you get to Main Street, you'll know whether you need to walk north or south to get back to your back to your hotel. The other thing that I'd point out about the, the tower is that we have configured it in a way to host an iconic piece of of public art. And so imagine something very interesting at the very top of the tower, that is
as notorious as the star in the 12th Street lobby is today. If we look at the, the building from the corner of 9th And Houston, you can you can see how it sits a little farther back, from from 9th Street. Also, you can see how it integrates into the, the the current facility, what we call the legacy portion of the, the building. We have, have been working on the green space question and you can see that
on the Houston Street side of the building. We're trying to bring green to the experience of then entering and exiting the facility. This is what it looks like if you're standing across Houston Street from the building. I learned something in this process. Those white thingies are called a brise soleil. Basically, that means a wall with holes in it. And it is it's meant to absorb and deflect, some of the afternoon sun, that we're we get here in spades in Texas.
If we go over to the other side of the building, so this is from 9th And Commerce, you really see here how we've brought the design from phase one around to the, to the front of the building. And again, if we're thinking about the development of Commerce Street, we need to make sure that we have two really good visible entrances to the building because, our conventioneers are not gonna be able to walk directly across the street into the building because that's the loading dock.
So, this, this, this side of the building again is is meant to draw people towards entry into the facility at this point. If we go inside, this is where you you see more of that that expression of the modern West. So the, the carpet should look familiar because we've already picked the pattern and it is in the, it is in the southeast entrance of the building. And a lot again, a lot of the interior treatments, that we're using here, we
have we have drawn from that first phase of work. This comes around to the Houston Street side of the concourse. So here you're looking north, towards the, the 9th Street, side of the facility. Again, a broad open concourse, with, as you'll you see there on the right, spaces for people to gather. Informal gathering spaces are a thing in the convention business today, so we we built
a lot of that into our design. Looking up to the top of the tower, again, you get a sense for what a, a great piece of public art is gonna be able to do for this space. And then this is this is probably the shot I love the best because, this is you're standing on the 400 Level with your back to the ballroom door, looking up Main Street. And this is this is the welcome to Fort Worth shot right here. So, and this is you you can imagine, this is pre function space we're looking
at. So this is where you gather for the reception before you go into the ballroom for dinner. Another angle. This is, looking, in the pre function space on the 400 Level, looking towards the Commerce Street side of the building. The ballroom. So we had a high bar in terms of, trying to create a look that was equitable to the iconic stars in the ceiling look that we have in the, in our first ballroom. And so here we have chosen to express, welcome to Fort Worth in the lighting
system. If you you look up that if it reminds you of the Molly, there's a reason for that. It's because we were we were intentional about that. Again, this is 40,000 square feet of ballroom. So this is essentially 40% bigger than the ballroom that we have today. Divisible, Michael, three ways. Right? So we can break this down, if we need to. And, this, I think, is going to become the next great civic space in this community. You're gonna you're gonna be really proud to, hold an event here, attend an event
in here. It's gonna be a great look. In terms of schedule, we are through schematic design and programming, and currently feel very good about where we are from a budget standpoint. Ought to be done with what's called design development by the end of the calendar year. In September, we'll be, celebrating the, the the last days of the arena with a community event, the visit Fort Worth annual meeting, which Bob and Mitch and the team
do a great, it's a great production, will be the hospitality industry celebration, of the arena, and then we'll do the community celebration later in the year. We're going to sell $541,000,000 in culture and tourism debt in September. And we will at about the same time begin the, the, abatement, environmental abatement that we know, we've got to do because the building was built in 1968 and asbestos
was not a bad word back then. So we've got work to do. You can expect demolition, probably at the '27. Right now it appears that we can implode the dome, but we've gotta pick apart, the exterior because of our neighbors. And at this point in time, still, still anticipating a construction completion date of December 2029. With that, I'm gonna hit this button again, hopefully, and the video is gonna play.
The Fort Worth Convention Center is evolving, setting the stage for a new era of connection, collaboration, and community. While visitors continue to enjoy events inside the convention center, the construction team is working behind the scenes, executing one of the most complex renovations in the city's history. Phase one is complete, setting the foundation and inspiring the next chapter of this this landmark project. Phase two begins this year, expanding and modernizing the convention space, enough room space, enough
room to double Fort Worth's historic capacity to host meetings and conventions. Designed for flexibility, the new space adapts with every event. Elevated finishes and refined details are drawn from Fort Worth's distinct flair, bringing the city's bold character to every gathering. This expansion will also deliver the largest ballroom in Tarrant County, ensuring the Fort Worth Convention Center remains a catalyst for growth in the region. Well, again, thank you for your support of this transformative project, for the city.
And with that, Bob and Michael and I are available to take your questions. Thank you, Mike. Councilman Martinez? Bob, I just wanna know what's gonna happen to the star, the cowboy hat star. I don't know what it's called. The star stays. Okay. Yeah. It's I was gonna say move it over here. It it is in in my experience, it is one of the best pieces of convention center public art that I've ever seen, and it's not going anywhere. Anyone else? Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah. No, sir. Any other questions or comments? No?
Y'all are great. You've had also a lot of participation from the community, on your task force group. So I think this is maybe council member Beck's fifth time to see the presentation, five, four, five for me, but, it's very exciting. And it's still beautiful. Every time I see it, I can see it. Such a great job. So good job. In fact, Chris was a little upset because the the dome was being imploded, and that's when he graduated high school. And I reminded him that just shows you how old that building is. You can you get to participate, though, in the explosion. Does that help any?
Okay. Great. Thank you. You have to wear your cap and gown. I, on the other hand, took the bar exam there, so I'm happy to see it go down. He's gonna push the button for sure. So from this I see it, it's it's just it blows me away. And I'm excited to show it to people, and, I've already seen, you know, images were leaked today ahead of this, or I say, you know, given to the public ahead of this presentation. And, social media is already, you know, I honestly expected some pushback. You know, people we don't like change, and so people kind of upset about the
the dome, the spaceship going away. But, you've done a great job because, overall, what I've seen is just nothing but positive, positive feedback. We have a great team working on this project. Our project manager has brought us an associates, and David Crabtree. Wave, David. You're here. Design team, TVS out of Atlanta, supported by, Bennett Partners. And I can't tell you how invaluable Michael's counsel has been and how it has influenced the the design of the project, particularly the exterior.
And then, we are carrying forward our construction manager at risk, a joint venture, between AECOM Hunt, Byrne Construction, and EJ Smith. Again, you deliver something ahead of schedule and under budget, you get to you get to go back to work. So we're we're very pleased with where we are and very excited about what the future holds. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. I believe Mike's back up for the next one. Okay. So if we're gonna build a great building, then we need to think about, monetizing
that in terms of finding a naming rights partner. And this is this fits into the manager's mantra that departments look for ways to produce more revenue. So today, we're gonna introduce you to the concept of convention center naming rights. Do a little overview, talk about convention centers specifically, and what the partnership opportunity looks like for the convention center. We're all familiar with naming rights deals because we have a lot of them here
in the metroplex, and and one very big one here out on, Montgomery. Convention center naming rights has become a trend here in the past ten to fifteen years. And, you know, what do you what do you notice the difference between an AT and T and an American Airlines? And what has happened in these particular communities is that, the partnerships tend to be with local or regional, companies.
Again, B2C relationships where the company is trying to expand its customer base through increased name recognition. If you looked around the country, other convention centers are associated with energy companies, health care, restaurants, and have a couple of casinos that have have put their name on, on convention facilities. The dollars are a tad different. So, you know, at the top end of the scale, you have AT And T
Stadium at $19,000,000 a year. Just to give you a feel for kind of the range, American Airlines is probably in the $7,000,000 range, these days. Convention facilities because they don't get national TV exposure. Right? They're not on SportsCenter, you know, with score of the game from such and such arena. So their valuations are a little different. The Huntington Place Building, which is in Detroit at $1,500,000 a year is currently at
the top end of the convention center naming rights game. So, we've taken a look at this and we brought in, a group called the Superlative Group, which specializes in naming rights valuations both for convention centers and stick and ball facilities. They think Fort Worth, is probably at this point in time worth $450,000 to $500,000 a year. And when you add that to what the current revenues are for the convention center,
it's not insignificant. And the way that we think of this is that every new dollar we can produce permits us to invest a dollar out of the Culture and Tourism Fund, in capital projects. And as we have have been talking about, we have a lot of capital needs, particularly out at the Will Rogers complex. So you can connect the dots from generating revenue at the center to it showing up in terms of improvements out online concern.
Big question. Do we lose anything by taking Fort Worth off the convention center? And, the answer to that is no, because, conventions come to cities. They don't come to venues. So, you know, think about, you know, the conventions you've been to and they say, join us next year in Fort Worth. Now they may say, join us next year in Fort Worth at the convention center, but the the fact of the matter is that they highlight the destination. They don't highlight the venue.
And that creates an opportunity for us. So this we we teased this a little bit in the in the first presentation, but, you see, you know, as you do out at Dickies, you see naming deals end up in places where they're conspicuous. Right? And so this would be you think about all the tall towers downtown, what's there now and what's to come, and putting a sponsor's name on the building would be conspicuous. Process is a multi year process, so we would, we would probably fund, a sponsorship
marketing agency relationship in the '27 budget and then spend, f y twenty seven and maybe into f y twenty eight marketing the opportunity. You would like to land someone and negotiate the agreement so that you can handle the the fulfillment portion of the naming deal as part of the building project, and you don't then have to go back and take something off the building, put something else on. So what we're aiming for is to have this teed up, to come back to
this body, for approval, with the idea that when we reopen for business at the 2030, we reopen it with whatever the name of the facility is going to be. With that, I'll take your questions. Thank you, Mike. I know naming a convention center is very different than naming, like, a Dickies, for example. But does, selling the naming rights changing or impacting the licensing opportunities that we might have otherwise? No, ma'am. I don't think so. I think a a naming deal essentially sits on the outside of the building.
What happens inside the building is is more of an operating issue. So I don't I don't think it stops us from doing other things or entering into other relationships. Okay. Thank you. Mhmm. Chancellor Blaylock. So, Mike, thank you for that presentation. Could since this is all scheduled to happen, you know, around the the reopening after stage three is done, $500,000 is based on that future date and configuration. So that's a that's a current valuation. And I think, usually, what what happens is that that would be that value would
be escalated if we're cutting the deal into the future. And then normally, these deals have escalators in them, so that, if it were a ten year deal, it might be you know, three years from now, it might be $550,000, and you end up at, let's say, 700 or $7.50. For reference, could you give me a comparison between our convention center and Huntington Place at 1.5? I understand it significantly. Yeah. So hunting Huntington Place and this is what's interesting about the naming game is there
are now two Huntington Place Convention centers because Huntington is a Cleveland, Ohio headquartered bank and they put their name on the convention center in Cleveland. And then they they acquired a financial institution in Detroit called TCF, which had their name on the on what was formerly the Kobo Convention Center in Detroit. So now they've got to deal with the question of two. We'd like to avoid that. I was going to point that out because I know about Huntington Place.
But so I know it's very early, but do we have any nipples? No, ma'am. Okay. We'll we'll engage an an agency to help us start spreading the word. And then, I think once we have something that we feel good about bringing back to this group, then you'll we'll start to talk about that. Anyone else? Councilwoman Peoples, are you interested? Thank you, Mike. Thank you, Mike. Before Mike sits sits down, I do wanna I was this is an organizational change that's going on.
So it's a it's a change in leadership. And, really, after six years, Mike mentioned here, he was here been here for six years. Of course, he showed up, and a month later, he his job became supervisor of a the largest shelter, homeless shelter in the city as we had to convert the convention center into a homeless shelter for COVID. And he had originally agreed that he would stay five years when we hired him. We hired him specifically. His background was to help us through this convention center expansion, help us with convention center hotel, and he's been doing that.
But him him and he and his wife have decided to to go home and, transition back to Charlotte. We have been able to coax him to not just get up and leave. He is committed to, you know, he's committed to stay with us. And we're gonna go through a process of having starting this weekend, of having Cynthia Sanchez Serrano here, Flip to become the director of the department, and Mike become the deputy director, and, basically, have Mike support Cynthia through this transition as well as continue
working on those projects. He will then once they actually move, he'll transition into a part time role, serving as a consultant on all these projects and to Cynthia. And although he can do most of the work, virtually, he will he will be traveling back to Fort Worth, to help us as we move along through this whole process. Mike Mike's been a great asset to me. I actually was had a hand in hiring him, was over the department previously, and we went through the national search. And the the things he had done at Charlotte and the successes they had in
Charlotte, he was part of that for thirty years, and he brought a lot of that, of his rigor and finance background, to put things in place and set us up as we move forward. Cynthia has been employee of the city for twenty six years, twenty of those years in public, public events. She's moved her moved her way up the the organizational chart. And as I mentioned, as we go forward, once we get to about the end of the year, Cynthia will take on the role, both the her current role and the director role with Mike as deputy director then part time consultant.
And then probably going into next year, we'll bring back the, deputy director position, which is actually manages the the convention center itself. And the the arrangement with Mike, as long as he's he is, feeling like he's helping and as long as we feel like he's, adding value to this, you know, as we move forward with the convention center hotel and this project, we saw that this is set to open at the 2029, so there's a few years there. Hopefully, he'll hang on, and and we'll keep him going, to get to that.
But I wanna congratulate Mike for his next phase and congratulate Cynthia, as we move forward. But I wanted to make that announcement, and I wanted to to thank Mike for his work and Cynthia for all the work she's done and what she's gonna be going forward. So with that, I'll let Mike make some comments. Okay. Well, thank you, Jay. As part of this leadership transition in public events, I'd like to share my sense of gratitude for the opportunities I've had here in Fort Worth over the past six
years. First, there's the opportunity to lead the public events department team, on a whole series of transformative projects from the city, and collaborate with community leaders like my friend, Bob Jamieson. Second, there is an opportunity the there is the opportunity to continue to work in a project management and advisory capacity. I'm grateful to Jay and Jess and Deanna for coming up with a creative solution
to keep me in the game. I'm excited to work with Cynthia as she takes responsibility for day to day operations and public events. And lastly, I am grateful to you and your predecessors for your consistent support of programs and projects in culture and tourism. Not every elected body understands that great places to visit are also great places to live and work. We don't take that for granted, and we're thankful for your support. I am confident that as a visitor destination, Fort Worth's best days are in front
of it, and I look forward to working with everyone to continue that record of success. Thank you. Mayor and council, as someone born and raised in Fort Worth, I'm honored to lead the department through this monumental phase two expansion. I mean, you saw the video. It's it's going to be amazing. And the transition of the Will Rogers Memorial Center. We have an outstanding team at both venues that have continued to showcase their excellent customer service talent even through the construction projects that they're both engaged in.
And I look forward to working with you, mayor, council, visit Fort Worth and all the partners in delivering an iconic modern venue that speaks to the Fort Worth heritage and our hospitality. Thank you. Okay. Next presentation is Josh Giles is gonna lead us through, economic development presentation. Good afternoon, mayor and council. Josh Giles here to discuss a proposed economic development program agreement for Weir Minerals. This is a retention project for a divisional headquarters of Weir Minerals, which is a
global mining technology company. Their office here in Fort Worth includes high paying professional roles, such as attorneys and engineers, with a $10,000,000 annual payroll. The parent group is Weir Group out of Glasgow, Scotland and is publicly traded. And here in Fort Worth, the there's an expansion proposed of their leased space from 11,000 square feet to about 15,000 square feet, and that will include significant tenant improvement investment in the building. Here with us today in the room, we've got Phil Carey, VP of finance. I'd like to wave and say hello.
Project location is at 777 Main on the 16th Floor in Council District 9. This building was built in 1982, has a vacancy rate of just over 17%, and we've got percentages shown here for scenarios of the loss of this tenant and also the proposed expansion. So there were some ground floor renovations made in 2021, that's made this, building continue to be competitive. But when it comes to the actual office floor plates, there's rare opportunities for those to be renovated, and this is one of those. The company is proposing to sign at least an eight year lease at Triple Seven
Maine with a minimum capital investment of $3,400,000 by the end of this calendar year. Those would be spent on real property costs and would significantly upgrade the space. Looking at a minimum of 67 full time jobs, and those would be accounted for at beginning of the first operating year following project completion, with a minimum average annual salary of 160,000. Interesting to note, we've got that $3,400,000 capital investment number above, and that would be subject to the 30 of real property improvements, subject to our small business firm program
and the the stipulations there. Company is also committing to 260 hotel nights per year, which supports our hotels. In addition, restaurants and retailers. The three year proposed EDPA agreement at a 185,000 capped funded by the EDIF. This would be determined by salaries of jobs retained and created, as as reported by the company. That would be a three year grant period with partial or full clawbacks. We've got those performance requirements listed here in minimum capital investments, full time jobs commitment,
and a minimum annual average salary. Taking a look at the bigger picture here, this is a target industry sector. Energy is very important to Fort Worth, as well as a strategic development area, supporting high paying jobs in our downtown. They would host, continue to host corporate visitors, international and domestic, here in Fort Worth, and this is an example of providing support for our downtown office market. In short, this is a $3,400,000 minimum capital investment for at least 15,000 square feet of, leased space at 777 Main, 67 full time jobs, and an average annual salary
of at least 160,000. Interesting to note, that this supports the company's return to office strategy. So although this is a retention project with a larger, nicer space, we anticipate, the company will see some of their remote workers in office more often. In today's dollars, the grant is valued at 171,000. City participation rate is just over 5% with a private public ratio of just over 18 to one. This project is consistent with our EDIF goals. Funds are available, clawbacks are provided, and the company's committing to to average, hotel stays
of at least 260 nights a year. Listed here as limited fiscal impact, really, the goal of this project is the retention of those high paying jobs and to capture the improvements in the building, at 777 Main. With that, staff proposes to enter into a three year eDPA capped at a 185,000 and consider this item, a week from today, February 10. And with that, I yield the floor. Thank you, Josh. Questions or comments? Looks great. Thank you all for the hard work. Counselor Lutz's presentation involves a charter election, and Gavin is gonna lead us through the
presentation. Mayor, council, good afternoon. Gavin Midgley, assistant city attorney. First off, I wanna apologize. I don't have a nice flashy video like my cat. Instead, I have some very exciting ballot proposition language for y'all to review. So next time, I might have a video. Alright. So if you recall, back in December, I came to you with, in work session, with a presentation on the possibility of holding a, charter election. Since then, in response to some feedback, we've narrowed it down to these nine charter amendment propositions.
Of course, our propositions a through f are gonna be the bond propositions, and so we have propositions g through o, mayor and council pay, change to, the quorum requirement for a council meeting, removing public hearings for department directors and also for council appointees, allowing for a budget adoption at the same meeting as a budget hearing, removing the public utility annual report requirement, removing in the ordinance requirement for the grant of street privilege, removing the ordinance requirement for the creation or abolition of, city department, and then
some conforming changes to align with state law. Those are mostly election law or election code related. Alright. So the first proposition, mayor and council pay, is a reminder the current salaries are, mayor at 29,000, council at 25,000. The recommendation, is to adjust those to a fixed number, taking council member Nettles' feedback into consideration and using an easier to understand fixed number rather than a index number, like what was attempted in 2022. We went with, 60,000 for mayor, 50,000 for council. And interestingly enough, those are those are pretty similar to the, recommendations of the '20
sixteen task force, which was a decade ago. But that those recommendations were 45,000 for council and 60,000 for mayor, and that was the 2016 charter tax task force. So for all of these propositions, I'll have the proposition language in bold. For this one in particular, I've I've sort of got an ask of you all on on some direction. So you have the option of it going into effect immediately after, assuming it passes. If it does pass, it can go into effect immediately, after the election, results are
in. Or it can go into effect at the start of the next fiscal year, which is October 1. For reference, the last time this charter provision was amended was in 2006. And at that time, it did go into effect at the beginning of the fiscal next fiscal year, which would have been 10/01/2006. So the precedent's there to have it go at the start of next fiscal year. Again, that's entirely within your purview to decide whether or not it goes into effect immediately or at the at the start of the next fiscal year. The change to the quorum requirement. So our current charter provides that, a quorum is two thirds of all the members,
which would be eight of 11 council members because can't have a percent of a council number show up. So our proposed change is that you change that to a simple majority. Most other Texas cities are in a simple majority. I think the only other one I found that wasn't at a simple majority was Dallas, just as a point of comparison. Not that not that we need to compare to other cities, but just for reference. So that would be six of 11 council members to hold on hold on a council meeting. Proposition to remove the hearing requirement for department directors. Currently, the charter, require or provides department directors who are dismissed or removed after at
least six months of serving in that position, the ability to demand a written statement and a hearing before the removal is fine final. Our proposals to remove this provision from the, remove this provision from the charter, it's sort of in conflict with the council city manager form of government, in that after a department director is removed or if the city manager elects to remove a department director, an appeal to council really doesn't change anything as counsel doesn't have the direct authority to rehire or continue to employ that direct department director.
And it also, it it just creates the opportunity for, you know, mudslinging, and it and it creates sort of a confusion as to whether or not there's an at will employment relationship or whether or not there's a property interest in that. And so our our recommendation is to remove it. And then there's the proposition for language that, that proposition. And then similarly for council appointees, chapter five, chapter six, and what's that, chapter 27.
So city manager, city attorney, and city auditor are all council appointees who have a similar provision in the charter that requires or ops gives them the ability to request a hearing, before removal is final. And then in in the same, vein, we recommend removal of that provision. It's not a requirement to have a hearing, before the removal is final, but to take take action to remove council appointees, requires, a vote by council anyway. So there would be a hearing or a public meeting regarding the removal, just not
necessarily before the hearing's final or before the removals is final. Proposition k, that's to allow, budget adoption at a budget hearing meeting. Currently, the Charter prohibits the budget from being adopted at the same meeting as a budget hearing. It's not required by law to have, the budget be adopted at a different hearing than a budget hearing. We have plenty of budget hearings. This is just a, an additional complexity into an already complex process, and so our recommended recommendation is to removal to remove that provision. Final, remove the annual report requirement for public utilities.
Currently, the charter requires public utilities to submit an annual report to council. We recommend that this, requirement be removed. It, where's my slide note on that? So cities used to have more regulatory authority when it came to franchisees and public utilities within cities. And so the this perhaps made more sense, especially before the advent of the Internet. But with the advent of the Internet, most of these reports are available online more readily and more frequently than on an annual basis. And requiring it a specific additional reports to counsel sort of creates an additional cost
and burden on our public utilities, in in repackaging and reformatting that into a specific annual report. So we recommend that that provision be removed. Then removing the separate ordinance requirement for a grant of privilege. Currently, the charter requires a separate ordinance pass by two third vote for each franchise or grant of privilege that is granted by the city. The city city council has already adopted some some minimum requirements for a grant of privilege, and those are found in our city code. And so what the recommendation is is to remove the specific ordinance requirements so that
staff doesn't have to bring forth an ordinance each time an applicant comes forward seeking a grant of privilege who meets the requirements for that grant of privilege according to those standards that councils previously adopted, and then are in the code. Alright. And so then staff would just administratively approve, grants of privilege that complied with the with the stated standards. And proposition n to remove the charter provision requiring, an ordinance for the creation or elimination of city departments. It conflicts with the council manager form of government, limits the organizational control of the
city manager. So, similarly, we recommend that it it be removed as well. And then finally, the proposition o just to con make some conforming changes to align with state law. Currently, there's some provisions in the, electing council members in in the event of a vacancy that don't align with state law or that are not possible under under state law. So, if there is a vacancy, let's say, within seventy eight days of an even year November election, we can't order an election that November.
And so our next opportunity to have hold an election is the general election in May of an odd year. And so some of the provisions in the in the charter, that that call for an election at the next opportunity, a special election at the end next opportunity don't make sense given those limitations that the election code currently places on us. So, next steps would be to bring bring an ordinance calling a charter election to council, on February 10. As a reminder, February 13 is the last possible day to order an election, to
have it be on the May, May election date. And so, we need to have that ordinance approved at that meeting. If if not, you know, in advance in order to call a special meeting for February 13. With that, one one last note. Earlier, in December at the work session, I mentioned there wouldn't be any any financial or significant financial cost to holding a charter election since we're already holding a bond election and a special election, to fill a vacancy. There wouldn't be any significant financial cost, but there is an opportunity cost to holding
a charter election as if the city were to hold a charter election in, May on that May date. The city would have to wait an additional election. They could not do that if that was, if that was called for the May date. With that, I'll take any questions. Questions from council? Comments? Yeah. Mayor. Councilor Larshaw?
So reading those, I guess my main concern is making sure that these are and it goes out to the voters as marine proof as possible. Because I know, like, it's reading some of those, it's like, I I I know what you're saying, but I think it's important that the residents understand the the reasons behind them. Because, like, for example, the, removing the the public meeting for, you know, the directors, it almost sounds like if you just read it at face value, it sounds like we're taking due process away from somebody, whereas, like you said, there's no teeth to it, so it wouldn't really matter. And And so I don't know what the communications plan is, but, hopefully, it's super
easy to read. Like, here's what it's gonna say, but here's what it means, and here's why. It's really just cleanup. I think that's gonna help because just those on its own, I think, are gonna create a lot more questions because, obviously, I think we all know right now government's messy, and there's a lot of distrust, with government. And so it's like, wait. What are you trying to sneak past me, and why is this? And so I would just say, if we got plenty of marines here in forward running by them, if they can understand it, then the voters are gonna be able to understand it. So that's all I have. Thank you. On many of those, I'll suggest that we could if we could start the language within an effort to save taxpayer money.
And then since this since the states kinda set the precedent the other way, can we do that? Any other questions or comments? Councilman Nettles? Two questions. I guess, one, regarding the, the quorum. I I don't know if you mentioned it. What is the the average quorum around the state of Texas? So for the for the big five, I think Dallas is the only one that requires higher than a simple majority, headed to my notes. But, Austin, Houston, San Antonio are all at simple majority of council members to have
a quorum. Okay. And I think we kinda made this decision around when we was not making quorum quite a bit this past year or so. Yeah. It is high. Sign. How many times did we not make more? I don't have the exact number for you, but I know that there there have been some meetings where it was a little difficult, particularly when, now that the schedules change we may not have that kind of an issue. But eight is high, it's atypical. So we felt like particularly in the future, hopefully, I will not be here if the council's expanded again. It just seems like a simple majority is, just the more standard way to go.
But certainly, if you all don't want us to bring that forward, we don't have to. My only concern was you're gonna be asking people for a raise and then you're gonna tell them we're gonna cut back on the number of people required to hold business. Any other questions or comments, Alan? So, Lehan, could you clarify? If we went to a simple majority and you had six members of council show up, there's a particular vote, does a simple majority of that simple majority present, Carrie? It has to be it would have to be six that carried. Questions?
Yeah. Councilor Martinez. So would there be an exception when there's a certain, like, zoning case that has a, super majority petition? Or Oh, sure. Yeah. Those rules would still be in place. Yes. I guess I'm just with Charlie. Oh. I misunderstood. I'm sorry, guys. I I guess I'm with Charlie. Maybe with that one and possibly the other one that you mentioned, if we don't wanna confuse and because of the distrust, is that something we wanna put on now? How important is that to this this this body? I'm okay with either way. I'm just asking. I guess the question there would be when was the last time that ever happened?
Has it happened recently or brought up or threatened even to where it's like It's a public hearing thing? Correct. It's come up a couple of times in the past, but it is not a very frequent occurrence. It I will tell you it happened the threats happen. We've had one threatened within the last year. So it comes up in the context of if there's going to be litigation over a termination. That's typically when we're dealing with it. And we would rather deal with those allegations and a written charge and all of that through the court system rather than litigate that at at a city council meeting.
Well, and I guess your point earlier is that it's a conflict of a city management council form of government. Particularly that, the department head. We don't hire fire department heads. The city manager has the ability under the charter to manage his employees and giving a hearing in front of the city council has no effect on his decision. You know? So it it's really just a cleanup. We could not find the reason why it was put in, but Dennis did a lot of research and found it's been in the charter at least since 1950. And a lot of things have changed since then.
So Well, I I would say it's cost us money because somebody is terminated back in the day. I mean, I was I've been here for a while and I've seen it. They asked for that hearing. The council doesn't really wanna hear the hearing, and it ends up being, well, can't we just settle with them so that it does become a show? Yeah. No. I Because because it it also confuse if you go to court, it confuses the judge of why that existed and that whole property idea that they had that they had property that had a will becomes a question.
Actually, when it sounds entertaining, to be honest, but, you know, it to to your point that the cost is it is true, but I really do believe in the way it's worded. It's it sounds like you're taking due process away, but the grants can be really born that matters. So I think we all understand that. But getting the average voter who's just gonna see that on a on a ballot, I don't think they would. So Councilman Hill. Kevin, quick question. I don't wanna make the ballot longer, but is there a way to do footnotes or explain what our current standard is underneath the proposal?
Yes. So the exhibit to the ordinance will have the red line or it'll be black line, but they'll have the exact changes to the charter. Okay. That'll be on the ballot for voters. Well, that won't be on the ballot, but that will be in the ordinance. The the ballot proposition is a is a much shorter, you know, length of text than than the full ordinance will be changed to the charter. Okay. I'm just trying to get down to Charlie's question. How do you clarify this for the voter in in more simple terms? And this is what we're doing currently, and here's the reasoning why. And maybe that's just advocacy we have to do before that election. Yeah. So it's difficult because it's on a a ballot, and you sort of lose a
voter's, you know, attention span if the ballot proposition is a page long. I did come up with some alternate language for that for that proposition that was something along the lines of remove the ability of a dismissed department director to force city council to hold a hearing. So that may be a consideration if if, just the removal of those provisions isn't doesn't convey to the public why it's being removed. But it's a it's a balance between, you know, the detail and, you know, keeping
it short for voters to to read fully and pay attention to. What have we done for education for the voters in past charter elections? I I would have to defer to Leanne or Dennis. Yeah. Dennis can speak from all of his firsthand experience last time, but because there was a bond election last time as well, mostly Dennis, I I covered for him a couple of times, went around with city staff at all of the public meetings to, explain all of the the charter provisions. Oh, yes. We we did have a very robust education process for both the bond and the
charter in 2022. And because we have a bond and charter coming up again, that would be the expectation here. And we can certainly, between now and next Tuesday, scrub the proposition language to try to to tighten a little bit and make it a little bit clearer to folks. Yep. I think that'd be helpful. Thank you. I have I have a question. Yes. Councilor Warhol? So I wanna make sure that I understood our, the explanation about the simple majority. I get simple majority, but were we saying that we needed to have a unanimous vote on this when we have a simple majority in order to pass? Six in favor. Go ahead. Go ahead, council. That that would be accurate.
Yeah. So you have to have a a majority of counsel to pass anything. So you if only six of you showed up, then all six of you would have to agree. That's correct. Is that what you're asking? I think she's asking about so, you know, sometimes you have to have a super majority on the zone in case if you have so many so much opposition, which a super majority is actually eight. Of the total counsel. So if only six showed up, you wouldn't be able to pass the super majority zoning nine, which doesn't have I guess I'm yeah. I guess I'm trying to wrap my head around needing a unanimous vote on everything that we vote on when only six people can show up if it requires six
people to pass anything? Like, what's I think the point is more about the those few times when a quorum has been an a difficult issue, eight is a higher threshold. Let's pretend that may happen. It may require the management team to shuffle an agenda and say these items cannot be taken up because you won't have eight people there to do the super majority, but at least you could conduct most of the business of the council. Even if eight people weren't there, it would be six. But it it it to me, it just I don't know. It just gives me pause in the sense of we now would have to have a unanimous vote, but we could still have a meeting.
And so I don't understand the purpose of the effectiveness of that, the utility of it because it I don't know. It just doesn't lend itself to seem very democratic to me. I hear you, but I think other Texas cities of our size have had a much smaller majority for it. Correct? Yeah. And they've been operating that way for it. It's not it's not the majority thing. I mean, that makes sense to me. I mean, I'm accustomed to that. I'm saying the fact that it takes eight people to pass something, and you're operating with But it does in other Texas cities also. That's a state law. It's a super majority for zoning cases.
I think it's that's the only point I'm trying to make. I don't care. I think this was just one of the items that council member excuse me, city management team said, these are some clarifying issues within our charter that they've been talking about for a while. Now this has not been something this council has really wrestled with that much. So if there's consternation, it's certainly not worth batting it back and forth. We don't have to put it on the charter election at all. It's just a nice to have by staff. There's a lot of things staff would love to do. Oh, is the super majority only zoning? Most yes. I I've never seen it happen on anything but a zoning case. Have you?
Yeah. I can't think of anything else. And it's not every zoning case. Not everyone. No. Yeah. Yeah. Which is confusing too. Thanks to the legislature. But yeah. But to clarify though, Mia, it's not our charter that's causing that super majority piece. Otherwise, we'd fix that too. But, again, y'all speak up. We there's no reason. If this is something that gives you any how to pause, let's not leave it on the charter. There's no reason to worry about it. Yeah. I think I'm clear on this the super majority. But if it if only six of us show up and five will vote for something and one vote against it, it doesn't pass.
Correct. Yeah. I don't know if I like that. Well, it's still you're always you're always gonna need six people to pass a vote no matter how many what. Show up. If 11 if 12 of us show up, you still need six people. Right? So I've gotten as gangs. I knew how to count. Yeah. I mean, I just I don't know if I like it. You've got your calculator out. What's that mean? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I I guess I would just make the point that I don't think it would be appropriate for the public to have four people show up out of six and enact changes Sure. To the rules of the city.
Yeah. Agreed. I I agree with that. I just I guess I don't understand that. So if we come and six people come, five people it's a five one, it fails, and then we do it again, or we don't do it again. It just goes away. It's done. Yeah. It really needs to be So I guess it's my point. Brought back before that. It could be brought back. So then it's double duty. No? I think based on this, let's just not put it. No. Don't don't let my confusion like the reason. Since I have been on the council, there has never been a time when there we have not had a quorum. And I just think the public expects us to be there to take care of
business, and I prefer to leave it like it is now. That's my 2¢. Does anybody else really feel strongly about it? No. No one care. You won't care. Okay. So we'll take out proposition h. Thank you. And then I'm I'm hearing consternation about I and j as well. Okay. We'll just simplify the language on those and all the rest. I have not heard any Anybody else, yeah, on any of the propositions that were problematic? Everyone else looks good. Guess I just I well, I've mentioned to Leanne about the, the charter about I think when we agreed was we talked about 50, and I think we got sixty
and fifty, which is fine with me. But I know currently, I think it's like it's like a difference of 5,000. So I don't know if that made a difference, and I don't think nobody said anything about, whether they want it immediately or in November. Oh, I'm sorry. October. Good point. The effective date, was that did that matter to anyone? I think that would be deferred to to Jade budget, issues as far as what would that do? Would that take away from anything else? I mean It's not a significant it's a few months, three months. Right. Council member back anything.
No? No? So we still don't have an answer. What do you what's the consensus as a council? I'd say next fiscal year. K. Anybody else have a problem with next fiscal year? Does that work? Great. Okay. Did we miss anything else, Gavin? Is the horse dead? Great. Okay. If if council's good okay. Then I'm gonna move to future agenda items. Who has future agenda item? I know council member Hill, go ahead. I would like a report on, I I well, I'm gonna preface this with the EPA is doing a study on the toxicity of fluoride in our water, and so I'd like to have an update on what we're doing, and how any if we
remove the fluoride from our water system, how that impacts our wholesale customers, and probably more detail on what we're doing to mitigate any issues that have come up through fluoride in the water system. Yeah. Bear with me, as I try to request this. Me. That's right. Me. I'd like to, I'd like for staff to explore what a, fee structure looks like in our development process, more of a fine structure for those folks that don't follow the inspection process.
We don't really have anything in place to punish them, and we recently had a a case come through in District 9 that, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. And we need to make sure that we're protecting our our neighborhoods and our, you know, construction, our development around the city. And so I'd like to know if other cities have that kind of fine structure in nature as well, and if so, how they implement it and maybe what we can do here in the city of Fort Worth to, to get people to cooperate. And then, I'd like to know more about how our, third party inspectors operate, within
our development department. I know there was a lot of discussion the last legislative session about them. So, just a a maybe an overview too of of what that discussion look like and what we expect to bring back in the next session. K. Councilwoman Martinez. Thank you, mayor. I have two things. So I'd like us to look into establishing an ordinance that will ban hourly hotel rates, specifically anything under twenty four hours. So the reasoning is to combat combat, criminal activity, prostitution, human trafficking, and drug use that is prominent at these type of establishments.
It's also my understanding that many years ago, the city transitioned the citation of yard parking, from code to the police department. I wanna hear more about that rationale and explore the idea of reverting this enforcement back to code. Essentially, just let code address all violations on private property and PD on the street. Any other future items? Yes. Councilman Larsdorf? I'd just like for for for this body to get an update, really for public consumption as well on an update for the veteran owned small business contracts. I know before at one point, it was, 2%. Just like to know if anything's changed and if there's any gaps or information that
we can work with all of our chambers on to help improve and grow that program. Can you say the name of that program again? The veteran owned small business contracts. Anyone else? Yes, sir. Councilman Nettles? Yeah. I don't know this IRR presentation. I know a few of us on council have been working behind the scenes as a deal with the homeless and, what's happening on East Lancaster. But I would like to see something regards to, who's given a citation for what. Is it breaking the law or just simply being homeless? I received a lot of feedback during the ice storm that some people felt like
they was getting citations for just being out there, which I know some of us know there may be some different things that were happening. But I think we should get some type of presentation so we can be very clear of letting people know what we will tolerate, on as it relates to homelessness and what we will not. Anyone else? Councilor Peebles? I'd like some information, on what our policy is. Like, when we knew we had I'm trying to, voice it. When When we knew we had inclement weather coming, we still cut off people's water.
And so we had a case where we had a person with no water and no way to get it turned back on. And so I just like some information on what we saw during that inclement period, how many water, how many accounts were cut off, and if we have a policy to, to aid those people in times like that. Yeah. And I'll just add to that. We changed that policy here recently where water can be turned off on a Friday, by a certain time. Yeah. For the same reason.
What it but this water was turned off on Friday. They it was turned off on Friday, and then we had the ice storm, and they had no water. And it turned out Okay. And councilwoman Martinez was able to get it turned back on, so thank you. And and maybe to add to councilor people's request, we I know we've had this before, but I think it's been years, an understanding of how many cutoffs there are on a monthly basis, a breakdown of where they are per council district. Okay. I I don't wanna create more work for the water department by any means, but I'm just curious.
If it's a if it's a significant number, this would never work. But if it's a lower number notification, even the council offices of what's going on, because you're gonna end up being it sounds like in that situation, you were the one impacted directly. So maybe a longer presentation for Chris and his team. Anyone else? Okay. Meeting adjourned.