--------- There's All right, I would call this meeting of the government affairs committee to order. Uh, first order of business is approval of the May 5th minutes. Do I hear a motion? >> Yeah. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. All right, we've got some
briefings today. Uh, first is from Kelly Porter, Railroad Grade Separation Projects. Good morning. >> Let me try to Can you hear me? All right. I'm gonna try to stay on track. So, let me know if I derail us. >> Oh,
Stardog is fresh there. >> All right. >> How long did you [laughter] elevator? All right. All right. So back last June this June I
adopted nationalation plan a very robust component to it component six in that plan safety was number one economic development competitiveness
program so I'm going to talk not just about infrastructure like bridged success the accurate business we're going to talk a bit today about how we're incorporating some of those goals into what we do. Got over 200 at grade crossings citywide. So one of the
highest numbers in the city of Texas we have over 100,000 vehicles impacted at these great crossings in the city. We've had quite a few uh injuries and fatalities at these crossings. So we know that as our population grows there
continues to be additional conflicts that have been here since before the civil war. And uh they also have major impacts on quality of life from just their ability to be able to get to and fro. And then part of safety isn't just conflicts between
the rail vehicles. It's also public uh first responders and the public safety element too. And so you'll see some of that peppered in here as well. So, our railroad uh crossing um priorities are really thought through based on federal
state uh programs and the goals of those jobs and then also of course our local priorities here. But our number one focus of course is safety with upgrading these things. Um, and then of course we want to make sure that uh people want
their Amazon packages and other things delivered to them or car or whatnot that they can trains can bring those things to you. We want to integrate those into our overall network and really create a coordinated effort in allowing for u safe and efficient movement of people
and goods. And that's that's really uh a hallmark of what a lot of these federal and state programs want to look at and how these projects are prioritized. So, I'm going to talk to you specifically about one project that's like the number one on the list uh that you might have gotten. It's on the next
slide. I'll talk to you about 26 projects that we've identified, but I'll talk about the the number one on the list. Uh that's 23rd indicator. We have seven atgrade railroad tracks in one place in a span of maybe 300 feet. Generally our federal and state programs
are going to uh prioritize projects that uh they want to see number one conversions of existing at great crossings are going to be the number one priority. So you got seven there. So that's one reason why this crossing does rate really highly. And if you've ever
been up there, which I've taken some of our Congress folks up there and and others, it is a sight to see because you wait for one train, another one's coming through. And so it's just like that in that area, but we've had quite a few issues there. It's a big project. Um
it's almost a hundred million dollars, but we do have applications in uh with Texot for the state bill 1555 funding. And since we have such a good relationship with text dot and this project has also been raised up to a
state priority, it was also submitted into a federal state partnership uh program to DC to uh receive some federal funding. And the thought is is that potentially the funds that would have been allocated for the project in the
1555 program instead of giving us that whole amount of money and the and that program was only $250 million. You can imagine action for 98 million. We could probably use some of that for match. So any day now we will hopefully see a press release and I'm going to claim it for us that we're going to get the
funding and get get that project funding get going or whatnot. But that is currently in the hopper right now. I will also say that you know we've got 26 projects. This isn't all the great separations that we need but we've got 26 projects and 26 projects we've
identified through our priorities. Notice if there's any Aggies in the room. I have Texas A&M Transportation Institute up there because they helped us prioritize these things for the mass transportation plan based on some of these uh different uh uh criteria. But
the um with this amount of projects, we have to have good partnerships. So I'm happy to say that not only is 23rd Decator in that was submitted by the city of Fort Worth, but we've got alignment from text and the county on these priorities as well. So, the county has submitted into two federal programs
the Bonds Ranch West uh at 0287 or Sagenol Main Street. They submitted that project into uh two federal programs. They've also submitted uh Blue Mountain Road West, which is technically an unincorporated Tarant County into the program up there
on the north side. Those those two blue dot uh red dots up at the top. In addition to that, text. Federal Affairs has submitted into a federal program the Ranchtomarket Road 2871 project for us. And so um that represents six figures
worth of just grant applications right there and our partners have been in alignment with us and it really does make those projects a whole lot more palatable for funding as we go forward. So you can also have faith that not only in this list that was adopted that master transportation plan represents city values but also represents county
and federal uh priorities as well. So that's really a good thing for us for strong cases and getting these things implemented. So in addition to these north of 50 to 100 million dollar projects I showed you, TPW is also leaning into technology as a means to better manage these
crossings um as they've come to be. So um over the last couple of years we've been doing a lot of market research and other things and we landed on a company called Trainfo that is a product that's actually being used by Arlington and Frisco now and then also we went and
viewed uh the product um or the the the tool in Houston which basically sets out sensors at these crossings that allows us to not only have eyes on the tracks but also lets us know when a train is uh blocking a crossing or it's just slow moving. And so it gets us better data in
so we can better work with the railroads to make sure that we unblock those crossings. We also have a really neat ability to be able to tie those into some of our IT infrastructure, which is a wonky way of saying those portable message boards. That's a form of IT infrastructure that'll let folks know if
those crossings are blocked. So through some of our own funds, we're going to be piloting that train technology in District 9 at two very high billability crossings. Um, one at or excuse me, district 9 and district two, excuse me. One at North Main Street, which is number 12 at Fort Worth Western, and
then one at number 11, which is West 7th. Uh, we have informed the railroads. Jess, Lauren, and I and Chris Harter were in a meeting with the railroad yesterday where we had some talks with them about it, and they're they're cool with it, but we're going to be piloting those. The one at West 7th Street specifically is going to have dynamic message boards, which we've gotten half
the equipment. We're waiting on the second part of the equipment um uh Councilman PBEC and that should be deployed this year, but it's going to allow us to know when that crossing is blocked and we're going to have message boards permanently installed that'll let you know if those block crossings are blocked or not. In addition to that,
what this technology also helps us do is get this information into ways in Google so we can reroute people and whatnot. And then we're also working police and fire to make sure that they can uh use it for the emergency response calls. And so we have a Chrissy grant in. So, even though the signs are there that'll tell
them they're blocked, does it give people, is there any way to give them an estimated wait time? Because I think that's what drives the public crazy is they don't, you know, they get up there and it's blocked and then they're just sitting there for 20 minutes trying to
wait for the train to move. >> Let me talk to Well, okay, two things. Let me see if it does that. And then number two, >> let me talk to our traffic engineer because your eyes can only be off the road for so long. So there's only so much information we can give you in in one signage, but let me check into that for you if it does that. But ways in
Google's going to tell you if you should probably piece out and it's generally going to be when the crossing is blocked. If it's blocked or moving slow, go around it because it's going to be some time. So we are we do have a federal grant in under the Chrissy program which will allow us to um expand that technology to 10 additional um
crossings. And I'm going to also verify because I believe we also added the Hanley crossing to that grant um application. And so we would have that there too. But this will toggle it into our ways Google our CAD system as well as into this dynamic message signing. And so that grant is in now. And so hopefully we'll hear something some good
news in before the end of the fiscal year. >> I don't know where the I call it the Oakland Berry crossing falls in that. But that one is a traffic there routinely for a while. So >> Okay. Thank you for that. Kelly, can you
um expand on why West 7th is um we're not doing an atgrade se it's not part of the at grade separation. I mean that just it's such a problematic area. I know. >> So when I talk about Seventh Street, I'm talking about the street itself, >> right?
>> We are going to be looking at somewhere in between Westside Drive and West 7th Street. We're working with the developers over there to figure out is there a way we can get something across to add another additional uh grade separated crossing somewhere in that left bank McGomery Plaza area. We've looked at Kansas Weisenberger and some
other streets. So, we are actively looking at that. West 7th Street itself, the way it's developed, the way that the new bridge, I mean, I guess that bridge isn't new anymore, but the bridge across the river lands, it's very difficult to engineer that to go over the railroad. And that's something we'd have to factor in back when that was car lots and Wendy's.
>> Thank you. Okay. So, I did have a smiling slide with me under the bridge over here at Westside Drive with the um with Fort Worth Western and saying thank you. But that is my presentation today. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments?
>> Nope. Okay. Thank you, Kelly. Appreciate it. >> Next on the agenda is an overview of the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. Leslie, got you. Uh, and I'll preface this by saying this is a really thick uh, and I'd ask you to do this just to
have but I appreciate this thoroughess and and your but I understand there's a lot still unknown about this as well but I appreciate this presentation ahead of time. >> There is definitely a lot but you're going to know more at the end of this presentation. Um, so good morning
everyone. I'm here today to go over provide a very high level overview of the 21st century road to housing act. um that was became law on July 11th without the president's signature.
The act represents a bipartisan attempt to improve f to improve federal housing programs by authorizing grant funding, revising compliance requirements, and creating a variety of pilot programs. The act incorporates provisions from
over 60 pieces of legislation introduced in both the House and the Senate. And the stated goal of the act is to modernize outdated, ineffective, or burdensome aspects of existing federal housing laws. HUD will be the agency who will take the
lead for implementing um the directives that are in the act, but coordination with several other agencies will be required um such as the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Treasury, FEPA, and the VA. It's important to know that the programs in
the act, most of them do not have funding, which means that they will have to rely on future congressional appropriations to become a reality. The full implementation will take years. My presentation is going to go over the new programs that are authorized by the act
as well. That's what it's going to do in the beginning for the first 10 slides. And then after that it's going to touch on the reforms that are being made to existing policy. This first slide um is a section about
HUD's requirement to issue guidelines that provide model code language about um uh point access block building grant program. Um this is this relates to centralized staircases that are in house
affordable housing projects. Most current affordable housing projects have multiple staircases and this is a pilot program that allows HUD to award competitive grants for to test the safety and feasibility of whether or not
these single stair multifamily buildings um are effect are an effective way to improve affordable housing. Um, please note that this law, this portion of the law sunsets after seven years and that just means that that's an automatic
expiration date. So, if nothing happens in those seven years that has a new law that um makes this continue, then it will disappear. Uh, the next section says that HUD has
the option. Many of these some of the things in this 140 page bill state that HUD shall do things and other portions of it say that they may. This is one where they may establish a pilot program to increase access to small dollar
mortgages by providing incentives to the lenders and adjusting certain costs offered by the Federal Housing Administration. No funding is authorized for this section. HUD must establish a pilot program to test the efficacy of uh temperature
sensors in affording affordable housing developments. No funding is authorized. This section allows for a PI pilot program for home repairs and modifications. No funding is authorized.
This requires HUD to establish a program to a award competitive grants to cities to assist in the planning of of the planning associated with affordable housing. This money cannot be used for construction alteration or repair work.
only the things relating to the planning of that such as upa updating zoning codes, increasing capacity to conduct prompt housing inspections, and increasing access to public transportation. This section allows increased fundings
to cities that demonstrate measurable increases in housing supplies. The specific criteria for what constitutes a measurable increase will be determined by HUD at a later date. This section, I'm sorry. Oops. Oh, no. I don't know how to go back.
Okay. This section allows grant awards to be given to cities to implement pre-approved housing designs. No funding is authorized. This section allows HUD to create a pilot program for cities to compete for
grant money that can be used to convert vacant and abandoned buildings into attainable housing. Attainable housing is a term that's used throughout this act, which is something I have not seen before. And it it is defined as housing that serves households earning not more
than 120% of the median income. If the majority of housing units are affordable to households earning not more than 60% of the mar area median income, that is that is a more complicated formula than we've seen in
the past on average median income calculations. This next section, it's it relates to the Price Act, which is a HUD program relating to manufactured housing. This allows that program to continue for seven years. Um, to my knowledge, that's
we have not received grant funds relating to that program. This next section relates to a program that's high that's administered by public housing agencies aimed to help low and middle inome families achieve economic stability. This increases the
number of agencies that can enroll in this pilot program. This section establishes long-term disaster recovery in the Treasury Department. Right now, we currently have awarded I believe 10 million $5 million
I think we believe received in CDBGDR money. It could have been 10. Um, but this allows that to to continue and become a permanent long-term source of disaster recovery. There is no funding authorized beyond
the sunset in July 2029. This is a moving to work program is something that public housing authorities um can participate in that encourages working and affordable housing. Um I'm going to go through that pretty quickly. This next section um is
something that we've discussed at the city level. Thank you Dana for bringing this to my attention. It was initially overlooked um but it restricts large corporate buyers from owning more than 350 single family homes. Moving now to reforms to existing
programs. CDBG recipients, which the city is uh a recipient of CDBG funds, will be required to maintain a publicly accessible searchable database identifying undeveloped land parcels that are owned by the city.
This section allows HUD to prioritize projects in what what they define as opportunity zones, which it's my understanding we have designated opportunity zones and that that is um a program that is in our economic development department.
This section allows CDBG funding to be used for the construction of new affordable housing. That is a big change. CDBG funds typically have not been able to be used for construction of new affordable housing. So, that being a new eligible activity is uh is something
that I think is going to impact us as a city. This section called the Build Now Act, it's a section that doesn't start until 2030, but it allows cities to get more CDBG funding if they demonstrate that their housing growth has has an
improvement rate that is above the average of other eligible recipients. This section aims to reduce delays in HUD HUD inspections by allowing units that are um that are financed by LITC and other federal programs to
automatically have passed an in to automatically meet the housing choice choice voucher inspection requirements if they've passed an inspection within the last year. Most of the projects that our housing finance corporation uh is involved in are LITC projects.
HUD is expected to issue implementing guidance on this. This section directs HUD to review the implementation of BABA. That's Build America by America. It is an identified um
impediment right now to affordable housing projects due to the compliance requirements and the the ability uh to get questions answered and waiverss um authorized. This I think the most noteworthy portion
of this section is that it requires a BABA implementation review within the next six months. So by January 7th of 2027, HUD is required to evaluate BABA. There is another pending piece of le legislation that impacts BABA um that it
was introduced in June and uh it's not moving very much right now, but it would basically put uh a suspension on the Babber requirements. Um, this particular section is supposed to make HUD take a closer look at how the Baba requirements impact our home program. Um, and so that
that could have a substantial impact on some of our projects. And then the last reform to existing programs is uh to the disabled veterans act. It is a section that allows a veteran's disability benefits to be excluded for purposes of determining
their income eligibility. And that is my overview of the >> Good job. Any housing or comments? >> Yeah, Carlos. >> Thank you, Michael. Um Leslie, going back to slide 11, I think it was you
spoke on section 210. Thought I heard you say attainable housing there. >> You thought you heard me say what? >> Attainable housing. And I know generally speaking, you know, the overarching terms affordable within >> is correct. depending on the AMI, you know, range, then that's when you're
talking attainable. But you did say that um this is geared towards that AMI range, attainability, not generally just affordable. >> This is the first time I've seen the term attainable housing. And and so
actually recent not too long ago um after our bond passed um I had a question in my mind over what is the definition of affordable housing and there isn't a statutory definition in in many of the um programs that h are the
federal housing programs and so there are some that define what affordable housing is but some that don't. And so in this particular act they have chosen to define attainable housing. I I don't know without looking into the legislative history of of what the
thought process was behind that but it is something that I have not seen before. Um and it is a different calculation in that it doesn't just look at the particular AMI. It looks at the AMI and compares it to what are the other housing units in this development.
What AMI are they? So it allows this up to 120 in some but doesn't allow it unless there is also a 60% AMI component to that housing development. So I I think that is something that we're not familiar with. Does that does that help?
>> It it does. So So as far as HUD is concerned, again, back to your point, no no definition, no statutory definition of what attainable is yet. >> This this act does define attainable housing. It's that um several housing programs do
not currently define affordable housing. >> I understand >> some do, some don't. >> Okay. >> But if if there's not a definition of it, then there is sort of a generalized um definition that that that I believe that the housing associations throughout the
country believe to be affordable housing. But if a statute defines it, then it's that way. But this particular statute doesn't have the term affordable housing defined. just attainable housing. >> Yeah. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you, Leslie. Appreciate that
presentation. >> All right, moving on. Uh, we got a discussion and action items. Uh, William Rumley with the municipal court consideration of recommendation on proposed changes to chapter 10 of the city code affecting courts.
>> Good morning, chairman and rest of committee members, city staff. Welcome back from the break and we'll jump right into it. So this morning I'll be covering the city code chapter 10 court's proposed changes. We're asking for your approval to recommend this to
the full city council. So just real quick want to recognize the team that's worked on this. It's been almost a year that we've been working on all these different changes. Um and so particularly Amarna Muhammad I'd like to thank her from legal a lot of digging into things but the full team here you
see uh of great assistance as we move forward to this. Um so chapter 10 uh is courts and parking bureau. Uh I'm summarizing at a high level these different uh bullet points. Organizational changes, operational
changes, state law and city ordinance changes, staff initiated changes, and then just cleanup. So organizational changes, we're going to remove language referring to the ad hoc municipal uh court advisory committee. Of course, you all have been the ones that we've been coming to most
recently um related to appointments and other municipal court business. So the ad hoc municipal court committee um transitioned when the mayor first mayor Parker first came in and made the adjustments to the assignments um judicial appointments directly to city
council and substitute uh judge appointments on oddnumber years. So currently we come to you all for appointments. We're asking to move this go directly to city council for future appointments. Um and then to just clarify uh in the ordinance that
substitute judges are odd years. The current full-time judges are even uh chief judge to provide annual report to city council. Uh judges are exempt from the dismissal, suspension, and demotion sections in chapter 2 article 5 of the Fort Worth city code um due to
their position as exempt. Uh operational changes summary. While the number of municipal court divisions was reduced from 9 to six due the closure of southwest municipal court in 2020 and truency court eastern hills in 2016 uh the exact number was removed to
streamline future changes. So if there's changes to the number of because divisions is really courtrooms then uh we don't have to keep coming back to make those adjustments every time. Chief judge to conduct annual performance of judges and provide to city council. So again, this would be going straight to city council for those uh annual
performance at the time of reappoint. The judge would provide those. Uh when warranted, take complaints on judicial staff before the city council. Again, just correcting this to go straight to city council or updating, I should say. Add to include authority to bailiff and security for all city facilities. As you
know, we have our court and community warrant forgiveness. A lot of times we're at libraries, city uh other city facilities. And so this just uh again what we've been doing in practice allows us to put that into the code and then replaces the chief of police with director of TPW
uh or their authorized design to provide direction to the city manager regarding the accessible parking volunteer enforcement program. State law changes. So this is directly from state law. Just um make sure in concert with that. So, we replaced prior
court cost language that required a local ordinance approval to local consolidated fee language under section 134103B of Texas Local Government Code. Um, requirement of the chief judge to establish a court security committee. Again, we've already had a court
security committee. Um, this just is again putting that requirement into the ordinance. Uh, remove the $25 appeal fee. actually since 2020 that has been the case that there's under criminal cases there's no appeal fee of $25. Um
so again just updating the code provides for waiver of the boot fee if not removed within one hour after payment and request for removal. So again that's aligning with state law and then remove Texas revised civil statutes article 1269 and replaced with chapter 143 of
the Texas local government code. These are staff initiated changes. Um and uh the top three were uh related through going through the budget process and reviewing our cost for uh staff cost and all those things revolved around
boot fee and different things. So um we're requesting to add a $5 civil security fee for parking violation um and then add a $5 civil technology fee. Again, this offsets costs that are currently hitting the general fund. We already do this on the criminal side
cases. Um, and so we're asking to add these two fees. Um, and then increase the boot fee from $50 to 75. Just a note, the boot fee has not been increased since 1988. So, the cost have gone up a little bit since then to uh to
boot and tow uh or boot a vehicle. >> William, uh, council member Peoples has a question. So based on our uh on the number of civil fees that we collect and the boot fees, how do you think that will positively impact the budget?
>> Right. So we anticipate for each of those civil uh fees about 150,000 a year impact in collections based on prior year collections on parking citations. >> Okay. Um and then on the boot fee ite be an increase of about $5,000 six
somewhere in there related to budget. So and again uh for the technology and security fee those are specific uh project funds um but they do help relieve the costs that currently hit the general fund. And then uh this we're recommending to
remove the $10 non-refundable admin appeal fee. This is to be consistent with criminal appeals and reduce complaints. So currently somebody goes before a hearing officer, they request to uh you know have their case heard. The hearing officer finds them liable.
If they want to appeal that there's uh the next step is they have to pay a $10 administrative fee which is non-refundable and then they also post a bond for the fine amount. So let's say your fine is $45. So you do 10 and $45 whether you're found liable or not
liable by the judge. Um you don't get back the $10. So, um, this would remove that and be consistent with what we're doing on the criminal side. You still have to post the $45 bond, uh, as normal with all appeal cases. >> Are these fees consistent with other
cities? Are we low or above? Kind of give me a range on where we are. >> Yeah, we're we're consistent with other cities um, specifically with these fees we're recommending. The only other fee on parking that we currently um, have is the child safety fund, and it is $5 as
well. >> Thank you. So then just some cleanup. So we no longer have a court reporter position. We are a court of record. So we do have digital report uh digital recording of all of our hearings and trials. Should we need a court reporter uh either for
uh an appeal uh where somebody's declared indigent or on criminal cases an individual can request that a court reporter be there for trials or hearings. We would go through the contract for the city. But those are rare uh very limited times that that happens. Um, replace director with coordinator. That's an update to title
on for the teen court. Um, remove reference to bureau clerk. Again, no longer need that. Remove requirement fidelity bond. Again, no longer needed. Update name to Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. So, these uh and then rening to adjust for changes. So, we did
provide, I believe, uh, an attachment that had kind of each one listing out in a spreadsheet form that y'all should have received. So those are specific but these were high level summaries. So our next steps are to go IR this afternoon to work session MNC to city council on
the 11th to to get approval. So again we're requesting your recommendation to uh the full city council to approve this. There is not only the MNC there's also a resol a resolution for the parking fines because if we're adding
the $10 um then that changes the fine schedule which has to be approved by council. The other note I want to uh state about that is the $25 and the boot fee would not be effective until October one. It would be approved actually through the fee ordinance through the
budget process. Um but we need to know now obviously to do uh updating and notifications and media uh public media campaign. Uh the $10 fee waiver uh to remove that would be effective immediately as well as all the other
changes. and I'll take any questions, >> questions, issues. Flip back to slide four. One of the organizational changes. I just have a question about and correct my understanding. Up until five years ago, there was an ad hoc municipal court
committee that was put together. We've now served as that ad hoc committee where appointments. Is that correct? >> Um, what is the changes exactly here? Because I know with how I guess I'll ask a different way. How will judicial appointments work? Because in the past,
I believe you've had some sort of ad hoc committee that's done interviews. I know Councilwoman Beck has served on a couple of those as part of that process. Does that process go away? It sounds like this just goes straight to council. So, how just walk through that process so everybody's aware how that would work? >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, chairman.
Um so most recently the way that the um appointments have gone is anything that is not the chief judge um the interviews and selection and recommendations are staff driven. Um so um your to your point with the chief judge we do that a
little differently and so we normally have had like council member Beck um on those appointment uh selections for the chief judge. Um >> will that process stay the same then? >> That'll stay the same. It just goes to council instead of through first the
legislative and then to city council. >> All the other judges uh it's a staff driven process. >> Yes. >> Then it would come here and then go to council. What you're asking is just not come here and go straight to council. >> Right. So everything every appointment including the chief judge would go directly to city council. It's just that
we would use the same panel if you will for selection of the chief judge. Is there any or do we have any rules regulations of who makes up that panel or is it just been >> we work with HR and CMO and yeah um to
ensure that we have broad representation >> but there's no actual it's there's no >> there's not a stated requirement of what need who needs to be on that panel. >> Just wondering how the process works. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> That may be something we need to think
about. What is that? What does broad representation look like? >> Yes, sir. >> As part of it, um I don't have any thoughts on that. I just it's >> right. >> There's no parameters and it >> so you're talking about transparency and what that looks like. If it's a few staff, they get together and decide who's going to serve on that panel, but
none of us know what's happening there, >> right? >> That may be an issue. >> So, whenever we bring a recommendation, uh you'll see in a minute on the next for the appointments, we always let you know who the panel members are. Um so that judge will come by here in a minute. We always do that. Um, as I said
before on the chief judge process, it's been a member of the city management manager's office team, the director. Um, then we also have a council member. Um, we've had a actually a judge from another city to help just a chief judge.
Um, but it has been dynamic at times depending on what the direction is. I guess I guess that's what I'm suggesting is if it's going to bypass a public process like this where you come and at least present it and it just goes straight to council when we vote, we may want to formalize what that looks like
so we're >> talking to the public know the categories that fall into. I don't again I don't have an idea on what those other my colleagues might but we may just want to formalize that so the public knows how the they're selected. >> Absolutely. We'd be glad to make a
recommendation. Thank you. I think you're up again. >> They're asking for a vote to recommend approval to the city council for this. >> Uh do I hear a motion? >> Any all those in favor? Any opposed?
Motion passes. >> Thank you all very much. >> Thanks for the work on that. All right. Uh, moving on. Another discussion action item, consideration of recommendation of appointment of two new substitute judges and related salaries. Uh, Chief, you're up.
>> Good morning, Chairman Crane. Committee members and staff. I'm here today recommending the appointment of two substitute judicial overage positions. I'd like to note that these overage positions have been approved by the city manager's office in the Fort Lab with no
financial impact on the budget. Uh the substitute judges are appointed uh for a two-year term uh which which it term will expire on March 31st of uh 20 March 31st of 2027. Currently, we have eight subs part-time judges. They're
appointed for a two-year term in oddnumbered years. They're limited to 19 hours per week, and they're compensated solely for the hours that they work with no benefits. By by adding these two overage positions, uh it will expand the current substitute judge pool from 8 to
10 appointed positions and they will follow the same procedure, the same criteria as all the other substitute judges with no impact on the budget. the part-time the reason for the immediate recommendation is that part-time judges right now most of them
have their own private practice which limits availability. Uh by adding these two part-time overage positions, it will help support the daily operational needs of the Bellnap detention center as well as provide flexibility and ensures
adequate judicial coverage during the week, weekends, holidays when the full-time part uh when the full-time judges are out on vacation or they're unavailable. The recruitment process consisted of posting the part-time judge position externally for a two-eek period from May
13 through March through I'm sorry from May 13th through May 27th and we received six applications for this position. One applicant was unable to interview. We interviewed five other applicants on Tuesday, June the 2nd, and the panel recommended the appointment of
Britney McAfee and Lisa Sofos to fill the substitute judge positions. The interview panel consisted of three full-time judges and the clerk of the court. Uh Britney uh Britney McAfee was uh
licensed in Tennessee on December the 20 December of 2019 and in Texas on October of 2020. She's a solo practitioner with a background in criminal juvenile and family law. Lisa Sofos was appointed on I mean licensed on May of 20 uh 2013.
She's also a solo practitioner with a background in consumer family oil and gas real estate and wills proate law. My recommendation is to approve the appointment of Britney McAfee and Lisa Sofos as substitute judges for the remainder of a two-year term commencing
August 11th of 2026 through March 31st of 2027 and recommend that they establish a pay at the same rate of pay as all the other substitute judges at $64 per hour. The next steps consists of eminency to the mayor and city council for consideration. Any questions?
>> Any questions, comments? Do I hear a motion? >> Second. All those in favor? Any opposed? >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Have it. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Chief. All right. I think that's the end of the agenda. Any other?
We go to order. Uh meeting a journ. Thank you'all. Part: 2
That's all. and everything. Let's go. Hey. So, yes. I have two guys. Yeah, I'll call you up. You can come up short. my whole
point. >> Yeah, they're really Okay, council. I think we're going to try to get started. Thank you for your patience. Welcome back to city council work session. I can tell everyone is very excited to be here.
I will call us to order. Yes, Dr. Hall reminded us it's first day of school for us. Uh before we get started, very importantly, it is Mayor Pro Tim Carlos Flores's birthday. >> Yay, Carlos. And as a result, Carlos, I'd like you to
stand up right here and let us sing you happy birthday, please. Go ahead. I'm serious, actually. Yeah. Uhuh. Yeah. So, everybody on three, can sing happy birthday to Carlos. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday,
dear Carlos. Happy birthday to you. >> And and not Hello. Hello. And not to steal Carlos's thunder, but it's also Brandy Ward, my office's birthday, and Scott Nisha for Fort Worth report's birthday back there. >> Both birthdays. I love it. Happy
birthday, y'all. >> Okay, Jay. Now the floor is yours. All right. So, good afternoon. Um, we have no upcoming and recent events to announce, but I do have uh I would like to call
Dr. Sana Sed up to introduce our new assistant director, >> somewhat new. He was hired right before break. >> Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Welcome back. I'm excited to introduce to you our new assistant director over
SHOP, Todd Rice. As you will remember, SHOP is the inter agency model that we created as a part of the departmental reorg and this role supports Fort Worth TV editorial graphic design and community engagement. Todd is a North Texas native and University of North
Texas graduate and brings more than 15 years of municipal communications leadership, including previous roles with the town of Prosper and the cities of Plano and Allen. His experience spans public information, crisis communications, marketing, photography, video production, and resident
engagement. Todd is passionate about strengthening public trust through clear, proactive communication and helping residents better understand the work of city government. Todd, would you like to say a few words? >> Thank you so much, SA. Um, I just want to say how grateful I am for the opportunity to serve our residents here
in the city of Fort Worth. Uh, and also work alongside uh y'all and your district directors and the rest of the city of Fort Worth staff. So, um, I'm looking forward to seeing everything that we accomplish together. And I just want to thank y'all so much. >> Welcome. Thank you.
>> Thanks, Todd. Moving on to informal reports. uh first IR26-007 the release of area from ETJ by petition of landover owner or resident during a period of February through June and DJ
Herel's here to answer any questions. >> No questions. >> Okay, next one is a development update related to Senate bills 15840 and 2477 from the 89th legislative session. And DJ is here to answer questions on that.
BJ, I just have one quick question and while you're coming up. So, um, on page, I guess two of the IR, it says, um, UR, MU1 or MU2 district regulations do not have to provide pedestrian scaled street
lights, but must provide enhanced landscaping and meet all other applicable district standards. Um, is that part of the state regulations about the the street lights, uh, pedestrian scale street lights, or is that something we did and And if we did it then why?
>> Yes ma'am. Thank you for your question. DJ Herel, development services director. So, so basically the state law um you know requires that we allow um residential mixeduse or mixed residential development in the
commercial districts um by right. Well, in our mixeduse ordinance, it it requires pedestrian scale lighting and tree street trees as an addition to create a sort of a pedestrian realm, if you will. And so, we thought that additional exaction would be um not
meeting the intent of the bill. The intent of the bill is to allow mixeduse residential without additional restrictions and that would be an additional restrictions levied by the local government that wouldn't be compliant with the state law intent. So, is does that I guess did that come from
legal or interpretation that that would be an additional restriction? >> Okay, that one just um I if we could just get clarification on that. If it's mandated by the state law, then our hands are tied and I don't I'm not going to belabor the point, but um I do have concerns if if it's not by state law. I
do have some concerns about removing that uh prohibition. I'm sorry, that requirement just because those areas are supposed to be pedestrian friendly and that's a safety issue, not just from a um vehicular perspective, but also um a
public safety and crime perspective. >> I agree. And and I'll tell you a couple things. It's our ultimate desire to have more uh pedestrian scale lighting and street trees, you know, to protect our pedestrian realm. I I was in Austin at a legislative committee hearing about a
month ago where they were reviewing 840 and how cities were reacting to it. And part of the concerns of the committee was that cities were, if you will, getting cute and adding uh additional exactions on top of what has been approved by the state legislature. And
so from a position here at the city, we we didn't want to be in that in that badge. I'd rather be in a position where we're keeping our we're cute and keeping our folks safe. >> So, >> understood. >> Yeah. Did you have a question? >> Okay.
Anyone else on this one? DJ, we appreciate you. Thank you very much. >> Next IR is the 26 20 uh 2027 HUD annual action plan and Casey to Thomas is here to answer any questions from our neighbor. Council member Beck,
>> we are um the first question I have and it's probably the easiest question um to answer on the third page under home investment partnership programs, the home funds. Um there's a line item for 1.5 million that says major project and
I just wanted to know what that major project was. >> Yes. So for that line item, we're actually going to be doing a competitive process. So, we will issue a NOA and then but it will be an affordable housing development. >> Okay. And then my second question is um
as I was looking at um our our CBD or CDBG uh public service agency grants um it occurred to me that there seems to be a lot that could potentially overlap with CCPD. And so do you know um if any
of these are appropriate for CCBT funding and do we direct them um to that? >> That is a good question. We have not looked at them in the lens of CCPD but we can follow up with the CCPD team to see if going forward these agencies are better suited to apply under those
funds. >> Okay. Thank you. I mean, I'm just looking at like the afterchool programs and the um uh you know, teens in action, youth leadership development, things like that that are the afterchool programs that a lot of times we fund through CCPD. >> We can check it. I will say that as part
of our consolidated plans, one of our goals is children and youth services. And so that's why we do fund those agencies. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I did have a few questions. Um, with regards to the proposals that were submitted, do you have a total
number of how many proposals were submitted bas ones that were selected? I do not have that number. I know this was one of the biggest um, number of because we have been very intentional in terms of um, going out to agencies um, and it's also the largest number of new
agencies that we funded this year. But I can get that number and send it to you. >> Thank you. And then is there a rubric based on those who are selected? >> There is and I can share that with you. But yes, there is a very detailed rubric. We have several different categories. I will say this year um some
of the categories that we prioritized was one new agencies. Um the other category was prior year performance. So if there was an agency who'd previously received um funds, we wanted to make sure they have a history of spending those funds. And so we did grade
agencies accordingly. And then the other category that we funded is based on our consolidated action plan goals. We prioritize funding in those goals where we're falling behind on the outcomes. >> So presumably if um if we see the people
selected the or organizations selected here we can assume that based on the rubric this is the highest ranking. >> Correct. Yes. Yes. We went by score. Um, I will say among our CDB agencies, the scores range from 80 to high 90s in
terms of what scores they received. The ones that receive lower scores were typically if their performance in previous years were not as high as we'd like it to be. But yes, we can provide that information. >> And I think um
with regards and just this is from my own understanding when you have the administration fees I noticed that in the funding they vary from like 7 and a half% 10% here one of them didn't have a percentage at all. What is that percentage for administrative fees depected upon? How do you arrive at that
percentage? Is that something that's dictated? >> Sure. The percentage is actually dictated by HUD. So HUD tells us what the most amount we can um spend for administrative costs and that's usually what we budget for. Um if we go through the year and we don't need to spend as much then we will put it back either in
the agencies or another service. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Casey. >> Okay. Next one is Mary's Creek uh Mary's Creek Water Reclamation Facility Construction Procurement and Chris Harter here from the water department.
Any questions? No. All right. Next one. Officer involved accidents related to vehicle pursuits. And Chris, uh, Assistant Chief Chris Daniels is here to answer any questions. >> Beck, afternoon. Um, so first let me start off
by saying that this IR is a little lacking in information of what I was looking for. Um, the goal of this IR was to really get an understanding of the total cost to the city that these pursuit pursuits are um um just the the
the total cost, the internal cost, the external cost. Um, and the reason why is because I want to be able to justify us using advanced technology. uh to reduce the number of accidents associated with vehicle pursuits. I think our policy is
good, but I think in practice right now, giving your numbers, 36% of all of our pursuits end in an accident. And if it's an accident with a a suspect, it's an as an an accident with uninvolved motorists, um and it's
also accidents with our officers. And so, um, what I would like to see is some additional information, specifically how much these, uh, new technologies cost. Um, I'd like some more specifics on what they are, right? And and what we have
available to us. Um, can you tell me of, um, of the seven officers that were injured, do you know how much we paid out in replacing vehicles or workers comp or offduty time? I don't have the number available at the moment. I'm sure
we can get that for you later. >> And here it says that there were 48 non-fatal injuries. Were there any fatal injuries in that time period? >> So for these particular accidents, no. However, there were we had four critical police incidents that did have a pursuit component to it that did result in
fatalities. Those are handled a little bit differently because it's a it's a major case investigation. Of those four, we had one where um the the driver was he was intoxicated in methamphetamines. Another that was intoxicated as
passenger died during the course of the pursuit. The um we had a stolen vehicle and then there was um another where it was aggravated kidnapping suspect that we were trying to stop. He crashed and and he died as well. >> Um do you know how many lawsuits are um
are pending as a result? Uh, I'm really looking at like these six completely uninvolved motorists or >> I'm not aware of any lawsuits. Um, the last I heard is there was nothing pending, but I will get you an update.
>> Okay. Um, I would like some more information specifically on uh when I asked for this IR. I one of the things I asked for was how much the city has paid out in risk um associated with these these claims. Um, I understand that there's probably only going to be six
six of them. I don't know to the extent the 17 passengers or 333 fleeing sub. >> Get them, Chris. >> Where was I? Um, I'd like to know some additional information about that. And then um do you know how often we use um
the the cameras in the real-time crime center for intervention um on these on these pursuits? So of the 409 is is that used every time? Is that a tool that's used every time? >> I can't say it's used every time because
sometimes these pursuits are very short in duration. they may go for 20 seconds and by the time the real time crime center hears it over the radio, they're having to access their cameras, figure out specifically where the officers are, and then and start tracking it that way. Um, the specific amount is going to be very, very hard to narrow down. I will
say the vast majority of our pursuits, as soon as Real Time Crime Center hears it on the radio, they start getting involved. They start pulling data, they start looking at cameras, and start pushing that information out to the field. >> And to what extent? Um, I didn't see anything about drone uh capabilities, but I know that we've launched some
drones in the department. So, to what extent are we using drones to help minimize the risk? >> At the moment, the footprint is so small because we only have two active drone pods at the moment. Um, there was a third that we used briefly because it was connected to a trailer and the
company had to move the trailer around. However, we should have two or three more drone pods up within a month. and the the narrow footprint that we're testing right now. We haven't had very many pursuits in that area. Um they've been very responsive to those calls. We've cleared some calls without having
to dispatch onduty officers to those calls, but as far as car chases, we just haven't had that many there. >> Do you know if other departments are using the drones to um in in pursuits? Yes. >> Effectively, Las Vegas Metro PD, they use them very effectively. Uh Dallas PD, they have a fairly new program, I
believe. Arlington PD, they're up and running also. When you bring me additional information, will you include um how they how they utilize those and specifically maybe the number of drones needed to adequately um deploy them in a
in a realtime uh pursuit situation? >> Sure. >> I think that's all the questions I have right now. >> Yes, Council Member Nettles. >> Okay. Um thank you. I was a little bit concerned um when you mentioned that
there was no fatality um injuries. Uh but I looked it up actually because I remember uh Andre Craig, 57 year old gentleman. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh who was not involved in the police chase died in Evan on Evans Avenue in district 8, but I saw that it was in
2023. So, I will ask that uh because one life is too many. Uh especially if they're not involved in doing any crime. Um when you bring this report back, maybe more as a presentation that we go back maybe two more years to kind of see
if if there's any other uh deaths that's taking place, especially for people who are not involved. And I'm looking at like the 17 passengers. Is there any uh I know you guys are operating in real time. Um when I asked about this when
Andre died. Um are we still having to call the sergeant in order to pursue? Who's giving the pursuit commands? The supervisors are pursu are the way the policyy's written once a pursuit kicks off the supervisor has to come over the radio to to allow it to keep going or to
terminate it. However, the officer also has the authority to go ahead and terminate a pursuit if they think the risk is too high or it doesn't meet policy. >> And does are we taking into consideration and I see it's only been like 17 passengers, but we take in consideration the passengers that are
involved that passengers that are in the vehicle during the pursuit. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um, I would like to when you bring it back, um, maybe we can identify, um, the type
of pursuits that had those passengers in, why was they being pursued, the type of crime or, uh, why they was being pursued in the first place? And then I know we have the real time crime center. Um,
when was it implemented? >> Oh, I'll have to go back and look at that one also. I would say it's been at least since uh 2017, but let me go back. >> Okay. Because I think in your your report, it basically says our goal is to
utilize real time crime center assistance, technology, and industry approved tactics to best practice to minimize the need for acti uh active pursuits. And so I kind of want to see since that's been in place, have we
actually minimized or has it increased the pursuits? >> I'll when you bring it back. >> Sure. Yeah, that that's totally fine. U but I will add this. Crime Center has grown quite a bit over the past few years and we're fixing to expand even even greater with the um implementing
all the the other cities that we're pulling into the crime center to regionalize it. So we're going to have a lot more help down there as well. >> That's all my questions. Any other questions for Yes. Council Flores and Council. >> Yeah, just one. U This isn't Chief Daniels. Um and maybe you know this, but I'd like to
know what uh damage or loss to material assets there may have been and any you know pursuits involved. Uly that chairman when when you come back with us with these additional uh questions answered. >> We'll do.
>> Thank you, >> Council Lararsdorf. >> Yeah. Uh thank you mayor. Uh thank you chief for the information. Um I know in here we do talk about flock and obviously right now that's a big topic across the board. So if there was just any information additional information that we get that you know from pursuits
that began as a result of a flock hit. Um but we talked about this a couple years ago in work session too with the um the vehicle pursuits and out of the 409 you know the six being completely uh completely uninvolved. Um marine math is what around 2% 1%. So, I would just say
to you, the rest of police department, just keep up the great work. Unfortunately, in these type of deals, it's unfortunate that a suspect would put you on that position. We did talk before about this and it's quite known that as they're being pursued, they know that they're supposed to uh pull over, but they're choosing not to. Hate that you guys are being put in that position, but I just say keep up the great work.
Thank you. >> Any other questions, council? Uh I just maybe from a policy perspective, when you look at other large cities, do you feel like our policy around this is consistent? >> It is. Um we're we're fairly consistent with a lot of other agencies. And of
course, anytime we have a major incident, we we look at our policy to see if there's anything we could have done internally or our training to to mitigate anything that would have happened out there in the field. And and sometimes you can't foresee it, but you can train for it. And we've we've
enhanced that considerably. Uh we used to do only pursuit driving down in the academy to the recruits. We've since expanded that to officers who've been out in the field for a little while. and their focus is is not just on tactics but also internal policy to make sure that you know some of these FTO's
they're teaching you know what our policy is to the new recruits who are going out to the field. >> Thank you. Uh well I'll leave it up to you and Chief Garcia and management but it maybe this needs to be a full presentation when you bring it back if there any questions from council but
that's just a suggestion. Thank you. Next in formal report is proposed changes to chapter 10 courts of the city code and William Rum Rumley is here to answer any questions. Director of >> Yeah, William, I wouldn't mind if you did an overview for the public on this
one. Thank you. >> Afternoon, mayor and council and city staff. William Rumley, miss court director. So uh chapter 10 is specific to the municipal courts as well as the parking bureau as it's named which is uh the aspect of the citations and taking
payments and the hearing officer. Um so these changes were in some specific categories that we had. Um essentially a lot of it was cleanup to ensure that we're in line with what state law changes have occurred. Organizational changes such as the ad hoc court committee is what it referred to. um and
other organizational changes. Um in addition related to the parking uh removal of a $10 fee that's required when u an individual is appealing those cases uh as well as two additional potential recommended
uh $5 additional cost uh technology and security to offset the cost uh to the general fund from an ongoing basis. that was through our budget process as well as the boot toe fee which had not been uh reviewed and and increased since
1988. So it costs a little more now than it did in 1988 to to provide those services. So from $50 to $75. Um a big point is that the process uh for judges selection appointment
reporting would go straight to city council. I do want to note uh failed to mention in this morning's presentation I did talk with uh council member Crane after uh just before this meeting. So we would come to the city council as we have in the past with a recommendation
for a process to select a chief judge or other judges get approval so that there's transparency from the beginning of who's on that panel and um what's going on and then upon approval then we would go through the process to select come back to the council for recommendations.
Thank you, William. Appreciate that. Any questions, council? Probably not. Thanks, William. Uh, >> next IR, proposed council initiated zoning changes for certain properties in the north side rail station and Eric Fliger is here to answer any questions.
>> Council Flores. >> Yes, Eric, could you uh come to the podium, please, sir? give us an overview uh to council uh the two open house style meetings that we had and uh summarize the reactions uh that we received you know from those people who attended.
>> Okay, happy to. Eric Vladigar, CMO planning division. Um the IR before you is to kickstart the process of council initiated resoning around the uh text rail station uh at the north side. Um and it's the beginning it'll the next
step will be September 11th uh a resolution will be before you um as part of that process uh in working with council uh MTP Flores we have held two uh openhouse meetings for the public uh we've had uh you know we've had a
reasonable amount of engagement with the with the folks uh we have sent uh multiple letters uh to these people that are in this area. Uh the the goal is to give them uh information about the proposed resoning, to give them an opportunity to comment, to to express
any concerns they might have. Uh and uh we have had uh quite a bit of uh you know response. Uh and a lot of it has been positive. It's really educating uh the property owners on what's being proposed and what the zoning changes
would do, what kind of opportunities they would create for them, particularly within walking distance of that text rail station. Um so I think that that there's been a real positive response overall. Um and we've made some modifications uh where we need to to
address the concerns that were raised. And I think that that we're in a position where the folks that we've heard from are are fairly comfortable. Uh there is some significant change in that we're taking some uh light industrial areas and we're uh proposing
those to be uh converted overtime through zoning uh to mixed use and a small amount of urban residential. Uh but again, it's really intended to bring a walkable neighborhood to that station. uh and as well to raise the return on
public investment that occurs based on the land use types in that location. >> Thank you, Eric. And I'll also add this. Um I've gotten some direct communications from um property owners there. One who elected uh to sell um their property, it was own industrial.
All he was using it for was for trailer parking. So he really didn't have any plans. That was completely his own decision. There was another one by an established welding company who owns four lots there and we had some really positive interactions with this gentleman. Uh the proposal was to change
uh to reszone that to UR but uh you know given you know his circumstance uh Eric and his team offered uh instead to go with MU2 which is a better fit by right he can continue using his welding shop there and it gives him options in the
future. So I think that's a positive and those are really the only two uh you know significant u pieces of feedback that we received. Everyone else seems to be on board and reasonably comfortable. And again keep in mind that that that
roadway is a corridor into the stockyards and into the heart of the of the uh you know north side. So it's it's a prominent corridor. We want to see it develop in conjunction with proximity to the text rail station can be done. you know, we've seen what happens over in
Gravine, you know, to very positive results for them. We want to do the same thing here. Um, and also keep in mind in older parts of town, we have a lot of vested zoning that's zoned industrial. We are taking care of that as well. And we have heard on council in various council districts, especially the older
council districts, >> that that is a concern, you know, for constituents. So, in part, we are also responding to that need. >> Thank you, Eric. >> Thank you. Next reports on small business program report for September 1st, 2025 through
June 30th, 2026. Brandy Hazel, our financial management services assistant director, is here to answer any questions. >> I'd like an overview, please. >> Brandy, come on up. >> Good afternoon.
Um, our small business program began and took effect September 1st of last year. We've had a lot of success with our >> adjust that microphone, Brandy. Thank you. There you go. >> Sorry. You're good. >> Um, our s our program has had a lot of success. We've seen a 43% um rate of
award going to our small businesses. Um, we have we do have our small business program for over $100,000. We have a 30% utilization goal for both goods and services and also public works. Um on from 3,000 to $100,000. We do have our
5% preference available. Um and we have everything on our Bonfire electronic bidding program platform so that all vendors are able to see what we go out to bid for and they have the opportunity to bid. Deborah or Mia, did y'all want more of
an overview or do you want to ask specific? >> I had a few questions. Okay, go ahead. >> I can't hear Deborah. >> Okay, your microphone, Deborah, I think. Crab that again. Thank you. >> No, I was just going to defer to Dr. hall so she could ask her question. But
I also saw uh Steve Montgomery with the Fort Worth Chamber and also Michelle Green Ford with the uh Black Chamber here and I was just going to ask them for some feedback from them on how they think it's working. The numbers sound good.
Okay, Steve and Michelle say I always put them on the spot, but it's the numbers for me. Afternoon, mayor and council, and thank you uh for asking. Uh when we were here last time,
we talked about the process going well and the working together going well. And I say working together not just with the three chambers but with city staff uh the advisory board uh specifically the economic development department and
senior leadership uh assistant city managers and city manager everybody in the city has been hands-on with this process. Uh what we're excited about today is that we see some numbers that show that we're going in the right direction. Um it's a we're able to see
the movement in terms of certifications, people being certified, the transferral from the the certifications were before and now people are engaged in the process. That's very important because if people are being certified and they're ready to go. Uh in addition to
that, uh what we see now and I'm really thankful for Brandy and her team uh for all that they've done to help us to see specifically where we're doing well in what categories. Um also the advisory committee has started to work very
closely with where we see some opportunities opportunities where we're not getting the traction that we need. So overall a very good report and I just want to thank everybody that's involved in the process. Uh thank you. I'm looking at Dana for leadership and all
that that we've done and of course uh Jessica and Ory. We're all working very well together. Thank you. >> Echo what my colleague has said. I think this is a great example of when the city and the business community can collaborate to the benefit of small business community. This is a great
program. We have some work to do but I think we're making great progress. Thank you, >> Council Member Hall. >> Um, so I did wanted to have I had a question for staff. I wanted to know um first and foremost, do we maintain dem demographic info for our SBEs?
>> I think that's more of a legal question, but um in terms of demographics or what can you break that down a little bit? Sorry. >> So, if I understand correctly and and if I'm out of line, I guess legal will check me on that too. But my understanding if if I get if my head is
wrapped around this correctly, we move to the small business enterprise certification as a result of our mandate to dissolve um our DEI practices, policies, programs, and things with regards to procurement. Correct. So I understand that we can't use certain
criteria um to qualify um vendors for contracts and things of that nature. So the SBE was the next greatest pivot, right? And so that's what we've been using and it looks like it's going in the right direction. But I guess I'm curious to
know that in utilizing the SBE, what does that really look like globally? Um are there any unintended consequences? Are there any marginalization of our residents and small business owners? Just wondering what that demographic information looks like. It may not be
the decision making process, but we still can know what the outcomes are and how things are shaping up. So that's that's the basis or foundation of my question. >> Legal can correct me if I'm wrong. We're not supposed to specifically track the demographic first of all, but second of
all, I still think it's still somewhat preliminary. We only have about 9 to 10 months of data. And so for us to truly identify those gaps, I think that's where the small contractor development program consultants that should be starting later this month will kind of
help us identify some gaps in the programming. >> So if I hear you saying legal by legally we can't we can't know. >> No, we could we could track it. It's just not something that we've looked at for this program. um if that's something
that we would like to add to whatever sort of uh information we collect from the small businesses, we could certainly do that. That's just not something you could base your decision- making on to your point. >> Okay. So, I I do I would like that to definitely happen. I think we should be tracking those demographics so that we
can know um the other areas in which we have success or other areas in which we have the opportunity to grow. Um I also and I want to and first and foremost I do want to thank staff and I want to thank the chambers for their work. Um
it's well I don't know Deborah and I celebrated our year anniversary right and the first things that we did was this whole DEI thing and the SB the SB was a great response to that. So I do celebrate that we had growth in this area and that these things are happening and that um our businesses are getting
certified. Um, but I am just curious to know what that that looks like. Um, so I do have an IR request. I think I would like to know Well, I guess you've already answered the question. We're not doing that, but
I would like to know what um staff or the city's plan will be moving forward and how we can get something like that coming online so that we can measure and know what our outcomes are. and um on the heels of approving this you know our bonds and things of that nature. I would
like to know what our strategy is going to be for the remaining uh phases of one our convention center project and as well as um our 2026 bond program. So I just like to know how we're moving forward intentionally to kind of
safeguard us around the questions that I've just I've posed and we not necessarily know the answer. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Can I jump in too? >> Okay. Thanks. >> Um, yes. I appreciate that. Um, Dr. Hall, because I think when we first
started this, we was going to have a ongoing update. I guess this is kind of what this ongoing update is, but I would like to actually see it more in a presentation to kind of um articulate those statistics that Dr. Hall just talked about and also where we are with
the certification process where uh small business can go through um the certification to be certified to be used as vendors or as subs as a more of a robust more of a um
presentation. Yes, I guess I want to piggy piggyback on that as well. Like um knowing the number of whatever we were using before, MWBE, hubs, all of those things that we were using previously, I'd like to know how many of those now have translated into
being SBEs and are actually being have been certified. And then being able to then know the demographic information of those who are participating even with the growth, just knowing what that looks like, just having an idea
I'd like to chime in also. >> Council Martinez. >> Oh, no. I just, you know, to also speak to Dr. Hall and Chris's comments. I did want to see the SBA the certification numbers because we have the number of contracts, but I was curious to know um
how many uh folks or business or vendors are uh chambers have been able to certify from each different chamber. And I also was glad to see that there's an extension of the contracts for the chambers. I was curious to know if the rate has been finalized or if if it's
staying the same or increasing in in um for the upcoming vote. >> I can answer that. It's tied to the budget. >> We asked all our departments to to reduce their budget by a certain amount. So we asked the chambers to do so. and
as good team players, they they agreed. Um, and so that's what we're including in the budget for for next year. >> And I would just like to thank the chambers. I reach out to them. I don't just uh wait for things, but they are
all very uh eager to share data and to be cooperative. So, I just wanted to thank them. That's why I embarrass them and call them up because I think they are ready to share that information with us. >> And I think our we're seeing this the success and we've actually hearing it
from the black uh contractors for instance of how when they look around the metroplex the the program that we're utilizing and that we're doing um doesn't exist anywhere else and they've seen success and they everybody's working hand inand staff's doing a great
job. the chambers are working uh handinhand with our staff. Communications going back and forth and as was mentioned where are the areas where we can improve where to where are the areas where we can try to find additional small business contractors and vendors uh because we're lagging in
those areas all those kind of things come come together and it took a while for the the business side to get used to this new program. So that's when when Ory mentioned that it's only been nine months or so. It's been almost a year since we put it into place, but it took three, four months to get things going
and for contractors to understand how the program worked. And so we're seeing for what the what we're measuring and what we're our goals were, we're seeing really good success. I understand the require I think we can ask for the demographic information. I don't believe we can require them to provide it. And
so that that becomes part of the, you know, how much you're actually getting the numbers, but we can we can move that way as we >> Yeah. I also understand that we're under a budget crunch, but I do want to go back. This is the very first thing when we put it into place is I wanted to be sure that we were funding them
appropriately and as their work increases and they're bringing more people into the program. Uh I'm not asking for it right now, but I do want us to go back and monitor the program to ensure that we're funding them correctly for the increase that they're seeing.
>> Understood. Council member Flores. >> Yes, I see that in the informal report we have uh what we achieved as far as overall goal and uh participation. Uh does that overall number or include specifically uh procurements and um bid
solicitations? That's my first question. >> Yes. So it does include anything that was subject to the small business ordinance for public works and also uh goods and services. >> Okay. So is it an accurate statement to say that that
participation when it comes to again procurements and bid solicitations have seen increases based on prior numbers prior to our change in the ordinance as it relates to DEI. >> I'm not sure. We'll have to get back with you. >> Okay. Yeah, I'd like to get a number
there. And then my uh last item is this. I know that Erica Garza, the fourth Hispanic Chamber, is not here, but I think there's some staff. I just want to acknowledge them and give them the opportunity to say anything if they so choose. Don't be shy. If you're here, stand up.
>> They're not here. All right. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, council? >> I'll just comment. Previously, the city didn't track SB specifically, so I'm not sure that we can do an apples to apples of what those numbers were.
>> Thank you. Uh the next uh report is substitute judge appointments and uh municipal court chief judge Simone Gonzalez is here to answer any questions. Okay, the next report is summer food service program updates and Dave Lewis,
parks and rec directors here to answer any questions. >> I think council Hill has some questions. Yeah, Dave, I just wanted an overview and specifically why the sponsor was denied. >> Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Dave Lewis. Uh, welcome back to school. Um,
the a little bit of background on the program. It's administered. The funding begins with the USDA and it's administered locally through the Texas Department of Agriculture. Through that, sponsors connect with TDA and then administer it to various program providers such as the city of Fort
Worth. As such, we are we are not directly affiliated with TDA. So, we're not privy to officially why that sponsor was denied. Um, I will tell you that they covered the entire program last year um without being reimbursed. They covered it themselves. Um, so this year we were notified after about a month
that they weren't going to be approved again and that's when we we sought another vendor through TDA and they were able to begin uh providing the meals after about a week of service that the city had to reimburse the the previous sponsor for >> this change how the program's
administered for next summer. >> We now have an officially endorsed partner through TDA. >> We'll just use them next summer as well. >> Absolutely. And and a different provider for after school program as well. Okay, great. >> So, with regard to that application process, they didn't have to be approved
prior to our commitment with them. >> We don't actually see their their approval process at all. We link up with them and they take care of the funding piece of it. And uh this year, they said, "Sorry, we've been denied." So, we had choices. We could immediately find
another partner or go ahead and stay with them in that interim, but we wanted to obviously fill the gap. The MNC that you'll see next week is to seek uh ratification of the appropriation of the funding for that oneweek gap. Um that we wanted to make sure that the kids got
the meals during that gap. >> Did we go through a uh an application process? I know it was moving quickly. Did we go through a procurement application process of who we chose for the next the next uh group to feed? Um, it's a good question. I don't know
the answer to the to what the procurement process was on this. >> Okay. Yeah, because I'm I'm aware of the program and I know that um it's a state funded program and it goes through uh and sometimes you don't know that you're not approved until like the day of or right before. So, I understand the
process we have to move on, but I know there's so many different sponsors that are after in the sums of thousands. I'm just wondering how did we come up with this one? I don't even know who the sponsor is. but what the process was to choose them. >> Yeah. And because we're not actually
purchasing purchasing anything, we don't have a legal responsibility for procurement, but I will figure out how we went with that previous partner. And I know really quickly in talking to TDA, that's how they recommended the provider that we're now going with as a reliable partner with TDA. But I can find out how
we got to the original partner. >> TDA recommended it. >> Yes. So when we knew the sponsor had an issue, we called TDA and said, "Who else is eligible that we could get the meals through?" They recommended the new partner and that's we went with the new partner for the remainder of the summer. >> Okay? Because normally they provide a
list and you can like go through and listen, I'm I'm not I don't know who you chose. I'm just talking through the process. Um, normally they provide a list of different individuals because one of the things is each sponsor provide a different type of meal, a
different type of service, whether customer service, whether the type of meals and how they're prepared and where they're prepared. And so I think if they're going to be feeding the summer program, which is I don't know the number of kids here, um we want to make
sure that we got the the the best one that we can and not just one that somebody just gave us on the fly. >> Sure. >> So, um Dave, I don't want to beat you up, but um I think this kind of goes back to my
previous concern and question. Um and just basically emphasizing and this is not you know your your your cross to bear but when we pivot to another contractor sponsor whatever the word we want to use and that's at the recommendation of someone else I don't
know their cousin their friend their brother nepotism maybe not I don't know but when we don't have pro practices or cultural practice that just really gives me concern and pause on how we may be conducting business um here in the city so um I I think to Councilwoman Hill's
question about who will be using going forward, it almost sounds like it's automatic that this person will continue or this sponsor will continue, but they weren't competitive. They weren't selected by any special means. And so we are inherently
um disenfranchising someone else by doing it that way in my opinion. So I want to just give something to think about and maybe kind of shore up our our our culture of practice with regards to how we are doing our procurement, how we are entering business with people.
>> Yeah. No, I appreciate the comment and we have no existing contract for next year obviously. So if you'd like to see something different of how we select next year, we're certainly willing to look at a different process and and vet it more. >> We'll look at that process. >> Very emergency this year to get them on board. >> And I do understand that it was an
emergency. I definitely want allowances for that, but just moving forward. Thank you, >> Council. >> Yeah, Dave, I have a question. How many community centers do we have? >> Uh, we serve meals at 22, but one of them is ineligible for this program because they use demographic information
on um, you know, median household income. >> Which one is that? >> Betsy Price. >> Okay. And then when it this came back, it looked like they only went into 21 sites. So, which one didn't get it? >> Etsy price. But the new the the current because the current vendor is not being reimbursed. We are paying them to serve
just Betsy Price. So the city is funding Betsy Price to get meals through the summer program. >> Okay. I'm just looking at the numbers. If there are 23 total that we have and 22 got them at this at this point. >> Where'd he get to 23? Is it doesn't the IR say 22?
>> I'm looking at the website. >> Okay. >> We got 23. >> We don't count rise. We don't count uh the North Park YMC. >> See where I'm going with this? >> Sure. But they may have their own meal program, but we can look into that and see if they need us to sponsor that, but they would have to connect with that
sponsor as well as the managing agency of that center. >> Yeah. I just wanted this is where I was going with it that we've had this problem before where RISE is not considered as part of these programs the way the the agreement's done with it. But >> yeah, but we can't manage their program. That's their job to manage. If they need
our assistance, I'm happy to. Did they get meals this summer? >> I don't know. I don't know the answer to it. >> Yeah. So, I I just want to make sure they're not left off when we're doing this as part of it. Right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> The next reports update on selection of
consultant for economic development strategic plan and Jessica Roberts Rogers is here to answer any questions from economic development. Okay, the next one is workers compensation peerreview guidelines. Uh Kristen Kristen Smith is here to answer
any questions. Our human resources director >> and that's the end of the IRS. Thank you council and management. We're going to move on to any changes in boards and commissions that need to be brought forward at the work session today. If not, any significant zoning
cases that are coming up on the 11th or MNC's. Okay, we'll roll into our first presentation, which is the World Cup wrap-up and postevent recognition. Sunny Saxton is going to kick things off. >> Thank you, uh, Mayor and Council. Good afternoon. Welcome back. Uh, Sunny
Saxon, director Emergency Management and Communication. Uh today I'm joined by Visit Fort Worth and the sports commission to provide a World Cup wrap-up and recognition of our members uh that helped out. Uh but first I'd like to set the scene uh with a video.
See if this works. My lady here's going to call me. So I guess I'll get up. I guess I got
things to do. Well, thank you, council, mayor, city staff. We appreciate the opportunity to present today some of our key findings and I don't know if we can pull it up on the screen for you, but this was a marketing win for Fort Worth. Now, while there was center stage and the spotlight
was on Arlington and the nine matches that were there, Fort Worth got to garner a lot of that attention. We had over three million visitors visit the Stockyards District or Sundance Square. And to give you some nuggets behind that, our rodeo saw over 55,000 tickets
sold during that span. So, while there's nine matches in Arlington, we had a 10th match right here in the stockyards, too. At our rodeo, >> we had strong media social uh social media film requests from Argentina, Japan, the UK. Um, we had 85 film and
media requests to our office. So to give you some perspective, that's 17 times our normal average over the course of a month's time. So I don't know if you got to see all the social media from it, but seeing the Viking Row, you know, from Norway right there in the stockyard or
seeing an England seeing Sweet Caroline at the Coliseum was just such a fresh breath of air, you know, to kind of showcase our districts. With that, at Visit Fort Worth, we were able to inspire that community spirit and part of that was through our Howdy brand. So,
with regional collaboration with the North Texas Organizing Committee, we were able to host the draw party back in December, the official FIFA media party to kick things off in June, and we displayed our our brand to the world. So much so, locally, over 180 businesses
joined in on showcasing our brand. The signage ordinance that we worked with the city staff on allowed us to welcome visitors in new ways. Our entertainment districts through wayfinding, getting people to Sundance, to our watch parties, getting people to central
station to commute between matches. Additionally, we unveiled a soccer ambassador program to make sure that our hospitality community and our community was ready to welcome the world. We had over a thousand people participate in that. visitor numbers 9% above a usual
summer. Now, that doesn't take into account the international visitors. We don't have that cell phone tracking data. So, that 9% is actually higher than what we're telling you today. Um, additionally, other host cities, um, the 16 host cities, they weren't allowed to host major events during that World Cup
span. We were. And so with sports events and conventions leading up to that up to the World Cup, we've had a great hotel year and events like the FFA convention. You saw 16,000 blue corduroy jackets here in July. I don't know how they did
that. Seems a little hot to me, but overall that conventions like that definitely boosted our tourism numbers. And then our hotel average daily rate was up 2020 22%. So all in all, these are some of our key takeaways. If I could say to the Fort
Worth city staff, your partnership and collaboration was key to make sure that this was all successful and talk about the marketing behind this and the promotion of Fort Worth. This doesn't happen if we have a negative event that takes place. So, shout out to our first responders during that 39 days to keep
our community safe, to keep our visitors safe, and overall we're set up for success in the future. So, how we're going to welcome large events, how we're going to welcome large conventions, we have the blueprint on what it takes to make sure that we can make sure everything's successful moving forward. So, with that, I'm going to turn it back
over to Sunny to kind of give some perspective from the city side. >> Thank you, Drew. I appreciate that. Um, and so I would just say that, you know, during that time, we we were tracking about 150 activities um and engagement opportunities that were going on. Our
staff was uh you may ask how did we do that? You may recall that we had uh five committees that we set up uh with over 200 staff members that were supporting those uh weekly and monthly uh hospitality communic community um and
engagement beautifification safety security and infrastructure. In just a minute we're going to recognize those individuals. Um but first I just want to give you just a couple of quick highlights here. Um the um our uh it's clear that we provided a first class
experience. Uh we had um our environmental services team, parks and recreation code compliance uh were out there on the streets. They had identified 50 priority travel corridors. Uh they did look very close. Uh some of the numbers I'm a numbers person as you
know uh 150 issues per week. Uh and those were all resolved within like just 96 97% of them were resolved within a week. Uh TPW and our traffic teams responded over 35 roadway incidents uh with no major delays in stadium travel.
Um you may not know this but Michechum airport uh welcomed many visitors including of course their normal commuter traffic and destination traffic but on top of it they were also overflow for DFW and love. And so that was really interesting to see. uh 311 and my Fort
Worth app answered 2700 requests from the community during that time. So, this was a all hands- on deck thing. Uh it was a safe and a fun event as Drew mentioned. Uh huge thank you to my colleagues in public safety. Uh that includes the police department of
course, fire department, uh emergency communication centers, so the 911 and FAO, um our office of emergency management was engaged, office of medical director, marshals, courts, etc. Um, our responders provided nearly 50,000 hours of support. That's in the
city of Fort Worth. So, that's not for the Arlington Stadium. That's for us. Um, and that started when the check team arrived around June 5th all the way until the final match June uh July 19th. And I'll just remind you our Texas heat uh we had uh 26 days of over a 100 heat
index. So, lots of mitigation happening and it was going great. But by and large, these were all safe events. Uh we all know though that emergencies continue throughout the that's that just happens and we certainly don't want anybody to have their travel plans interrupted. Um and I will just mention
that ahead of time we deployed uh technology and tools such as language translation services uh that served our residents as well. Uh behind the scenes our we had a tremendous amount of work happening. Our joint emergency operations center supported information
sharing and situational awareness with all of our partners. Uh Fort Worth had representation in not only the Dallas and the Arlington EOCC's but also our police department uh participated and was on site in Virginia at the International Police Coordination Center
throughout the event. Uh we have so many partners that I would thank including those that are pictured here such as Tarant County Emergency Management and the Health Department, Texas Department of Emergency Management, Trinity Metro, NCT COG and transportation planning team. So special thanks also to our
finance and Fort Worth lab and PMD and just everyone that I can uh can't mention enough of them. Our grants team also will be working with NCT COG to work on some recovery for some of the public safety costs. Um, lastly, I'll mention that as an afteraction review is
already in progress. We're looking at what went right as well as what we can improve on. But my number one and strongest takeaway already is that Fort Worth knows how to shine on the world stage. So, we know how to do this. And so, it was uh really great all around.
Uh, with that, I do want to just say a couple of quick mentions and then I'll hand it to Diana. Um, of course we're thankful for your office, mayor, for working with us, as well as city manager's office, but visit Fort Worth, uh, sports commission, neighborhood and entertainment districts were there with Diana throughout, Diana and I
throughout, and we really appreciate that. I have a couple workg groupoup coordinators that I just want to mention by name that uh, really kept us tracking. Uh, that was Quinn Kohler and Armita Garcia. And so with that, I'll hand it to Dion. >> Yeah, I think Fort Worth stole the
spotlight on a global stage. I think y'all would agree too just seeing the numbers that visit shared with us. But I do want to take a minute to really thank the city team members that really put this the plan into action. They spent months and in some cases years really preparing for a regional support. And so
um you mentioned kind of just working with the North Texas FIFA Organization Committee, but this is really demonstration of what a regional community when we pull together what we can uh what we can achieve. And it's a once in a generation opportunity that they they accomplish very successfully.
And while we had all of those large volumes of people come to the city of Fort Worth, we didn't really have any major significant events. And so hats off to the first responders that really work together for this. But I do want to recognize a few names on specifically our hospitality work group that was led
by MikeRum, Bethany Warner, Senna Say, and Mitch Whitten from Visit Fort Worth. They really helped our city to feel vibrant, welcoming and ready for the visitors to create an unforgettable experience. Our communications and engagement work group led by Sada say Andre Bennett and Tom Martins with Visit
Fort Work really worked on unified communications and branding internally and externally for positive awareness and engagement. Our beautifification work group led by Cody Wittenberg and Dave Lewis elevated the city's visual identity and cleanliness and attractiveness to ensure our community
shined at every turn. Our safety and security work group led by police deputy chief Mark Barton, fire deputy chief Richard Harrison and Sunny Saxton provided diligent leadership across emergency management, police, fire, medical, and public safety partners to
keep Fort Worth safe and prepared. And lastly, our infrastructure work group led by Kelly Porter, Jim Keyasel, really strengthened the mobility planning, the transportation coordination with Trinity Metro and Texont, traffic flow considerations, and just adjustments to make sure that people were moving throughout our city safely. We also have
a number of community partners. There's too many to name, but there's a couple that really stand out. Our work with Taran County, City of Arlington, City of Dallas, Trinity Metro, DFW airport, Tex DOT, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Texas Department of Emergency Management, our local
hospitals, Leadership Fort Worth, Sundance Square, Stockyards Heritage, Near Southside, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., Camp Buouie, and our many restaurants, hotels, and destinations that really came together to support this event and the visitor experience. A special thank you to Armita. Um, also
Arita uh Garcia and Quinn Kaylor from the emergency management services. As I said, Fort Worth really stole the spotlight. All of those individuals that came to our city that were shared on their social media presence. We had free marketing. Unbelievable number of uh individuals that were really sharing our
event, but it was a true display of one city and one team. But before we close, I have one small surprise for all of those that are in the audience today that were staff members that helped with the city event. Please stand. And I know there's tons of you guys, so please stand.
As a to stay standing as a token of our appreciation from the city and the city manager's office and to commemorate the achievements by our Fort Worth team, this special moment in our city's history, we're sharing a special summer of soccer challenge coin with you all. And we look forward to distributing
these to the many other employees that really helped make this event successful. Thank you all. >> Thank you all. Council member Beck. >> Um I just I see all the folks from Visit Fort Worth kind of scattered around the room and staff. Um I had the opportunity
to view the World Cup um at a game in Arlington at Lron Plaza with uh Councilwoman Martinez and at Sundance Square. Um and I can tell you Fort Worth did it better. Um, Mitch will will uh tell you that um I don't sleep and so
I'm chronically online and I got so excited every time I saw a video of um of people from outside of our area really enjoying Fort Worth. And I'm just so proud of the um welcome that we really laid out for um for not just
people in Fort Worth, but for people all around the world. I think we did an outstanding job and I really hats go off to visit Fort Worth and uh the folks at Sundance Square at Lrron Plaza and the stockyards and then obviously our um
city staff who was incredibly agile as those crowds begin to grow and um additional streets needed to be blocked off and additional PD and fire supports were required. Um you didn't hesitate. So I really um appreciate everything
everyone did. It really made um it made my heart happy to see so many people enjoying our great city. >> Well said, Council Member Beck. Anybody else? Great job, Sunny. And all the emergency responders that were ready for anything. Um and we're just really
appreciative of the professionalism of your entire team. So, thank you. Okay, next up is a Department of Justice Crime Reduction Grant. And I believe Chief Garcia is presenting this item. >> Okay. Thank you, uh, mayor and council. Uh, we want to present on our model
cities grant presentation. Uh, we're about to discuss the Department of Justice Model Cities initiative grant. Uh, the award for this grant is $300 million. uh it will be awarded uh between two and four sites in in one part in some part of our country. We have no idea at this
point if it's two, three, or four. Uh but we're submitting this uh in collaboration with the Taran County Sheriff's Office and the Tarant County District Attorney's Office. The Sheriff's Office will be the lead and we'll be the subreient. The grant applications are due by September 1st. One of the things that I really wanted
to say is right now just call out my team and our teams uh for working together. we had 90 days uh to put this thing together uh to be able to even be in consideration for this grant. We're not sure when the grant will begin uh but we've been told that it could begin as early as 2027.
So the grant details the purpose of this grant is to implement initiatives to be a nationwide example of public safety. I believe we're already setting an example. And while other applying agencies may be starting from the beginning, like starting camera programs, a crime plan, starting a flock
program, or starting a real-time crime center, we're already doing those things. We just see this as an opportunity to do them better and potentially sooner. We would not use this for new purchases or programs that we haven't started or that we're not doing or already planning to do. um do
by doing so would create financial obligations that we would have to potentially continue uh to meet after the expiration of the grant and that's not our goal to apply for this grant. All seven listed goals need to be met. These are very diverse set of goals. Uh that's why we're partnering with the Taran County Sheriff's Office and the
Taran County District Attorney's Office. There may be things that we do better and there will be things that they excel at. We're looking to rely on Taran County for the goals that deal with behavioral health and re-entry programs as they may be better equipped to handle that. As you can see the goals, I don't
I won't read them. You can see them there. When we talk about eligibility and terms, this grant requires a comprehensive vision. This is something we do already. A perfect example um is the city manager's net force program.
That program already looks at programs from multifaceted approach which align perfectly with the grant. Also with our current crime plan as we will start delving into place network investigations with this a continuation of that vision. Uh the key um we collaborate with the
DOJ. The regrant requires us to work with the DOJ on strategies. We'll be submitting our plans that align with the Fort Worth vision and mission. will then collaborate as the plan moves forward to ensure we're using grant funding in effective and efficient ways by analyzing data and results. It is not
their intention to dictate our plans. The grant encourages applicants to be innovative and creative in their approach. Allowable costs. This slide lists some examples of allowable costs, but as stated before, the grant encourages applicants to be creative in their approaches. And the listed examples on
the slide are just examples. Alignment with our strategies. There's some example of strategies we're already doing that align perfectly with this grant. First, our first our Fort Worth crime plan. The grant wants a data-driven approach. The net force program. This aligned with the required
comprehens comprehensive approach of the grant. And then our Trident Realtime Crime Center. The grant wants applicants to leverage technology towards crime reduction. These are sample requests, a list of sample requests, but our plan is still a work in progress with Tarant County. Our
initial focus is putting forth strategic goals as opposed to very specific purchase items. We anticipate the next phase of the grant application process will be more granular in detail. We're invited to the next phase. What that means, there's two phases to this. So one phase is to narrow the group of uh
of cities that would be selected and then once that group is even narrowed then they'll further drill down on individual uh agencies uh to to get next steps. We talk with stakeholders and partnerships. We rely on our partners to meet the diverse goals of the grant
application. Obviously the sheriff's office, the DA's office, the US attorney's office, and existing social service providers. for example, uh, One Safe Place, Alliance for Children, the Night Shelder, and MHMR. We're currently working on a collaborative list of social service
providers with Taran County that will align with the goals um that we'll be reaching out for support. And with that, again, that was uh a 64,000 foot level with the grant that we're wishing to apply for. And with that, we're open to questions. Thanks, >> Chief. Questions from council. Council
Flores. Chief, I don't want to get too far ahead, uh, but I would imagine you're going to select some locations around the city, you know, to take in some, uh, observe data, right, in order to provide the information you need to make the grant
application. Is is that what you intend or >> Well, right now from the 64,000 foot level, I mean, right now we're giving the information that we're doing a lot of these programs already. Once we get that next phase, we'll be looking more granular as to what areas uh of need we'd be going. Ultimately, this really just reinforces what we're currently
doing. Again, the technology that we're already planning, our crime plan that we're already planning, uh, one thing that you lift in there as well that you can use this money for recruitment and retention, um, which is incredibly important, right? And so, um, it just would really be a shot in the arm, uh, to the city and to this department and
also to the county. >> Thank you, Council Nettles. Chief, um, is this a grant that we are applying for or is this a grant that the sheriff department is applying for? >> We're applying together.
>> Okay. Um, and I think on the maybe the slide before you mentioned that um, the sheriff department is the lead of is taking the lead on it. >> Yes. >> Point of clarification though, is it Tarant County or the sheriff's office?
because it looks like it's the DA on this uh slide it says district attorney and sheriff's office are a joint applicant together under Tarant County. Do you know that? Do you know? >> My understanding in talking to the sheriff it's a sher if the sheriff's office. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And I guess as we go through this
grant process or or approve, we will the city of Fort Worth or your department will identify our partnership with this grant. >> Yes, sir. Okay.
I'm just I only concern I have is that uh Taran County Sheriff's Department has not had a great rapport with the community and some of the action that they are doing and I want to make sure that we continue our integrity as a city for police department that we are two
different entities to make sure we're keeping public safety. >> Council member, absolutely. I mean that's one of the reasons like we highlighted with regards to the DOJ. We're going to do the things that we do. Uh we are not going to allow someone to dictate what we're going to do. We're going to continue to do and operate in the manner in which we operate. Uh and
again, this is an opportunity to apply for the grant. Uh we are going to continue. We're not changing the way we do things to appease any one body. Um I think the things that we're doing uh are very uh positive uh to from a crime fighting perspective, reduction of crime. Uh then we we don't plan on
changing the way we operate. >> Thank you. Any other questions for Chief? >> So, at this time, you feel like you'll come back to us after we know. Thanks, Jan. I'll come back to you. Um, you'll come back to this body after, you know, if we've advanced to the next stage. >> Absolutely, Mayor. Again, they're due on
September 1st. Uh, and we're hearing from a lot of local voices that the decision should be coming out fairly quickly at least for the next phase. >> Thank you, Council Martinez. >> Do we know how much what the breakdown would be per entity of the 300 million?
again, >> but we won't know unless >> we won't know right now. They don't know if it's two, three, or four. But I will say this, um four if it's four, it's about 75 million that would go uh to each individual uh partnership or agency.
>> So each entity would have their own strategies, different strategies and and so different requests. Correct. each, again, this is going to be spread out throughout the country, um to those two to four different areas in the country. Um each one of them is going to
have to be meeting the the what the grant needs are individually. Uh we're meeting them we're meeting a lot of them already in the Fort Worth. Um and each each entity will have to meet those requirements. Well, I guess just will the DA um go in
line with what the strategies that Fort Worth is proposing? >> We've had conversations. I've had conver I've met with the DA. Um he's incredibly supportive of of us supplying for this grant and supportive of what we're doing. >> Thank you. >> I >> and also with the US attorney with Ryan
Rayold as well who also needs to be an incredible partner in this and he is very supportive of us. The chief mentioned about the city not going into any new the into new new areas with this grant because the
current plan lines up so specifically with the grant requirements when it comes to the what we do as a city. The pieces that are missing are this the social piece, the re-entry piece. That's all the things that this the county does. So if you bring in the county's piece, then the whole thing lines up
well. again to not commit the city to long-term new endeavors. The idea is that we'll just continue to do our crime plan and it lays perfectly into this grant. So that's why the interest kind of lines up. >> Any other questions?
>> Thanks, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next up is an updated fiscal year 2027 projected general fund revenues. Christian Simmons with Fourth Lab is going to start our presentation.
Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Well, we too have been busy in July. We've been doing the budget, which is that more exciting than soccer. I'm not sure we can all agree to disagree on that. Um, as you know, it is a challenging
budget year. We've talked about that in our anticipated gap a couple of times. Um, and so balancing the budget is still underway. You'll hear about the fruits of that next Tuesday on the 11th. But we thought it would be prudent to bring you a general fund revenue update in advance
of that discussion. Um, as you may recall, the certified values which feed our property tax revenue are kind of the biggest piece of the general fund puzzle and we receive those on July 25th. And so since we're seeing what I would call some unprecedented activity in those values, uh, we kind of wanted to give
you an early preview. You are going to see tax rates referenced in this presentation. These are our required tax rate calculations under truth and taxation state law. We're not talking about our recommended tax rate today. You'll have to tune in next week for the recommended tax rate. Um we also have a
chance today to hear from TAD's chief appraiser, Dodon Bobbit, who was kind enough to be with us today. Um but for now, I'm going to turn it over to assistant finance director in the lab, Brady Kirk, the revenue king. Um so you can hear from him and then I think at the end we'll um probably turn it over to Jay just for a quick wrap-up and
little comments before we get into budget next week. So, I'll turn it over to Brady first. >> Thank you. And council, I think because of the length of this presentation, ask questions as we go because it may get more difficult to try to round them all out at the end. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Well, good
afternoon. I'm Brady Kirk of the Fort Worth Lab, assistant director. With all the birthdays today, I wanted to start out by saying it's also my birthday, but it's not really, so but I thought it would win me some goodwill if I did. Now, normally at this
point in the budget process, we would wait until next week when we're showing you our recommended budget to talk about our certified values and how those came in, but it's a little bit more of a significant update this year. So, we're coming a week early and showing you what those look like. And like Christian
mentioned, chief appraiser Joe Don Bob is going to follow me. So, I'll talk more about the values and what it means for our budget. and he's going to talk more about how TAD determines values and applies state law. Starting with some legislative updates
from the the Texas state legislature that are new this year. Few things dictating this process. The first one, as a reminder, we had a major exemption on business personal property and that exemption value went from 2 and a half
thousand 2500 to 125,000 per account. So, you're definitely going to feel the impact of that when I'm going through the values and and how we did overall. Then the next one is when I say truth and taxation or I I might shorten it
because I'm so used to doing it to TNT. That's the state's program that determines how we come up with these rates. So, every year we have to submit this worksheet that's publicly available. And this year we also have to publicly post this extensive evidence document that shows how we calculated
everything on there. And then finally, one thing that we thought was going to have an impact on our budget process is that the state adopted Senate Bill 973, which said that all taxable property is supposed to be appraised as of its
market value on January 1st. So that was in our interpretation largely in response to something like a reappraisal plan like the Taran Appraisal District has which doesn't require annual appraisals but the law was not quite as
specific as we might have hoped and so I think it's uh it's been interpreted as property is appraised as of January 21st just not this January 21st. So moving right into our values, I'm
going to start with our history of erosion. And when I say erosion, what I'm talking about is how much value we lose between when we get the first estimated rolls or estimated values in April and then when we get the final
certified values in July. Now, I'm going to spare you the the bad forest gump impression, but really in April, you do not know what you're going to get by the time we get to July. So, we've had as high as almost 99%
that's 1% erosion. Um, and let me just la walk you through the past few years kind of to take you briefly on some of the journeys we've had. So two years ago in 2024,
we had 6% erosion, which at the last minute was really a a pretty hard thing to work into the budget. That was much worse than we expected. And so that was a hard thing to account for about two weeks before we brought you the FY25 recommended budget.
So last year we were planning around that figure and we didn't have reappraisals either which was an extra challenge. So we were thinking it might be around that 6% and the staff from TAD recommended a figure that wasn't that
high but what it actually came in at was less than 2 and a half%. So, that was better than our estimate and better than TAD's estimate and it was better than the 10-year average of losing about 4% which is up there on the screen.
So, this year seeing that once again residential property was not being reappraised, we were considering a scenario around 6% um TAD provided an estimate. Um, we know they don't have a crystal ball, so they
can't predict it, but they were assuming it might be similar to last year's of about 2 and a half% and what we ended up getting was about 9% erosion. So that's by a pretty wide margin the worst that it's been in this 10-year history. And
when I was looking at this today, just trying to think what's a touch point for that. Uh, last year we didn't even have 3% erosion total. So we were kind of using that as a guide. This year we're 3% worse than the previous worst case
over the decades. So we weren't necessarily using last year as a guide, but we didn't think we were going to come down to an all-time high on that. And then before I go into more about the values, this is just a breakdown of how
much we have in each of our counties. So the vast majority is still probably always will be in Tarant County. So oh more than 92% uh with most of the remainder in Denton County now Denton and Parker and and
actually this year wise too they're growing at a much faster rate but it would take a lot of years of that kind of growth for them to ever get close probably to even 25% in aggregate. But this is a breakdown of how we did in
each of our counties for this year. So, uh, in FY 2025, kind of like I mentioned, despite the reappraisal plan for the Taran Appraisal District, we did a good deal better than 2024, uh, coming
in at almost 6% growth on the values. And that was broken down 2 and a.5% of new growth or new property that hadn't been on the roll in tax year 2024. And then the remainder 3.4% being existing
growth or appreciation in value of all the properties that were on the roll in tax year 24. So this year we saw commercial values really come back to earth. those were a major thing that was driving that strong existing value growth last year. So,
that's one thing uh that played a big part in why we didn't do quite as well. And that residential loss continued. So, later I'll show you more of a breakdown of buy property category, but it was uh if we're talking about where the losses
really are, that's on the residential side. It's just that the commercial didn't grow as much as it did last year. So in Tarant County, we did get overall half of a percentage of total growth. That's due to 1.8% on the new
construction, which offset a 1.3% decrease to the existing values. On Denton, we did comparatively pretty well overall. Not as well as we're really used to doing in Denton, but we got almost 4% new growth and a little
bit of existing growth. Then in Parker, we actually are seeing a little bit of the same things. So protests are really high everywhere, but we at least captured more than 13% in new growth in Parker Parker. So we're enjoying
continuing to see that part of the city grow. And then in Wise County, it's a very small percentage of our overall value. So, we shouldn't uh make any big plans based
on this, but we got 300% growth in Wise County because there's a new subdivision there for the first time. So, bringing back last year, we saw almost 6%. So, we were projecting something in the 2 to 3%
range, but we ended up at about 1%. And then this is kind of a technical point so I won't spend too much time on it, but uh there's two kinds of cap loss we can have right now under state law. So a homestead can only grow at 10% per
year and it's appraised value and all other property right now under a law called the circuit breaker can grow at only 20%. So last year you saw the homestead cap loss come down by 2.6 billion and that
was really a nice thing for us that even though residential properties were not reappraised we still got some growth on them because some of them had not caught up to their market value. So we didn't think we were going to get the whole 2.3 billion this year but we thought maybe we might get another half of that much
and we didn't really get any maybe a hundred million. So that was something that hap helped us last year that was not available this year. So I'm going to move into our tax rates that we need to report on.
Um so I'll talk about what each tax rate means, but I just want to say again these are all based on this really long worksheet. I think it's 80 steps maybe or if you count all the substeps it's more than that. And so there's not really any of our judgment baked into
these. This is really highly prescribed about everything. We have to count new construction, tiff values, annex property, all of that. And that all goes into calculating these. So the first one of these Oh, and and I'll start with
there's our flat rate. So our current tax rate is 67 cents for every $100 of taxable value. So the first one, the no new revenue rate is the rate that's supposed to
produce as much revenue on the same properties which are taxed in both years. So given that we saw a decrease in our existing property value overall, it shouldn't be a surprise that our no new revenue rate this year is actually
higher than our current tax rate. We saw that as well a couple years ago, and that's that's a funny result, but when you have low values compared to last year's values, that can happen. And the next one is the voter approval rate. And this is the what would
typically be the highest tax rate that you can adopt without going to an election before you get into everything with the increment. I'll talk about that on a future slide. So, uh if it hadn't been for our unused increment from past
years, then our voter approval rate would be 70.35 cents. So, that would be about um 3.3 cent tax increase. But because, as I'll get into,
in a lot of past years, we didn't go up to that voter approval rate, the state gives us credit for that, and we get to basically bank some of that into what's called unused increment. And so, we have uh 78.5 million dollars of
revenue that gets to go towards our unused increment. So 2023 we came in a little bit underneath that voter approval rate and then the last that's fiscal year 24 is tax year 23 and then the last two fiscal years we came in pretty far below that
voter approval rate and so just from those two years alone we have a little bit over $70 million that is money that goes into our unused increment. So that makes up that difference of 6.5 cents between the voter approval
rate and the voter approval rate with increment. And so that 76.9 cents is as high as we could go without an election. So I'm going to shift now a little bit u from uh just the city side and the value
side into a little bit more of the resident and the property owner perspective here. So, what I'm showing on this slide is average single family home values in Tarant County as reported by TAD over
the five fiscal years from FY23 through FY27. Um, and we're using average of all single family homes here, but we see a similar effect if we look at from last year to this year, the median
home value. But if I just start from the top of this chart and go down, uh, the top line is the average market home value as defined by Taran Appraisal District. And Jodon is going to include in his slides that this is not
necessarily equivalent to the home's true market value if it was going to sell on the open market. But uh I'm including this because this is the one number that is is really when you talk about the discretion of the appraisal district.
This is the one number that the TAD defines. And then everything else is applying state law and exemptions. So after that, after all exemptions are applied, you get to the average net taxable value of the home. And then when you multiply that divided by 100 times
the tax rate, you get to the city tax bill that the owner of that typical average home would pay. So, if you look at if we stuck with just what our current tax rate is and you look at that big drop from almost
$245,000 to $229,000 this year, that means the average home would be paying or and the city would be receiving for all the city the services it has to provide
about $103 less than it would have la this fiscal year. So an FY27 getting $100 less on a typical single family home than an FY26. And that's actually lower than any of
those other fiscal years if you just look at what our tax rate has been and what average home values have done over that period. So, if you were just to keep it flat and say that somebody is going to pay, and I know it's it's the average, it's the typical person, so
nobody's really the average, but if the average person had the same tax bill, FY27 is FY26, that would be about a 4 and a half cent tax rate increase, and they would pay the same thing.
Um and also just knowing that um the general cost of things goes up, cost of city services goes up. We're looking at what would have happened with inflation on these. So uh that keeping the value or the the tax bill flat from last year that is still below any
inflation adjusted figure from previous years. And then kind of a similar exercise, probably won't belver the p the point, but if you apply uh the average home value last year and now we're looking at all appraisal districts, not just TAD. So if you look
at the average across all four counties, um first you have just what our our current FY2026 is where the average home would be paying about 1,652. And if you applied either the flat rate
or the no new revenue rate or went up to that first voter approval rate, there would be some degree of a decrease in that tax bill. And these are the same rates that I told you about a few slides ago. Moving in now, I'm showing you some revenue scenarios once again for those
same tax rates. And we've got both the general fund which is those those lines in the middle and then also the general debt service fund and how we're doing on there. So at a flat rate based on this year's values, we would be collecting quite a
bit less revenue in FY2027 on property taxes than we would have in FY2026. Uh, and that's the case once again whether you look at the flat rate or the no new revenue rate. If you went up to that voter approval rate, you would be
getting some degree of a a revenue budget increase. And then if you went all the way up to the legal limit up to that almost 77 cents, you would have quite a bit more money to do something with. But for every penny that you would consider
adjusting that rate by, that tends to be roughly 11.4 4 million of revenue. And also just to to benchmark it, we'll come back to the number you may have in mind, but when we previously presented to you what our scenario was, we thought
we might hit the property tax budget at that time was about 651 a.5 million. So, and that was at a flat rate assumption. So the current flat rate is about 28 million 27 to 28 million less than that
based on how values came in. Okay. And then this is more about our revenue budgeting. And so when you look at this, if you're following along and you're you're really paying close attention, you probably saw we are talking about roughly 1% not
quite 1% in value growth, but I'm telling you here that at a flat rate, we would be budgeting much less money in FY27 than in FY26. And I want to tell you why that is. So historically, just an internal assumption, we're not
talking about the truth in taxation, but when we set our revenue budget, we look at our values and multiply that by the tax rate and make our other adjustments. We've assumed that we were going to get 98.5% of that levy. And that's to account for
the fact that some tax bills won't be collected by the assessor collector. And then there's also things that happen. A little bit of is late filed exemptions, but the majority of it is that even if properties are not successful in protesting, those can still go to
litigation. And on a very large property, the the amount that you could win lowering your tax bill compared to the cost of litigating, it's usually a pretty good proposition to go after that. So in FY26, after coming under our revenue budget for a couple years, we
took that 98 and a half percent down to 98%. But we're still forecasting pretty far below our revenue budget. And so we've looked at both throughout last year and throughout this year what we seem to be
losing to litigation mid year. And we were losing a little bit a few years ago. So you talk about look at FY 2022. We think we lost about a billion dollars from the time that we got certified
values to when we had finished collecting everything that was levied for that year. But that went up a lot in FY23 going up per year to the point where so far in FY 2026 we've lost about three and a half billion dollars of value to
those various sources most of it being litigation or arbitration. So next year instead of doing this should it be 98% 97 and a half we're just going to assume that we're going to collect 99% of tax
bills. But when we look at our values overall, we're going to take that down by 4 a.5 billion to assume that we're going to lose that value to litigation next year. So to put it in kind of consistent terms,
this year we use 98% that 4 a.5 billion plus the 99% collection assumption is the same as if we were using about 95.6%. So it's it's essentially saying we're going to come down another 2.4% from
what our assumption was this year. >> This this type of erosion is the the chief driver before behind putting in the hiring freeze and stopping discretionary funding because we're going to be $10 million short. So now
that we know this is more of what we can project going forward, that's why we're changing our our projections uh to this type of assumptions. All right. So if I start to wrap this up before pivoting over to
Tad's role and Jodon's presentation, I'd really sum this up in two different challenges that are that are each acting separately. So, the first one right now is the appraisal process. Um, when we look at what we're getting year-over-year in
values and we look at how the city is growing, sometimes it seems like it's kind of hard to reconcile those two things. So, with Taran Appraisal District's reappraisal plan, um most of that erosion
is due to the single family protests and that's on top of values that haven't been reappraised now since tax year 2024. uh multifamily and commercial property are also appraising also performing
pretty poorly this year and they're not subject to the appraisal plan but that's just how the appraisals came in and um as I was describing in the last slide and also Jay elaborated on those f falling values mean that the city's
going to earn less revenue on many properties despite the city's costs rising across the board. And then on the revenue budget side, the value loss from those litigations that happen after certification. So after the values that we base our budget on means that we're
not actually getting the revenue that our tax rates and our values say that we're going to get. Um so accounting for those mean that we're going to have a smaller revenue budget even if values and tax rates are flat. And this this is almost
I think identical to one of Jodon's slides. So, I'm not going to go into it too much, but I'll say that you can see how the protest volume is increasing every year. And this is exogenous to anything that TAD is doing. People are just protesting more both as individuals
and also backed by agents that are supporting those protests. Um, and Jodon's going to tell you about the way that state law is applied and what he calls an equity spiral. Um, so that's essentially that maybe somebody's
had a really good reason that their property value has been lowered, but that kind of opens the door without anybody really having to make a case for themselves for all of that person's neighbors on the basis of equity alone.
Um and then next year we don't really expect this this trend to go down with volume of protests especially in the midst of uh reappraisals. So I don't like the numbers. I don't like the numbers one bit. But who I do
like is Jodon and his staff. And um with these numbers that we've gotten these past couple years and especially the last month, we've really hit Jed on hard for a lot of um I would say questions, he would probably say demands for data and everything else and they're really quick about answering those. So I
appreciate that. So pending any questions from you all for me, I'm going to give him the floor. >> Brady, and maybe this is a question for you, Jay. Will you go back to slide 11 for me real quick? And as we go through the next couple
rounds of budget conversations, I think it'd be helpful for me and I think some of the general public too, and we look at the different rates that are up here. >> Um, we have any kind of or can you run scenarios on the different tax rates and what that would look like with all the proposed fees that we have too because
we're taxing people one way or another way. We're just naming it different things and I think it'd be helpful to understand like I'll use street maintenance fee for example. How does that play in or offset if we go to a higher tax rate? Okay. >> So, could you just put that on a to-do list for me? So, when we go into these budget meetings, I think just be helpful
to have some of those scenarios we can run through and better understand where we're actually taxing people when we we start talking about tax, right? >> Good. >> Anybody else questions for Brady before we ask Jon to come up? >> Okay. Thanks, Brady. >> Good afternoon. My name is Joe Bob. the
chief appraiser for Taran Appraisal District. Uh we could speak for this about appraisals for about a week, but I'm just going to try to go through these pretty quickly and let me know if y'all have any questions. So the history with with Taran appraisal district and all appraisal districts.
Prior to 1981, 1980, uh the city would have their own appraisal staff, the schools, the county, everybody had their own appraisal staff. They would appraise properties on their own and the taxpayers would have to go around and argue with every entity and try to get their appraisal to what they thought was
correct. The Peto bill combined all that into the appraisal district. We are the only ones allowed to have appraisers on staff now. So that is our primary function is to determine the value for tax purposes. Uh we do not do real estate appraisals. If you're buying a house, don't come talk to us. We only do tax appraisals and we administer
exemptions. uh our primary focus is the tax appraisal, tax exemptions, certifying the role that we just did and providing service to the 73 entities. So, y'all are our primary customers. The taxpayers are also our customers, but y'all are our primary customers that we provide a
a product to the board of directors. Their primary duty is they select the board chair and secretary. They adopt the reappraisal plan. They adopt a budget. They approve any contracts that hire and fire the chief appraiser. They appoint the taxpayer leaison officer and they
appoint the appraisal review board members. The appraisal review board members are u taxpayers just like anybody else. They're not experts in tax or property. They they are usually retired people that come in that have an interest. Uh most of the time they have been upset by the appraisal process some
point in time and that's why they have come in and they want to help you know resolve that. We are uh prohibited from communicating about certain things. So even with my board of directors outside of a public meeting, they cannot speak to me regarding the values of properties as a
whole or in general or specifically. It has to be in a public meeting if we discuss values. It is a class C misdemeanor. If they try to influence the values for taxing, it's also a class A misdemeanor. So if for y'all to tell me that I need to raise the values, that would be a criminal offense. Uh so in
general, we can talk about numbers and why they are how they are, but y'all can't tell me raise them or lower them or do whatever. So that's just a polite warning. Uh const constitutional requirements,
article 8 taxation has to be equal and uniform. And if you get into lawsuits and cases, the the courts will tell you that's probably a primary versus we have to be at 100% of market value. 100% of market value is our goal, but that's takes a second seat or to being equal
and uniform. The way we do equal and uniform is we use similar appraisal processes to appraise similar properties. So if we're looking at commercial properties like a hotel, then we appraise all hotels using the same uh method methodologies. We wouldn't use those same methodologies to
to appraise a home a resident's homestead. But if we are looking at homesteads or duplexes, we have to use the same methodology. The market value definition. Market gets used a couple different ways, but the
actual definition of market value is the price at which a property would transfer for cash or equivalent under prevailing marketing conditions if exposed for sale on open market for a reasonable amount of time. Both the seller and purchaser know of all the potential uses and both the per seller and purchaser are seek to
maximize their gains. So people will come in and they they tell us their house isn't for sale and and that's not what they bought it for. Well, it's not what you purchase your property for. We have to determine what the property would sell for if you were to put it on the market at on January
1st of any given year. Uniform and e and equal is referred to and a couple times it's in the constitution. It's also referred to as equity. Uh in chapter 41 in the protest section of the tax code, people are allowed to protest the market value of
the property or the properties appraised unequally compared to other properties that are similar. In chapter 42, which is litigation, it gives three methods to determine if a property is appraised unequal. The first two rely on determining an appraisal ratio of the
property, which is hardly ever used. The third option is is basically relying on you take a a comparable number of or a reasonable number of comps and you make appropriate adjustments. There gets a lot of debate as far as what is a reasonable number of comps and what are
appropriate adjustments. Uh for us, if we're looking at at an income property, then we typically only look at the income or characteristics of that property. But a tax agent may come in and say, "Well, this property is brick, even though this one, the one next door has the exact same rental rate. It's,
you know, Stuckco or some other exterior sighting and they want to make adjustments for that or this, you know, next to something else on the street even though the rent may be the exact same." And so you get 15 different versions of how to adjust for equity and it ends up like Brady was talking about it creates an equity spiral. So, a valid
reason can lower the the value of a property and then that gets lost as to why that property was lowered and then it just kind of spirals and especially after a three-year reappraisal plan on a on a resident's homestead, the values when 30% of the homes have been protested, we slowly just get this
equity spiral down where where the values just erode over time and there's not we don't have a chance to get them back up. Mass appraisal is basically using u schedules and and statistics to
determine what a property would sell for. We list the condition of the property, the size of the property, and the construction style and other uh features and characteristics. We you put that into a system that generates a value for all properties and it should be consistent across all properties.
Then we also look at sales to make sure that we the values that we generate are comparable to what is actually going on in the market. So the equity spiral this is what I was talking about a minute ago. So as the value could actually be reduced based on actual market value of what the property
would actually sell for. It could also be based on one guy's house or one guy's property he thinks is worth um 100% of market. He might be fine with that. but his neighbor he thinks is at 95% of market and he may pull in four other
comps that he thinks are at 95% of market and use that as as evidence and proof that we should lower his to 95%. Also, like I said, you can make those adjustments and there's no real way that's defined in the tax code or law that says how you have to make those adjustments. And so, it's whatever they can whatever adjustments they can
justify to to get their value lowered. Uh the last bullet on here, the litigation. So people come through, they do protest and then they file either arbitration or litigation. A lot of the tax agents, they want to be the last to come see us during the protest pro
process, but then they also want to come file a lawsuit because that gives them a second bite at the apple and they want to be the last guy in to get their their litigation resolved because that just gives they can take all the previous settlements and court cases and anything else and use that as evidence to further
reduce their value. This is a slide for protest growth. And so I went back to 2018 and what you'll see the owner protests are are pretty much pretty much the same for the last eight years. So we started off with 57,000 owner protest and now we're at 67,000.
So not a whole lot of change, but the tax agents have we're up almost two and a half times the protest we had eight years ago. We we this is kind of a trend going across the state. So we we continue to expect seeing another 10% growth or more in the future years.
Considering that next year is a reappraisal plan, we will be reappraising for 2027. We may even see more than a 10% increase in the protest next year. Arbitration and litigation. Uh if you're a large commercial business, um now I
think you the limit is $5 million. If your propertyy's under $5 million, you can file arbitration. Uh there's no discovery there's basically that you once they file we have like a 45day settlement period where we can exchange evidence to discuss the property. Once it goes to
the arbitrator then we don't know what's going to happen. Uh we can look at previous arbitration cases and kind of have an idea. But a lot of times what we look at is is how strong our case is, what the what the property owner's case is and just in general what we think the
arbitrators are doing. um from year to year you can kind of see patterns. Sometimes arbitrators will just split the difference and we have to pay the fee. Sometimes they'll they'll kind of lean towards the taxpayer and sometimes they lean towards us. And so it changes from year to year, but we try to mitigate that risk and resolve what we
can if we can get to a reasonable value. Litigation is is kind of similar. Um that keeps going up about 10% per year. And if you're a large company, it it's really uh a no risk uh situation. You might as well file file a lawsuit, see
if you can get it reduced. Most of them will. We do get some that non-suit uh within the first few several months. Most of our lawsuits we're able to get resolved within about a year. Um there the risky part for us for litigation,
their attorney's fees. If we lose a lawsuit, we have to pay the attorney's fees. If if we win, if we we prevail, there are no attorney fees recovery for for us. We end up having to pay our attorney and so it can get very expensive. I think the limit is $100,000 or the
amount of decrease in tax liability per property per year in a lawsuit. So, it can add up quite quick. So, when our guys, we end up with we're pushing 2,000 lawsuits I think annually right now.
And we resolve most of those and the historical average has been out about 15%. Is what we typically see. A lot of that is when we go if we go actually have to go into a case and go before a jury, most people don't like us and so we
don't like our odds at a jury. So, you know, we have to take that in account when we're when we're trying to resolve these things. Market value is rarely they usually file under market value and equity. Those are two things that they can follow suit under. But market value is typically not
what we hang our hat on or what they hang their hat on. They may know that the property is only at 90% of market value, but they still it's not that the value is wrong. They don't want to pay the taxes and so anything they can do to lower their their tax liabilities is what they're after. Uh here's a quick 2027 market outlook
from Texas&M Real Estate Center at Red Fin. They're showing about a 2.3 2.3% decrease year-over-year. This is looking at our sales ratios. So right now we have these are all sale prices in the the price range
and the total we're about 15% low based on the current sales that are that are taking place right now. And so right off the bat when we roll out our numbers in 2027 so next April we expect to see about a 15% increase in our values when we reappraise. The homestead cap will protect the homeowners the the people
that have a homestead exemption and so they'll be capped at 10%. the um circuit breaker that Brady mentioned that expires in this year. So, there won't be a circuit breaker going forward and for 2027. The legislature could renew it, but I don't think they'll have a chance to get it renewed for this tax year in
time. >> Those are my try to go through pretty quick, but if y'all have any questions. >> Thank you, Jodon. Questions from council. Council Rebeck. Yeah. I just um are there any other counties in Texas that appraise the way TAD does in this
every other year cycle? >> Parker has been doing it for quite a while. Um the market is typically slower in Parker and but they didn't try a three-year. They were doing a two-year cycle which could potentially work. So if the market is uh so I guess the rate
the speed at which you reappraise um values would be largely dependent on the speed of the market. >> Yes ma'am. >> Okay. So is Tarant County is not not speedy enough to appraise every year?
>> It was a policy decision by the board and the thought at the time was that the market would be pretty flat when when we entered into the reappraisal plan. Has the market ever been flat? >> It was kind of forecasted that way when this started.
>> Has it been flat? >> Not in the last 10 years. >> So this started last year. >> The reappraisal plan was passed, I believe, in 24. >> 24. So in the past 10 years, we haven't been flat, but in 24, we said we might be flat. And so we're going to do this
three-year appraisers appraisal cycle. That's what the campaign the elected officials that's what they campaigned on. >> Okay. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you. >> What has it looked like in Dallas County? >> They reappraised pretty much every year.
>> Okay. And as a result, what have their appraisals looked like? >> I haven't really kept track of what what their appraisals are. >> Yeah. So maybe on City Staff's part, BR Brady and your team, you can bring back some comparative data that'd be helpful
for us to look at. Um because I you know candidly DFW the entire region and candidly maybe Colin County as well. It's not just Parker County. We're all growing and it would be helpful for us to have some context as we discuss this with other elected leaders at the county
level and how it's impacting cities. Any other questions for Jodon at this time? >> No. Okay. Thank you very much for coming. We appreciate you staying today. Yeah, thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. Great presentation. >> Randy, do you have any more slides or
are we done? Christian Joe, before you leave, I wanted to say thanks for coming in. >> Yeah, we do appreciate it. Do we have one more slide? >> Yes, there it is. All right. And J, I'll let you take this bit of a reminder about where we're going into next week.
>> Yes. So, uh, this is just a summary. One of the reasons we did this because it is a completely different change. One of the as Brady mentioned, one of the the things that's happening is as as in his job trying to project revenues on the properties tax side has become extremely
difficult u because of the changes that are in place. We don't have any history and so you know you always try to be conservative. We thought we were conservative like you mentioned we we went with a higher number and we were still off and you'll see the the net impact of an additional 27 almost 28
million shortfall in revenue is what we're projecting. So um we wanted to do this because when we left back in June we were showing that $49 million number as our shortfall of what we're trying to balance the budget to. That's now the 70
almost $77 million number. So, u we just wanted to I wanted to get kind of level set both with you all the media and the public that that's we're based we're coming off of that as we go into next week's presentation on the proposed budget. And as as Christian
mentioned, we're in the final throws of finishing all that that up. We did receive these numbers about a week and a half ago, more or less. So, it really changed uh where we were and so we had to uh come up with additional
um ways to potentially save, looking at uh you know potential tax rate increase, all those kind of things to try to get to that that final number. And so, we'll have that presentation next week. Um but this was kind of just to get a level set of where we when we left in June and
where we are going into the budget next week. Christian, you may know this off the top of your head having lived this last several months, but if you look at slide 33 that's in front of us and the projected shortfall um of 70 almost 77
million. If you go back and look at possible scenarios of voter approved tax rate, increase in the tax rate, how does that number change based on those decisions the council's going to have to make? Mhm. Yeah. So the July scenario is
built on a flat tax rate. So 67 cents. >> Okay. >> So anything you were to adopt above a flat tax rate would make that $77 million, it would reduce it. Um and every one cent like Brady mentioned is about 11.5 million. Okay.
>> And so if you do that kind of quick math. Okay. >> Um that's how you could step that gap down. >> And Jay, is that a part of your presentation next week? >> Yes. We'll be we'll be going through that and I'm not recommending a 7% or 7
cent increase in the in the property tax rates just so you know because that's what it would take to to cover that gap just off the top of my head. >> Okay. Is there anything else the council would like to see as a part of presentation
next week after today's presentation or proceed as planned and make changes accordingly? >> Yes. So we'll be recommend you know under state law we have to have a balanced budget. My job is to bring forward a balanced recommended balanced budget. So it'll be balanced. We'll go
through uh you saw the revenues today so we don't have to do a lot of revenue side but we'll go through the expenditure sides. We'll show how they how it's balanced and then talk about the impacts on the various departments uh and what those are as we go forward and on what I'm recommending. Of course,
council at the end of the day has has the the discretion to give guidance and and provide feedback on where you'd like to think see things changed, whether it's more more reductions, additional tax rate increase, those kind of things.
And so, we'll go through that process and I'm sure I'm going to hear feedback where you'll say, well, I don't like the fact that that was eliminated or why didn't you eliminate that versus this. So, we'll go through all those all those things. We did add an additional work session on the 21st in the morning back
in in mid uh July actually when we first we first started getting an inkling that this was going to happen. Um so and it's a three-hour one because we thought you might want to have that those discussions. So after next week uh based on the council we can decide whether or
not we want to keep that one or not. We have other shorter work sessions on Tuesdays, but we didn't have any longer work sessions and so that was that was put into place. Should be on your calendars. >> Mayor, I have a question. >> Yes, sir. C. >> So, um, you're saying our budget deficit
went from 50 million to 70 million. >> 78 million. >> 78 million. Okay. >> Based on re the revenues that you just saw coming in lower >> and with a flat tax rate, >> right? >> Flat tax. and what you're going to propose next week. When will we have access to that?
>> On Tuesday, we'll be doing the presentation. Um, and >> you usually send that out to us in advance. >> Yeah, we don't on the budget because it'll show all that info and we'll start having all the questions or or the media
asking for information before we have a chance to have the discussions with you all, right? We'll go through it and then provide all the all the details. Um, and all the sheets. That's typically how we do it. Or else you have articles that will be put out without any context.
>> Jay, I'm gonna I'm sorry. I want to request to have that information in advance because I think we can come up with more thoughtful questions. I mean, I think we know what the context is. We know we're going to have discussion about it. You're going to walk through it, but I think it's helpful for some of us to have it a couple days in advance. We can at least understand what we're
looking at when we come to Tuesday. >> Yeah, that's what I was walking with. >> We're still trying to also finalize a presentation. As I mentioned, we're still getting everything together. I'll try to provide it to you no later than Monday morning. >> That would be helpful. Anyone else? >> Thank you, Christian. We appreciate you
and your team. >> Okay. Our last presentation council is an update on data center regulation and Jess McKan is going to walk us through. >> All right. Mayor and council. Well, this is a a very shortened presentation now from what we originally planned. Um, I'm
going to walk you through the timeline of where we got to so far and then yesterday, Governor Abbott issued a directive to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and to Urkott. And so, I'm going to talk about that and just give you kind of an update. So, on your slide here, you see a timeline and
update of the overall process of how we got to where we are at this point. In March, you expressed an interest in having staff study data center developments and bring back to you any recommended um regulation changes that we deemed appropriate. So, we started
that effort in mid-March. We worked extensively throughout the months of April and May in a ton of research looking at every publication we could get our hands on, looking at the state laws, watching the OT large load process. Even though we do not have any regulatory authority in the electric
grid, we know that that is very much a part of the conversation and concerns. We've been tracking many other cities predominantly here in Texas, but also outside of Texas as well to see um what regulations other cities are putting into place or even what they're considering. There have been a number of
cities who have taken up this same topic and decided either not to act or decided to go back to the drawing board and keep evaluating. So, we're really watching the pulse of everything that is happening right now in our area and outside. So, on June 2nd, we presented
to you our staff's recommended proposal for regulatory changes regarding data center developments. I'm not going to go through that again here. You have that presentation. Um, and so we we went through that and council, you had asked us to engage the public more. So starting that night of work session, we
launched a public survey where we asked people to weigh in and give us their feedback on the proposed regulations. Uh we did receive a number of survey responses to that. We received um almost 1500 survey responses online and we will bring that back to you in a future date
to go over those responses. We also held an open house here at city hall on June 30th. We were very appreciative. Not only did our staff attend that public house, I'm sorry, open house to engage with the public, but also we had um Tarant Regional Water District here to talk about the water resources and the
water supply. They were a very popular table. And then we were extremely pleased. We also had staff members from the public utility commission of Texas that participated and they had a booth here and so we're very appreciative of all of those people that participated. We also received 110 written responses
to our questions about the proposed regulations at that open house. as well. And again, we'll bring that back to you. The week after the June 2nd work session presentation, I emailed the full presentation that went to you with all the proposed regulations along with a link to the council work session. I sent
that to the zoning commission in order to give them a heads up that this would be coming to the zoning commission in July at their meeting and to let me know ahead of time if there were any questions. On July 8th, I attended the zoning commission meeting with our staff. Um, and we covered with the
zoning commission the proposed zoning regulations only. Again, we also limited that presentation to just zoning since that is the purview of the zoning commission. We presented that in their work session meeting in the morning and then in their open session in the afternoon. Um, the zoning commission
heard a lot of great commentary from the public. A lot of the same themes that we are seeing in all of the survey responses and that we saw just throughout the time of our research onto the topic. the zoning commission agreed that we need stronger regulations, but they did not come to a point of
consensus. So, at the time, their discussion was um thinking that all the other regulations were going to move forward with council in August, and they did not want the zoning piece not to move forward as well. So, they voted to deny the regulations knowing though in their mind that that would still move
them forward for council to be able to adopt those regulations with everything else. um as we originally intended on August 11th. The day after zoning commission, I think it was the day after, maybe two days after. Later that week though, we received notice from the majority of council that there was a
desire to explore the moratorium process and to not act yet on adopting those regulations. So we took those regulations off the planned agenda for August 11th and instead we started talking about and looking at what does a moratorum process look like. So that's
kind of where we are to date and and thus far. Now yesterday um this is a very fastmoving topic and there are lots of changes constantly. Yesterday, Governor Abbott issued a second letter, a directive to public utility commission and to the Electric Reliability Council
of Texas directing them to conduct a full comprehensive uh verification and audit of all data center projects in Texas that are in the approval process and not to approve any more connections to the grid to the electric grid until
this audit is complete. That letter laid out um five key pieces of information which you see on the slide here that the governor is requesting the public utilities commission and to obtain. That includes financial information uh
focusing primarily on responsibility to for who bears the cost for all of the infrastructure upgrades and extensions that are needed but also looking at incentives both at the state level and local level. It includes um information on power supply generation, peak demand,
and where the source of that power supply would be coming from. Same for water. Uh focus on what types of cooling technologies these proposed data center developments are going to be looking at. Also looking at neighboring property impacts, including noise mitigation plans, setbacks, um anything that the
development is proposing in order to ensure that it is not negatively impacting surrounding properties and communities. And then finally to look at project ownership and controlling interest. Now this letter came out yesterday. We saw it about midafternoon or so. So um we are taking a step back
to evaluate what does this letter mean and what impact does that have on us? Because if a project can't get approval to connect to the grid, we you know we don't know really then what does that timing look like to move forward. So at this time I'm just going to say we're evaluating. We're getting some more
information. We're trying to really understand what does that mean? what projects are already approved, what projects are now going to be um subject to this review and audit before they can get their approval process. Okay, so with that, any questions or
discussion? Thank you, Jess. Questions or comments from council? No, >> we appreciate you. >> Okay, thank you very much. >> Council, future agenda items before we move back into executive session? No. Okay, we're now work session is adjourned and we'll move into executive
session. Thank you.