--------- Consent agenda items will be taken following the announcement of any items being pulled from consent. Speakers registered on non consent items other than public hearing and zoning cases will be taken following council announcements. Speakers will be given three minutes to speak on all of the items within those blocks that they registered to speak on. Before you begin your comments, please state your name. Thank you. Thank you, Jeanette, and welcome to your fourth city council meeting. We are graced tonight by miss Sally Mays, a Fort Worth resident who is 91 years young, and she is our mayor for a day.
I'm gonna allow miss Sally here to gavel us in. Hello, everybody. This is Mustang Sally. Let's get this meeting started because I have a lot of opinions. I see. Oh, I hear you. Thank you. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the pledges of allegiance. Tonight's invocation will be given by reverend Monte Francis senior from Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church. Shall we pray? God and our father, how we thank you for the privilege of prayer. We thank you for all the things you do for us.
We are filled with gratitude tonight to gather in a place of civility, a place where we can come together, God, and bring our minds together and our hearts together, our focus. We are grateful, God, that we are in a land of freedom of expression, freedom of thought. Thank you, God, and we pray for equity. We pray for equality. We pray for continued peace. We pray that you would bless this meeting, God. Let it be what you would want it to be as a people gathered together
in a place of peace and harmony. Bless those who govern, protect them, we pray. In Jesus name, amen. Our next items will be special presentations with the first one being by mayor Parker. Ladies and gentlemen, as I introduced miss Sally earlier, let me give you some important context as to why we invited her to be here in her city hall. She was awesome upstairs. She asked me why did it take ninety one years to get to come to city hall, but she is the rightful mayor for today. If you did not know, she's also Instagram famous and garnered over 4,300,000 Instagram views
on a video we're gonna queue here in a minute. Sally's heartfelt and humorous opinions have certainly earned her features in both the four star telegram, ABC News, channel eight, WFAA, and today we're honored to have her here with us. Sally, thank you so much for being such an awesome vibrant voice for our community. You're a joy for sure. Thank you, mayor, very much. This this is this is fabulous. You all are treating me wonderful. I'm 91 and I'm mayor. I mean, it's great. Thank you. And I've lived in Texas all my life and Fort Worth. Go Fort Worth.
Okay. At this point, we're gonna play this video. Thank you. Humorous opinions have certainly earned her features in both the four star telegram, ABC News Why do you not why do you give me a hard time about Dallas? Oh, because everything is is so fluty tooty, and the food is so oh, yes. And then you look and a sandwich is, $75, and you think, oh my goodness. That's okay. This is such and such a place. Well, I just did and you act fluty tooty, and your car is fluty tooty. And Dallas is fluty tooty, and I live in here.
Hey. Well, I know Fort and, well, Fort Worth isn't really tooty. It's nice. A good, great place to live. Dallas is oh, everybody over there is they're all something's wrong with all of them. There you go, ladies and gentlemen. So thank you all for giving her the warm welcome that she deserves. She's joked earlier that her wonderful daughter here, Catherine, behind me is now Steven Spielberg. And I asked her, who does that make her as an actress? And she was kind of unsure at this point. We talked about Meryl Streep maybe, but the jury is still out. So go please follow her. Remind me of the Instagram handle. Lady who lounges.
Lady who lounges on Instagram. And I promise you, if you need something joyful to watch everyday on social media, this is something you should absolutely see. So, again, one more round of applause for me, Sally Mays. Thank you. Of course. Thank you so much. Okay. Next up is an important recognition for our fourth fire department and partners for the Cooper fire assistance. And council member Elizabeth Beck, this is yours. See, I have a stack because we have a list today. If I could be joined by those of you that I see trying to hide out and not join me, and I'm gonna call you by name, Chris Cranfield of United Way, Mike Brennan of near Southside, Megan Henderson of near Southside, and then everyone
from the Red Cross that is here. If you could please join me as well. I think, Ken Shetter from One Safe Place. Is anyone from emergency management here? No. Okay. It's gonna make my life easy. Neighborhood services. Alright. Come on down. Come on down. There you are, Sunny. Casey, come on down. You see all these people are not wanting to come down because they're humble, and they don't want me to brag on everything that they did, but it's my show, and I have a microphone. So now you have to sit there and listen to me. Back in June, our city experienced a horrific fire.
824 residents suddenly found themselves homeless in our city. That's like the equivalent of, an entire small neighborhood burning down, and we saw that in one night. Our fire department came in and fought the fire for over eight hours. Red Cross was first on the scene. They stayed there not just that evening, but as the days turned into weeks and our residents found themselves in crisis, The Red Cross was an amazing partner to the city of Fort Worth and to those residents.
Our office of emergency management, Sunny and team, together with neighborhood services, really, as time ticked on and it went from, days to weeks, you really saw people start to pick up, as we truly understood the need of our residents in the community. And then One Safe Place. You opened your doors immediately and provided shelter space. And when we needed, resource point, you were there. So thank you for always being a great community partner.
And then the United Way and specifically Megan Henderson from near Southside, we the Monday that Monday evening is when the fire occurred. By, Wednesday, the three of us had sat there and thought, well, what do we do? The calls for help were pouring in, and so were the calls for those folks that wanted to support. And I would be remiss if I didn't, thank those members of, council that were supportive, Chris Nettles, who came down that evening, to those of you that shared our
fundraising efforts on your social media, doctor Peebles, Mia Hall, thank you for that. It was truly an effort because Megan and Chris are so amazing and so organized. I truly do not know how they did it all. We raised over a 100 a little over a $100,000 to give individual grants to members of that community who found themselves homeless. So without further ado, here we go. Whereas, on 06/03/2025, a historic six alarm fire broke out at the Cooper Apartments located
at, 1001 West Rosedale Street in the heart of Fort Worth near Southside. As a result, over 800 Fort Worth residents were displaced, disrupting their lives and casting a long shadow of grief and uncertainty across our community within within a matter of hours. Whereas in the face of this devastating loss, the city of Fort Worth witnessed an extraordinary effort by organizations and agencies committed to restoring hope and delivering relief. And whereas, the Fort Worth Fire Department acted with exceptional bravery and skill, leading fire fire firefighting, evacuation, and life saving efforts under dangerous conditions, exemplifying the highest standards of
public service and commitment to protecting our residents. This quick response and skill resulted in zero injuries or loss of life. Whereas the Fort Worth office of emergency management demonstrated exemplary leadership by coordinating with the American Red Cross and the City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services Department to establish a resource center at one safe place providing a critical centralized location where impacted residents could access emergency services, housing assistance, and recovery resources with dignity and efficiency. And whereas the American Red Cross played an indispensable role in the immediate aftermath of
the Cooper Apartments Fire, deploying trained teams to help provide food, water, emotional support, and emergency relief supplies and supplies to displaced residents. Their swift action and compassionate service ensured that individuals and families had a safe place to turn during their time of great need. And whereas the Near South Side in The United Way, that would be you, Megan, and you, Chris, collaborated to be to mobilize community and networks to raise financial support and ensure residents received timely, effective assistance in the days and weeks following the fire.
Not only did these organizations help raise much needed funds, but provided a central point of contact, to connect community partners that wanted to help residents. Now, therefore, the city of Fort Worth does hereby and recognize the following groups for their exceptional emergency response to the Cooper Fire Apartments. Alright. And I'm gonna offer the Red Cross if you'd like to say a few words, and then someone from near South Side or emergency management if you'd like to offer a few words as well. And then we'll take a picture. That's the fun part. I just wanna recognize our, excellent team who was out there, and responding very quickly.
And we wanna thank the emergency management team for their collaboration and contacting us. So it's been a great opportunity to serve the community and to utilize our volunteers for the service of those who are in need, after a disaster. Thank you so much. I won't belabor the point other than just to say thank you for our volunteers and thank you for our community. It does mean a lot when we come back together. Of course, we still have community members hurting today, those that are seeking shelter still. So it's an ongoing disaster, and sometimes that happens when we do these things.
So but just thank you for the community support. Appreciate it. Well, I'm very humbled that I should also say that it's a team effort. It's true of the Near South Side spirit. It's always a team effort. There's one person who has really not taken enough credit for the work that was done, and that is Elizabeth herself. Councilwoman Beck was fast on the phone. It was a council break. You could have been anywhere in the world during that time, and instead, you were standing outside the cooper eagerly working to support those residents. So, really, I'm so appreciative of the entire city staff that came together, leadership from our council director or for a council member, and also from the real resilience of
the nearest South Side community and Fort Worth community at large who did not leave these people without some answers. To Chris Canville, who was kind of our partner in crime behind the scenes, worked tirelessly very, very late nights on top of a traditional job that she had to carry the load of, I wanna thank you for just being the type of person who raised your hand to help those in need. And, to Sonny's point, there are still people in need, and so our community continues to rise to the occasion for any need that remains. So thank you everyone for the recognition. Kudos to the incredible team all around that came together, and thank you to councilwoman
Beck for her acknowledgment of this incredible team that surely shows up to the door of many other disasters when they're needed as well, and we're very fortunate to have everybody here. And I would be remiss to say if I didn't say that each person up here privately, well, or each entity privately pulled me aside and said, I want you to know that Sunny really did a great job. And I've worked with a, you know, I've worked with a lot of emergency management, but you've really got a great team at the city of Fort Worth. And, I can't believe the way neighborhood services came out, and I can't believe how good the Red Cross is doing. Like, they're really helping us.
And so, I don't know if you all said it to each other, but you all individually said it to me, which lets me know that we had the right team doing the right work. So let's get a photograph and celebrate this. Recognition is yours as well. Recognizing gun safety awareness month. You. And I think we have, doctor Daniel Guzman, the medical director of the aim for safety at Cook Children's. If you wanna come on up. This month is gun safety awareness month. It's such an important topic. And as I read some stats to you here, you'll understand, why it's so important.
We bring this issue to our community, and I really appreciate the work that Cook Children's is doing to help keep our babies safe, to keep our families safe and keep our babies safe as as we keep our families safe. So without further ado, whereas unsecured guns pose a clear safety risk particularly to children, when guns are not stored safely or securely and are accessible to unsupervised minors, the risk of death or injury significantly increases. And whereas in The United States, an average of three fifty children a year get
access to loaded firearms and accidentally shoot themselves or someone else. Since 2015, there have been at least three fourteen unintentional shootings by children resulting in a hundred and forty nine deaths and a hundred and seventy seven injuries in Texas alone. In 2022, firearm related injuries were among the five leading causes of death for people ages one to 44 in The United States, and currently about one in a hundred and thirty two people die from firearm injury every year. One point four six million one point four six million minors in The US live
in homes with at least one loaded unlocked firearm. Studies show that between seventy and ninety percent of guns used in youth suicides, unintentional shootings among children, and school shootings perpetrated by shooters under the age of 18 are acquired from the home or the homes of relatives or friends. And whereas between 2020 and 2024, Cook Children's Fort Worth Medical Center treated three zero three gun related injuries, most of which were unintentional. And whereas educating and resourcing communities to practice safe gun handling and storage is a
proven, actionable, and meaningful way to create safer homes and neighborhoods across the city, state and country. Now therefore the city of Fort Worth does hereby proclaim August as gun safety awareness month. So I wanna start off by thanking Councilwoman Back as well as mayor Parker and the rest of the council. We appreciate this and it's an important recognition for, gun safety, in Fort Worth. It's a powerful statement that you guys send by acknowledging this because I think it shows families that it that their safety matters, and then we're here to walk around
along with you guys, along your side to to make sure that we keep people safe. And again, one of the most important things is that we need to make sure we lock up our firearms. So thank you. Thank you, doctor Guzman. Our next presentation is a recognition honoring the life and legacy of JW Robinson, council member Chris Nettles. While they're taking a picture, I'm gonna ask. The family to come up. Believe his lovely wife is here, daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law. So those that are here, you will come up. And I wanna offer a few remarks and then also of my fellow colleague, Deborah
Peoples would like to offer a few marks, and then we'll come down and read the proclamation together. Those of you that don't know, Robinson Barbecue, is housed in District 8 off of, Berry and been there for over forty years. And I would tell you, if you've been down Berry Street, we have seen a lot of things come and go. So it's just like Texas style chicken, Williams chicken, and the list goes on and on. But Robinson's Barbecue from Kansas City style has made it through every issue and hurdle
pandemics, and so we wanna take the opportunity in the passing to honor his legacy and his family for bringing in such a an awesome business to the district and serving the people of Fort Worth. And so I wanna really offer up that, those words to this family. Well, I wanna start by saying, you know, one of the things that we do on this council, Kiana, is we talk a lot about economic development. And don't you cry, baby. Don't don't you dare cry because your family is an institution that brought economic development
to the South Side. In a time when people of color did not succeed, Robinson's Barbecue became an institution. And you know I love those rib tips. So I just want you to know how grateful I am because of the example your family set, not only for those of us who lived in the community, who the word went to that business almost I went two or three times a week. But what you set for young entrepreneurs across this city and across this country.
You should be proud, missus Robinson. And Care Bear, girl, you got a legacy to live up to. And I'll also offer up before I read. I used to go and get the hot link sandwich light pickle, a whole pickle, those you don't know, and, red cool I mean, grape Kool Aid. And I would tell you, I was just allowed to order the food, and then we order the young lady in the window, she start honing back. Holling light. Holling light. I mean, it's it's just about the history and just shows how much of our
people, that was on the South Side. So I wanna read this proclamation and re special recognition. The city of Fort Worth special recognition presented to JW Robinson, AKA pit master, in recognition of forty years in business and legacy. JW Robinson is the visionary who brought Kansas City style barbecue to East Berry Street for over forty years. If you have ever stopped by the Red Chuck Wagon, you will likely have enjoyed
a bolo sandwich, chopped beef, baked beans, and a refreshing red Kool Aid. Rib tips. Rib tips. Alright. And howling life. Mister Robinson was known by many names within the Fort Worth community, barbecue pit master, doc, pops, brother, or just simply mister Robinson. He was a pillar of our community, sharing countless memories by bringing families and friends together through his delicious barbecue, always serving with a cheerful heart and a warm smile.
Mister Robinson, presence at Robinson was more than just about great food. It was about community, love, and connection. His passion for barbecue and loyalty to his customer's base and extended family on the South Side was incredible. The life and legacy of JW Robinson are woven into the fabric of East Berry Street in Fort Worth itself. We as the city recognize and honor the profound impact he has had on in in our many communities.
There will never be another JW Robinson's Barbecue, and his minute and his memory will forever be cherished. Thank you, his family, his wife, and children for its unwavering commitment to serve in the Southside community of Fort Worth for over a decade. Your legacy will always be remembered in our hearts, and we present this to you. Yeah. Would you like to say something? No. Thank you so much, councilman Nettles and councilman Deborah Peoples, known as mama Peoples to me, because her daughter and I grew up together and went to school together.
Y'all are truly, a blessing, at this time as we move forward with just continuing my dad's legacy, and we're grateful for you to honor him and recognize all that he's done over the last four years. Oh, I've left it. I'm sorry to speak English. I apologize. Okay, counsel. This is one of those times when we're gonna meet someone, and we have to say to her, remember us when you're famous one day, because this young lady is truly gifted. As many of you know, this amazing woman to my left, miss miss Lauren Saba, started a high school art competition under the mayor's name when mayor Price was mayor.
Now that I'm your mayor, whoever's mayor next will continue this tradition because you recognize the talent that is in this city. We always talk about how important our arts community is to this city. Our culture is at the fabric of who we are, but it won't continue if we don't invest in the youth here in classrooms across the city of Fort Worth. One of my favorite days of the year is getting to come into a beautiful curated art competition in Lauren's amazing art studio art gallery, rather, here in Fort Worth, just off Montgomery near Dickies.
If you have not visited, I highly encourage you to do so. And what Lauren has done is opened up this amazing gallery to young talent. And each year, she chooses, a panel of judges. Many of them are curators and leaders from our very own museums here in Fort Worth, and students enter this competition from all over our city. And to my left this evening is this year's winner, Chloe Lindsay. Her piece, which she brought with us tonight, is secretly admired her. It's absolutely breathtaking.
What's a fun fact, many of you don't know, she's a she's a eleventh grader in high school at John Paul the second high school, but she's also a student at Hull Art Academy and attending Mary Hull's advanced figurative class. This piece was completed in forty minutes at Hull Art Academy with a live model. It's obvious that Chloe enjoys pushing herself creatively, artistically, and exploring various design elements. This piece, will be displayed here at City Hall, but importantly is a reflection of, I think, Chloe's just getting started.
Would you like to say a few words? You're welcome. Go for it. I mean, I don't have a lot to say. I'm really nervous, but I'm really, really excited to be here, and I'm I'm really thankful that you guys are able to give me this opportunity. I have a lot more art that I'm wanting to create, so this is really, really encouraging for me in my art career. Thank you so much. Lauren, would you like to say a few words? You'd be welcome. Thank you all for having us. Yes. I first and foremost, Maddie, thank you so much for contributing to this show. Fort Worth has always been such an amazing support for culture.
I've lived here almost my entire life, and to be able to have an art gallery to support youth and to support our community, is phenomenal. Gallery of Dreams is a subsidiary in a way. It's our nonprofit of Fort Works Art, and we're able to do the high school show, which next year will be our tenth year. So we're really excited to have the support of the Amon G Carter Foundation this last year, as well as the city and hopefully more so that we can grow this show, and continue to do programs like this.
Chloe, last thing I wanna say is she was a sophomore when she did this work, so she's gonna be a junior this coming year, so she has two more years to compete. And the curator was doctor Eric Lee, who is the executive director of the Kimbell Art Museum. So all of these hundreds and hundreds of kids in our city who applied whether they got in the show or not, got to have their artwork looked at by the executive director of a major museum, and in Fort Worth is one of the only cities I can I can ever think of that you could say that about and say that in? So thank you all.
Thank you. Next will be items to be, to be withdrawn from the consent agenda. We have two items to to be withdrawn from the consent agenda so that council members can make comments. The first is m and c twenty five dash zero six five eight. This is the high impact program. And m and c 25 dash zero six seven nine is a request of Prince Hall Gardens for a 50% tax abatement.
Items to be continued or withdrawn by staff? We've got three items. M and C twenty five zero six seven three will be withdrawn from by staff completely. Z c 25 dash zero seven eight will be continued to August 26 meeting, and z c zero five dash zero two nine will be continued to October 14. Mayor, that gets us to the consent speakers, and I believe we have one. Speaker is David Martinez.
Good evening. David Martinez. I signed up to speak before I saw a councilwoman, Martinez's post about the, construction being done at the Park at the lake. I didn't see that, but I saw it now, and realized this for this park. But before all that, I had went to this community center at Worth Heights Community Center, and we were discussing the, fall festival that is a big turnout, in Southside. So, one of the things that we wanted to talk about, if anybody's with the
city that could, help us out. We one of the big draws for the, community center at Fall Festival was for the kids to go on the haunted hayride around the Echo Lake. They thought it was real spooky and stuff like that. So, it's a big deal. We have hundreds of people that ride it. So we're it's gonna be blocked off around fall festival time, around Halloween. So, if there's another location that we could get or something like that, another like, a little pathway. It doesn't have to be long, lengthways, or anything like that. Just just a little space where the kids can go into a hayride and then
come back to the parking lot area. Thank you. Bye bye. Thank you, mister Martinez. Council back in conclusion of our consent agenda speakers. Got a motion and a second council. Any other discussion? If not, please vote. Motion carries. Our next item will be MNC twenty five dash zero six seven nine that was pulled from consent. Councilor Nettles, this one's in your district. Yes. Try again. There we go. Alright. Thank you. Yes. I did speak to Dana, but I wanted, staff to come up and kinda articulate, the the denial request from Prince Hall for the property tax exemption.
So okay. Casey is here. Hello. Casey Beth Casey Thomas, neighborhood services department. I don't think your microphone's on. May have to come to the middle Right now. Go ahead. Okay. Hello? There we go. Yes. So this one is a affordable housing development that is already existing. It was rehabbed in 2012. It is locate on located on East Robert Street in Council District 8. It consists of 100 units, and they are all targeted for residents who are at or below 60% of area median income.
This particular tax code, this is the first time that we are aware of in recent history that we have received an organization to request a tax exemption under this particular code. But what it is is once the county reaches a population of $2,100,000 or more, developers of affordable housing competition to the taxing entity to have a 50% tax abatement. Under this particular code, we have the ability to deny the request for two specific reasons. One, if the entity determines that it does not need any affordable housing, which that
is not the case here in Fort Worth. And then the other one is if they're, from a revenue perspective, the entity cannot, absorb the increase. And so we were recommending denial based on the fact that our revenue has not is not increasing as much as it has in the past and also due to the fact that the city had to take 1% budget cuts in order to balance this budget for the twenty twenty six year. Yeah. Question for you. Will if this is are are they doing affordable housing now at this property?
It is already an affordable housing development. So this is not creating any new affordable housing units. Okay. And so families that that live in Prince Hall would not be affected, with the rent structure if this request is denied? I cannot say that for sure, because we do not control the owner. The owner is out of the Houston area, but, assuming that it's the affordable housing project is already in place, there's no change to their operating structure, net operating income.
We would assume that there would be no change to the rental rates, but we do not control that. Okay. Can Dana come up? Thank you. That makes sense to me, and I just wanna articulate, this is a corporation that's requiring that's asking for this, and do we know anything about this corporation? I wanna make sure that counsel, understands what this denial is for. Yeah. Casey, do you know how long they've owned the property? Yeah. I don't know I don't know that we know how long they've owned the property. I don't think they were the original they weren't the original developer of the property. And it's certainly the tax abatement wasn't required for it to be affordable housing when
it was, made affordable twelve years ago. So I think they're they're in my opinion, they're asking for the tax abatement because Tarrant County has reached that population threshold, which allows them to ask for the tax abatement. As Casey said, it's not to create new affordable housing units. And it it may not be really benefiting the resident as well. That's that's that's our assumption. K. Those those are my question. I don't know if Thank you, Dana. Thank you. Was it moved for denial? Move for approval for denial. Yeah. That's kinda easy. Yes.
Got a motion and a second counsel. Any other discussion? If not, please vote. Motion carries. Our next item will be m and c 25 dash zero six five eight, which was also pulled from consent. Council member Beck, I know that you'd requested this item be pulled from consent data. I just wanted the opportunity to speak on the importance of this, particular item. We discussed it last in our budget, our budget meeting. This is not an insignificant price tag, but the work that we're able to do through this program has really made a tremendous amount of difference.
And my hope is by the extending of this pilot program into a full fledged program as opposed to just pilot, and the additional funding as we ramp it up, we're able to, to move this citywide so that all the districts that are experiencing those folks with chronic, homelessness that also have, severe mental health, issues can can get the help, and the residents can forget the relief they need. So I enthusiastically move to approve. Got a motion. I've got a motion and a second council.
And I'll see Bethany here on behalf of the program. Thank you for your hard work and please give the same to Tara Perez. I know how hard it was to put together at Elizabeth's point. It has been incredibly impactful. Council member Martinez. Yes. Yes. And I also want to thank thank Tara. Tara and Bethany, thank you so much for keeping us updated on those individuals that do become housed, but also huge shout out to the NPOs that are, helping to identify those individuals, that are chronically homeless who also suffer from severe mental health conditions. So thank you all all around. Good job. Got a motion to second council.
If another discussion, please vote. Motion carries. Our next item will be announcements of upcoming and recent events in recognition of citizens by mayor and council. Thank you. Our first is council member Flores. Thank you, mayor. Slide's up, please. Have a few. Alright. First slide, when it comes up, that's the Northside Neighborhood Association's annual fourth of July parade. I'll slow down so the slides can catch up. There we go. And, so always appreciate them doing that. Rain or shine did rain, but it kinda cleared up enough for us to launch the parade. The bottom, set of pictures you will see right there was the official launch of
Fort Worth Firebase EMS system. That took a lot of hands on deck. I wanna give my thanks to the fire department, to chief Davis, for his staff, the four forty MedStar, Fitch and Associates, Val, Indiana, and and other staff members that, you know, may not be mentioned here because of brevity, but it's very much appreciated what they did to launch such a, you know, endeavor because it is important to our city. So thanks one and all. Next slide. Beauchamp Airport, turns 100 years old as, airport continues to be an economic engine, you
know, for the city, for District 2, six busiest municipal airport in the nation. So congratulations to Meacham. We had, some of the Meacham family members present here, and many, here on council signed, the airplane in the lobby. Next slide, Fort Worth Police Department. We keep, putting out some really great recruits appreciation to chief and the training staff, and the pictures right there, recruit class, one fifty nine. Next slide, please. I joined, chief Davis and doctor Jarvis and Pich and Associates at the Pinnacle EMS
Conference in Phoenix, Arizona recently. Went there to, speak on what we did here for our EMS, fire based system, the transition from MedStar to this current system. I will say this. Fort Worth was, recognized as being a trailblazer in that regard. So I appreciate, the chief and doctor Jarvis and Fitch and Associates, for for really expounding on that point. A lot of eyes are on us for what we did, and, let's continue the good work. On the bottom there slide, I joined, councilwoman Martinez, to bid a bond farewell, to,
Francisco de la Torre, lovingly referred to as Paco. He is, leading his post as Mexican counsel general and is taking an ambassadorial post in Indonesia. So look forward to meeting the new counsel general, when, we have some time. So next slide. National Day of the Cowboy, that was in the stockyards. Had a great parade there. See some famous faces, there, a couple of actors. You know, Barry Corbin being one of them, and miss Dean Fort Worth also joined us there. See, bottom slide set of slides.
Michael Crane joined me at the ALP National Conference. It's the associate in leadership programs, there. Thanks to Jennifer Trevino for doing that and, recognizing all the good work that those programs do. Next slide. Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD Education Foundation annual superintendent recognition breakfast. So appreciation to, EMS for doing what they do to recognize, their faculty, staff, and teachers. For Stockyards Business Association, shout out to them because they keep adding members, and that's a great thing. The Stockyards is, continuing to activate.
It's bringing a lot of good business attention, to that area. Next slide. Home to Texas intern sponsorship program. Wanna give, my thanks to, a lot of staff members that were there. Valerie Washington, Diana Giordano. Let's see. Who else? Joaquin, you know, was also there. Jessica McCarron was there and, many others. So, congratulations to those interns that, graduated and, hook them horns. Next slide. Tarrant County College turned 60 years old. I had the honor of speaking on behalf of mayor Parker, also along with, Arlington
mayor Ross and, Mansfield mayor as well. So, very good program. Appreciation to the partners. Next slide, please. Join Susan Alaniz and Kate Beck on a Central City River project tour identifying those areas that we're gonna be concentrating on when it comes to, development and infrastructure build out. So appreciation to them. It's back to school time when kids started today. Unity One Credit Union in the Stockyards, Family Auto in the Northside and Northside Diamond Hill Jarvis Youth Association, some picks there from their back to school events.
So thanks, one and all. Next slide. Ladder class 11. Council member Lars Dorr spoke in that. He, you know, got the troops all rallied and I think very excited to be there as he always does, along with mayor Parker as well. So, appreciate all the, good training that goes into making our new recruits forward police officers. Chief Aldrich held a listening session at Diamond Hill Community Center recently. So got some good feedback from the community there. So appreciate him making those outreaches because that's what makes community policing possible, listening to
residents. And that's all I have. Thank you. I was waiting. So if we can get started, I wanna start by, I think our first you can go past that picture of me is, I absolutely had a ball celebrating with the White Lake Hills Neighborhood Association and the Woodhaven, Neighborhood Association for Independence Day. And so not only did I get a chance to take, pictures with amazing residents and our, fabulous firefighters, but I ate a whole lot of ice cream that I
shouldn't have eaten. And then finally, I ended the evening with my fellow council members as we watched, fireworks on the trinity, and I ate some more ice cream there. Next slide. And so, one of the neatest things, right after I came into office was we celebrated District five day here at City Hall, and we brought about 40 young people from across the district in to talk about municipal government, what it does, and why
it's so important. And they were absolutely amazing, fabulous. They are going to be the future leaders of tomorrow, and so it was my honor to host them. And that was just an amazing day. And there in the corner, you see a young man in a white shirt and some blue jeans. And so we had, our very own district five, Dosa Diego, Vasquez, who helped us get through the day. So, that was a great day. Next slide, please. Thank you, mayor, because you brought together summer interns, and District 5 was well represented
with an amazing young woman, Caitlin, who was while she worked for the mayor. We adopted her because she was from District 5. Today was her first day of school, and she's excited about all the possibilities that she saw while she was working here. And I look forward to her running for office soon because she has the book. But we also were able to do, some neighborhood association meetings. And I think the picture that you're looking at is the top picture is we
were in Moshe Valley and met with the residents out there to talk about the possibilities. And the picture below is we had, a joint neighborhood association meeting and got about 60 residents from across the district to come and talk about what we'd like to see in District 5 and our vision. And it was a great meeting, and we will continue to do those quarterly. Next slide. And then this one makes me get a little teary because we have an amazing
facility in District 5, VITAS Healthcare. And one of the residents who transitioned, Alton Pelton, his family came together and dedicated books, many of the books that he wrote and books there to have an inspirational library. It was a very solemn day, but also a very joyous day. As you see in the picture in the top left, that's his family. They are wonderful. And, what they did for VITAS was just amazing.
So I was grateful for the opportunity to attend that with my district director, Lisa Baker. Next slide, please. I am now an honorary member of the Black Law Enforcement Officers Association. And what a wonderful group of Fort Worth's finest to come together. They had a meeting today, but I was here. And so my district directors went and represented us. This group is committed to bridging the gap and talk about community policing. And there on the right side, if you look at me high fiving, that's an
amazing young, police woman who just graduated from the academy. So we were talking about the future is bright for women in law enforcement. Next slide, please. And this is near and dear to my heart. A garden. It's the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood initiative and I wanted, thank Mary Margaret Lemons and what they are doing. But they now have a community garden. Ahmad Houston is the master gardener there. And if you have not been there, you need to go behind.
It's over by Babers Manor. It is an amazing, extraordinary garden, and the master gardener is extremely knowledgeable. If you wanna know anything about gardens, you need to go over there and talk to mister Houston. Next slide, please. And then I just wanna talk about we've so July for many people was, a break. For me, it was not. I was in the office almost every day, and we met with multiple community organizations
and groups to talk about, what we'd like to see in District 5, and they're some of our community partners. Jeanette, I have to tell you that I did sneak over to your public art project for the mosaic, and I did a whole tile. And I did not mess up one little piece of it, but just an extraordinary time spent in the month of July out in the field and visiting with folks about what we'd like to see in not only District 5, but in Fort Worth.
And I think we may have that's it. Doctor Hall. Okay. Thank you. Alright. You can go past that. Thank you. Alright. So like my fellow councilwoman, Deborah Peoples, July was supposed to be a break, and it was not a break for either one of us. We passed each other in the halls quite a bit. I wanted to catch up. So I started off the month of July at Lake Como Fest. It was on Thursday, July 3, held at Lake Como Park. I was joined by my colleagues, Michael Crane and, Janet Martinez. It was a great time. We had the Don Diego fan there.
Lot of, vendors and community. It was my first late homo fest. It was a great time. I hadn't planned to stay long because it had already been a long day, but I had such a good time. We did a little line dancing. And before you know it, it had been a couple of hours, so it was a good time. Thanks. Then there was the Lake Como Parade. So it was a long day and early morning. And so it started the Lake Como Parade. It was my first time being the grand marshal of parade. I shared the honor, this year, and so it was a good time. We do you see the floats there?
That was actually my first Como parade, and I'm gonna go ahead and start taking donations for candy, I think, maybe in May or June. Because I had so much candy and two vehicles, and we ran out of candy. It was not enough, and you just don't know how I felt watching people the kids want candy, and I was completely out. I was joined there by also miss Bailey Howell who is miss Juneteenth DFW twenty twenty five. I think she's gone on to win state since then. And then that's my handsome husband down there in the corner who was my chauffeur.
And y'all, I'm like, you know, I'm I'm having him lean in into his volunteerism. So he did a really good job. Next slide. Alright. The Black Law Enforcement Officers Association, I was on the on July 8. As you see, we're still within a week, of things to do. I was supposed to speak that day, but, councilwoman Hall does work a full time job, and I was not able to get away. It's back to school time. But I do have two very capable, young ladies in my office. And so, Andrea represented and Kennedy Jackson, and and Kennedy gave remarks on our behalf.
So we're well represented. Next slide. On July 11, we were had invitation to be participants at the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commons bowling tournament. I don't wanna say unfortunately. I was already scheduled to attend, the January, graduation for that day. But I do wanna stop by and say hello as did my, colleague, Councilman Crane. And so we did stop by. Fun fact, I took bowling by correspondence in high school, so I will be playing next year with advance notice. Next slide.
Alright. So there's that police graduation that I went to later after the bowling tournament. It was so nice to attend. As you see, the young man pinning his father It was quite the, event and I had a great time. Also, I had coffee with a cop the following day, so I got up on Saturday. It was over in District 8, but who can turn down a donut and some coffee? And I am wearing my workout clothes because I was wanting donuts. But it I had a great time meeting with, the citizens that came out to meet their fellow, police officers there in the neighborhood.
Next slide. Also, hosted my first town hall on Wednesday, July 23, the Vivian j Lincoln Library. It was standing room only. We had, I would say, at least a 100 or so people come and attend. I wanted to thank all the partners and presenters who were there, to make it, a really nice evening. Crowley ISD came out, Fort Worth ISD to share information. Fort Worth Fire and Police departments were represented. Parks and Recreation, transportation of public works, code compliance and zoning, environmental services, communications and public engagement, and office of the police oversight monitor.
Not only were they there tabling, they were also there to answer questions, and be a part of the presentation. It was a great evening, and I wanted to thank them all for their participation. And we'll be doing it again real soon. Next slide. I had the pleasure to have already traveled to my first PD situation in at the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, also known as NBC LEO. It was in Houston, Texas, so I didn't have to go far. And I, believe it or not, met, some colleagues from my husband's city, hometown city,
which is Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Never met anyone else from Rocky Mount, North Carolina except his high school reunion, but I was able to meet some people there. But it was a great opportunity for learning, to kinda get a jump start on how it can be impactful in the community and how to bring resources and just innovative ideas to help support our communities of District 6. Next slide. Crowley ISD opened what we affectionately had referred to in Crowley as elementary school number 17 during the bond program. It has been named Baylor Elementary School. It was a ribbon cutting out.
Unfortunately, I was at NBC Leo, but, Kennedy was able to represent. The Baylor family, actually was the first family to integrate Crowley ISD, and that's the significance of of the name, for the facility. So they will be the Baylor Cowboys. I'm a hometown fan. So I'm excited about that. It's a beautiful school. If you ever have an opportunity to stop by and see, the school, please please visit. Next slide. On this past Friday, August 8, I was fortunate I don't know that I was a guinea pig, but I think I was the person who got to be a
part of the bringing this back, this practice of touring your district. Mayor, Maddie Parker, along with, Dana Berdahl and, Seina and, Whitney. Sorry. I'm learning everyone's name still. We all and also Andrea from the office, we all got to tour District 6. We had reached out to our neighborhood presidents to ask them to share with us, different areas of concern. As a council member, you get to drive around and you see things and you make a note, but, of course, there are people living with situations and concerns and
things that they see every day that you may not be aware. And so we, listed these stops here, and for the most part, we got to all of them. Andrea was very intentional to create notes so that we would have them and have the, appropriate departments address those concerns. So, it was a great, experience, and it was great to have a conversation, with leadership. Just it's one thing to tell people about the things that you're experiencing, but it's something completely different to actually be able to point to them and show them. Next slide. And it's back to school time. I'm a twenty five year veteran educator, and I love back to school.
And so it was great to be with the kids. I got to go to Chisholm Trail, where they were doing their back to school bash. You see in that first picture, that's a young man cutting hair in what is this mobile it's a school bus, but it's a mobile barber and braiding studio. And he's got this great flat screen, and they were watching the football game. And it's air conditioned. It was very comfortable and a nice relief from the Texas sun. And then, also, I had the opportunity I donated backpacks, to the Chisholm Trail, and so I had a few there in my car, for some kids that were, late arrivals, and I was able to, share back backpacks and school supplies with them.
Also, Lake Como had their, annual back to school bash. Arlington Heights basketball team, had volunteers to be on staff, and so they were there helping distribute supplies, help the kids get to their different classes because they have to take classes there in in order to get their school supplies and backpacks. And we also had Double Eagle there, who provided burgers, for all of the families and the kids that attended. And, again, at the, Commonwealth Community Center, it was, I would say, at least over a 100 kids, maybe more than maybe almost close to 200 kids there.
But they had different classes like conflict resolution, drug awareness, and things of that nature that the students had to go through with their families, before they were qualified to go play and just have a good time in the gym and with the inflatables and also receive their school supplies. Next slide. And so we do have our next town hall meeting. We are trying to have our town halls every quarter. Our next one will be on, Thursday, October 2 at the Como Community Center. We're having it just before their monthly NAC meeting. We would love to invite everyone out at that express to the Como community as
well as those, further south in District 6. We are one District 6. And so, I can't do two of everything, so we'll be trying to rotate our location so that everyone can feel welcome and have somewhere convenient to be. So I encourage those who live in Southwest Fort Worth to come and visit us over in Como. We have more than enough room to accommodate you, and, hopefully, our Como community will continue to visit Southwest Fort Worth. We're we're one District 6. That's it. Thank you. Alright. I'm a be brief. As the preacher said, Time has been well spent.
Next slide, please. Next level, cosmetology camp. You guys are here for that. Next slide. The my eighth year celebrating the Como Parade. You see Katrina Carpenter. You see, chief there and others, Christine Moss, and had a wonderful time. Next slide, please. That's the crew at the island. Next slide. Had a opportunity to discuss with William McDonald, YMCA youth, government and civil lead civil leadership program. All some youth, had a lot of question about civil engagement and was able to
host them here at City Hall. Next slide. Our District eight fourth annual back to school giveaway, in the far right is Jeanette's sister, and our lovely secretary, Jeanette, always brings a U Haul load of school supplies. And so later on, I'll tell you more about that in in the next couple of weeks. But we had an awesome time. Chief was there again. We had backpacks, free haircuts, and the list go on and on at the William McDonald YMCA.
Final slide. You are invited to a event hosted by Cal Thomas, talking about, homeownership and financing, at the Nick and Lou Martin University, at sorry. Texas Wesley University in the Nick and Lou, community room on the Second Floor. Then, also, we have the police chief finalist form that's coming up this week, so I encourage all of you to come out to that. And I don't have a slide for this, but we're preparing our state of the
of the district, which is our annual town hall that we have. And I heard you articulate standing room. And Charlie and I have been battling who had the most people, and so, we'll let no. No. You didn't. And, also, Alan and so we'll give you those dates, and we're looking forward to, having only, breathing room to stand and talk. Those are my comments. Now? Yes. Alright. Well y'all can argue all you want over who had more people but we know who beats you in kickball every year and that would be me. So alright.
First slide, we have, Wedgwood, neighborhood, greater Wedgwood area. We had a congregate living panel. I wanna thank code, legal, forward PD, and then we also had members from Health and Human Services and ACT there to help, navigate issues of communal living, in the Wedgwood area. Next slide. I too had ice cream councilwoman peoples, have the opportunity to attend the South Hills Neighborhood Association annual, July ice cream socials.
It was a lot of fun. Next slide. Was invited to speak at the Texas Housing Conference on a local government panel, and all I got was this fabulous photograph with our city one of our city attorneys, miss Leslie Hunt, who was also there making sure she brought home the latest and greatest back to the city. Next slide. Councilman Nettles reminded you, but coming up this week we do have our finalist public forum for Police Chief, and this is your opportunity as public to be engaged and, and have your your voice heard in the process. It's an important job, so I'd encourage you all to participate.
Next slide. Alright. Eight one seven day is just around the corner. We will have our third annual Amplify eight one seven, day showcase. It will be held August 16 as opposed to the seventeenth at, The Post or Birdie Social Club, whichever you like to to call it. Next slide. Alright. We have a public meeting coming up on Heritage And Paddock Park and the Streetscape Improvements, August 20 at the Botanic Gardens at 06:30, if you're interested in learning more about that. Next slide. Okay. August 23, it is family night at the pool.
It's an after hour swim under the stars from 06:30 to nine. It's your opportunity to, get in your last bid at the Forest Park Pool before it closes for the season. Next slide. Alright. We have our Main Street downtown intersections pre construction meeting. It's riveting. I, hope I can meet you all there September 4 at the City Center Boardroom from two to 03:30. And that is all I've got. Thank you, council member Becht. Council member Martinez. Yes. Alright. So on August 2, we hosted our first district eleven community wellness fair.
This is in partnership with Amon Carter High School, Fort Worth ISD trustee, Roxanne Martinez, and Carter Riverside Neighborhood Association. So we brought together 39 organizations who provided health related services and resources to district eleven. Residents had the opportunity to get free blood pressure, cholesterol, and PSA tests, haircuts. Children also receive received vision screenings, and middle and high school students could sign up for athletic physicals. We we also had fun activities like bracelet making and jazzercise. The Texas Rangers were there.
Kids got to decorate wiffle ball bats and meet ex pitcher Yovani Gallardo, who I believe is a graduate of Arlington Heights High School. So local. Trimble tech. I'm so sorry. Yes. Next slide. So by the numbers, we had a total of 335 people at the wellness fair, so those that we could actually verify. So we I think we had more. 30 people had haircuts. Both children and adults took advantage of that. A 178 kids decorated wiffle ball bats. 78 students received athletic physicals. 16 volunteers, most of them from Code Blue.
Thank you, PD, for helping us recruit those volunteers. And 90 toothbrushes were given out. So the goal of the community wellness fair was to foster a healthier, more connected community. Thank you to our partners and sponsors. Thanks to our partners and sponsors, we were able to bring that vision to live. Sponsors that included Coca Cola Southwest Beverages, Encore, Mavericks Realty Group, John Jensen with Greater Blessing Financial, a huge shout out to Fort Worth PD, central division and community engagement unit for attending and also for helping, to bring out their big grill and cook
hot dogs and burgers for all attendees. I generally appreciate everyone who make made this event possible, but, just thank you so much, to my dream team, Natalie and Rachel, who really, put a put this event together and made it successful. Next slide. So I wanted to take the time to announce the Fairhaven block party at Eugene McCray Community Center. That's this Saturday, August 16. Residents can enjoy free food and games while engaging with neighborhood services and other city departments to discuss ways to improve that Fairhaven area.
So this is a part of the neighborhood improvement program. And so they'll be coming together, to to connect with each other, but also to provide that information on what they how they wanna see those funds, utilized. And so if you live in this area, I hope to see you there. Please share this information with others who would be interested in attending, and that's all I have. Thank you. And council member Larsdorf. Thank you, mayor. Don't have any slides, but I do want all of us to remember I thought it's important that we remember, sergeant Billy Randolph, who a year ago today, was killed
in the line of duty, protecting his fellow, police officers on behalf of the city. Earlier this afternoon at the, the distinct honor of speaking, before the Black Law Enforcement Officers Association, and it wasn't lost on me in that moment that it on any day, at any moment, those police officers could also pay the ultimate sacrifice because we asked them to on all of our behalf, everyone here. We ask a lot of them, and more importantly, we ask a lot of their families, that watch them leave every day knowing that it could very well be the last day. And so, Mary, if it's alright with you, I'd like for all of us to
have just a moment of silence on behalf of, Billy Randolph and the family that he lives behind and more important than a legacy that he leaves behind as well. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Charlie. Okay, Jeanette. I think we can move now into non consent non consent speakers, Maren. We have three. Thank you. Our first speaker is Bob Willoughby. It'll be followed by Jennifer Harnish. Mister Willoughby here? No? Jennifer Harnish, please, followed by Lauren Dean. Jennifer here? No? Hi, Jennifer. You're behind that monitor. I didn't see you. Thank you.
Welcome back from summer. We're very happy, I'm Jennifer Harnish, by the way, I'm chairman of the board of Streams and Valleys. And tonight we are very happy to provide funding for the Phyllis Tilly Plaza in Trinity Park, and we definitely appreciate the city's participation in that as well. The Tilly Plaza will add seating, a pavilion, shade with 62 new trees, a butterfly garden, conservation education, and improved trail connections, and a place for the community to gather.
Many of our steadfast friends and donors and visionaries came together to make this happen over the last several years, so, we very much appreciate the partnership that we have on this, and the park and recreation department for shepherding the project through all the channels here. Streams And Valleys has a legacy dating back to 1969. Phyllis Tilly, she's the namesake of the pedestrian bridge in Trinity Park, is considered our founder, along with many of her friends and former Fort Worth city leaders. They were a very colorful crew back in their day, but they had a passion
for preserving and improving the Trinity River and the green spaces and believe it or not, Fort Worth is a river city. Twelve years ago, the architect Miguel Rosales designed the Phyllis Tilly Bridge and in October, we are having Miguel come back to Fort Worth, to Keith House for a reception. He's got a new book called Bridges as Structural Art, and y'all will be invited to this, it's in October, but the Phyllis Tilly Bridge is prominently figured in here.
There's a chapter on the whole Phyllis Tilly Bridge and the history of it and some of the other bridges across the country, so we're we're very excited to have Miguel come back to Fort Worth and celebrate that with us. Also tonight, it's my pleasure to introduce to you Lauren Dean. She's the new executive director of Streams and Valleys, and, she's been our in house celebrity this week because social media has been blowing up since we put the press release out. Her her she's so it's just on fire. She's, everybody seems to know Lauren here in town or they know her dad or
they know her brother, so I think there's a lot of people and a lot of eyes on you right now. Our selection team with Streams and Valleys didn't know all that history with how well known she was here in town. We saw over ten years of leadership at the Katy Trail, her years of fundraising experience, and her relationship building with t three partnership. Lauren told us in the interview process that she wasn't looking for a new career change, but this was gonna be a dream job for her. So it kind of puts her back, where her roots are in Fort Worth and
her passion for the trail. So we are very thrilled to have her, at the helm of streams and valleys. Lauren, please. Thank you for that very, warm introduction. I hope I, am a worthy servant for Streams and Valleys. Being from Fort Worth, it's really exciting to be in this capacity for a organization that's doing such big things for Fort Worth in partnership with the city. This Tilly Plaza, enhancement project that we're doing in partnership with the city is just a great example of what can be done when public and private sectors come together
for the benefit of our community. So I'm just very thrilled and excited to get going, to, conserve and enhance the parks and trail system for, the residents of Fort Worth. So thank you all so much. Thank you, Lauren. Thank you, Jennifer. Counsel, that's the conclusion of our nonconsent speakers. I don't think we have anything yet. We we will, though. No. It was just the nonconsent speakers all at once. I know. That's okay. Well, I'll let you make the motion. That's perfect. Our next step are changes to memberships Yes. On boards or commissions. Correct? Heard it. First one being 255343.
Board appointments from the mayor. Thank you. Council, this is a board appointment to appoint Ryland Gray in his first term, the Community Develop Council, would be effective 08/12/2025 ending 10/01/2027. And as usual, the respective application resume is attached and original copies will be maintained by the city secretary's office. Entertain a motion at this time. Motion is second. Council, please vote. One more time. I don't know. I didn't register. It's stuck. There we go. Motion carries. Next will be twenty five five three three seven, board appointments from District 4.
Councilman Larsdorf. Thank you, mayor. I request your consideration to appoint the the following individual, to the board below with a partial term effective 08/12/2025 and ending 10/01/2026, Joseph Austin, for the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission. Respect of application and resume are attached. The original copies will be maintained in the city secretary's office. Thank you. Marsha, second. Please vote. I believe mister and missus Austin, they're still here. So thank you guys for hanging out so far, and thank you for, dedicating your time to the city. Motion carries. Next is twenty five five three three nine, board appointments from District 5.
Councilor Peoples. So mayor and council, I request your consideration to appoint the following individuals to their respective boards with terms effective 08/12/2025 and ending 10/01/2027. The first is Marvin Jose Diaz who is here in tonight with his lovely wife, and the second is Kazi and that would be to the aviation advisory board. The second is Kazi Chowdhury to the pedestrian and bicycle advisory board.
The respective applications and resumes are attached. The original copies will be maintained in the city secretary's office. Second. Motion is second. Counsel, please vote. There is something wrong with us. It's being finicky tonight. It's at work. Oh, there it went. It went. I think. Motion carries. Next is twenty five five three four one. Board appointments from District 6. Council member Hall. Mayor and council, I request your consideration to appoint the following individual to the board, zoning commission with a partial term effective 08/12/2025 and ending 10/01/2026, mister Frederick Robinson.
The respective application and resume are attached. The original copy will be maintained in the city secretary's office. I did want to say, mister Robinson is here in the audience, and I want to, thank him for his willingness to serve Fort Worth and the residents of District 6. Got a motion to second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Our next is twenty five five 335. Board appointments at large for the city plan? I can roll with this one if that helps.
We've got appointments of the following. Sarah Milton, alternate place three, city plan commission, capital improvements plan advisory committee for transportation impact fees. There's a test on that one later. John Reed, same thing, alternate place four, city plan commission, a capital improvements plan advisory committee for transportation impact fees. And, doctor Beth Gillette, city plan commission and capital improvements plan advisory committee for transportation impact fees council. Thank you. Motion to second council. Please vote. Amazing service and willingness to serve. Thank you, pastor Reed. We appreciate you being here. Council next will be resolutions.
And, mayor, I believe we can Motion carries. Sorry, Jeanette. Sorry. You're good. We can take the following resolutions together as one motion if council would prefer, and that would be 25Dash521652185219522052215279. I'll relate to appointments to various TIF boards. A second. Motion to second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Next will be resolution 20 5 dash 5307.
Entertain a motion, counsel. Second. Motion to second, counsel. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is resolution five, 25 dash five three two zero. Second. Motion in a second. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is 25 dash five three one nine. Motion a second. Please vote. Motion carries. Next, mayor. We have a request to take, M and C twenty five dash zero seven four four relating to the streams at Tilly the Tilly Plaza.
Out of order. So K. So it's 25Dash0744 at this time. Correct? Yes. Council member back? K. Motion is second. Council, please vote. Let's try again. Motion carries. Next will be M and C25Dash0682. Staff is available if there are questions, and, Mary, I believe we have a speaker. Thank you. We've got Kelly Porter on hand if there are questions from council. Our speaker is Dan Hayes. Good evening. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Dan Hayes, and I live in Central Meadowbrook. I was a member of the stakeholder group that met with the city staff and
consultants over the course of developing this plan. And I'm generally supportive of the plan, and I know a lot of hard work's been put into getting to this point. I look forward to working with Armin, Kelly, and others in the next phase of planning, and I'm especially looking forward to the reconstruction of East Lancaster Avenue in the years ahead. I truly believe the corridor has bright days ahead if we help foster the type of redevelopment the street needs. The East Side transportation plan coupled with the Trinity Metro transit oriented development plan can
help help us get there. Once we reach a tipping point in developer interest, it will begin to happen organically as it has in the Near South Side and other parts of the city. I look forward to the corridor's next chapter and the other improvements that can help move people more efficiently in East Fort Worth. Thanks. Thank you, Dan. Counsel, at this time, I entertain a motion. Move to approve. Do we need to close the public hearing and move to approve? Deborah, if you don't mind revising your motion. I move that we close the public hearing, and then I move to approve the motion. Thank you. Got a motion a second.
Counsel, please vote. Motion carries. Next will be MNC twenty five dash zero seven four five, and staff is available if needed. Joel McElhaney is available. Councilwoman Beck, count Joel McElhaney is here, but if there are no speakers at this time, we entertain a motion. Try again. There we go. Okay. I move to close the public hearing and approve the MNC. Second. Motion to second, counsel. Please vote. Motion carries. Next will be m and c 25Dash0676, and staff is available. Julia Moses.
And, mayor, we have one speaker. Bill Bergen. No speakers, counsel. We can entertain a motion at this time. Michael. Councilor Crane. Try again. There we go. I don't know. Green light means not green. There we go. I don't know. Okay. Tonight. Eric. Okay. There we go. Thanks, mayor. Just, I've been advised by, legal city attorney that I should recuse myself from this vote given my wife's employment with, Childcare Associates. Thank you, Michael. Council member Nettles, now I can entertain your motion. Moved to close the public hearing, act upon, M and C 25 dash zero seven
zero six seven six. Got a motion and a second counsel. Please vote. Motion carries. Next will be m and c 25 dash zero six seven seven. And mayor, before, any action, I want to read into the record that the council district should be District 8 rather than 5, and staff is available, if there are questions. Thank you. Council member Nettles. Move to close the public hearing and approve m and C25Dash0677. Got a motion in the second council. Please vote.
Motion carries. Miss Sherrod was happy about that one. That was easy. Right? Walk down, walk back. Next will be ZCDash25Dash090. Mary, we do have one speaker. I believe you. Somehow, I don't have it on my hold on just a second. 090. It's Tim I believe I see it. Tim Sansone. Hi, Tim. You already knew. Yes, ma'am. Tim Sansone, the organic recycler. Just wanna say thank you very much for the opportunity to be here tonight. Grateful for all your service. Council member Blaylock and I have worked, over the last couple years to make this
a possibility to be here. Sounds like we're on the same page, and I'd just like to extend a a comment for the council. If you guys ever have any recycling needs or anything that you need help for in your community outreach, I loved your presentations earlier about what you're doing. But anything that we can do to help with that, we we'd like to extend that olive branch and see how we can be a better partner for the city. So, thank you again for your time. Thank you, Tim. Councilman Blaylock. There we go. Tim, thank you. Appreciate your willingness to work with the office and with staff to to get to
the point where we are today. It's I know it's been a long journey, and, here we are. I want to move to approve as amended by the zoning commission for a three year time limit on the cup. Got a motion in a second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Next will be ZCDash25Dash027. May we have speakers? Mister Martinez, our first speaker is Julie Ledford followed by Dan Hayes. You can go ahead, Julie. He'll get started. Thank you. Oh, is it gonna display? He'll, yeah, he'll display it.
Okay. Great. Thank you. I'm Julie Ledford. I'm president of, Hanley Neighborhood Association. Appreciate you listening tonight. I just wanted to come and speak in support of the project. Hopefully, the pictures there we go. If we could zoom in a little bit. But, they approached us a couple of years ago and worked in partnership, and really helped to explain it to our residents about how this project would serve the needs in our neighborhood, and also we're very responsive to the questions that we had.
So I wanna thank, Interfaith for working closely with us. And if you don't if you're not familiar with Historic Hanley, it's a unique area with a a population of homeowners, and safety is our priority. We have a lot of local, businesses, and the wedding district is there as well. And, right now we have Southeast Connector going on, so a lot of changes taking place. But it's a good location for growth. And, our members voted in support of this project several years ago when it was
still in development. And I just wanted to read from their mission statement. They develop high quality attainable housing and provide life changing resident services to families, individuals, and elders in the community. And the nonprofit vision mission, excuse me, is to create purposeful housing that is affordable for seniors, veterans, workforce, and children of the world. And the other thing I I noticed in their pamphlet, it says that home is more than a floor plan. It's an environment that's shaped by people regardless of economics.
And by promoting the idea of community, we initiate transformation on a broad scale. So we're really looking forward to your project in our community because that's, part of what, me personally, that's what I believe as well is in growing my neighborhood. I've been a resident of Eastside my whole life. And, and I did wanna say as well, thank you to our councilwoman who comes, to visit us and also, Jeanette Martinez.
So exciting things are happening in Hanley. So come see us. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dan Hayes followed by Cindy Bowling. You can start, Dan. We have it in our packet. Thank you. Again, my name is Dan Hayes, and I'm the vice president of the Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association. Our neighborhood association strongly supports this project, which is just three short blocks from our boundary. I wanted to offer three viewpoints to illustrate why this zoning change makes sense. First, the, project conforms to Trinity Metro's transit oriented development plan for East Lancaster Avenue.
That plan calls for 3,400 new living units along or within a five minute walk of the corridor. This is a view of the Canton Station where Trinity Metro recommends multifamily housing precisely where this project is planned. East Lancaster Avenue has the highest bus ridership in the city with about 65,000 riders a month. Ready access to transit is key in attracting redevelopment and is a factor in why this site was chosen by the developer. A second lens through which this project can be viewed is through my experience delivering
Meals on Wheels and now serving on its board of directors. I and other volunteers have seen firsthand the frequently depressing conditions clients live in, often with no opportunity for social interaction. I had a client living in a junky RV in the backyard of a house with no air conditioning and an extension cord for power. A current female client lives in a nineteen sixties era apartment complex with a sizable population of sex offenders living around her. All of us deserve to live out our later years with dignity, and this project
can provide that for those fortunate enough to live there. Third, East Fort Worth trails the rest of the city and providing renters with a place to live that's safe, clean, and affordable, a situation this project would help address. This pie chart shows when, the Eastsiders have been incredibly effective in opposing zoning changes that would address this critical need, 87% of our apartment housing stock is more than 35 years old. Many are owned by owners more interested in sucking the remaining life out of them
than reinvesting in their properties. That's beginning to turn around with Sunset at Fash Place, the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood Development, and a few others like Palladium City Skyline currently under construction, on East Lancaster. As a resident of Meadowbrook for forty three years, I understand why some eastsiders fear more apartments or don't wanna see change. Please vote to approve this project. Thank you. Our next speaker is Cindy Bowling followed by Ava Eady. Thank you, mayor, council. My name is Cindy Bowling. I'm president of Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association, and we are just a couple streets down
from the boundary of Hanley. So this is our neighborhood. We have been communicating with Russ Mitchell and his group for three years for this project. They have been completely transparent, encouraging, made changes, wanting to be a part of our neighborhood, be our neighbors, not just a developer. And we are anxious for them to break ground on what will be an amazing home for many of their el they call them elderly. Where 50 became elderly, I am lost on that point, but that's what it is.
So we're anxious for them to be able to break ground. Again, they have communicated with us every step of the way, and I and all of my neighbors really wish that all zoning applicants would be this conscientious. We really wish that. Please vote yes so we can get started. Thank you. Our next speaker is Ava Eady followed by Barney Holland. Okay. Good evening. My name is Ava Adey. I live at 2800 Meaders Avenue within 300 feet of the proposed zoning change, which
is not on East Lancaster. Those of us within the 300 feet of the proposal were never contacted by the Parmerley family nor interfaith prior to the first DC meeting in March. One homeowner did not receive his card from the city until after the meeting, and a zoning change request sign was up for only two and a half weeks in March after the meeting and never up again during this six month process. The parties involved only addressed the voluntary homeowners associations whose representatives speaking in favor all
live over one and two miles from the site. We, many of us, we in this corner of Historic Hanley, a very diverse group of people West Of 820, are opposed to a three story apartment complex. We desire to keep the character to residential single family dwellings. Wanda Conlin, while still a zone committee member, commented in a July 2022 Fort Worth report article, duplexes are not compatible to single family residential dwellings. If duplexes are not compatible, it does not stand to reason, it is not logical
three years later to vote that multifamily high density is compatible to single family. Additionally, the government overlays for federal, state, and city benefit points create problems. These groups seek some benefit points that do not realistically meet their senior concept. Also, they seek pristine land among residences rather than the dilapidated buildings on the main roads which would cost more for demolition, excavation, and debris removal. Furthermore, the attorney, CEO, and director of Interfaith, now Mountain West Community Housing LLC, gave
a gross distortion of facts at the previous zoning committee meeting when he said, we don't choose the site. The state chooses it. The developers and organizations pick land based on the most points for benefits they can get from federal, state, and city, such as the tax credits, abatements, discounts, bonds, and grants from any or all of these three entities. Finally, CEO director attorney Michael Russ applies for government benefits under the umbrella of nonprofit,
and then boast in his LinkedIn profile how he has grown his client businesses over 300,000,000 in real estate assets, commercial and residential spaces, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new contracts, and over 50,000,000 in earnable developer fees. I ask, is this the purpose of government point benefits to a nonprofit to increase profit to their client business, businesses? High density is not compatible to residential single family dwellings.
Our next neighbor. Is Barney Holland. Thank you. Mister Holland here? No. Council member Martinez, this is the conclusion of our speakers. Okay. Sorry. Okay. So as you've heard, this developer has met with the neighborhood association, for the past three years. And knowing that we have a housing crisis and that this development will only be affordable senior housing, a much needed type of housing, one that we need throughout the city of Fort Worth. I truly believe that they will be a good neighbor and work to address, any
concerns the surrounding community may have. And so it is for this reason that I move to approve ZC25027. Got a motion of second council. Please vote. Concern people's trial one more time. They're not it's just act okay. There it went. Thank you. And motion carries. Next will be ZCDash25Dash073. Mary, I believe we have speakers. Thank you. Yes. Ivan Gonzalez. Only if there's opposition to my knowledge. There is none. Councilor Beck. Got a motion a second council, please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash085.
No speakers, council member Peebles. Got motion and a second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is s p Dash25Dash002. Councilor Hall, we have one speaker only. There's opposition. To my knowledge, there is none. I move for a thirty day continuance. Got a motion and a second counsel for continuance. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash091. Councilor Nettles, we have no speakers on this item. Motion and a second. Please vote. Councilor McCrane second. That's okay.
Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash092. That's for our Blaylock. We have two speakers on this, but only if there's opposition. To my knowledge, there is none. So I would like to thank Britney and Justin for coming to represent. Appreciate you. I move to approve. Got a motion and a second. Counsel, please vote. Let's try one more time. Thank you. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash096. That's for Nettles. We have two speakers on this item. Only if there's opposition. To my knowledge, there is none. And a motion and a second council, please vote.
Motion carries. Next is z c Dash25Dash101. Two speakers, council member of Lilac, only if there's opposition. There is none. And a motion in a second council, please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash102. Customer Martinez. Our first speaker on this is Mariana Oda followed by Dan Hayes. Good evening. My name is Mariana Oda. I am the cofounder of Oda's Real Estate. We originally, intended with this building to create a, like, a shopping center or a
convenience store, something of that nature. But, we are Oda Real Estate. We aim to create a positive impact for both the community and the economy. Therefore, we have reevaluated, the original, intention of this building into creating a four unit building that will allow different tenants, and we're seeking to approve this, change in order for us to have more opportunities for various tenants, not only a certain one. We are planning to get more, like, some sort of, like, a nail salon or,
beauty shop, a donut shop. And at the same time, we will be addressing the concern of the community of the alcohol of this of the sale of alcohol, which was one of the concerns. And due to the proximity that we have to a school zone, we will not be allowed to do any of those nature of sales. And that is all I have. Thank you. Next speaker is Dan Hayes followed by Eleanor Forfang Brockman. This is my last trip up here for tonight. Well, after hearing that, that kind of changes a little bit of what I was
going to say, but there's no reason to change the zoning at all to accomplish any of the things that she just mentioned. ER is perfectly capable of handling that and does not require a zoning change. So my, ask would be to deny with prejudice and let her stick with her ER zoning. Thank you. Our next speaker is Eleanor Forfane Brockman followed by Cindy Bowling. Hello, mayor, city council. I wish to oppose this proposition partly because, as was said, a zoning chain is
not required for the sorts of businesses that are proposed for the space. But if the property is later sold and zoning has changed, it is possible that alcohol could be sold at this location. There are other reasons as well. One is that you I didn't submit photographs when before the deadline, but this is a very busy street. One block north and one block south, there is, an intersection with Meadowbrook and with
East Lancaster. So there is a lot of traffic. And you can't tell by this, but where the red is, the red picks out that particular property. And right along the south edge of that, where the red lettering is is our street, Kenwood Court. It's a cul de sac that comes along the south boundary of the property. Also, right in that area, there are three bus stops, three entries and exits to parking lots, and three driveways.
The parking area in the front of the building is raised so that either coming from Kenwood Court or driving down the ramp from the parking lot in the property itself, the view of traffic, particularly foot traffic, is obstructed. Now you might notice the yellow arrow that says 200 feet from this from the Meadowbrook Elementary School property. We have school children and families walking to elementary school down Kenwood Court, and there
are also children that are cycling or walking to a school, which is two blocks to the north. There is a lot of foot traffic, and, this is a very dangerous area to have the kind of business that would have a lot of, people driving in and out. In addition, the only access to the back of the property, which would be serviced by delivery trucks and trash trucks, is, down Kenwood Court and a very hard turn
to the left. The area of Kenwood Court has often has parking on both sides of the street because there is a duplex right across, across the street from this property. So there is no space for a vehicle to go and turn. Thank you very much. Cindy Bolling followed by Oscar Ortiz. Thank you again, mayor, council. Cindy Bowling, president of Central Meadowbrook Association. Based on what we just heard tonight for the very first time, the only verbal
communication from this applicant. There's no need for this zoning change. This application should have been pulled. We shouldn't have been here till 08:00 tonight only to be here that what they now want to do with the property is what it's already zoned for. The case should be denied with prejudice, so we're not here a month from now, spending time at zoning, a couple hours, with no verbal communication from the applicant. Tonight until 08:00, no verbal communication from the applicant until tonight, saying no.
They they wanna do everything within their current zoning. K? But, again, it should be denied with prejudice so they don't come back a month from now. This application is the perfect example of why no hearing of any kind should be set on an application for zoning change without the applicant reaching out to the affected neighbors and council district. Because we are all here tonight. You all, the zoning commission who volunteers their time, we, the citizens, the same number
appeared at zoning, we're all here volunteering our time, yet they come down and ask for something without talking to us about it, and they get a hearing, and we all have to come down here. So I urge you not to set hearings on applications when there has no been no communication from the person wanting to come in to our neighborhood without even knowing us. Thank you. Next speaker is Oscar Ortiz. Thank you, mayor, city council.
My name is Oscar Ortiz, and I live at 4221 Kenwood Court right next to the property at, 2521 Oakland Boulevard. I'm here with my neighbors who can make it. Those who couldn't, I know, have written letters to you. But I'm here representing a as a concerned father, a husband, and a protector of our four little children, ages 10, eight, six, and our baby that is just one year old. Those of you who are familiar with Lancaster and Oakland Boulevard will know that some
of the fears that I have are not unreasonable. When I'm away from home, I constantly ask myself what would my wife do to protect herself with four little ones if someone broke into our home. We already struggle with crime on Oakland Boulevard and Lancaster Avenue, which is just around the corner from this property. My children have witnessed things that no child should ever have to witness, prostitution, open drug deals, violence, and people so deep in addiction that sometimes you can't tell if
they're awake, unconscious, or even alive. Some of the conversations that I've had with my wife over the last couple of years, go somewhat like this. What do you do or what would you do if a drunk person came up to the front door? What would you do if a drug addict broke into the backyard? Before you even get out of the car, where do your eyes go first? Right now, my neighbors and I, we can manage. We work with our amazing neighborhood police to keep the trouble on Lancaster from spilling
into our block. But if you rezone this property, the trouble that the police worked so hard to keep out is gonna come to our doorsteps. And this is not a hypothetical. Two years ago, as many of you might know, there was a fatal shooting at the Conoco just down the street, just a few feet from the property. And this is a store that sells alcohol. So, mayor, members of the board, I'm asking you to please vote no with prejudice. The city's own experts agree the zoning commission voted unanimously seven to zero to deny
this change. They found it not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and not consistent with the city's comprehensive plan. These rules exist to protect homes from exactly the kind of high intensity businesses that is that is being proposed here. Please, members, think of the families and all the children. I'm not asking for a privilege just for my own family and children, but for the daycare across the street from this property and the two schools that were just mentioned. Thank you very much. Councilor Martinez, that's the conclusion of our speakers.
Thank you, mayor. So as you've heard, it it brings me pause when a property owner refuses to meet with the surrounding community. And allowing alcohol sales on a property with continuous code violations, I feel, will only exacerbate, I hope I pronounced that right, those issues. So it is my intention to protect the integrity of this neighborhood and move to deny with prejudice c c two five one zero two. Got a motion in a second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Mayor, do you wanna take up the item for reconsideration?
Yeah. We're gonna do a a voice vote to reconsider m and c zero seven zero eight to allow doctor Mia Hall an opportunity to recuse on the item. Council member Hall? Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Thank you. So on the matter of MNC, two five zero seven zero eight, I needed to I need to recuse myself from, this vote due to my employment with the Fort Worth Independent School District. Thank you, doctor Hall. I gotta entertain a motion at this time, counsel. Got a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any nays? Motion carries.
Thank you. Of course. Now we can move back to ZC25Dash103. Councilor Nettles, we have three speakers. I believe they they appear to all before the item. I may allow you to speak first before you take speakers. From the first, Stephanie Cook. Yes. We'll just hear from him, and I can get the motion. Good evening, mayor, council. Ryan Trimble here on behalf of Walmart this evening. Pleasure to be with you and super excited to expand our, exclusive drone delivery service to the residents of, your, your city. It's an exciting time, for us here.
I did wanna introduce our local store lead, Mike Burgess. He's a twenty four year veteran of Walmart. He's at the Renaissance Square store, where they've been really leaning in on their community affairs. They blew out of the water the, the Children's Miracle Network fundraiser for for Cook Children's, raised over $10,000 at their store. And, they've provided a lot of back to school supplies as well for local stores. I also wanted to share something Mike shared with me that, the store's ecommerce business has raised has increased nearly 9% year over year.
So we think that the store is really gonna, the people the customers at the store are really gonna enjoy this service and respond well to the expanded drone delivery. I did wanna add that we are scheduled to visit and do a demo at the Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association on September 4. I know Dan is here. He's fairly involved in his neighborhood. Who knew? Oh. He just snuck out. And just snuck out on me. Okay. Well, anyway, we'll we'll, be there on September 4 to do a demo and, look forward to visiting with other members of the community as well.
I'll pause there. We do have Juan Marrera from Kimberley Horn here, as well as the great Stephanie Cook, who brought a Zip with her, to showcase. And, she's from our great drone partner, ZipLine. So, I will pause there and happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Yeah. Can we actually see that? Do you have anything in there, any snacks from Walmart that Snacks. That you brought? Oh, jeez. Kelsey, my nettles. Not tonight. Okay. But I can pass it around if anybody's interested in holding it. I'm not that strong, and it's not that heavy. But, yeah, my name is Stephanie Cook.
I'm here with Zipline with the drone operator. We actually have a few slides, so I can present on that if you'd like. But I also know there's a lot of items on the agenda, so also happy to answer specific questions, that y'all might have. No. I I really appreciate you guys coming out, and thank you for giving us opportunity in District 8. I also I will ask you to meet with Chelsea to, do a demo with, Rolling Hills, which is our senior citizens neighborhood that's right there next to, Walmart. I think it'll be a great benefit for the drone meal delivery. And so things are happening in District 8.
Next time you, you know, bring StackLay's or something would be greatly appreciated. No tip. Once you pop, you can't stop. So I move to approve the zoning Got a motion and a second. Counsel, please vote. Thank you guys for coming. Chris only likes children snacks. Yes. So just keep that in mind. Motion carries. Thank you all very much. Very much. Next will be SPDash25Dash008. And customer peoples, we do have two speakers on this item. The first is Nikki Moore. The second is Bob Bulloughby. I do not think mister Bulloughby is in attendance.
Nikki, you can come on down. Thank you. And we do not have any other opposition. Good evening. Nikki Moore with MMA. This site plan approval is in relation to zoning case 25Dash074. It was a PD for community facilities, limited to worship, recreation, education, museum, and cultural facility. The zoning, commission made a recommendation that this also include a site plan. So this is the associated site plan coming before you before approval. Got a motion. A second council, please vote.
Next will be SPDash25Dash009. Travis Clegg is here. Customer peoples. Is there any questions or concerns? I have none. I move to approve. I have a motion and a second counsel. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash104. Motion a second council, please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash105. A motion to second council, please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash107.
One speaker. All in through opposition. Council member Hill, Marianelle Poole. Yes. Marianelle is gonna ask you to come up, and we just do a an overview of the parking situation for this property. Mary Knoll Pool town site. This is for a revive restore on Byer Street. They have an existing, building right now, and they wanna expand the building and build a second building across the street. If you could turn that down. So yeah. There you go. The the green space space faces, Byer Street. There are two existing curb cuts there now, which we will utilize as a one
way in and a one way out. This will be a two story building with the with First Floor all, parking. There are 23 parking spaces. They'll have direct access to a a elevator and a, staircase. So anyone parking can just walk straight upstairs to the Second Floor where all the services will be, rendered there. There is striped parking on the street, but, for the first two blocks since there is a mix of commercial and residential on the street, but, we don't expect that
they all utilize the on street parking. If you can walk directly have covered parking and walk directly to an elevator and go up to your services, I don't think they're gonna be parking on the street. Perfect. Thank you so much. I move to approve. A motion of second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is ZCDash25Dash109. Council member Martinez with one speaker on this item. Jake Petrie. Good evening, counsel. I'm Jake Petri, and I'm here to answer any questions you may have about this project. Councilor Martinez? Try it again there. Thank you, mister Petrie. I move to approve z c two five one zero nine as amended by the
zoning commission. Got a motion to second council. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is M and C 25 dash zero six six zero. A motion to second counsel. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is M and C 25 dash zero six nine six. Motion and second. Please vote. Motion carries. Next is M and C 20 Five-seven07. Motion a second. Please vote. Motion carries. The next two items, MNC twenty five dash zero six nine four and twenty five
dash zero six nine five. Mayor, we can take with one motion. K. Council member Crane. There we go. There we go. Harry okay. We we couldn't get past with one of these. Emmons, I move that the Fort Worth City Council adopt the resolution authorizing use of imminent domain to acquire the following, point one five six acres and permanent easement and point two seven nine acres for a temporary easement at 335 Winscott Road in the JB Foster survey, abstract number 520, City Of Benbrook, Tarrant County, Texas, owned by Ronald j Miller, and 1.993
acres in permanent easement and 1.73 acres for a temporary easement at 5,200 in the JW Smith survey, abstract number 1406, City Of Benbrook, Tarrant County, Texas owned by Cook Team LP. The land rights and the subject property are needed for the Marys Creek Force Main, a public use that provides for the transporting of wastewater to future Marys Creek Water Reclamation Facility in order to treat wastewater produce produced in a rapidly developing western part of the city. The property interest is to be acquired and is described by meets and bounds and
depicted by survey exhibits attached to the mayor and council communication. And this motion indicates that the first record vote applies to all units of property to be condemned, and the minutes shall reflect that the first vote applies to all those units. A motion on a second council. Please vote. Carlos, try one more time. Thank you. Motion carries. Next is m and c 25Dash0698. I got a motion to second counsel. Due to my employment with Cook Children's, I'll actually recuse from this vote. I do have a motion to second. Any other discussion? Please vote. Motion carries. Next is M and C 25Dash0671.
Council member Blaylock. So I'm thrilled to move to approve this agreement to bring Adam Industries to Fort Worth. Adam will develop and expand microelectronic prototyping in Fort Worth and create a semiconductor fabricating facility accessible through the cloud. More more r and d activity will boost our GDP, attract specialized talent, and create opportunities for other companies that strengthen industry here in Fort Worth. I'd like to welcome Adam Industries to Fort Worth. John Lauer, CEO of Adam Industries, is in the audience tonight. Thank you, John.
You've been a real trooper sticking out this whole meeting. But I think this is a high note to finish on, so, I move to approve. And a motion and a second, counsel. And, John, thank you for being here. Please vote. Motion carries. Congratulations. Ma'am, that concludes all of the action items. Thank you. At this time, council, as we're closing, our meeting, I'm gonna turn to our mayor pro tem, Carlos Flores. We have two, wonderful individuals to honor this evening and close our meeting. Of course, John j Hernandez, who was born in 1931, just passing away recently, and
then John a Flores, customer Flores. Just a second. There you go. Alright. In their honor, I'd like to acknowledge John j Hernandez. He was a long time, advocate, civic minded person, very service oriented, grew up in the North Side. I grew up with his family, went to school with several of his, children. He dedicated his locked opening doors for others, and he was very involved, from one of the founding members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, supporting Catholic education, numerous boards,
commissions, you name it. John was involved. So he was, awarded also the Fort Worth Business Express Lifetime Achievement Award and, maintain a lot of connections with his family, and they were very involved also in their neighborhood. And then secondly, John a Flores, my uncle, proud veteran, accomplished, civil, professional engineer. He passed away recently. He was also born in Fort Worth in 1933. Raised there in the Northside, graduated Northside High School, Texas A and M Corps cadets.
He earned his civil engineering degree and pursued advanced studies at, SMU. Served as a commissioned officer and combat engineer in the US Army. And, lots more to say about uncle John, but, simply, you know, we'll miss you, and we'll see you on the other side. Part: 2
Okay, council. Good afternoon. I will call us to order. This is a special call meeting to discuss our budget. I'll turn it straight over to J. Choa. I'm gonna go to the Okay. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be here. Um I want to start off by thanking
the city council one for appointing me. So, this is my first budget that I get to deliver, but two also for um working with us through the spring and the summer on budget meetings so that we could get an idea of priorities and um
have an opportunity to to showcase some of the areas that we had um concerns andor um highlights on. Is the presentation up? So, just to start off, I I just wanted to kick off by also uh thanking
Christianne and her staff and all of the count all of my ACMs and department heads for the work that they put into this. I'm going to start off with um themes and strategic priorities in this budget
along with the budget highlights. I'll go through the tax rate piece and then I'll be turning it over to Christian to go into the details on the operating and capital budgets. So, as we all are aware, one of the, you know, big themes is dealing with our
growth. The increase in the property growth continues. I mean, and population growth continues. And so, balancing that need to to deal with the growth along with the um older areas of town, putting
the resources in the correct places is one of the big things that we had to uh deal with as we move forward. the property tax landscape and the changes that are that continue to come both at the local level with TAD and at the state level with various bills that
have been passed is also something that we had to make sure as you know um we were projecting a flat budget on existing the existing tax base. So we were looking at potentially being in a deficit. The good news is the TAD report
came in higher than we projected and so our deficit um was eliminated and so we um we ended up in a good spot and you'll be getting the highlights from that. Of course, we always f focus on fiscal responsibility.
We did go through a process since my uh first year running this. I asked the departments to go through and look at 1% target cuts and strategic reductions if possible. every department came through
um with their their own um proposed cuts that led to I think a very tightening a real uh a real positive tightening of the belt for the departments and which allowed us then to to move forward and what you're going to see today.
As we discussed this summer, we are going to be uh recommending free fee increases in various areas. Uh and we'll go further into that. We want to make sure that we continue our payo adding to PGO for that maintenance of the existing
infrastructure. So that uh growth in that area is very important and we're going to keep doing that. And then we left the the tax rate on the bond side on the debt side uh static so that we could ensure that we continue our our bond capacity as we go forward. So any
bond issuances do not impact the tax rate. Finally, we are having increases. Some of these um the council approved previously to the budget, so we had to make sure they're in there. um
especially associated with public safety. Uh the increased police, fire and EMS coming to the city. Um we added additional payo to street maintenance and park maintenance. Um we are adding funds to the general
fund portion of the housing pri priority repair program. So we do receive federal funds for that program, but we do also have general fund dollars. So, we're recommending an addition of half a million dollars there. Um, and then we
one of the key uh neighborhood areas that I wanted to expand is the mobile tool shed program which the pilot has been successful. So, we are expanding that program. And then because of the need for animal shelter resources, the
turnover that um occurs there with employees, we're going to add we're adding funds to that area. And then finally uh increase in the investment in employees. Employees I found that our employees are the the the key resource that we can get the
most productivity and the the most innovation from and making sure we invest in them is is extremely important. So you'll see some of that as we go through this. So, we typically break out
the budget into these areas that are uh city council strategic priorities that were put together in the last um their last retreat. And they're broken out into these areas. Starting with community safety, as I mentioned, we're going to have the full fullyear funding
for the EMS program coming from MedStar to the city. We created a new department of emergency management and communications. And then as part of the new uh the redo of the beat program, the beat map for
the the police department, we'll be adding neighborhood pat uh patrol officers or police officers. And then we had requests for additional school resource officers. All those are in the budget. On the infrastructure side, I mentioned
the prioritizing of street maintenance. We're increasing funds there. Um, as well as recommending moving forward with the study to plan for the the street fee implementation that would go into effect
next year. So, this this year they'll do the full study and bring back the council for next year. Um, we are making some changes. As I mentioned the employee investment in our employees, we are uh making some changes
and adding a personnel on the capital delivery side in projects capital projects and moving away from using contract uh contracted labor. We found that we could be more be more efficient, less
dollars, and we hopefully be able to keep the same folks and be more effective as we deliver those that capital uh going forward. Finally, we do have funding for the expansion of Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant and the Mary's Creek Water Reclamation Plant on the on the
west side. Community investment. I mentioned the housing priority repair program. There's funds for that. Uh the code compliance mo mobile tool shed program and the animal services piece. Um we are continuing the NIP, the
neighborhood improvement program. And then we're adding um we have a partial year of staff for the FAR Northwest Library which will open in the fall of 26. Does that neighborhood improvement program include one neighborhood or two neighborhoods?
Just one. Okay, this continues the the current one program. So, we cut it last year to meet budget requirements with the expectation that we were going to bring back two this year was my understanding. So, how come that changed?
I'm I wasn't here, so I'm not I didn't know there was the idea was to have two come back. I will say in in I'm not speaking for staff. If staff is present, you know, please come on up to the podium and answer. But I know that part of the challenge was also um the shortage of
employees to um to uh sufficiently take care of the NIP. I think if if we were to add a second one, we would have to bring additional staff to so when I was here when we went to two previously the the ability to actually deliver a
second one with the existing staff was just not there. So things got drugged up. I can't see Hello. Yes, there was discussion when we um eliminated the second neighborhood that we would bring it back as a decision package, but as it is
mentioned, um we would need to have additional staffing in order to successfully spend the money within the three years that are allotted. The total package would be about about $5 million more.
We have that staff. Did have we lost staff? because we were able to do manage the two per year. So have we lost staff since that happened or So right now we have about seven projects that we are behind on. Um and then the two we are just now
starting. Um we are a few months behind on fair haven and semin or seminary and worth heights. The addition of the second is what caused the delay in the delivery of the of the programs and that's why we have seven because there was never enough
staff to actually keep them on track where we could finish them within three or four years. Is included in this decision package uh additional staff for neighborhood services so that we can keep those projects moving.
We do not have it for the 20 26th year. We will be looking for 2027 to see um the idea is that on the seven projects that we are behind, we are hoping to close those out so that they won't still be in the queue. Um if we're able to
close those out, then we may have additional capacity in 2027, but we should know at the end of this year. Thank you. It was a catchup year kind of thing. On the economic development side, of course, uh you all are familiar with the small business development program. We
have funds to expand the partnership with the the local chambers as well as working with the um with the u with the um groups that that do the actual certification for those those programs. Um
we we put in funds to refresh the economic development strategic plan. We're still working off of the original 2017 plan. It was updated in 22, but the economy and and overall development has changed since COVID. And we believe that it's it's changed enough that we need to
actually go through and and refresh our economic development strategic plan uh so that we are in line with the goals that we're trying to achieve in the current economy. Of course, we're investing in the Will Rogers Memorial Complex and the convention center expansion. uh that's
funded fully funded going forward. Um and then we are also um continuing the economic development initiatives fund as we go forward. Jay, before you go to responsible growth, go back to economic development
that small business development plan. I asked last week uh Dana when we looked at the program, are we sure that we have adequately funded that and do we have any wiggle room in the budget line? No, we've we've funded for what the the
start off process is going to be. If we go through and it starts to grow, then we would come back to city council to add dollars. The responsible growth side, a lot of things could fit in here. Um, but we're we're continuing the funding to to
finalize the 2050 comprehensive plan. Uh, we're also added a million dollars to uh funding replace vehicles. We have um a lot of vehicles that are past their their due date and then we need to catch up on that area. Um we also as I
mentioned the investment in employees we have the pay plan or the pay study that is ongoing uh that will be partially completed uh toward the end of middle of next year and we wanted to start implementing those hard to fill jobs and
recommendations out of that. So we've added some funds to be able to start making pay adjustments to employees were appropriate. And then as we talked about this summer, we're recommending various feed structures uh adjustments uh both for capital planning so we can stay
ahead of things and for long-term sustainability of the various uh departments and and work that we do. Excuse me. On the organizational side, we have a a variety of changes. Of course, we are funding the uh EMS
operations in the fire department fully this year. uh we had to create the office of a medical director which is uh now up and running. We consolidated uh positions and funding from emergency management side. So you'll see as when Christine
goes through the details of 911 call takers for instance being moved from police into this group. Um you move we're moving the long range planning into this city manager's office. The goal here is to have more emphasis on the strategic and broader planning of
the city. We're currently um recruiting a city planner to take the role take that role and and that office and it'll be reporting to Dana Bergdaf. where it moves the office of civil rights and to human resources and the small business development program to
economic development and some contract compliance positions to finance as part of the uh the small business local program uh purchasing that we put put together council approved last week we're moving the property and and
casualty from the risk side to finance to have better synergy with those groups and the uh more of a financial uh transaction piece And then also the partial nuisance team staffing. So code and code compliance split and
environmental became its own department. When that happened uh a poor a part of that group stayed with co- compliance. It really should have gone with environmental and the completion of that trans uh that transfer happens in this budget.
Moving on to property tax. Sorry. Yeah. Can we go back to the the long range planning team moving to the uh CMO's office? Sure. Um can you expand a little more on uh why we're making that change and what your hopes are for in that change?
Sure. I think as part of of the planning group being in the lab, right? It was a the level of the positions basically like an assistant director level. Meanwhile, they're they're one of the goals or one of the the objectives of that department is to coordinate
planning across the city of all the various plans in the different departments. And from a structure standpoint, you have directors in the different departments not necessarily always agreeing with an assistant director on how that fits together, making it part
of the city manager's office. We also wanted to elevate the idea of as we go forward with the comprehensive plan of having having this emphasis on a strategic wider wider looking piece where all the different department plans
get connected by that chief planning officer. So that's the goal. Any other questions? So moving forward with the the property values as I mentioned we did receive
good news especially on the TAD side Tan appraisal district the July certified values came in higher than anticipated so last year's overall when you added all the four counties uh values we're
right at $122 billion in value um we jumped up to a little bit over $129 billion You can see that the amount that it's split up between existing growth and new construction. I got to say the budget
office did a great job of predicting that the new growth percentage increase. I think they're projecting 2.3%. It came in at 2.5 where we uh were off a little bit. We were using last year the way TAD valued
things last year and we were projecting almost a flat like a 0.9% increase on the existing and we ended up at 3.4%. So the overall growth uh of the of the values is 5.9% total.
So this basically shows the amount from each source or the total uh total dollars that if we left the current tax rate the same be able to collect. Our new council members, I wanted to make sure I put this in there so you you
get an idea of how the property tax has changed over the time. Uh you see the where that red line where it says CCPD established that was the highest level of the property tax was 97.5
cents. Uh since then it's been on a downward trajectory and you see in the last 10 years or so it's really uh really moved down as values of uh properties have gone up substantially. So my proposed
uh in my proposed budget I'm recommending a reduction of a quarter cent to the tax rate to 67 cents even. Current tax rate is 67.25. And when you break that out between debt
and operations and maintenance, the debt service stays static at 14.75. And the operation and maintenance is reduced from 5275 to 5225. I mean, I'm sorry, from 5250 to 5225.
And then the capital piece of that PGO stays at a static uh 725. And the operations piece is where we the the 0.25 gets reduced. So it's 45 cents even. Any questions on that?
Questions for Jay at this point? Jay, I do have one question. Uh thank you, mayor. Um as we talk about the tax rate, and I know you'll probably get to it uh maybe in the street and infrastructure piece. um with us and I know it's just a quarter cent and I know
we there may be some discussion around the no new revenue rate. I want to hear that discussion as well. Uh but with this quarter piece, how do we propose to keep up with our infrastructure growth uh in the million people that we have here in Fort Worth. So, one of my goals
by proposing this rate, one of my goals was to have as little impact to the taxpayer as possible since we're proposing several different increases on the fee side, right? by proposing this rate and looking at at
the numbers. If you're a especially in Tarant County, if you're a Taran County homeowner that has a home a homestead exemption, you didn't get an increase in your value. And if you pro protested, it went down. And by us reducing the tax rate a little
bit, it actually you're going to have a smaller bill from the city of Fort Worth, which will be offset by the rate increases. So my goal was to try to make that as even as possible across the board so that we're not
causing damage on both sides, property, tax side, but at the same time meet as much of our of what we're trying to accomplish from infrastructure from the others. That's why we left the payo the same. And you'll see when we go through the details that the street payo is
increased by the full 5.9% increase, not by the three and a half% that the other pieces of the payo stayed at. So we're adding dollars there. Um but that's how I was justified the the reduction. And I think to council member Nettle's question too that on the street maintenance piece under infrastructure
that's a separate piece you want to implement fiscal year 2027 but moving us toward that goal because as you stated we've got a lot of unfunded um street maintenance we need to take care of. We've kind of punted that conversation several times over. You you missed that part of the what's included is actually
funding the study that will take several months to put into place to bring for next year to implement the street the actual street fee or street maintenance. So when you look at the new tax rate and how many dollars it on the property tax
side it brings in it brings in about 35 $39.5 million of new revenue. And as we go through this you'll see Christian will go through the details most of that amount is actually taken up by previously approved pro uh programs
and projects. And then here I we just wanted to show the growth of values versus the actual t property tax revenue. So the red line shows you the growth in values for the last basically since COVID when we've seen a big jump
since the co pandemic was over. The black line shows the appraised taxable value. So the the the amount that we actually uh that we actually put taxes against. And then the lower line, the green line is the revenue. And you'll
see that the combination of the city lowering its tax rate and the state having a putting a cap on the amount that we could capture from existing values shows that the the tube lowered lower lower level 9, especially the the
actual revenues collected have grown at a slower pace than the values overall. So, I'm going to turn this over to Christian. She's going to go into the details. We do have a three point over $3 billion operating budget this year.
It's being recommended. If you throw in capital, it's about 4.5 billion in total uh funding to next year. All right. Hello, Christian Simmons Forth Lab. Guys, I was going to tell you that you're the you you're the first like my
favorite part of the day today because I like to present the budget, but then Taylor Swift dropped a new like album announcement, so now you're the second best part of my day. Um, I'm sort of serious about that, but also serious. Thank you. Did you stay up till midnight to figure out what was happening?
You know what? I didn't. I saw it. I saw the little clip of her on the Kelsey's podcast and I was like, "Yes." Um, so thank you for I want to thank Jay for allowing me to tag team in the presentation. Um, it's it's it's great practice. And then just a brief
point of privilege again to thank staff, all my Fort Worth Lab team here. Wave your hands. Um, yep, there they are. And of course, it takes departmental fiscal coordinators all year long and the fourth lab staff to to really turn all these ideas and proposals into a tangible deliverable for you. So, thank you all for that. Okay. So, you've had
um heard some of the headlines and spoilers for the budget. So, now I get to go into the detail. Um and so I'll try to give the right amount, not too much, not too little. Um we do have time reserved with you for budget work sessions. So don't forget that as we're going through if something kind of piques your interest, we can talk about
what you might want us to bring back with more detail over the next few weeks. Okay. So with that, we're going to start with total operating budget. So this is all operating budgets, not just general funds. General funds there on top at 1.1 billion, but this is everything. So
that's an important distinction. So you'll see total operating funds about $3.1 billion uh for fiscal year 26 recommended budget. um over a third of that operating budget is the general fund. So, we're going to go through that kind of first and foremost as the biggest. Um but you'll just see that our
big picture total um the operating funds grew about 10.7% there at the bottom with the growth sort of varying across the different types of funds. Um to compare just for context, especially for the new council members, last year the this number was 7% growth across the
operating funds. The big primary difference this year is really the addition of EMS. That's kind of one of the bigger drivers. So, general fund um is as you know the largest fund within the city and it includes the highest revenue total in the overall budget which is property tax
and sales tax really as the the dynamic duo there. Um so the revenue total is 1.1 billion and so we balance the proposed expenditures to that projected revenue as is required by state law. So we have to present you with a balanced budget. So total budget recommended at
1.1 billion growing at about 4 and a.5%. I think this is the only view you're going to have in this presentation of general fund expenses by category. We're going to go through them in like department level detail. So just note here that in that bottom section expenses by category that salary and
benefits is about 67% of the general fund. So really about twothirds salary and benefits. So, as I mentioned, the two biggest revenue sources in the general fund are property tax and sales tax. Um, those two make up 82% of the general fund. Um,
and we've talked a little bit about property tax already today. Um, but you know, this property taxes are levied on real estate and personal property. Um, and the city sits in four different appraisal districts. So, you saw kind of how the values came in. You heard Jay talk about our recommended rate of 767.
Wow. 67 per $100 valuation 67. And remember you saw how that rate breaks down into the different portions. So about it's a little more than three quarters 78% of the property tax rate funds these operating expenditures and the other portion goes to debt. So just
kind of as a another view of that. Uh and then sales tax second biggest revenue source. Uh the sales tax represented here comes from our 1 cent sales tax and it's projected at 263 million. I was I was realizing the first year I did a budget in the city. I was
working for the police department and that was in fiscal year 2016 budget development and the sales tax for the city I think was 138 million. And so you can see kind of that decade of growth in where we're um we're budgeting 263 million which is just really big double
digit growth especially over the last couple of years since the pandemic. We are not expecting that double digit growth to continue. We're expecting about 4% growth. um but still a healthy healthy growth. So I mentioned that we sort of set the revenue stage 1.1 billion 48 million in
growth and that informs where we go on the expenditure side. Um so one thing to remember about budget development and Jay kind of alluded to this is that the city has a number of prior year commitments and contractual obligations uh that we we have to account for sort of at the beginning of the process. So,
in other words, that's kind of like budget growth before any department heads ask for anything additional. Um, and so remember, I showed you that the budget was growing by about 48 million, 4 and a.5%. What I'm showing you now are the primary drivers of some of that
growth. So, you'll see first that about 70% of the growth comes from public safety obligations. This includes the addition of EMS. uh for the first time in fiscal year 26 for the full budget. The general fund has to pay $20 million to the new special revenue EMS fund
because it's not totally self- sustaining on its own. It's not an enterprise fund. It's special revenue. So, they make up a lot of their cost of service but not quite all of it. So, the general fund is subsidizing that new fund in the amount of $20 million. And then those next two lines are the police
and fire contractual pay obligations that are negotiated in the meet and confer and the collective bargaining agreement. So these are contractually obligated. We've negotiated these things. $15 million in pay increases for our civil service employees.
So that's 70% of the growth kind of right off the bat. There are also some some workforce items. So um about 12 million there. 9.7 million is pay for performance for uh general employees, so non- civil service. Um that happens as
an annual performance management um process and usually averages about to uh 4%. It's it's a range, but um we have a really nice Diana showed a lot of times kind of the bell curve of pay for performance. And so this budget recommends 4% for um general employees.
And then Jay mentioned we we do have a bucket there $2.2 million for implementation of the pay study. So you'll remember we're in the middle of a pay study looking at like comprehensively citywide all the job classes and categories and wages and compression and all of that. We know that 2.2 million is likely not enough.
We were really forecasting it to be six or eight million phased over the next few years. But as we begin to hear what those recommendations are in the middle of fiscal year 26, we wanted to have a place to begin, you know, implementing maybe it's lowhanging fruit or maybe it's um addressing some some compression
or some certain job classes. We don't exactly know what that'll look like yet, but we have this bucket available. Um, and then finally, capital funding, 4.6 million in PIGO. This just represents keeping the PGO investment at seven and a quarter. So, as values grow, this is this is the amount we send over to PIGO for that cash funded capital
maintenance. So, if you do quick math here, because I know some of you like to do quick math, you'll see these highlights actually add up to more than 48 million, and that means we did reductions along the way. So I'll remind you about that even though Jay kind of uh she Mr. Mills has a question. Oh yes.
Thank you Christian. When you mention about the pay stud imple uh implementation of the 2.2 million um and I know you said the midyear but my um my question is about uh getting each
employee I know we was able to do it to the $18. And so I know we talked about um looking at this on a year-by-year basis. Do you know what time frame within the mid year we'll have an update on the uh the pay study? I think I'm going to look at Diana, but
I think it's April. May. Okay. She's saying May. So kind of mid year then April May we'll start to see some of those early recommendations. Did we just start the pay study or is it takes about almost two years to get done? It was funded in this fiscal year
and I think it kicked off toward the end of the um maybe like the end of the calendar year. You can give us a reminder. It's a year it's a year-long process. Um the pay study encompasses about 4,500 to 5,000 employees and over 550 job titles.
So they're all the non-Ivil service uh job titles in the system. It's a year-long process as we look at all of those different categories and professions that exist in the city. And so we're looking at a partial year implementation, which is what that money is set aside to do. It addresses both
compression as well as just market competitiveness in the U metro area. And then the ultimate goal would be to fully implement whatever those pay study um changes over the next several years, multiple years. Okay. Yep. So this money in here will will
supplement what that pay study says for the employee starting mid year. Starting mid year. Yes. Exactly. Correct. So you're paying for a study. if that's kind of what you're concerned about. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, we're going straight to employees. Yes. Yeah, this is actual money and we would bring it to you via M andC because
it's budgeted sort of in a holding spot, non-EP departmental right now. So, we would bring it to you probably do some kind of presentation and say, "Hey, here's, you know, here's what the study says, here's what we're recommending implementation." You would do that via M andC authority. Okay. Okay. Um, so just a quick reminder, uh,
Jay mentioned this, so I won't belabor the point, but, um, early in the budget process, you know, back in April when we really got started, uh, we were projecting that lower growth in values. And so, um, those revenue projections in com combination with Jake kind of being new and really challenging departments
to take a very surgical approach to budget development as a budget guy, um, which I personally love. Um, that led to us setting lower targets for the departments. So, um, in budget submissions, departments are working to a target budget and they have to submit in line with that goal. And so, we
reduced the general fund budget targets by 1% and departments then could best figure out how to meet that, right? So, it wasn't the budget office kind of going in and doing a a blind carve out, but departments could submit that 1%. That 1% equal $7 million in reduction. So, that was kind of right off the bat.
Um, and then we asked departments to submit another 3% in reduction packages. public safety had a smaller goal, but most general fund departments did 3%. Um, and so they presented those 3% reductions as part of budget blitz, which happened in June, sort of like a couple of days of presentations. Um, and
we did another $5 million in reductions from those 3% submissions. So together about $12 million in general fund reductions. Um, then when our values came in a little higher, we didn't just reinstate all those reductions. We actually kept most of those reductions because they were good, smart kind of
strategic looks at at where maybe some money had floated from year to year that you know that needed to be cut and rep prioritized within a department. We did reinstate a few where we'd kind of cut things that were very painful or left a department very thin. I'm thinking of like libraries programming budget and some other things that really are
aligned with your priorities. Um but then we were able to do some more impactful recommendations once we had those better values. I will say that um on July 24th, right before the certified values came in, we still had a $9 million budget deficit. So that was
after the 12 million. We were still going to have to make up 9 million if the values had come in as predicted. So we kind of had some ideas in our back pocket thinking, okay, what else can we do? Like what what other reductions can we take? What people andor programs will really be in the crosshairs of a difficult year. So, it was a great
surprise when our existing growth value came in a bit higher and we didn't have to have that next level of difficult conversation, but we did reinstate a lot of really smart cuts. Um, I'll turn to questions. I might just mention for on that particular item, it might be healthy in a future work session to kind of work through that,
even pull department heads up and give some examples to councils. They can kind of understand what that process looked like and maybe why why you reinstated a cut or why you kept the 1% that was recommended from departments. Did you have a question, Council? Yeah, I think that's a good point. Um, I would love to
see that because if we're taking a 1% to 3% cut in each department, I would like to know exactly what did we cut? And some of may be vacancies or jobs or whatever. But some of them may be pos uh things that I may call DJ and say, DJ, what's taking so long on this? He said,
well, you actually cut that piece last year. So, I mean, not saying that we don't want to do it, but we want to know what we actually cut. I think that's healthy. DJ didn't take any cuts. I bet he didn't. Sounds just like something DJ would do. Yeah, Council Member Beck.
Okay, next slide. Go ahead. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I think those are I think those are good asks. Uh general fund 1.1 billion. This is just a a little visual to tell you what you already know, which is that police and fire take up about half of the general fund budget. Um transportation, public works, and parks,
another kind of third there. and then other departments who we also love even though they're not listed but about another 20 departments taking up that last third. So just a view here of of where our money is. Thank you. Did you have a question on that slide, Elizabeth? Okay, go ahead.
Okay. Uh so now we can take a look at general fund uh expenses by department. These are in descending order. Biggest budget to smallest. Um and this is a budget-to-budget comparison. So current year adopted to next year recommended. There are various swings in this budget
that might look a little funny as you see. So, I'm going to try to explain the ones I think you'll ask about. And Jay hit on some of these in his organizational structure changes. That's what most of them are um are due to. So, the first is um emergency management and communications as a newly formed
department established by ordinance earlier this year. Um so they're responsible for um emergency management and emergency communications and they were created and funded by consolidating existing positions out of police mostly and a couple from fire. So
175 positions um from police communications into the new emergency management communications department that happened from general fund and CCPD. Um and then seven emergency management positions from fire. So that's kind of where you'll you'll see they're still growing, but like for
instance, police would normally grow by much more than 08%, right? Because of their mean confer agreement and that kind of thing. So that's kind of how that shift occurred. The next significant change is not not really an organizational structure thing, but it's just a the way the
budget looks thing. um economic development for a long time, I guess a couple years at least since I've been here, um has had its incentive agreements that it kind of owns and negotiates within its budget, but it really inflates their budget because they've they're always listed as like a top five or six department when really
the majority of that is is incentive agreements. And so when Jay came back, he asked us to move the incentive agreements piece of their budget to non-EP departmental um so that we're not artificially inflating economic development's budget. It's it's easier for budget management, development, forecasting for that department to
really just, you know, see their $9 million in budget rather than almost 50. We talked about this one a bit, the long range planning team moving from the Fort Worth lab to the city manager's office. This is very personal. No, it's it's it's a it's a good um it's a good
realignment to elevate the planning function within uh the city, especially I mean you all know that we're at this major sort of growth inflection point. Really need specific eyes on that. Um and so while the Fort Worth lab will still really be involved with um fiscal
impact analyses and return on public investment and some of those like fiscal and data heavy functions that that we're doing together with planning right now, that collaboration will continue. the long range planners and all the great things that planners do um will be shifted over to the city manager's office. Um and they'll be reporting to
that new chief planning officer. We're excited about that recruitment. That position was created in the current year out of a a reclass of a vacancy. And then another uh restructure that makes the city manager's office look like it's kind of growing when it's really just about um position shifting
is homeless strategies. So, this is um already functionally occurring, but this moves all the homeless strategies contracts and the personnel um that's Tara Perez and that that team that you hear from often um from neighborhood services to the city manager's office. Um so, this again is all of their
contracts, which is I think it's about $6.5 million and then uh two more people. Council Poples, what was the thought process on moving that out of neighborhood services to your office? I don't know since it happened before. They just didn't move
move it on paper. They moved the people. Yeah. Okay. Um I think the idea was to kind of like the planning function to put a bigger emphasis on homelessness response since really it it's not just this group, it's multiple departments.
And so just, you know, personnel react quicker when the city manager's office calls versus a fellow department. So I think that's part of it. And since they had moved the folks, but I I said, "Well, we need to move the money so that way it all kind of goes
together and we have it in the same organization for management purposes." Yes, counc. So, I think from a number standpoint, you might have answered all of my questions, but I just want to make sure. So the non-dep departmental we see that
massive increase is tied to the massive decrease that we see in economic development. Correct. Okay. And then have we moved anything else to non-EP departmental? There's nothing in non-EP departmental for fiscal year 26 that's new to non-EP
departmental except for the EMS subsidy. So there was a small amount in fiscal year 25 that was subsidizing the new fund. So that subsidy grew, but there's nothing coming from departments into non-EP departmental. Okay. And then the neighborhood services uh decrease that we see is is it only a
function of moving Tara Perez and her um all those contracts? Yes. Okay. Um I think those are all the questions. Got an increase on the priority repair program. Actually the reduction is because of the move, but they actually got an overall increase. Okay. Gotcha.
Yes. Yeah. Uh otherwise it would look like 6.5 million but really it's being offset by the 500,000 additional in the priority repair program. Yes. Okay. That's right. Which is staying in neighborhood services. Correct. Yes. That that one is administered through neighborhood services.
Okay. Great. Thank you. The I think this is my second to last significant change uh is that partial staffing um from code to environmental. So this again, I think Jay talked about this, but kind of another one that should have happened when the
departments split code and environmental when we created the new environmental department. Um, these are eight people that are responsible for commercial compliance and illegal camping abatement really aligned with environmental's mission. And so this is a transfer that both departments kind of agreed to do, move those eight people in their
functions from code to environmental. And then finally, you'll see the various restructures occurring um from what was diversity and inclusion to HR uh to cover the office of civil rights uh economic development for small business development program and then some
purchasing support into finance. So you'll see those shifts that we have talked a few times about. So those are significant general fund changes. I didn't go over every little change, but if if you don't have any more questions, I'm going to move to user fees. But any other questions before user fees?
Council Beck, I have a comment on the general fund before we get to the user fees. Okay. um specific to our neighborhood services department. Uh last week's vote on the elimination of um of our DEI programs
really brought into light um the peril that we put ourselves in in the way that we fund our neighborhood services department which is almost exclusively grant funded. Um neighborhoods are at the core of what we do here on city council in this city. And so for us to
be um quite literally not putting our money where our mouth is, I think does a disservice. Um so what I'd like to see is um and I appreciate all of the reductions and and uh in smart ways that we've in increased efficiencies and and
and looked at that 1%. I I truly do appreciate that, but I want to see what we're doing with our general fund to truly support neighborhood services and fund those programs so that the federal funding that we get um is an addition to
not our sole source. So maybe what we do I think that's helpful Casey I don't know where you went um have you been in that role now for a year right at that needs to be a special work session to just work through neighborhood services understand the layered funds where you are Casey in the process of rebuilding
that department and answer some of the questions and concerns that council rebeck had I think that would be very healthy think I have any questions or concerns I my questions and concerns really aren't for Casey but it's for us as a policy body we seem to continuously not be funding neighborhood services in our
budget and that puts us in peril. It puts our neighborhoods in peril. I mean, we I heard Councilwoman Martinez last week talk about how important it was that her communities get those dollars. And so, with the fluctuating federal either requirements or just the
funding cuts, we need to make sure that we're doing our part to put it in our budget that we're Sure. And I think I'll just push back and say the decision packages that maybe were offered by county neighborhood services through the budget process, if we're not funding those, that's a healthy conversation to have at this body, you know, really leaning on
expertise of staff to say, "What did you think you needed to be funding differently? What programs do we need to enhance whether they're federally funded or not? Um, I just don't think you can do that and without having that bigger discussion about neighborhood services programming." So, council member Peoples, did you have a question? I stopped let me move. Councor O'Neals,
I know I missed the uh earlier discussion about the NIP. I know we moved from two to one and I thought we was going to get back to the two. So, I want to know what the thought pattern of wire and I know it's about employees, but are we not able to bring in additional employees to make that
happen? And I think Casey can come back up and um repeat what she gave us earlier, but essentially the problem is we're trying to clear a backlog log of projects that were created by creating two neighborhoods at a time. we didn't have enough staff for that. I think she's hopeful that the end of this fiscal year, she'll have been caught up. So,
that would be a healthy conversation to have in fiscal year 2027 about bringing back two neighborhoods. But when we do that, you would have to appropriately staff it so you don't end up in the same position we were in. Again, Casey, if I didn't summarize that correctly, please. Um, just to recap, so we do have um seven neighborhoods that we are backlog
on. And so, when we came into 2025 going to the one neighborhood, we did feel that that would give us an opportunity to catch up. And so we are starting to make progress on those neighborhoods. Um the other thing that we added this year, we also are bringing in some consultants that will help with the TPW and park and
recreation projects and we feel like that will help us get more momentum on the neighborhoods. So once we are able to catch up on those seven neighborhoods that are still going, we feel like that will give us more capacity so that if the other um thing I forgot to mention
too, at the time we submitted our budget, we were still anticipating a deficit. And so when we talked about it last year, we did say that we would bring back the second neighborhood if funding was available. So when we submitted our budget, we did not anticipate that there would be funding to support a second neighborhood. And so
we did not um provide that as a decision package. Going into 2027, we do feel that if we're able to um close out some of the neighborhoods, that'll give us additional capacity or if funding is available um in the council support if we could look at bringing a second
neighborhood back. Remind me Casey, how many employees you have that really devoted to the neighborhood improvement program? So technically two. Um but we also bring in other staff to help with the program as well. Um we are bringing in the consultants so that will be additional staffing and then we do rely on the
departments that we work with. So park and recreation code compliance they're also providing their staff as well to help um complete the projects. Our our um support in terms of neighborhood services is serving as a project manager and making sure the projects are moving
along and moving forward. Oh, I'll respond because I think I heard two things about if funding is uh available and then also the the lack of being able to keep up with the functions of the job. And so, and I we can we won't get
deep into it today because we're talking about budget, but I would like a work session on um what are those functions? Uh and is solely uh within the city of Fort Worth or is it we need to bring in actual u outside workers to come in and
is it about the study trying to determine what the neighborhood should look like because I know that goes into the piece. But the second part is I think we actually have the funding to support two neighborhoods. And so that's where I'm concerned on why we're not trying to move forward to do that.
Um I would say I would be hesitant to do it now until we do knock out some of these other projects. Um the other neighborhoods that are still pending. Um just from a capacity standpoint. Um certainly if council is interested in it, but just from our staff, I would I would like to see some of those cleared
out first before we add a second. I will say that we are planning to come to the city council in October to provide a more comprehensive um overview of the neighborhood improvement program. So that is already um on the schedule where we'll be providing an update on all of our current projects and then also doing
the announcement for the 2026 project. So as part of that, we did not we don't currently have the staffing piece in the presentation, but we can add that to the presentation. Any else on this? Thank you, Casey. So, I guess we'll move now into user fee
increases. Christian, thank you. Yes, if my clicker will work. There we go. Okay. Uh, just a couple of notes on fees. We won't dive deeply into this today. Uh, fees are reviewed annually alongside the budget process. Um, and then updates are provided to you during the budget process. So, you typically
adopt the fee ordinance alongside the budget ordinance at the same time. Um, utility rates are a little different. And I'm not talking about utility rates, but really just fees. Um, and there are a number of different types of fees. There are eight different departments recommending fee changes for fiscal year 26. You see them listed there. There are
a number of reasons why um, departments recommend these kinds of changes. Some of it is about market uh, competitiveness or market studies that drive a fee up or down. And it does go both ways sometimes. Uh, sometimes it's about cost recovery where we are allowed to recover cost of fees. It's not all
fees that we can recover costs on, but sometimes um addition of services. So, for instance, this year we've adopted all the or you'll adopt all the EMS fees um substantially kind of unchanged from the way they looked at MedStar. So, those are service additions to the city. And then sometimes we're really looking
at long-term planning and sustainability when we talk about how a fee is structured. So, um, you know, solid waste is a good example of that for this year that we've talked a little bit about kind of long-term sustainability of that fund and solveny um with regard to not just cost recovery, but also long-term capital planning, landfill
closure and replacement, etc. Um, so you have the detail in your recommended book uh about the fees that are that are changing. It's many pages long. Typically, we would pro we'll provide you a summary of those and we usually do that the work session after the recommended budget. Um, but if you would
like to get an early jump on that, there are there are tables in your recommended book. I did want to show you just a quick view though of, you know, we talked in June about the like sort of big rock fees and utility rates alto together. And so this is an updated um view of the average
taxpayer. When we say average, I want to clarify what that means. At the top line, you'll see taxable home value average. So this is the average that we get. I think this is the the TAD average. So, not maybe not a blend of all the appraisal districts. I can't remember. Probably TAD. Um, and remember
this is taxable value. So, not market value. So, you you're likely looking at a homestead exemption as part of this, you know, formula here. So, in fiscal year 25 to 26, you see the taxable home value average from 237 to 235. When you
apply the new tax rate that's recommended at 67 cents, you kind of see how it calculates onto the tax bill. That's the city's portion. You know, people other there are other taxing entities, too, but I'm talking about the city's portion. And Jay mentioned that the average taxpayer would pay $20 less a year as a result of that tax rate
decrease. Then you can kind of see how our um recommended fees and rates stack up for the same average sort of typical usage resident. Uh and you'll see that those add an additional um let's see 56.88 a year or $4 a month. And so
offset with that tax rate, um, we're looking at about $3 a month different when you look at the offset with the tax bill reduction and the resident charges kind of spread among the different fee recommendations. I got a comment on on councelor sorry I'm sorry I have a lot to talk
about this morning. That's what this meeting is about. That's okay. But to Jay's point earlier about the um the fee increase, where where will they see these fees increases? Will be on their water bill. I know you just kind of mentioned right there on that taxes, but where else will they see this? Yeah, the tax bill for the top, water
bill for the bottom section. Okay, we have uh reporters here and I'm sure we'll see a report come out about the city is contemplating raising fees. Have we prepared a uh to get out in front that we are lowering your taxes to
um uh in place of also raising the fees? We we did presentations in July showing that these recommendations were coming forward. So I think there's already been news reports on it. Um and one of again one of my goals on this was to lessen
the impact to our rateayers and our citizens. So by having the actual appraisals come in higher than anticipated, providing that small break in the tax rate, it provides an offset for those proposal proposed increase on
the fees, right? And I think we're doing a good job on offsetting it. I just remember last year this time my 83y old grandfather or papa called me yelling at me about raising the trash fees and so I tried to explain to him. So, I think it's important that we stay out in front
of we'll be we'll have some public education and information getting out. One of the reasons I wanted to bring it in July and earlier to the council in public so that it was telegraphed out to folks. I mean, at the end of the day, the council makes the final decisions.
But I wanted the citizens to to know that those recommendations were coming forward and so it didn't just all show up today and people would be surprised by it. if they were paying attention, they would have known that some of these recommendations would be here. Okay, we're going to move on.
So, we're moving out of general fund um and into enterprise funds, which some of those fees are enterprise funds anyway, but we're going to move into kind of the next few groupings. And I'll try to kind of buzz through these, but do stop me if you have a question. I wanted to give a like maybe the next layer of detail than I'd usually give just because we have
some new council members and it's always good to remind us, you know, since we just do it when you guys just do it once a year, right? Um so enterprise funds, here's the group of those. Um these are funds that they kind of operate more like a business and so uh the city
operates five of these. I almost said six. Five of these. Um and the revenue like kind of charges for service or rates pays for the delivery of the services or products. And so each operation is kind of intended to be self um supporting. So the biggest of these is water as you can see. Solid waste is
the second. We'll quickly um talk about each. So no real change in municipal parking. Um this is the group out of transportation and public works that manages the parking garages, the surface lots uh that belong to the city and then um lots of metered parking kind of
across Fort Worth. Um and they didn't have any major budget changes except for just kind of personnel growth and pay adjustments. Aviation overseas municipal airports. So this is Meechum and Spinx and Perau field. You'll see their growth is very
modest. They had some increases and decreases um but but they really are focused on capital improvement. Storm water, another enterprise fund that you hear a lot about. Um and this one is a little different. They are um they again telegraphed this back in June
a fee increase of 5% you'll see the additional revenue that that um creates 2.4 4 million and this is continue that phase capital implementation um of the flood mitigation projects. Solid waste another one that we hear about second biggest enterprise fund. So
um solid waste is been around since like the 80s I think. Um and in the beginning the fees were increasing every couple of years. At this stage, we haven't actually changed the solid waste fee like as far as residential uh services since I think 2014. And at that time, it's actually a decrease because the
recycling market was doing really well. Um, and so the team has done a lot of cost of service modeling that shows expenditures really outpacing revenues in the nearer term. And that's really without considering large capital investment or the landfill closure and replacement. So, at this point, this is
a cost of service model, long-term sustainability and fund solveny question. Um, and so this budget uh recommends an increase in rates. It's $3 on the water bill, um, for the average resident. And then, um, the landfill
environmental fee is another smaller but sometimes critical revenue stream. Um, and this is 50 cents a ton for granite privilege and non-grant privilege haulers. Um, we've done a couple of fee adjustments to that landfill environmental fee in the last couple years. Um, but the big story here is
more about the the residential and commercial rate increase. Uh, and then finally, water and wastewater. So, uh, water is proposing in their fund a 9.3% increase. That does not equate to a 9.3% rate increase. Um, but their budget growth is really driven
by capital needs. And then O andM that has to do with things like raw water costs and volume, wastewater outside treatment due to partner rates that increase. Um and then some smaller but still really important increases that have to do with POS regulation which I know you're you're well versed in at
this point. But they do have some major capital projects um on the horizon in fiscal year 26. You'll see them there and then continuation of cast iron replacement. And they redesigned their residential tiered rate structure. So you might remember in June um the average um usage you'll see in that tax
bill chart that we showed you um the average usage won't see a change in the water portion of their rate. It's just the wastewater portion of the rate. So that was kind of good news out of out of water. Okay, that's enterprise. Um we're going to move to special revenue funds.
Biggest here is CCPD. Um and then the grouping for public events which is the culture and tourism funds. So you'll see the growth really varies across the special revenue funds as well. These are part of our governmental fund structure. Um these revenues are are restricted to these purposes. So again, the biggest is
CCPD. Um and you hear about this as the CCPD board of directors when you have those hats on. Um but their growth is pretty modest this time. This has to do with some carveout for emergency communications, you might remember. But they are also growing with school
resource officers and eight NPOs, which we thought you'd be probably pretty excited about because they did that beat study. There are 12 new beats. Um, and police determined that they need eight additional NPOs to cover those 12 beats based on the way that they're um geographically sort of related.
Christian, yep. What uh division are those beats located in? I'm looking back there. all over every divi. Every division. Every division. So, she hopes so.
Okay. Council Bla, can at some point through the process, could we get a view of the new beat map and and how that impacts the budget? Yeah, absolutely. Good suggest. Yes. I'm imagining that that will happen at the CCPD budget presentation. We'll
make sure that it does. Okay, we're good. EMS. Uh EMS is a new special revenue fund. We established it this year for the last quarter of fiscal year 25. And again, we've talked about the $20 million general fund subsidy. They're also um we have a plan to sort of grow their fund balance since it doesn't exist at the at the level that
the city requires it to, but that'll take a number of years. Um but their total budget is 89 million. Public events. This is a whole group of funds that I'll show you, but um these are the culture and tourism funds that are supported primarily by um hotel motel tax and then
revenues from the convention center and Will Rogers. Um and the growth here is primarily capital projects to um including repairs to the convention center and Will Rogers. You'll also see later when we look at capital that they're issuing the debt for uh fourth convention center expansion. So their
capital plan looks bigger than usual for fiscal year 26. Um, but here's just a quick view of all the funds that sort of roll up in culture and tourism environmental protection. So, this one was this is a fund that's existed since the mid9s. Um, and over time its scope
has begun to include litter abatement, illegal campsite cleanup, some of the issues that you certainly hear about in your roles, street sweeping. Um, and this fee hadn't changed from like 1995 to 2023. And so we're on this year three of increasing the fee. Um, back when you
heard it in June, it was proposed to go from$150 to $3. We've we've rolled that back a bit. The the fee now is proposed at $225. Um, and you'll see the revenue 5.9 million there. That will help to fund additional Upspire crews in particular.
And then finally, we don't like to forget about community tree planting because they are also a special revenue fund. And this is just a vehicle or a piece of equipment they're going to replace which I'm blanking on now. Um but you'll see their their growth is due to that that um that process.
Okay, we are getting close to being done. Internal service. Uh here's a group of internal service funds. There are five. These um are they're financing goods and services sort of provided by one department to another. So these are like interdep departmental billing departments. Um and
so departments who utilize services from one of these funds get build by that fund. And so the first is capital project service fund. They are getting some new people. These are the people that Jay talked about um where we're kind of increasing our investment in employees and relying less on contract
project management or contract engineers. Um and so we feel like over time we'll really see some contractual decreases from reducing that reliance and some increased efficiency. You have fleet and a lot of their growth is due to EMS because we gained the
Altameir facility. They're running that 247. Um and they gained a number of positions as well to work on I think it's 89 new ambulances and like 30 other support vehicles that all uh came from EMS. So their growth is primarily related to that as well as the increasing cost of fuel and vehicle
maintenance. Then we have a couple of HR related funds. So, group health um this growth is due to claims and stop-loss just in increases in high claims. I think you've had a presentation on that recently. Um and then we do have a new uh split
funded position between this uh fund and risk that's offset by reducing contracts. It just um adds some administrative contract support for HR. They have a number of contracts and have kind of been operating without um dedicated support. And then there's risk. Uh the big move
here is trans uh transferring the property and casualty division to finance. They'll all remain in the risk fund, but they'll just roll up through finance instead of through HR. Um that's one of the major divisions in risk. And then it maintains health and safety in HR. So just a little bit of an organizational structure change there.
And then it you know what it does. Um some of their growth is also related to EMS. They were at about nine or 10% growth and then jumped to 134 with EMS. So, they're adding five additional positions in a lot of different IT contracts, as you can imagine, to
support the 247 EMS operation. And that's all most of the the numbers that I know get hard to follow after a while. Um, this is a quick view of position changes. So, this is general fund adding 48, reducing 26 um for a net
of 22. and we can sort of talk about what these are if helpful. Um the 15 for instance for library are for the far northwest library that'll open in the beginning of the next fiscal year. So we have to get those people onboarded and trained and and all of that. So of the 22 new 15 of those are are library and this is less
than 1% uh position growth because the city the general fund has about 5600 employees. The total city has a little over 8,000 authorized positions in the fiscical year 26 budget. And most of these ads, even though their ads of positions are offset by O andM
reductions. So kind of like we talked about with capital project service fund, different fund, but kind of offset. We have a contract we're not going to use. We're going to hire a person because it's more efficient or less expensive or both. And then the position movement for other funds looks crazy again because of
because of EMS. I feel like I've said said that a lot. It's like a theme. Um but you'll see fire the additional 598 positions. Uh office of the medical director. That's also EMS related, of course. Um, the CCPD positions are there in police. We talked a little bit about
TPW. Water has some new positions as well. Um, and we talked about IT, but so many of these are related to the acquisition and integration of emergency medical services. Um, at the same time that we do operating, we also do a capital plan.
And so, departments submit a capital plan. These are my last few slides. Uh, and so you have the the little thin capital book at the back of your recommended book if you want to see any of these details. But big picture, we're continuing the 2022 bond program and
planning for 26. Um, we are focusing so much of course on streets and utilities and other critical infrastructure. Um, and then continuing the neighborhood improvement program which has been a hot topic today. Here's a look at the plan. They, uh, the department submit for five years. And so total five-year CIP coming
in just under$4 billion dollars. This doesn't include the $840ish million in the 2026 bond. So just imagine that that will be integrated here. Um but for fiscal year 26 about a $ 1.4 billion capital plan. I mentioned public event.
So you can see that debt issuance there in their line which is you know a big bump that we that we've been looking forward to there for this year. The rest is pretty typical. And then finally, pay as you go. Um, this is that portion of the tax rate, seven and a quarter cents. And you'll
see the payo increases from 83.8 million to 88.4 million. I showed you that growth. Um, in the green is the recommended, and you'll see that um, transportation and public works is getting the lion share of that growth. So, we grew each bucket um, by three and
a half% and for the departments and then gave the rest to TPW. Oh, we gave a little bump to parks, too. We did parks at 4%. And then gave the rest to TPW streets. And part of their budget, again, just to re-emphasize, is um funding the remainder of the study to
implement the fee structure for street maintenance, which we'd recommend in 27. Okay, so you made it. Fiscal year 25 adopted budget 3.6 billion. Fiscal year 26 recommended budget 4.5 billion. And the next steps are budget work sessions.
We have a number of topics that you've talked about today that we've written down and we can take more agenda items now if you'd like and then we'll do budget presentations in the council districts. Um we were going to pop up a meeting schedule but it's just not quite finished yet. Uh CPE told me that they've been sending out those invites
today to district directors. So I think you'll see those pop onto your calendar shortly. Um and then we're scheduled to be back together September 16th for the public hearing on the tax rate in the budget. The fee ordinance. Um, we'll do the public hearing. I think it's at 5:30 that day and then we'll roll straight
into the council meeting where you vote. And so that's kind of the look forward of the next month. Councilor Hall, you had a question. Yes. Um, first, thank you so much for this presentation. Um, I had a question on page 62 about the position movements from the general fund. Um, with the DEI
program um, being suspended, um, where are those eight employees going? So you can see there's an increase in economic development, HR, and finance. And those are actually positions moving over and being added. Remaining of the
folks are moving into positions that are that are vacant that we're moving around instead of adding a position because we had vacancies that we can move around instead of adding overall. Folks are moving into vacancies that exist. Any other questions? council and
importantly any other work session items on the budget you want to make sure we include that haven't been mentioned already come back um I don't know if we were planning on doing anything specific to parks um but I would like to see a bud the budget recommendation come back um with funding
to allow us to um include all city alleyways in our mowing project in our in our mowing program right now we cover about half and they're ours we should be taking care of Ali mowing. Anything else? Yes, council large. Thank you, mayor. Um, is if it's
possible, can we get something to showing uh where we can get matching dollars or whether it be federal or private public partnerships that we have and how we can stretch those dollars further? Like for example, the YMCA we're looking at the next bond, it's 5 million, but it could actually be 10 million with the matching funds from
YMCA. So just to make sure that where we can stretch those dollars we are whether it's text dot cog whatever if if that's possible any other items council okay with that I think work session on the budget is adjourned I didn't miss
anything did I Jay we're good thank you all right thank