* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [00:15:19] [00:15:21] YEAH. [00:15:26] HOW'S [00:15:26] IT GOING? IT'S BEEN A CRAZY DAY. ALRIGHT. TIME IS NOW 5:31 PM WE'LL CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER. IT HAS BEEN POSTED AS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW. UM, AT THIS TIME, EVERYONE, PLEASE RISE. HEAVENLY FATHER, WE ASK THAT YOU GUIDE US IN THIS WORKSHOP AND ENSURE THAT WE DO THE WORK THAT IS, UH, REQUIRED OF US AND BE GOOD STEWARDS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS, AND HELP US TO BE EFFICIENT AND MOVE THROUGH THIS MEETING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. AMEN. AMEN. THE FATHER ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, LIBERTY, JUSTICE FOR ALL. OKAY. AND WE DO HAVE A QUO OF THE CITY COMMISSION. LET THE RECORD REFLECT THAT. WE, UM, IS COMMISSIONER HERE? HERE? NO. COMMISSIONER. THAT'S HIS STAFF. NO, NO, THIS IS MINE. OH, THAT'S YOURS. OKAY. UH, LET THE RECORD REFLECT THAT COMMISSIONER MEMER IS NOT, UH, PRESENT. WILL HE BE JOINING AS MYRA? NO. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. MOVING FORWARD, MARK. UNDER STATE LAW, A CONFLICT OF INTEREST EXISTS IF A COMMISSION MEMBER OR CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THAT PERSON'S FAMILY HAS A QUALIFYING FINANCIAL INTEREST IN AN AGENDA ITEM. MEMBERS WITH A CONFLICT OF INTEREST CANNOT PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCUSSION OR VOTE ON ANY AGENDA ITEM. ARE THERE ANY KNOWN CONFLICTS OF INTEREST TO DISCLOSE AT THIS TIME? NONE. NONE. NONE. NONE, NONE. ALL RIGHT. AND MOVING ON, UH, CITIZEN COMMUNICATION, WE DON'T HAVE ANYONE SIGNED UP TO SPEAK. UM, MYRA, CITY SECRETARY DID PASS ON A, UH, REQUEST THAT WAS SUBMITTED, AND Y'ALL HAVE THAT AT YOUR SEATS. MOVING ON TO ITEM FOUR, DISCUSSION ON THE PROPOSED CITY OF HARLINGEN BUS BUDGET YEAR FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026 TO 2027. UH, GABE, UM, MAYOR, BEFORE WE GET STARTED, UM, WE DO HAVE, UM, A, A WORKING WORKSHOP, UH, FROM EXCEL UP ON THE SCREEN THAT'S, UH, GOING TO, UH, BE MAKING ADJUSTMENTS AS, AS WE PROCEED. UH, ROBERT'S GONNA GO THROUGH THE, THROUGH THE PRESENTATION, WE HAVE ENTERED THE REQUESTS THAT WERE ASKED FOR BY THE COMMISSION. ALL THE, ALL THE POSITIONS, ALL THE CAPITAL ITEMS HAVE BEEN ENTERED. AND AS IT STANDS RIGHT NOW, UM, WE ARE OVER BUDGET AND ROBERT IS GONNA GO THROUGH THE SLIDES. HE'S NOT GONNA GO THROUGH THE ENTIRE PRESENTATION. UH, WE DO HAVE A HARD COPY. DID YOU PASS THOSE OUT, MAYOR? YES, WE DO. OKAY, AWESOME. OKAY, ROBERT. OKAY. THANK YOU. UH, GOOD EVENING, UH, MAYOR, COMMISSIONERS AND STAFF, UM, ON THIS POWERPOINT WE HAVE THE, UH, DASHBOARD. YES, SIR. IS THERE WAY WE CAN HAVE THAT HERE? I, I, UM, IT'S PLUGGED IN DIRECTLY TO SOMEBODY'S LAPTOP. I DON'T, THERE YOU GO. THAT WAS IT. NO, THAT WAS IT. WE HAVE IT. OH, IT'S SEPARATE. OKAY. YEAH, IT WON'T CONNECT ALL, ALL THREE, SO THAT WE CAN HAVE THE POWERPOINT BEFORE YOU, BEFORE YOU JUMP INTO THIS, UH, ROBERT, I HAVE JUST A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS. SURE. JUST FOR CLARITY, UM, SO YOU PLUGGED IN THE INFORMATION FROM THE LAST MEETING? YES, CORRECT. UM, BUT, OR THE QUESTION FOR YOU AND FOR GABE, THE BUDGET THAT WAS PRESENTED TO US BEFORE WE MADE ANY CHANGES AND ADDED, UM, WAS THAT BUDGET LEAVING EVERYTHING THE SAME FROM PRIOR, PRIOR YEAR? UH, EXCEPT FOR THE POSITIONS THAT WERE ADDED AND THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS? YES. UH, THE ONLY CHANGE THAT WE DID, UH, MAKE WAS TO THE HEALTH INSURANCE. MM-HMM . UM, GOING SELF-FUNDED AND THE $300,000 INCREASE THAT WE HAD MM-HMM . UM, AND SO WE'RE GONNA HAVE TWO SLIDES TO PRESENT TO YOU. ONE WITHOUT THE CBA, AND THEN ONE WITH THE CBA, UH, BASED ON THE LAST, UM, ON THE INFORMATION THAT, UH, DR. RAMIREZ PRESENTED TO YOU IN EXECUTIVE SESSION. UM, AND SO THOSE WERE THE ONLY CHANGES THAT WE MADE. UH, STAFF DID NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE BUDGET. IT WAS A STATUS QUO BUDGET. OKAY. THE ONLY [00:20:01] CHANGES WERE MAYBE MADE BY THE COMMISSION ON THE POSITION TO ADD AND THE CAPITAL COSTS. RIGHT. BUT PRIOR, THE, WHAT WAS PRESENTED TO US WAS A STATUS QUO, THAT IT WAS A STATUS QUO BUDGET. YES, MA'AM. OKAY. ALRIGHT. SO THAT IS ALWAYS STILL AN OPTION FOR THE COMMISSION, CORRECT? YES. OKAY. THEY'D HAVE TO GO BACK AND PRETTY MUCH REMOVE EVERYTHING THAT WAS ADDED TO GET US THERE. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. OKAY. UM, I'LL GIVE YOU JUST A, A LITTLE OVERVIEW ON, ON THE, UH, UH, THE DASHBOARD. SO ON THE TOP LEFT WHERE IT SAYS GENERAL FUND, RIGHT UNDER THERE YOU SEE METRICS. SO, UH, IT'LL HAVE REVENUES, EXPENDITURES, SURPLUS, COMMITTED ENDING FUND BALANCE. AND SO THE COLUMN RIGHT NEXT TO IT THAT SAYS, UH, BASE BUDGET, THAT IS THE ONE THAT WAS PREPARED, UH, WITH A STATUS QUO BEFORE WE HAD OUR WORKSHOP. SO IF YOU SEE WE HAD 71 MILLION IN, UM, 7 1 7 48 IN REVENUES, 69 MILLION IN EXPENDITURES. SO THAT LEFT A SURPLUS OF 2,000,069. SO AFTER THE FIRST BUDGET WORKSHOP, THAT WORKSHOP CHANGES, WE ADDED 2 MILLION 2 97 IN ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURES. SO, UH, THE REV, THE OTHER LAST COLUMN, RIGHT UNDER BUDGET WORKSHOP, THAT THAT LEFT THE REVENUES AT 71 7 48, AND EXPENDITURES AT 7 9, 7 5, LEAVING A DEFICIT OF 227,000. SO THAT'S HOW, HOW THAT BUDGET, UM, UH, BREAKDOWN GOES. SO THEN ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU SEE WHAT THE NET IMPACT TO THE, TO THE BUDGET IS BASED ON THE WORKSHOP. SO RIGHT NOW WE HAD 2 MILLION, 2 97 IN ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURES, WHICH REDUCED OUR FUND BALANCE. UH, BELOW, ON, ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE TO THE BOTTOM OF, OF THE RECAP OF THE METRIC, YOU HAVE LIVE WORKSHOP CHANGES. SO IF WE CHANGE ANYTHING IN REVENUES, IT'LL POPULATE THERE, IT'S AN INCREASE OR DECREASE. AND THEN RIGHT UNDER THAT, IF WE HAVE INCREASE OR DECREASE IN EXPENDITURES, IT'LL, IT'LL AFFECT THAT. AND THEN THE LITTLE COLUMN, THE LITTLE CHART BELOW THAT, OR IT'LL POPULATE IT IF IT'S A RECURRING, A ONETIME CAPITAL OR A ONETIME NON-CAPITAL. SO THAT'S KIND OF HOW THAT'S GONNA POPULATE AS WE MAKE CHANGES, UM, AS WE GO. DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ON THERE? UM, THE, THE 2,000,297, THAT WAS JUST WHAT WAS ADDED, UH, FROM THE FIRST WORKSHOP, NOT INCLUDING THE CBA, CORRECT. NOT INCLUDING THE CBA? THAT'S CORRECT. OKAY. AND WE ZOOM IN A LITTLE BIT IS AS THE SONG GOES, I'M NOT AS YOUNG AS I ONCE WAS, BUT I'M AS GOOD AS I EVER WAS AS I EVER WAS. BUT I CAN'T SEE THAT AS WELL AS I WOULD LIKE GET US IN THE COUNTRY A LITTLE. YOU'RE THE YOUNGEST ONE ON THE COMMISSION. IT'S PRETTY BAD. . I KNOW, TO BE FAIR, I AGREE WITH COMMISSIONER PEREZ. RIGHT. IT WOULD'VE BEEN NICE TO HAVE IT IN FRONT OF US. BUT, UH, IF WE CAN JUST ZOOM IN. JUSTIN, WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SEE? ALL OF IT. EVERYTHING. . OKAY. AND, AND, AND, UM, YEAH. HOW'S THAT? THAT'S PERFECT. THAT GETS US WHERE WE NEED TO BE. OKAY. UH, WE'RE NOT QUITE THERE YET, BUT WE'LL GET THERE. CORRECT. AND THEN THE OTHER THING I APOLOGIZE, ROBERT, IS THAT TWO, I JUST WANT TO CONFIRM THAT 2, 2 9 7 DOES NOT INCLUDE THE LAW ENFORCEMENT. NO, IT DOES NOT. NO, BUT WE'RE GONNA HAVE A SLIDE THAT EXPLAINS ALL THAT. SO WE'LL HAVE A SLIDE THAT EXPLAINS IT, AND IF YOU, IF YOU WANT US TO ADD IT, WE CAN ADD IT AND YOU CAN SEE THE EFFECT THAT IT HAS. SO WHY DON'T WE DO THAT? OKAY. BECAUSE, UH, WE NEED TO DO THAT. IS THERE SOMEONE DOING THAT? YEAH, SHE'S, SHE'S SITTING IN THE BACK. OH, OKAY. SO THAT'S, SO YOU'RE THE ONE WITH ALL THE POWER BACK THERE, . AND THAT'S $988,997 AND 72 CENTS. YES. YEAR ONE. IT SHOULD BE ON THE SECOND YEAR ONE. YES. MM-HMM . SO WHILE YOU'RE DOING THAT, UM, JUST A BASIC CLEAR, UH, STARTING POINT, IS THAT, UH, FOR THE STAFF THAT'S HERE IN THE ROOM, CLEARLY THE, UH, THE REQUEST, THEY CAN ALL, THEY CANNOT ALL BE FUNDED. LIKE THAT'S JUST A, A, A BASE FOR US TO START FROM. THAT'S CORRECT. AND, UM, 9 89, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO ACTUALLY REMOVE SOME OF THESE ITEMS UNLESS WE TAKE MONEY FROM THE FUND BALANCE, WHICH I'M NOT SUGGESTING THAT WE DO THAT TODAY. 989,000. UM, SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE SEEN, UH, ONE OF MY FRIDAY MEMOS, I THINK IT WAS THE LAST ONE WHERE I TALKED ABOUT THE FITCH RATINGS AND HOW THEY UPGRADED OUR MM-HMM . OUR OUTLOOK FROM AA PLUS WITH A POSITIVE OUTLOOK. AND THAT'S BECAUSE OF THE, THE FUND BALANCE, THE HEALTHY FUND BALANCE THAT WE HAD. SO [00:25:01] THAT'S IMPORTANT TO KEEP THAT. AND THAT THAT WAS SPECIFICALLY, UH, STATED IN THE BRIEF OF FIT RATINGS. THAT THAT'S WHY THEY GAVE US, UH, THE SAME RATING WITH THE, ACTUALLY AN IMPROVEMENT IN, IN THE, UH, THE OUTLOOK IT WAS IN, IN THE OUTLOOK. MM-HMM . IT LOOKS LIKE THIS IS THE BEST THAT IT'S BEEN SINCE I'VE BEEN HERE. YEAH. I MEAN, AND IT'S BEEN GOOD THE ENTIRE TIME, BUT THIS, IT'S BEEN VERY STABLE. YES. MM-HMM . SO THE EFFECT OF THAT NOW CHANGES THAT TO 3,000,287 IN EXPENDITURE. SO IF YOU LOOK AT THE LAST COLUMN WHERE IT SAYS REVISED SCENARIO, IT BRINGS DOWN OUR, OUR DEFICIT TO 1,000,200 17, 640. SO WE'LL HAVE REVENUES OF 71 7 48, AND EXPENDITURES OF 72, 965, 6 74. IS THERE ANY TAX RATE THAT WE COULD ADOPT THAT WOULD, UM, FILL THESE REQUESTS? AND IF SO, WHICH ONE IS IT? AS IS WITH THE EXPENDITURES? YES. AND THE, UH, THE CBA. YES. UM, IF YOU TURN TO PAGE FOUR MM-HMM . ACTUALLY, PAGE FIVE, 2 CENT INCREASE, MA'AM, IT WOULD REQUIRE A, UH, 3 CENT INCREASE. WELL, I THINK A 2 CENT ONLY GIVES US A 30. YEAH. 6,002 2 CENT INCREASE WOULD GIVE US, UH, 36 4 74 DEFICIT. DEFICIT. SO TELL ME AGAIN. SO IF YOU LOOK AT ON PAGE FIVE, THE THIRD COLUMN MM-HMM . THAT WOULD BE A 2 CENT DECREASE. CAN YOU PUT NO, I KNOW IT'S GONNA BE, BUT IS THERE NO WAY FOR US, FOR THOSE THAT ARE FOLLOWING ALONG TO SEE, UM, ON THE POWERPOINT? OR IS THAT NOT GONNA WORK? 'CAUSE WE HAVE THAT MAYOR IN ONE OF THE SLIDES THAT WE'RE GONNA GO THROUGH IN THE PRESENTATION ON SLIDE FIVE. OKAY. YEAH. THIS ONE WON'T CONTROL THE SLIDES 'CAUSE IT'LL ONLY DO THES FINE EXCEL AND THE, AND THE SLIDES. BUT ON PAGE FIVE, IF YOU, IF YOU LOOK AT THE 2 CENT INCREASE FROM WHAT WE HAVE CURRENTLY MM-HMM . IT'LL, IT'LL GIVE US A 36,474 DEFICIT. DID YOU SAY 3 CENT? TWO A 2 CENT. 2 CENT, MM-HMM . WHICH IS CURRENTLY OUR, OUR TAX RATE IS, UH, 52, UH, OH ZERO SIX. 0 6 0 MM-HMM . AND SO THAT WOULD BE AT 50, 54, 4 MM-HMM . AND THE VOTER APPROVAL RATE IS 56. YES. YES. MM-HMM . OKAY. SO I THINK, JUST SO THAT WAY WE CAN BE EFFICIENT WITH OUR TIME. I DON'T WANNA GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS LINE BY LINE. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT IS, IS THIS COMMISSION WANTING TO FUND EVERYTHING HERE AND ENTERTAIN, UM, A 2 CENT INCREASE THAT IS, UH, ONE OF THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO YOU? AND IF, AND IF NOT, THEN WE, YOU KNOW, WE MOVE ON TO THE NEXT STEP. WOULD YOU BE, WOULDN'T THAT BE FAIR TO SAY THAT'S THE MOST EFFICIENT? I THINK SO. OKAY. SO WHAT ARE, WHAT ARE THE COMMISSION'S THOUGHTS ON, ON THAT? ALL RIGHT. WE'RE AWFULLY QUIET. LET'S START WITH COMMISSIONER GOMEZ. I'M LOOKING MAYOR, I'M PONDERING LOPEZ. I THINK WE NEED TO SEE WHAT ELSE WE CAN CUT. RIGHT? OKAY. FROM THE BIG LIST. I KNOW YOU'RE NOT, YOU WANNA BE A LITTLE MORE EFFICIENT WITH OUR TIME, BUT MM-HMM . I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE, WE TRIM ALL THE FAT WE POSSIBLY CAN MM-HMM . AND THEN WE SEE WHAT THE MEAT IS. UH, BECAUSE I DON'T WANT US TO CUT SO MUCH THAT WE END UP HURTING OURSELVES. AND SO I WANT THE CLEANEST AND CLEAREST PICTURE OF WHAT DO WE ABSOLUTELY NEED. AND AS THIS COMMISSION HAS BEEN WORKING VERY HARD TOWARDS THIS DRAINAGE MM-HMM . AND PARKS. RIGHT. OKAY. WHICH BOTH IMPACTS DRAINAGE. RIGHT. UH, SO, OKAY. THAT'S WHERE I WOULD RECOMMEND WE PROCEED FORWARD. I AGREE. WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHERE WE CAN MAKE SOME CUTS, MAKE SOME CUTS BEFORE WE DECIDE TO INCREASE THIS FROM WHEREVER WE'RE AT TO A 3 CENT OR A 2 CENT INCREASE. SO WE NEED TO REDUCE MM-HMM . BETTER. SAME. OKAY. UM, THAT'S WHERE I'M AT. OKAY. EXACTLY THE SAME. SO, SO HAVING HEARD THAT, THEN WE KNOW THAT, UM, THERE IS NOT AN INTEREST IN FUNDING THE ENTIRE, UM, ASKS. SO WE'RE GONNA DO SOME CUTS. SO THOSE ARE, THAT ARE THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE IN THE ROOM. I THINK THAT, UM, JUST SO THAT, YOU KNOW, EVERY ASK IS IMPORTANT AND WE VALUE EVERY DEPARTMENT, BUT I TEND TO AGREE, AND I THINK THE COMMISSION, THERE'S A CONSENSUS THAT IT'S DRAINAGE AND PARKS. IS THAT THAT RIGHT? ABSOLUTELY. YES. YES. MAYBE. MAYBE. OKAY. SO WHAT IS YOURS? WELL, I GOTTA LOOK AT IT A LITTLE BIT THOROUGHLY. I, I, I'M NOT GONNA GIVE YOU AN ANSWER JUST LIKE THAT. MM-HMM . SO I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN CUT MORE [00:30:01] THAN JUST THE DRAINAGE IN PARKS. THERE'S GOTTA BE SOME OTHER NO. SO THE POINT IS TO FUND AS MUCH IN DRAINAGE IN PARKS. TRUE. IS AND ARE, WOULD YOU AGREE WITH THAT STATEMENT? I, I AGREE WITH THAT. OKAY. YES. NOW, THE QUESTION IS, OR IF, IF WE NEED TO ADD ANOTHER CREW FOR DRAINAGE OR ANOTHER CREW FOR PARKS, THAT'S WHERE I HAVE A QUESTION MARK. MM-HMM . WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY FOR ANOTHER DRAINAGE CREW. WE'RE, WE'RE NOT, THAT'S, THAT'S NOT IN THE PROPOSAL. THAT'S NOT ON THE, YEAH. THAT'S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE, UM, ENTERTAINED AT THE LAST MEETING. AND THAT WOULD TAKE US OUT OF, UH, WE'RE, WE'RE NOT THERE, SO WE'RE NOT DOING THAT. BUT THERE WERE LOTS OF ASKS, UM, EQUIPMENT AND STAFF AND THINGS LIKE THAT. SO CAN, IS THERE A WAY FOR US TO START, UM, WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS OR THE ADDITIONS FROM DRAINAGE? YES. MM-HMM . SO JUST SO YOU KNOW, UH, WITH THE WAY THE BUDGET WAS, ROBERT. YES. IF YOU GO TO SLIDE SIX, I THINK WE SHOULD START THERE. OKAY. AND THOSE INCLUDE ONLY THE, THE, UH, ADDITIONS TO THE BUDGET? YES. SO, UH, ON SLIDE SIX, THE, THE TOP LINE IS 1,000,335 IN CAPITAL OUTLAY PURCHASES. THOSE ARE ONE TIME CAPITAL OUTLAY, UM, PURCHASES THAT WERE FUNDED, THAT WERE SELECTED MM-HMM . UM, THE NEXT LINE ITEM DOWN IS A TOTAL RECURRING PURCHASES, UH, PROPOSED FUNDING. MM-HMM . THOSE ARE, UH, RECURRING PURCHASES. AND THEN THE THIRD LINE, THE 7 85 8 53 ARE POSITIONS THAT ARE GONNA BE, UH, RECURRING. SO, UH, BEHIND ON SLIDE SEVEN, WE'LL START THE DETAIL OF THE 1,000,335. AND THEN AFTER THAT, THE DETAIL OF THE 2 13 400 AND THEN 7 85 WILL FOLLOW. OKAY. CAN, CAN YOU GO TO SLIDE SEVEN? YEAH. WHAT'S SLIDE SEVEN? WE STARTS WITH ENGINEERING. ROBERT, BASED ON OUR CONSIDERATION OF OUR NEW, UM, DESIGNATION AS A DOUBLE A PLUS, HOW MUCH CAN WE TAKE OUT OF OUR GENERAL FUND WITHOUT NEGATIVELY IMPACTING THAT RATING? UM, I MEAN, YOU COULD TAKE OUT AS MUCH IT, IT'S VERY SUBJECTIVE, BECAUSE WHEN THEY LOOK AT IT, I MEAN, I COULD HAVE ONE OPINION, BUT WHEN FITCH COMES IN AND DOES THEIR EVALUATION AND THEY DO IT ON AN ANNUAL BASIS, THEY HAVE DIFFERENT CRITERIA THAT THEY LOOK AT. SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEIR THRESHOLD IS. JUST SO YOU KNOW, FITCH IS, UH, REALLY HARD ON ITS RATINGS. THEY ARE THE ONE THAT DOWNGRADED THE RATING FOR THE UNITED STATES. YEAH. INITIALLY. SO 40 TRILLION IN DEBT, BOTH AND FAILING OTHER REPORTS. YEAH. OKAY. YEAH. SO IT'S, IT'S VERY SUBJECTIVE, UH, UH, BASED ON FITCH'S CRITERIA THAT THEY, THAT THEY USE TO EVALUATE. HOW MUCH DO YOU, AND GABE, AND THIS IS A QUESTION FOR BOTH OF Y'ALL FEEL COMFORTABLE. HALF A MILLION. HALF A MILLION. SO FROM THAT, UH, I'M TRYING TO FIND THAT NUMBER AGAIN. SORRY. 1.3. THAT FROM THAT 1.3 FOR SURE, WE CAN PULL HALF A MILLION FROM GENERAL FUND AND WE FEEL CONFIDENT THAT WE MAINTAIN OUR RATING. RIGHT. OKAY. SO THEN WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE, GABE? SO CURRENTLY, THE WAY THE BUDGET IS PREPARED, WE, WE HAVE IT PREPARED AT ONE 10TH, UH, OF A CENT DECREASE. RIGHT. SO, UH, INCLUDING THE, THE CBA IN THERE, UH, THAT WOULD PUT US AT A DEF A DEFICIT OF 1,000,002 16, I THINK. SO THEN YOU'D HAVE TO SHAVE OFF WHAT THEY WANTED TO KNOW IS WHAT WE WOULD RECOMMEND TAKING OUT. CORRECT. RIGHT. SO LIKE RIGHT NOW, WITH THAT ONE 10TH OF A CENT, IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA CHANGE THE TAX RATE, THEN UH, YOU'D HAVE TO SHAVE OFF 800,000 MORE, LESS 800,000. AND YOU SAID THAT THERE'S A NUMBER OF CRITERIA THAT THEY LOOK AT. UH, WHAT ARE THE OTHER CRITERIA AND CAN WE SPEND MORE THAN THAT 500,000 TO BOLSTER ANOTHER, UH, ONE OF THEM, ONE OF THE CRUCIAL ONES IS WHAT BRINGS US DOWN IS THE DEMOGRAPHIC. THAT'S ONE THAT WEIGHS HEAVY ON BECAUSE WE'RE, WE'RE GROUPED IN WITH BROWNSVILLE, THAT, THAT, THAT KIND OF KEEPS US LOW. RIGHT. UH, LIKE THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND ALL OF THAT. UM, ANOTHER ONE IS, IS, UH, THE REVENUE BASE INCREASING YOUR REVENUES. THAT'S, THAT'S A CRITERIA THAT THEY USE. SO IF, IF YOU KIND OF STAY STEADY AND YOU'RE NOT INCREASING, THAT IS, UM, UH, A CRITERIA. THE OTHER ONE IS, IS THE DEBT, UH, THE AMOUNT OF DEBT THAT IS OUTSTANDING. THAT'S ANOTHER CRITERIA. AND THEN YOUR FUND BALANCE, IF YOU HAVE A STRONG FUND BALANCE THAT IS POSITIVE, WHEN, WHEN IT STARTS DECREASING, THAT WOULD BE A NEGATIVE FACTOR AGAINST YOU. SO PUTTING MONEY INTO, LET'S SAY OUR PLANNING DEPARTMENT, WHICH BRINGS IN MONEY FOR THE CITY, THAT WOULD BE THOUGH WE'RE PULLING MONEY FROM ONE AREA, WE'RE PUTTING IT INTO A DIFFERENT CATEGORY THAT'S GONNA HELP US INCREASE OUR REVENUE. WOULD THAT BE ACCURATE? UM, YEAH. I MEAN THAT'S, BUT THAT'S NOT THE WAY THEY LOOK AT IT. BUT YEAH, I WAS GONNA SAY, YEAH, THAT'S NOT, THAT'S, I'M TRYING TO BE CREATIVE MAN, TRYING TO KEEP, THEY, THEY [00:35:01] GIVE LIKE A HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW. THEY DON'T LOOK AT PARTICULAR DEPARTMENTS WHERE WE'RE LIKE SAYING, OH, WE'RE INCREASING OUR, OUR PLANNING BECAUSE IT'S GONNA INCREASE THE REVENUE. THEY, WHEN THEY COME IN, IT'S AFTER A FACT. AND, AND LOOKING FORWARD, UH, IN, IN, IN GENERAL LONG-TERM OVERVIEW LIKE THAT THEY WON'T LOOK AT SPECIFIC DEPARTMENTS AND, AND THINGS THAT YOU'RE DOING. THEY JUST SEE TRENDS OF WHERE IT'S GOING. IT, IT WAS NOT THIS YEAR, BUT THE YEAR BEFORE WAS KIND OF A LITTLE STRESSFUL. RIGHT. YEAH. THE, THE RATING BEFORE WAS, WAS DIFFICULT. SO THIS ONE WAS ACTUALLY A LITTLE BIT BETTER. SO CAN YOU JUST, UM, WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THAT IN TERMS OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR TO THIS YEAR? WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE? BECAUSE I, I REMEMBER HAVING THOSE, THOSE CONVERSATIONS. I THINK ONE OF THE, UH, DIFFERENCES IS THAT OUR, OF COURSE, OUR DEBT HAS BEEN DECREASING AND THERE'S LARGE CHUNKS AND MM-HMM . THAT HAVE BEEN GOING DOWN AND, AND THEY'RE PROJECTED TO GO DOWN FOR THEM. UM, THE NEXT IS THAT WE'VE BEEN PRETTY STEADY ON OUR REVENUE AND INCREASING OUR SALES TAX AND, AND INCREASING OUR REVENUE. MM-HMM . AND INCREASING OUR FUND BALANCE AND MAINTAINING OUR FUND BALANCE IS WHAT, WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE, I THINK. OKAY. BECAUSE YOU'RE RIGHT, THEY, THEY SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED THE FUND BALANCE AND THE INCREASE YES. IN THE, THE NEW RATING. SO YOU HAVE TO IMAGINE THAT THAT HAD A MAJOR IMPACT ON WHAT THEY DID FOR US. YEAH. BECAUSE WHEN WE FIRST CAME ON BOARD AND WE TOOK OUT SOME MONEY TO PAY OFF THAT DEBT, YES. THAT WAS A PROBLEM. NOT, NOT OUR PROBLEM, BUT I THINK THAT THAT IMPACTED, UM, JUST THE WAY THAT THE CITY WAS REVIEWED. RIGHT. WOULD YOU SAY, UM, WELL, WELL, IT HELPED US AND IT, AND IT HURT US. 'CAUSE WE HAD TO TAKE MONEY OUTTA THE FUNDAMENTAL TO PAY IT OFF, BUT THEN WE GOT RID OF THE DEBT THAT WAS, UM, NOT GONNA BE PAID OFF EASILY. COULD BEEN PERPETUAL. YEAH. IT WAS PERPETUAL. SO, WHICH IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS, LIKE WHEN YOU, YOU KNOW, YOU DO THIS AND THEN YOU GET, YOU GET POSITIVE MARKS HERE, BUT NEGATIVE MARKS THERE. SO I DON'T, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S A TOUGH ONE. YEAH. IT'S VERY HIGH LEVEL AT HOW THEY DO THEIR, THEIR ANALYSIS. UM, BUT THE CITY'S IN GOOD SHAPE. YEAH. AND SO, SO WHEN, WHEN THEY START THEIR ANALYSIS, THEY ASK FOR A HUMONGOUS QUESTIONNAIRE. THAT WAS LIKE, UH, WHEN WE TURNED IT IN, I THINK IT WAS LIKE EIGHT PAGES OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. . SO IT, IT, THEY ASK A, A LOT OF QUESTIONS ON, ON REVENUES AND FUND BALANCE AND, YOU KNOW, UH, THE PLAN FOR THE CITY AND MM-HMM . HOW WE'RE, WE'RE PROGRESSING AS FAR AS LIKE REVENUES AND FUND BALANCE. AND JUST SO YOU KNOW, THAT THE FIRST TIME WE HAD THAT RATING, UH, ROBERT AND I SAT IN THROUGH ABOUT AN HOUR INTERROGATION IS REALLY WHAT IT WAS. YEAH. UM, WITH THEM TO, TO GET THAT. AND SO , IT'S TRUE. . UH, AND SO THIS TIME IT WAS, UM, THERE WASN'T ANY INTERVIEW. IT WAS JUST A, A QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONNAIRE THAT BOTH ROBERT AND I WENT THROUGH AND SENT IT ON. YEAH. OKAY. ALRIGHT. SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE FOR US NEXT? OKAY. SO WE CAN GO THROUGH, UH, THE FIRST ITEM IS THE, UM, THE ONE TIME CAPITAL OF FUNDED DEDUCTIONS THAT WERE APPROVED ON THE, ON THE LAST WORKSHOP. AND SO WITH ENGINEERING, WE, WE DID GET, UH, 375,000 ON, ON THAT ONE. I DUNNO IF YOU WANT ME TO GO THROUGH THEM INDIVIDUALLY OR DO YOU WANT TO READ 'EM, OR, WELL, I WOULD THINK THAT, UM, WE'VE GOT TWO PAGES MM-HMM . AND WE NEED, WE'VE GOT 1.3. GABE, YOU'RE SAYING 500,000 OR, AND IS THAT WHAT THE COMMISSION WANTS TO LOOK AT AS A TARGET NUMBER? OR ARE YOU THINKING, UH, MORE DANIEL? I, I, I APOLOGIZE. WHAT WAS THAT DOLLAR AMOUNT YOU SAID 1.3. AND THEN WE'VE GOT, BECAUSE I'M LOOKING AT JUST FOR EXAMPLE, RIGHT? YOU'RE LOOKING AT, UH, A ROYAL SOFTBALL PARKS 490,000. RIGHT? SO THERE'S LIKE, THERE'S LIKE SOME BIG ONES HERE. UM, THEN YOU'VE GOT STREET DRAINAGE. LIKE WHAT, WHAT IS IT THAT IF WE'RE PRIORITIZING, UH, IT, I THINK OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE ALL NEEDED, BUT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE SOME CUTS. SO, SO WHAT IS IT THAT, UM, THAT WE WANT, WE WANNA DO, I HEARD A LOT ABOUT THIS SKID STEER. MM-HMM . THAT'S NEEDED. THE PUMP FITTINGS, WE TALKED ABOUT THAT KIND OF IN LENGTH, THAT'S NEEDED. UM, STREET DRAINAGE. UM, SO IF I CAN JUST WORKING BACKWARDS UP. MM-HMM . SO WE HAVE THE PARKS, THE FOUR 90 FOR THE PARKS, WE HAVE THE FOUR 90 FOR THE PARKS. CAN WE PULL, I, I'M FULLY ON BOARD WITH FUNDING THAT, BUT CAN WE PULL THAT FROM THE FOUR B? WE CAN. WE CAN, WE CAN. AND OR WE DO THE, UH, THE CDBG, UH, FUNDS, WHICHEVER ONE, UH, QUALIFIES FOR CDBG AND THEN THE OTHER WE PULL FROM UH, FOUR B. BUT I'M FINE WITH THE FULL FOUR 90 BEING PULLED FROM FOUR B SO THAT WE CAN PUSH IT ALL THROUGH. COMMISSIONER, WE'VE ALREADY GONE THROUGH THE ALLOCATION FOR CBG THIS YEAR, SO WE'D HAVE TO WAIT TILL NEXT [00:40:01] YEAR. CORRECT. BUT EITHER WAY, I'M SAYING WE CAN, THERE'S MULTIPLE AVENUES THAT WE CAN PROCEED FORWARD ON THAT, ON EITHER OF THOSE. OKAY. UM, I THINK WILSON'S CAN NO LONGER BE USED FOR CDBG. NO. SO WILSON FOR SURE, WE PUSHED FORWARD WITH THE FOUR B FUNDS. OKAY. JUST SO, JUST SO YOU KNOW, UM, WHEN THEY WENT IN TO LOOK AT THE PENDLETON ROOF, UM, REPAIRS, WE'RE GONNA NEED TO WORK ON THE PURLINS. AND SO THAT'S GONNA TAKE AN EXTRA 200,000. IS THAT RIGHT, JUAN? YES, SIR. SO WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE FOUR B FOR THAT. UM, SO THAT'S 200,000 JUST TO GET THE ROOF COMPLETELY DONE PROPERLY SO THAT IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY ISSUES WHATSOEVER. AND WE STILL HAVE MONEY IN THE FOUR B FOR THAT. YES SIR. WE DO. I I DON'T IS IT IN HERE, ROBERT? UH, UH NO, IT'S NOT. NO. OKAY. OKAY. WELL, UM, THE REALITY IS THAT WE NEED TO PRIORITIZE WHAT IT IS THAT WE NEED TO GET DONE OR WHAT WE NEED TO PURCHASE. RIGHT. SO THE, IS THE, I GUESS THE DIRECTIVE IS TO TRY TO FIND, UH, ALTERNATIVE FUNDING, WHATEVER THAT MAY BE. CORRECT. OKAY. SO, SO SCRATCHING, UM, WHAT I ROBERT FOUR 90 OR DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING? YEAH, I WAS, YOU'RE ON HERE TOO, SO YEAH, NO, I WAS GONNA SAY LIKE ON THE 12 SOLAR LIGHTS, UM, MAYBE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE CAN KICK OVER TO THE, UM, KEY HARLINGEN BEAUTIFUL BOARD. 'CAUSE I KNOW THEY, THEY'VE DONE SOME SOLAR LIGHTING THERE TOO, SO WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO KICK THAT ONE OVER TO THEM. AND I KNOW THEY'RE JUST GONNA GET AN ALLOCATION. WHAT, IN OCTOBER? UH, ROBERT? YES SIR. WHAT IS THE ALLOCATION FOR THE, FOR THE KEY PART BEAUTIFUL. THAT WE GIVE THEM EVERY 150, 150,000. OKAY. SO THEY'LL BE GETTING SOME, THEY HAVE A HEALTHY FUND. WAS RUTH HERE? WHAT'S NOT HERE? SHE'S, SHE'S NOT COMMISSIONER. OKAY. BUT I THINK WE HAVE A HEALTHY FUND AT THE KHB, RIGHT? YES. SO THEN THEY'RE GONNA GET ANOTHER 150, UM, RIGHT NOW, AND I KNOW WE'RE, WE'RE AIMING TO GET THE 40 FOR DANIEL AND THEN THE 50 FOR THIS, AND I THINK THEY COULD COVER IT. SO THEN PERFECT. SO I WOULD RECOMMEND AT THIS POINT WE SCRATCH THE FOUR 90 JUST FOR THE GENERAL FUND. CORRECT. BUT WE GO TO, FOR THE LIGHTS TO KEEP, OUR ARMS ARE BEAUTIFUL AND WE GO FOR THE REMAINDER FOR FOUR B AND THEN WE GO FOR C, DBG AS WELL AND ANY OTHER. BUT THERE'S STILL A PRIORITY. THEY'RE STILL GONNA BE DONE IN THE FISCAL YEAR. 2026. 2027. DOES THAT HUNT FOR EVERYONE? CAN YOU JUST REPEAT THAT SO I, ALRIGHT, SO ON CORRECT ON THE SLIDE, YOU'RE ON SLIDE EIGHT OR PAGE EIGHT. YES. WE'RE GONNA COMPLETELY SLASH THAT FROM THE GENERAL FUND. RIGHT? THE FOUR 90. AND WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO IS WE'RE GONNA SEEK ALTERNATIVE FUNDING THROUGH KEEP HARLING AND BEAUTIFUL THROUGH THE FOUR B. BUT FOR WHICH PROJECTS FOR KEEP HAR AND BEAUTIFUL, THEY'LL TAKE THE 12 SOLAR LIGHTS AND POLES FOR BASKETBALL COURTS AND OPEN SPACES. YEAH. 'CAUSE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WOULD, THAT THEY'D MORE THAN LIKELY BE ABLE TO DO. SO THE, THE AMOUNT, THE 50,000. CORRECT. SO THEN THE, THE, THE ROYAL FIELD COULD PROBABLY BE THROUGH CDBG ROYAL. YES. THAT THAT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN BECAUSE THAT THAT BUDGET. YEAH, I KNOW, BUT I'M TALKING ABOUT FOR THIS COMING LAST YEAR. YES. OKAY. AND THEN THERE WAS A SPORTS COMPLEX THAT THEY CAN'T GET MONEY FOR THE CDBG. SO THAT WOULD BE FOUR B UNLESS YOU GUYS WANNA DO THE ROYAL FOR FOUR B. IT'S UP TO Y'ALL. WHAT DO YOU THINK? I THINK RIGHT NOW WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS WE JUST NEED TO JUST SAY, UM, STAFF KNOWS BEST WHERE TO PULL THE FUNDS. SO ROBERT, IF YOU CAN JUST, UM, LOOK IN TERMS OF, ONCE WE GET THIS, WE NEED TO GET PAST THE FINISH LINE, UH, HERE WITH THESE WORKSHOPS. BUT IT IS A PRIORITY AND WHATEVER ALTERNATIVE FUND BUCKETS THERE ARE TO TO, TO BE ABLE TO FUND THIS, THAT'S WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO DO. BUT FOR NOW WE'RE GONNA SCRATCH IT SO WE CAN TAKE THAT OFF AND LOOK AT THE NUMBER THAT WE'VE GOT. SO THAT PUTS THAT AT 2 MILLION 797 3 GETTING IN TROUBLE. THE MAYOR ROBERT. OKAY. SO RIGHT NOW ON THE LAST COLUMN, IF YOU SEE THE REVISED SCENARIO, WE'RE AT 727,000, SIX 40 IN A REDUCTION. IN IN. OKAY. WHERE, SO WE ALSO NEED TO, YEAH, OKAY. BASED ON GABE'S NUMBERS, WE NEED TO UH, ANOTHER 345,000 TO SHAVE OFF. CORRECT. WELL, OH, CAN WE FROM THAT 7 27 ALREADY TAKE OFF THE 500,000 THAT YOU GUYS FEEL COMFORTABLE DIPPING INTO THE GENERAL FUND FOR? THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING. WE JUST NEED TO, NOW WE JUST, FROM HERE YOU JUST NEED TO REMOVE 300. BUT WE NEED TO REMOVE THE EXPENDITURE TOO. 'CAUSE IT'S TIED INTO THAT DASHBOARD. YEAH. OKAY. SO THAT'S, THAT'S HOW YOU GET TO THAT NUMBER. SO YOU NEED ABOUT 2 27, CORRECT? SIX 40. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING. HOW MUCH? TWO TWENTY SEVEN, SIX FORTY TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY 7,000. MM-HMM . YEAH. TO GET FROM THE 7 27 TO THE 500 MM-HMM BARBARA, WHAT WOULD BE THE DIFFERENCE AGAIN, I KNOW YOU TOLD ME THAT MATH DOESN'T LAST IS NOT MATH TIME. NO. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KEEP THE RATE THE SAME? LET'S, RIGHT THIS TIME LOWER? NO, BECAUSE IT'S, WE HAVE 1.3. [00:45:01] YEAH. SO THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT THESE ARE EXPENDITURES FROM LIKE OUR BUDGET. THE 7 2 7 IS OUR ANNUAL TAKE IN. RIGHT? THAT'S HOW MUCH OVER, WE'RE OVER OUR ANNUAL TAKE IN THE 7 2 7. YEAH. WHAT I'M SAYING IS WHEN I FIRST STARTED, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED, I SAID, GUYS, HOW MUCH WOULD YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE TAKING OUT OF THE GENERAL FUND? MM-HMM . THEY SAID 500,000. SO WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT, LET'S JUST TAKE THE $500,000 OFF OF THAT NOW, WHICH WILL DROP US TO THE 2 7 2 2 7 6 4 0. RIGHT. BUT YOU'RE GONNA JUST TAKE 'EM, TAKE 'EM OUT. BUT WHAT IS IT THAT YOU'RE FUNDING? OKAY. OKAY. I SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. YEAH. YOU HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFY, THEN THEY'LL DROP IT DOWN TO THE 500. PERFECT. OKAY. SO THEN LET'S GO TO, BUT JUST ONE SECOND. IT'S REALLY HOT IN HERE. CAN SOMEONE CHECK ON THE AIR CONDITIONING? I TOOK MY PLATE. I CAN'T TAKE IT OFF. ALRIGHT, SO THEN ON PAGE SEVEN, IF WE LOOK AT THE TRAFFIC SIGNALS MM-HMM . ON THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL STUFF, THE SCHOOL ZONE FLASHERS AND THE A DA COMPLIANT PEDESTRIAN CROSSWALK. IS THERE ANY WAY WE CAN SEEK, UH, GRANT MONEY FOR THOSE TWO? 'CAUSE THEY'RE PUBLIC SAFETY. HOW LONG IS IT GONNA TAKE? HUH? HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE? BECAUSE THESE ARE SAFETY. I, I DON'T DISAGREE. I'M JUST TRYING TO ANA, WHERE'S ANA? SHE WAS BACK THERE. OH, THERE SHE IS. YEAH. SO THERE'S A HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT GRANT THAT IT OPENS, UM, IN NOVEMBER. HOWEVER, IT IS BASICALLY TWO YEARS OUT. SO IT WOULDN'T BE FUNDED UNTIL MAYBE TWO YEARS. THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT. ANYTHING, ANY OTHER POTENTIAL GRANT MONEY, UH, WE COULD TRY TO SUBMIT THROUGH THE MPO. BUT THAT ALSO TAKES TWO, THREE YEARS . YEAH. NO, I THINK WE'RE TAPPED UP , I MEAN FOR DIFFERENT GRANTS AND IT FOR GOOD REASON AT CATEGORY SEVEN. OKAY. OKAY. SO THAT WAS MY FEAR. AND BECAUSE IT'S AADA A COMPLIANT AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT THE COMMUNITY HAS REALLY BEEN DISCUSSED, YOU KNOW, TELLING US. AND SINCE IT'S 34,000, I THINK WE SHOULD KEEP IT IN FOR THOSE REASONS. THAT'S FINE. SO THEN LEMME PUT A GREEN LINE THROUGH THEM. COMMISSIONER, IF, IF WE TAKE OUT THE MAJORITY OF THE ENGINEERING, WELL TAKE IT ALL OUT BECAUSE IT'S UH, IT WOULD BALANCE OUT THE REST OF IT. SO YEAH. WELL, COULD YOU REPEAT THAT PLEASE? JUST REMOVE ENGINEERING AND IT, THE REST FALLS WITHIN A HALF A MILLION. THIS WAS TO FOR A FULL DESIGN ON THE NEXT, UH, DRAINAGE PROJECT. CORRECT. HELLO? YES. IT WAS GONNA BE TO FUND THE FULL PLAN SPECIFICATIONS RIGHT AWAY FOR A PROJECT THAT POTENTIALLY WOULD BE THE NEXT BIG PROJECT WE SUBMIT FOR FEMA FUNDING OR, UH, WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD FUNDING. 'CAUSE RIGHT NOW, THE, THE MOST RECENT ONE WE SUBMITTED WAS, FOR EXAMPLE, JEFFERSON, UH, ED CAREY. ALL OF THOSE PROJECTS WERE DONE BACK WITH ARPA FUNDS AND THEY HAD THE FULL DESIGN. SO ONCE YOU SUBMIT THAT, YOU GET SCORED HIGHLY. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO FOR THAT ONE PROJECT. THAT PROJECT WILL BE SELECTED BY YOU GUYS. MM-HMM . UH, WE ARE GONNA BRING THAT STEP SOON, BUT THAT IS THE INTENT BEHIND THOSE, UH, THAT ASK. BUT THAT'S TO MAKE IT SHOVEL READY. RIGHT? IT HAS, WELL IDEALLY YOU WANT TO REQUEST FOR A SHOVEL READY PROJECT. UH, YOU COULD REQUEST FOR ALSO FOR THE PLANNING COMPONENT. BUT THAT IS, UH, HOW DO I SAY? UM, YOU'RE COMPETING. NOT THAT, UH, WELL THAT'S WHAT COMPETITIVE, THAT'S WHAT WE DID FOR COMMERCE, BUT IT TOOK US A COUPLE OF YEARS TO, TO GET THAT. YES. YOU GET MORE POINTS OR PEOPLE SEE IT MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR A PROJECT TO SHOW THAT THE COMMUNITY ALREADY DID THAT INVESTMENT, HAVING THOSE PLANS FINALIZED COMMERCE, UH, AND ALL THESE OTHER PROJECTS WE'VE BEEN GETTING. AND DO WE HAVE ANY OTHER ONES THAT ARE ALREADY, YOU KNOW, SHOVEL READY? MM-HMM . RIGHT NOW WE DO HAVE, UH, THREE PROJECTS IN THE PIPELINE WORKING WITH VMA THROUGH, UM, COORDINATION TO GET IT FUNDED. BUT THOSE ARE THE PROJECTS WE'VE BEEN SUBMITTING, WHICH ARE THOSE. ONE IS, UH, FOR EXAMPLE WICHITA STORM DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS THAT CONNECTS FROM ANO SOUTH TO THE FAIR PARK. THERE IS THE ED CARRY IMPROVEMENTS, ADAMS CROSSING, WHERE YOU'RE WORKING WITH, UH, FEMA ON THAT. RFI, THAT'S, UH, $1.2 MILLION FOR IMPROVING THE DITCH. AND THE FOURTH ONE WAS, UH, WE, WE COULD LOOK AT FUNDING THE ENGINEERING DESIGN WORK OUT OF ANY POTENTIAL BOND ISSUANCE THAT WE DO NEXT YEAR. MM-HMM . UM, OR YOU NEED TO DO THAT ANYWAY BECAUSE THAT'S, THAT ENGINEERING DESIGN IS CONSIDERED PART OF THE, UH, OF THE ELIGIBLE COST FOR ANY LONG TERM PROJECT. AND CERTAINLY DRAINAGE WOULD QUALIFY AS LONG TERM OVER 20 YEARS RUN BY THAT ONE. AGAIN, I WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND. WE COULD TAKE THE ENGINEERING [00:50:01] DESIGN THAT WE HAVE TO 3 75 AND ANY DEBT ISSUANCE THAT WE HAVE NEXT YEAR, WE COULD ROLL THAT INTO PAYING FOR THAT FROM THERE. 'CAUSE IT WOULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR, UM, A CAPITAL PROJECT . OKAY. THE QUESTION I HAVE FOR ROBERT ROBERTO OVER THERE IS THIS, UH, DESIGN FOR DRAINAGE PROJECT. WOULD IT COVER, WHAT WOULD IT COVER? THE WHOLE CITY, A QUARTER OF THE CITY, ONE DISTRICT, ONE PROJECT, MORE THAN LIKELY WOULD ONLY BE ONE PROJECT. THOSE HAVE BEEN THE FEES. UH, WHEN I LOOKED AT THE ARPA FUNDS, MOST OF THEM WERE AWARDED ABOUT THAT AMOUNT AND INCLUDED THE ENGINEERING, THE SURVEYING, THE CONSTRUCTION COMPONENT, THE MANAGEMENT. BUT THAT'S IT. IT JUST GETS YOU TO THE CONSTRUCTION READY PART. SO IT'S JUST ONE PROJECT. YES, SIR. OKAY. SO LET'S JUST PUT A HOLD ON THAT FOR RIGHT NOW. UM, THE STREET, UH, PUMP FITTINGS, THEY HAVE TO STAY. OKAY. AND THEN THE STREET MAINTENANCE, THE SKID SKI, SKID SKID STEER. I HAVE TO, IS THAT YES. CORRECT. OKAY. AND THEN SO THAT LEAVES US WITH TWO COMPETING, UM, ITEMS, STREET DRAINAGE, UM, OR THE ENGINEERING. SO IF, AND THERE AND, AND THERE'S NOT A WAY FOR US TO, UM, GIVE ROBERT JUST A PORTION OF IT. IT'S IN ALL REALITY, LISTENING TO WHAT HE JUST SAID, IT'S PROBABLY GONNA COST MORE 'CAUSE COSTS HAVE GONE UP SINCE THEN. SO POTENTIALLY IT MIGHT BE, IT MIGHT BE MORE. SO THERE'S NO, IT'S, IT'S EITHER WE FUND THE, UH, ENGINEERING DESIGN, WHICH IS IMPORTANT, OR WE FUND STREET DRAINAGE, WHICH IS ALSO IMPORTANT. I THINK THIS IS WHERE WE USE OUR 500,000 AS WE PULL THE FULL ENGINEERING DESIGN FOR DRAINAGE PROJECT. AND WE THAT'S GONNA BE, UH, THE 3 75 OR THE 500,000 THAT WE FEEL COMFORTABLE PULLING OUT. THE GENERAL FUND WOULD GO THERE. THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING. SO YOU BUT YOU, YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE OR THE OTHER. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING IS I'M, THAT'S THE ONE I THINK WE SHOULD DO. SCRATCH THE DESIGN AND PAY FOR USING THE GENERAL FUND. NO. YES. SO THEN DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING? YOU'RE SAYING, UH, LEAVE THE ENGINEERING BUT TAKE OUT SOMETHING FROM STREET DRAINAGE? NO, I'M SAYING WE TAKE OFF THE DRAINAGE PROJECT FROM THIS BUDGET AND WE PULL FROM THE 500,000. IT'S ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR, RIGHT? YEAH. THIS IS ALREADY IN THERE. SO WE HAVE TO GET TO 500,000 RIGHT NOW. SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS WE JUST GOTTA DROP IT TO TWO 70. I PULLED ENGINEERING. OKAY. OKAY. SO, SO, OKAY. THAT, SO I I MEAN, IT IT IT'S UP. I MEAN, I WOULD, I WOULD AGREE WITH PULLING THE ENGINEERING FOR THAT ONE THAT WE COULD DO WHAT GABE SAYS WE'RE OKAY, WE'RE WE'RE $345,000 SHORT ON EXPENDITURES THAT WE NEED TO PULL OUT. YEAH. SO I THINK THE WAY, THE WAY, I DON'T KNOW. UM, I THINK THAT THE WAY THAT YOU WERE LOOKING AT IT WASN'T, UM, LIKE IF IT WAS ALREADY FIGURED IN AND IT, AND IT IS. AND THAT'S HOW HE PRESENTED IT. SO THAT'S OKAY. THAT'S WHY. BUT, UM, SO THEN IF WE SCRAP THE ENGINEERING AND WE FUND TRAFFIC SIGNALS, STREET MAINTENANCE, STREET CLEANING AND STREET DRAINAGE, THEN WE'RE AT THE 500,000, UH, PRETTY PRETTY MUCH WE MAINTENANCE. YES, WE ARE STILL, UH, BUT WE CAN PROBABLY OVERCOME THAT 3, 7, 5, LIKE 15,000 OR WE'RE 29,651. MM-HMM . WE CAN MAKE THAT UP SOMEPLACE ELSE. OKAY. 'CAUSE WE STILL, WE STILL NEED TO CUT MORE. CORRECT. THAT'S JUST, THAT'S JUST, WE HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN INTO THE CUTS. THIS IS JUST WHAT WE WERE GONNA PULL, RIGHT? MM-HMM . OKAY. AND, AND WE'RE NOT, WE'RE NOT, WE'RE NOT REMOVING THE ENGINEERING DESIGN. WE'RE JUST DELAYING THAT PROJECT. RIGHT. UNTIL, AND, AND YOU DO HAVE A FEW THAT ARE MOVING FORWARD. SO IT'S NOT LIKE THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, IT'S AT A STANDSTILL. THE COMMERCE DRAINAGE FOR THAT PARTICULAR SECTION, IT'S ABOUT A MILE STRETCH THAT'S MOVING FORWARD. MM-HMM . ADAM'S CROSSING. ADAM'S CROSSING. MM-HMM . YEAH, THAT ONE. THAT'S, SO WE HAVE, WE DO HAVE SOME DRAINAGE WORK THAT'S HAPPENING AND PLUS THE 13 ACRES THAT STAFF IS WORKING ON. SO THERE'S QUITE A FEW. IT'S JUST, THIS WILL BE NOTHING, BUT JUST, I KNOW THAT THERE, THEY'RE HARDER TO, UH, THEY'RE MORE [00:55:01] COMPETITIVE IN TERMS OF, UM, FINDING GRANTS FOR, FOR, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE SHOULDN'T ALSO CONTINUE ASKING AND, AND APPLYING. SO WE CAN, I THINK WE CAN DO, WE CAN DO BOTH. UM, AND THERE ARE MULTIPLE PROJECTS AND WITH OUR, I DON'T KNOW, BILLION DOLLAR, UH, IDENTIFIED PROJECTS THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO START, UM, CONTINUE TO APPLY FOR FUNDING FOR THE, THE DESIGN AND NOT JUST, UM, CONSTRUCTION. DID YOU WANNA SEE THE EFFECT THAT WE WERE TO REMOVE THAT? SO WE, WE ARE, I THINK UNLESS IS, UH, UH, . YOU'RE FINE. OKAY. AND I, YOU SAID, AND, AND DANIEL, I KNOW YOU'RE STRUGGLING WITH THIS ONE, BUT WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA SCRAP THE, THE NOT WE'RE GONNA PUT IT ON HOLD. DELAY. IT'S DELAY. WE'RE GONNA DELAY ENGINEERING THE 375,000 SO WE CAN GET TO THE AMOUNT AND WE'RE STILL OVER BY 25,000 OR 30,000. BUT YOU'LL BE FINE. YEAH. UM, I'M SORRY. I IT'S 3 52. I, I, I, UH, YOU LIED. WELL, I MADE A MISTAKE. , WE'RE, WE'RE $29,000 OVER, SO WE'RE GOOD. OKAY. OH, SO THE OTHER WAY AROUND. THAT'S THE OTHER WAY. ALL RIGHT. SO WHERE CAN WE GET, WHAT ELSE CAN WE BUY ? I'M JOKING, JOKING, JOKING. I'M JOKING. SO ONCE WE REMOVED IT, WE ARE AT A $352,000 DEFICIT. OKAY. SO NOW WE'RE GOOD WITH THE ONE TIME OUTLAY, UM, ITEMS, CORRECT? YES. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. MOVING ON. ALRIGHTY. ALL RIGHT. AND SO NOW WHAT IS THE NUMBER RIGHT NOW? WE'RE CURRENTLY AT, UM, 352,640 IN EXPENDITURES OVER REVENUE. SO THAT WOULD BE 352,640. THAT WOULD BE REDUCING FUND BALANCE. OKAY. NO, WE'RE NOT TAKING, THESE ARE POSITIONS. THE NEXT SLIDE. AND WE'RE NOT TAKING THAT OUTTA FUND BALANCE Y YEAH, I'M JUST SAYING THAT THAT'S WHERE WE'RE AT RIGHT NOW. THAT THAT'S A DEFICIT THAT WE NEED TO YES. THAT'S A DEFICIT. RIGHT. OKAY. SO NEXT WE'RE GONNA GO TO THE REOCCURRING, NOT THE RE NOT THE YES, YES, YES. THE REOCCURRING EXPENDITURES. THANK NOT THE A 2000, UH, 213,400. YOU DO HAVE THREE ITEMS. UH, CODE COMPLIANCE, CERTIFICATIONS, BUILDING INSPECTION CERTIFICATIONS. AND THAT'S 18,442,000 RESPECTIVELY. AND POLICE DEPARTMENT, UH, 1 53. UH, THOSE, THAT 1 53 DOES HAVE TO STAY. 'CAUSE THAT IS, NOW LET, LEMME JUST POINT OUT, THESE ARE REOCCURRING EXPENDITURES, BUT THAT ARE NOT PEOPLE OR EMPLOYEES. MM-HMM . UH, WE STILL HAVE TO GET TO THE EMPLOYEE SECTION LATER MM-HMM . SO JUST KEEP THAT IN MIND. OKAY. UM, CAN WE LOOK AT WHAT IS THE COST FOR THE DRAINAGE EQUIPMENT? DO WE HAVE A NUMBER? UH, THE STREET DRAINAGE IS 3 31 8 40. THAT'S THE ONE AT THE BOTTOM ON PAGE SEVEN. OKAY. BUT WE ALREADY, SO WE ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR THESE. YES. SO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE ONES THAT ARE NOT IN THE BUDGET? YES. OKAY. SO THOSE WOULD BE ON PAGE 10. THAT WOULD BE ON PAGE 19. 19. OKAY. THAT'S 1.4 MILLION. OKAY. SO DO WE HAVE $1.4 MILLION? OKAY. SO THAT WAS MY POINT EARLIER. THAT WAS MY POINT EARLIER. SO IF WE'RE GOING TO, WE, LIKE, WE DON'T, WE ONLY HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF MONEY. AND SO IF WE KEEP GOING THROUGH EACH OF THE ITEMS, WE'RE NOT GONNA, WE'RE NOT GONNA BE ABLE TO, WE'RE NOT GONNA SOLVE THE ISSUE. SO WE CAN'T AFFORD TO DO ALL OF THE DRAINAGE. UM, ASKS HOW MUCH MONEY, UM, WHAT CAN WE, WHAT I MEAN, WHAT CAN WE FUND? LIKE WHAT, WHAT'S OUR NUMBER RIGHT NOW? SO TO, TO BE AT, UH, 500,000. YOU COULD ADD ADDITIONAL 147,000 360. I, I THINK ROBERT, NO, NO, NO, THE GO AHEAD. I THINK WHAT YOU, UH, WHAT THE MAYOR MEANT WAS, UM, THE, THE, ALL THESE RECURRING EXPENDITURES THAT WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT IN JUST A MINUTE ARE ALREADY IN THE BUDGET. MM-HMM. YES, THEY ARE. SO WHAT WE NEED TO DO IS FIGURE OUT WHERE ARE WE GONNA CUT, WHERE, WHERE ARE WE GONNA CUT? 350. WHAT IS THAT [01:00:01] NUMBER? THREE? 3 52. 3 52 6 40. OKAY. 3 52 6 40. AND THAT WOULD BE TO BALANCE THE BUDGET AND THAT WOULD BALANCE THE BUDGET. YES. YES. THAT, THAT, I THINK THAT WAS HER QUESTION. OKAY. YEAH. IT WOULD BE 3 3 52. BUT I THINK WHERE DO WE TAKE THAT FROM? I THINK WAS OH, RIGHT. WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT FROM HERE, CORRECT. YES. FROM, FROM, FROM THE DRAINAGE. WE HAVE TO, NO, NOT NOT FROM THE DRAINAGE. 'CAUSE THAT'S NOT FUNDED. IT'S GOTTA BE FROM PAGES NINE 10. THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINKING. THAT, AND 11, WE HAVE TO TAKE THAT $352,000 FROM ANY ONE OF THESE THREE PAGES, BECAUSE THAT'S ALREADY IN THE BUDGET. THESE THREE PAGES ARE IN THE BUDGET ALREADY. YEAH. OKAY. SO STARTING FROM PAGE SEVEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH PAGE, UH, 11, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE STUFF THAT WE JUST REMOVED, SEVEN. SO AM I NO, WE JUST WENT THROUGH THAT. SEEING THIS INCORRECT, THAT, THAT THEY'RE ALL POSITIONS. UH, EXCEPT FOR PAGE NINE. STARTING ON PAGE 10 AND 11, THOSE ARE ALL POSITIONS. SO IT'S 10, 11, AND 10 AND 11 ARE POSITIONS. THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN FUNDED THAT WE ADDED FROM, UH, WORKSHOP NUMBER ONE. AND FROM ALL THIS, FROM 9 10 11, WE HAVE TO DEDUCT THE 300 SOME THOUSAND Y. YES. BUT, BUT I, I, I WOULD SUGGEST, UM, WE NEED TO KEEP THE POLICE, UH, DEPARTMENT 153,000 FOR PATROL VEHICLES. UM, THAT'S ON PAGE NINE. THAT THAT NEEDS TO STAY, BECAUSE THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN ISSUE WITH PO POLICE UNITS GOING DOWN. AND, UM, I AGREE A HUNDRED PERCENT THAT NEEDS TO STAY. AND ON THE PAGE 11, THE LAST ITEM, THAT ONE'S PROBABLY NOT A CVB, SO JUST DOESN'T EVEN COUNT, CORRECT. RIGHT. THAT NO, THAT'S, THAT'S, YOU CAN TAKE THAT OUT. THAT'S ALREADY FUNDED. YEAH. SO THAT ONE'S NOT IN THESE CALCULATIONS. THAT C NO, THAT'S COMING OUTTA THE HOT FUNDS. YEAH, I KNOW. MM-HMM . I CALCULATED. SO IS IT GOAL TO GET TO 500,000 EXPENDITURES OVER A NO, NO. THE GOAL IS TO BALANCE THE BUDGET. BALANCE. OKAY. SO, YEAH. SO YOU HAVE 352 TO BALANCE THE BUDGET. AND THAT WOULD BE WITH THE, THE, THE VERY, UH, THE FRACTION OF A REDUCTION. YES. IF I, IF I'M UNDERSTANDING CORRECTLY. YES. WITH A ONE 10TH OF A CENT. RIGHT? YEAH. OKAY. SO THE GOAL RIGHT NOW, ROBERT, IS TO CUT 352,000 FROM PAGES NINE, 10, OR 11. YOU WANNA TELL ME HOW TO GET THERE? WELL, THE 1 53, WE CAN'T, WE CAN CUT THE 18 400, THE 42. NO, I JUST SAID THAT. AND THEN HALF OF THE POSITIONS. SO, OKAY. LET ME JUST ASK THE QUESTION THIS WAY. ON PAGE 10, WE HAVE, UH, PAGE 10 AND 11, 850,000. YES. IS THAT RIGHT? $850,000 OF, UH, NEW POSITIONS? CORRECT. AND GAVE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE MOVING FORWARD? 'CAUSE THIS ISN'T JUST THIS BUDGET, THESE ARE REOCCURRING EXPENDITURES ON SALARIES YEAR AFTER YEAR. YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE? YES, BECAUSE, UM, ONE OF THE REASONS THAT WE'RE HAVING, UH, SOMEWHAT OF A DISCUSSION ON THE BUDGET IS BECAUSE OVER THE LAST FOUR YEARS, UM, WE HAVE ADDED 89 POSITIONS. FIVE WERE OVER HIRES BY FIRE. SO THAT BRINGS IT DOWN TO, TO 84. UH, I SAY 84, INITIALLY IT'S 89 THAT WE, 89 TOTAL OVER HIRES WERE FIVE. SO WE'VE ADDED 84, 84 POSITIONS IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS. AND SO THOSE ARE NOT, UM, UH, CIVIL SERVICE POLICE WERE FIRED EXCEPT FOR THE OVER HIRES. BUT WE TOOK THOSE OUT. SO WE'VE ADDED QUITE A BIT. AND SO THAT'S WHY THE BUDGET CONTINUES TO BE A STRUGGLE BECAUSE THOSE POSITIONS KEEP COMING BACK EVERY YEAR. MM-HMM . AND THEN WHEN WE HAVE A CO ADJUSTMENTS, THOSE GO UP AND SO IT BECOMES A REOCCURRING EXPENSE. MM-HMM . AND SO IF WE CAN JUST SLOW THIS DOWN A LITTLE, I THINK THAT WOULD HELP US IN THE FUTURE, BECAUSE REMEMBER, WE'RE JUST GOING TO APPROVE, UM, A NEW CBA WORTH ABOUT 2.7 MILLION FROM POLICE. SO [01:05:01] WANTING TO JUST NOT ADD EVERY THAT ADD ADD ALL THE POSITIONS THAT'LL MAKE US BREAK EVEN, BUT PERHAPS, UH, DON'T ADD SO MANY THAT WE CAN HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF SURPLUS AT THE END IN CASE THERE ARE ANY ISSUES THAT COME UP. AND THEY COME UP THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. UH, AIR CONDITIONING SPRAY, UH, PARKS NEED REPAIR THAT WE DON'T HAVE. AND SO RIGHT NOW, IF WE ONLY CUT $352,000, WE'RE NOT GONNA HAVE ANYTHING FOR ANY TYPE OF, OF, OF ISSUE THAT MAY COME UP. SO HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT US TO CUT? I I, I WOULD, IDEALLY YOU WANT TO HAVE AT LEAST A MILLION DOLLARS IN YOUR, IN YOUR FUND THAT YOU CAN USE FOR EXPENDITURES TO COME UP THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, BECAUSE THOSE, YOU KNOW, UH, EXPENSES HAPPEN. POLICE CARS BREAK FIRE TRUCKS. WELL, I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO FIRE TRUCKS. , UH, THE, THE, UH, NOT GONNA LET YOU LIVE THAT ONE DOWN CHIEF. SORRY. , EITHER. THE OTHER CHIEF IS LIKE, NO, IT'S THAT ONE . HE MADE UP 14. HE'S GOT SOME JANUARY. AH, NO SIR. OKAY. SO THAT'S WHY I WAS ASKING YOU, GABE. I MEAN, UH, ONE IS THE NUMBERS THAT WE'VE GOT HERE, BUT THEY'RE, THEY'RE REAL. THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE, THEY'RE GONNA COME BACK NEXT YEAR AND THEN THE YEAR AFTER THAT. AND THEN WE JUST DID THE EVERGREEN STUDY, UM, TOO. SO THOSE, THOSE THESE SAME POSITIONS, UM, WE CAN ONLY, AS YOU KNOW, ASSUME, UH, RIGHTFULLY THAT THERE'S GONNA BE, UH, THE INCREASE IN NOT JUST THOSE POSITIONS, BUT ACROSS THE BOARD. I, I, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, COMMISSIONER, UM, I WOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE HAVING AT LEAST HALF A MILLION IN RESERVES FOR ME TYPE OF ISSUE. BUT I KNOW THEY MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE BECAUSE WE'RE CUTTING POSITIONS. AND THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES THIS EASIER IS THAT THESE ARE POSITIONS THAT WE HAVE NOT FILLED YET. SO THEY'RE VACANT. UM, BUT WE HAVE, I KNOW THE DIRECTORS HAVE NEEDS, BUT, UM, THEY'VE ALL BEEN HERE FOR THE BUDGET WORKSHOPS AND HAVE SEEN HOW TIGHT IT IS GOING THROUGH EXPENDITURES JUST TO TRY TO MAKE, UH, MAKE THIS BUDGET BALANCE IS, IS NOT EASY. SO WHAT YOU'RE SAYING IS DON'T HIRE ANY NEW POSITIONS AND THAT'S HOW WE GET TO OUR $500,000 SURPLUS. NO, THAT I, THAT'S WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE, BUT I KNOW THAT'S PROBABLY NOT GONNA BE FEASIBLE. UM, I'D, I'D LIKE, THERE'S A, THERE'S A COUPLE POSITIONS THAT I THINK WE NEED TO HAVE. UM, OUR, OUR TENNIS PRO IS DOING A GREAT JOB. HE JUST GOT RECOGNIZED AS A UT U-S-T-A-U-U? YEAH. U-S-T-A-U-S-T-A, UH, UH, PROFESSIONAL, UH, GOT THE HEB TENNIS CENTER RECOGNIZED AS A, UH, USTA ACCREDITED, UH, TENNIS CENTER. AND SO I THINK HE, HE'S ASKED FOR A POSITION. I THINK WE NEED TO TRY TO FUND THAT ONE. UH, HE'S DONE ALL THAT ON HIS OWN. SO I THINK THAT WOULD HELP HIM TREMENDOUSLY. AND IF HE'S DONE THAT ON HIS OWN, WHO KNOWS WHAT HE'S CAPABLE OF DOING WITH JUST AN EXTRA PERSON TO HELP HIM. UM, THAT'S THE MAINTENANCE ASSISTANT THAT, THAT'S THE, THE TENNIS SHOP MAINTENANCE ASSISTANT. YES. AND THEN I, AND I THINK WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE ELECTRICIAN. WE NEED TO, WE NEED TO RAISE THAT SALARY. 'CAUSE WE NEED SOMEBODY BADLY. SO MY IPAD, I'M GONNA HIGHLIGHT THESE BURNT ORANGE 'CAUSE THAT'S WHERE, FOR YOU ALL, UM, WE NEED TO GET A BILLINGS INSPECTIONS, UH, PLANT EXAMINER BECAUSE THAT, THAT DEPARTMENT IS JUST, UH, WE'RE JUST SWAMPED RIGHT NOW. AND THERE'S, UM, IT WOULDN'T GET THIS PAST, THIS ECONOMIC COMP ONLY GONNA GET MORE BUSIER FOR IT. SO, SO PAGE 11 IS WHAT YOU'RE SAYING MEANS? YES. PAGE, PAGE 11. YOU WOULD SAY THAT THOSE ARE ESSENTIAL BILLING INSPECTIONS? UH, THE, UH, MASTER ELECTRICIAN. MM-HMM . AND THE TENNIS COURT. MM-HMM . BECAUSE THAT ALONE RIGHT THERE IS, UH, 785,000, NO, I'M SORRY, IT'S 53. IT'S ABOUT A HUNDRED THOUSAND. THAT'S TOTAL. YEAH. MY, I'M SORRY. I, I I STRONGLY FEEL THAT WE NEED TO GET PARK SOMETHING PARK NEEDS TO HELP JUAN. WHAT ELSE? WHAT ARE THE OTHER POSITIONS, GABE, THAT YOU THINK ANY ON PAGE 10? UM, YES, THE, UM, THE ANIMAL CARE, UH, SERVICE OFFICER, WE HAVE NOT INCREASED THAT. NOW THE ONLY THING ABOUT THIS ONE THOUGH IS THAT IT'S NOT JUST 48,000. WE NEED TO GET A TRUCK. BUT I THINK SHANNON SAID SHE, SHE HAD TO USE ONE. SHE SAID SHE HAD A TRUCK. DO YOU HAVE A USED ONE? I DO HAVE ONE TRUCK THAT WE COULD EITHER USE FOR THE HEALTH INSPECTOR OR ANIMAL CONTROL. OR ANIMAL [01:10:01] CARE. SORRY. UH, QUICK, UH, QUICK QUESTION BECAUSE I KNOW THEY DID THAT STATE LAW CHANGE, RIGHT? WHERE ALL, UH, FOOD TRUCKS ARE NOW GONNA BE, UM, STATE INSPECTED BY THE STATE, RIGHT? CORRECT. BUT THEY CAN ALSO PAY US. IS THERE ANY WAY WE CAN USE THEIR MONEY TO PAY FOR YOUR POSITION ON HEALTH INSPECTOR? WE DID NOT BECOME PART OF THAT. WE DID NOT CONTRACT WITH THE STATE. UM, HONESTLY, I WASN'T ABLE TO GET ANSWERS TO A LOT OF QUESTIONS ON HOW THAT PROCESS WAS GONNA WORK. AND SO, JUST IN CONVERSATIONS, WE DID NOT ENTER INTO THAT CONTRACT TO, TO PERFORM THOSE INSPECTIONS FOR FOOD TRUCKS. BUT THEY WERE GONNA LIMIT US ON THE NUMBER OF INSPECTIONS THAT WE COULD DO AND ONLY REIMBURSE US A CERTAIN AMOUNT. SO THEY WERE TELLING US HOW MANY INSPECTIONS FOR THE YEAR THAT THEY WOULD BE WILLING TO REIMBURSE US FOR. SO, I MEAN, WE DIDN'T EVEN, IT WASN'T EVEN LIKE ANYBODY WHO WE SELECTED FROM THE LIST, WE COULD JUST INSPECT THEM AND KEEP GOING. THEY WERE ONLY GONNA ALLOTT US A CERTAIN NUMBER OF FOOD TRUCKS A YEAR. NOBODY IN CAMERON COUNTY ENTERED INTO THAT AGREEMENT. CORRECT? MY UNDERSTANDING IS THE ONLY ONE WHO DID WAS PORT, UH, WAS SOUTH PADRE ISLAND. BROWNSVILLE DID NOT. CAMERON COUNTY DID NOT TO MY KNOWLEDGE. NOBODY ELSE IN CAMERON COUNTY OR, UH, SIGNED UP TO BE PART OF THAT, EXCEPT SOUTH PADRE ISLAND. OKAY. THANK YOU. MM-HMM . ALL RIGHT. SO LET'S MOVE IT ALONG. WHERE, WHERE, WHAT'S NEXT? PARKS. PARKS IS THE BIGGEST ONE. OKAY. MM-HMM . EXCUSE ME, GATE. SO, UM, IF I MAY, SO YOU'RE LOOKING AT TRYING TO KEEP THE BUILDING INSPECTIONS LAND EXAMINER TENNIS COURT, WHICH IS A TENNIS SHOP MAINTENANCE ASSISTANT, AND THE PARKS RECREATION MASTER'S ELECTRICIAN, CORRECT? UH, YES. NOW THE ONLY THING ABOUT THE ELECTRICIAN IS THAT THAT'S NOT A, I I UNDERSTAND IT'S AN INCREASE. YEAH. YES, SIR. WE WANNA TRY TO KEEP SOMEBODY THERE. OKAY. I UNDERSTAND. I AGREE. YES. THOSE THREE PLUS THE 153 FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, PATROL VEHICLES, UH, WHERE'S THAT AT? THAT'S ON PAGE NINE. OKAY. SO THEN WHAT HAPPENS TO THE, I THINK WE TALKED ABOUT THE NEED OF THE CODE COMPLIANCE, LIKE IT WAS A, A MUST HAVE WITHIN OUR CONVERSATIONS. MM-HMM . YEAH, WE DID. UM, AS WELL AS THE BUILDING INSPECTIONS, JUST TO HELP US KEEP THE STAFF THAT WE HAVE MM-HMM . AND KEEP US COMPETITIVE WITH, UM, OTHER CITIES. 'CAUSE WE KEEP HAVING ISSUES AND THEY NAMED THOSE CERTIFICATIONS. IT'S ONLY SIX AGREED. NEED CERTIFICATIONS. WE, WE CAN, WE CAN DO THAT. THAT'S ALL RIGHT. SO WE'RE GONNA DO BOTH, ALL, ALL THREE. SO PAGE NINE. YEAH, ALL THREE. PAGE NINE AND PAGE 11. SO WE GOT PAGE NINE AND PAGE 11 FOCUSING IN ON HOW ABOUT YOU GOT THAT? ARE, ARE YOU SOMEBODY PUTTING IN THOSE NUMBERS? YOU PAGE I TO PAGE 11. OKAY. SO WE HAVE TWO. DO YOU WANT US TO REMOVE ALL THE POSITIONS IN AS YOU COULD? YES. YEAH. REMOVE ALL THE POSITIONS THAT ARE ADDED AS SO WE CAN SEE WHAT THE NUMBER LOOKS. SO GABE? YES. SO GOING BACK TO THIS, YOU WOULD WANNA KEEP PAGE NINE, WHICH IS 213, 400 PLUS PAGE 11, WHICH IS A HUNDRED ELEVEN, FIVE HUNDRED THIRTEEN. THAT'S 329 90, UH, THREE HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR, NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN. UM, WE NEED TO GET UP TO, UH, THAT'S PUTTING US CLOSE, ISN'T IT? UH, WE NEED TO, WELL, THOSE ARE THE ONES WE'RE GONNA KEEP. WE NEED TO CUT. CORRECT? CORRECT. UM, WE NEED CUT THREE. HOW MUCH IS THAT? NU WHAT'S THAT NUMBER? I'D COME UP WITH 3 24. 913. THAT, THAT WE'RE KEEPING, THAT WE'RE KEEPING, RIGHT? WE NEED TO CUT 300 AND SOME THOUSAND 327,000. OKAY. SEE, [01:15:01] SO THEN WE SEE WHAT THAT NUMBER LOOKS LIKE. AND THEN WE CAN, UM, WORK ON PARKS. WE HAD, UM, 29,000 ADDED TO WHAT WE CAN KEEP BECAUSE OF THE, UH, THE FUND BALANCE. OH, THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE WE REMOVED, SEE, WE WERE GONNA USE THAT MONEY. YEAH. ON, ON THIS ONE. WE CAN. SO YOU WANT TO ADD 29,000 OF THE 3 24? UH, NO. IN THE EXPENDITURES, WE CAN, WE CAN ADD THREE 29,000 IN, IN, IN REVENUE THAT WE'RE KIND OF, SO THAT, THAT'S WHERE WE'RE AT RIGHT NOW. 3 21 5 19. POSITIVE REVENUE'S OVER EXPENDITURE. WHAT DID WE TAKE OUT? EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE, UM, THE PLANS, EXAM EXAMINER, THE TENNIS SHOP, MAINTENANCE AND THE MASTER ELECTRIC. OKAY. NO, YOU NEED TO ADD THE, UH, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR 1 53, THE BUILDING INSPECTIONS FOR 42 AND THE CODE COMPLIANCE ON PAGE NINE. ALL THOSE THREE ALL, WE DIDN'T REMOVE THAT. YOU DIDN'T REMOVE THEM? MM-HMM. SO WHAT'D YOU REMOVE JUST THE PHYSICIANS ALL POSITION THE POSITIONS ON PAGE 10, CORRECT? RIGHT. MINUS THE ANIMAL CARE SERVICE OFFICER, WHICH IS WHAT? YEAH. FOR 48,001 10. YEAH, THAT ONE'S SUPPOSED TO BE ON. OH, CAN YOU PUT THAT BACK ON? YEAH. THE ANIMAL CARE. THE LAST ITEM ON THIS PAGE 10? YEAH. ANIMAL CARE SERVICE OFFICE. AND THEN SEE WHAT THAT NUMBER LOOKS LIKE. 2 73, 3 39. OKAY. SO WE CAN ADD A FEW MORE POSITIONS. MM-HMM . UM, 2 73. IT WON'T, IT WON'T LEAVE US ANY 3 39 WIGGLE ROOM, BUT WE CAN ADD, CAN ADD SOME. OKAY. HOW, HOW MUCH? 100 AND HOW MUCH IS LEFT TO 273,000 THAT WE CAN ADD 3 39. AND THEN, AND THEN WHERE WOULD YOU BE WITH 500,000? NO, NO, THAT WOULD BE A BALANCED BUDGET. THAT WOULD BE A BALANCED BUDGET. SO YOU'D HAVE NOTHING. I HAVE NOTHING. OKAY. SO, BUT, SO YEAH. BUT THIS WOULD BE A, A VICTORY ANYWAY BECAUSE WE BALANCED THE BUDGET. JUST DON'T COME, LIKE I TELL MY KIDS, DON'T ASK ME FOR ANYTHING ELSE. THE ISSUE IS JUST TO, TO GABE'S POINT, IT'S NOT REALITY ABOUT BUDGET. CORRECT. BUT IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE GO THROUGH THE PROCESS. MM-HMM . RIGHT. I THINK THAT'S WHY WE NEED TO DO THIS. MM-HMM . UM, I THINK I SAID THAT FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT THIS IS NO, NO, NO. I DISAGREE. I THINK THIS PROCESS THAT WE'RE GOING THROUGH MM-HMM. IS VERY IMPORTANT , UH, TO SHOW WHAT, WHERE WE ACTUALLY STAND ON EVERYTHING. MM-HMM . SO, OKAY. SO HYPOTHETICALLY SPEAKING, WE DO, THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE, WHAT YOU'RE ASKING. RIGHT. AND SO 273 AND WHAT IS THE NUMBER OF, WHAT ARE THE TOTAL OF THE, UH, YOU'VE GOT 431,000 FOR PARKS. MM-HMM . YOU'VE GOT, UM, ANOTHER 42,000 IN THE LIBRARY AND, AND A HUNDRED THOUSAND IN THE PLANNING. AND THEN ANOTHER HEALTH, UH, INSPECTOR. WHAT'S THE, WHAT'S THE MATH ON THAT? OH, EVAN WOULD'VE GIVEN ME A NUMBER ALREADY. I'M NOT EVEN FINE. ME, I SON WAS AN ACCOUNTANT. HE WOULD'VE ALREADY GIVEN IT TO ME. OKAY. SO 625,979. OKAY. 625,000. AND IF WE WANNA BALANCE BUDGET, WE'VE GOT 273 THAT WE CAN, UH, SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAT 6 26 25 AND THE 2 73? 3 303 52. 6 43. TELL ME THAT AGAIN. 3 52 6 43 52. SIX 40. OKAY. SO SOUND BEFORE WE HAVE TO CUT. YEAH. SO THAT'S RIGHT. LOOKING AT THIS PAGE, PAGE 10, UH, IS THERE $352,640 THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO, UH, CUT? AND IF SO, UH, WHERE DO WE START? [01:20:02] NOT INCLUDING, UH, THE LAST ITEM ON HERE THAT'S ALREADY INCLUDED. PARKS YOU WANNA CUT FROM PARKS? I DON'T WANT TO CUT FROM PARKS, BUT THAT'S A REASON. OKAY. WELL, WE CAN'T, SO YOU WOULD HAVE TO CUT FROM, IF YOU FEEL, IF YOU, IF YOU WANT BALANCE, IF YOU ONLY DO NINE P IF YOU ONLY DO PARKS, YOU STILL NEED TO CUT FROM PARKS TO GET TO THE TWO 70, WAIT, 3 52. BUT I CAN SEE, UM, SO IF YOU WANT TO BALANCE THE BUDGET, YOU JUST NEED TO CUT 2 73. 339. HOW MUCH? 273,339 TO HAVE A, A BALANCED BUDGET. YES. UM, JUAN, IS HE HERE? YES. UM, THESE POSITIONS THAT YOU'RE ADDING, ARE THEY GONNA REQUIRE ADDITIONAL VEHICLES OR EQUIPMENT THAT'S NOT INCLUDED? UM, WHEN IT COMES TO THE SUPERVISOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT, FOR SURE, THE GROUNDSKEEPERS AND MAINTENANCE TECHS, THEY CAN JOIN SEPARATE CREWS. UM, SO NONE OF THOSE ARE INCLUDED IN THE, SO THE, UM, SO THEY WOULD, THEY WOULD DEFINITELY NEED A TRUCK. AND THEY WERE NOT ALREADY INCLUDED? NO. OKAY. SO CAN WE, LET'S CROSS THOSE DOWN. WHICH ONE? TELL ME IT'D BE THE GROUND SUPERVISOR AND THE PARK SUPERINTENDENT. THE FIRST TWO. YEAH. I, I DID TALK TO RAM RIGHT NOW. I GUESS HE WAS WATCHING AND HE CALLED . BUT RAM DID MENTION THAT, UM, HIS POSITION IS NEEDED IF WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO ADD TOURNAMENTS, TOURNAMENTS, TOURNAMENTS TO HIS FACILITY. YES. UH, IF WE'RE GONNA UTILIZE VICTOR PARK, UH, FOR SOME TOURNAMENTS, UM, WITH CERTAIN, UH, ENTITIES AND STUFF, UM, THEN IT WOULD BE FINE. BUT, UM, HIS MAIN CONCERN WAS THE WEEKEND, UM, WAS THE WEEKEND SCHEDULE WHERE HIS STAFF IS, IS THERE THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. UM, ONE OF THEIR OPTION WAS USING OUR WEEKEND CREW TO HELP, UH, CLEAN AND MAINTAIN THE FACILITY. 'CAUSE THAT'S WHERE HE'S HAVING ISSUES, PICKING UP TRASH, UH, CLEANING THE RESTROOMS. SO IF ONE WAY, UM, IS USING OUR PARK STAFF ON THE WEEKEND TO HELP CLEAN THAT FACILITY AND MAINTAIN IT, OUR THAT YOUR STAFF. YEAH. BUT WHICH WOULD REQUIRE ADDITIONAL OVERTIME. HE WAS BASICALLY SAYING THAT ON HIS POSITION FOR TENNIS, HE WOULD RATHER GET IT FOR ANOTHER POSITION IN PARKS. HE WAS TRYING TO SACRIFICE THAT POSITION TO GIVE IT TO US FOR ANOTHER AREA. ALL RIGHT. WELL DONE THEN. BUT, UH, THAT'S WHAT HE WAS PRETTY MUCH SAYING IS, IS, UM, WE CAN, DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU'RE GONNA REQUIRE MORE OVERTIME OR LIKE, I DON'T UNDER, I DON'T, NO, IT WAS JUST BASICALLY HIM JUST SAYING THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT POSITION, IF WE USE THE WEEKEND CREW, UH, HE WAS JUST BASICALLY LOOKING AT EVERYTHING WE NEED. AND HE WAS TO PUT IT ON YOUR ROTATION. HE, HE WAS JUST SAYING, YOU KNOW, IF YOU NEED ANOTHER POSITION HERE, ANOTHER SUPERVISOR, HE WOULD RATHER US GET THAT. AND THEN, UH, OR ANOTHER GROUNDSKEEPER OR MAINTENANCE TECH. UM, AND THEN WE CAN STILL MAKE IT WORK WHERE HIS NEED IS. THE WEEKEND IS SATURDAY IS, IS WHERE WE, WE NEED TO CLEAN THE RESTROOM, THE FACILITY, THOSE AREAS. AND YOU'RE COMMITTING TO MAKING SURE THAT YOU DO THAT WITH THE STAFF THAT YOU HAVE, ASSUMING THAT THAT POSITION, WE GET IT OVER HERE IN ANOTHER, IN ANOTHER AREA. WELL, YOU'RE GONNA GET SOME POSITION. YEAH. SO I'M JUST TRYING TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW THAT IF INSTEAD OF THE TENNIS SHOP MAINTENANCE ASSISTANT, OKAY. WE GAIN THE REC ASSISTANT OR THE GROUNDSKEEPER, LIKE I DON'T WANNA LOSE EVERYTHING. HE'S BASICALLY SAYING THAT. I UNDERSTAND. YEAH. SO, OKAY. SO ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT, GABE? UM, IF GRAHAM SAYS HE DOESN'T NEED 'EM, THEN WE'LL TAKE HIM BACK AND I MEAN, HE'S ASSUMING THAT WE'RE GONNA GET PARK POSITIONS AND, AND WE'RE ASSUMING THAT YOU'RE GONNA TAKE CARE OF THE NEED. YEAH. SO ASSUMING THAT WE DON'T LOSE ALL OUR PARK POSITIONS, WELL, SO ESSENTIALLY, THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. GET RID OF THE TENNIS SHOP MAINTENANCE ASSISTANCE AND GIVE YOU A RECREATION ASSISTANCE. AND THAT WORKS. OR, OR A GROUNDSKEEPER OR A MAINTENANCE TECH OR A POSITION. HE JUST WANTS TO HAVE THAT MONEY, UM, ALLOCATED TO PARKS AND HE'S COMMITTING TO ENSURING THAT THE TENNIS, UM, CENTER IS GONNA BE COVERED IN THE WEEKEND. EXACTLY. I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S THE CASE BECAUSE I, YOU'RE UNDERSTAFFED AND YOU'RE GONNA HAVE, YOU KNOW, SAY YOU GET A REC ASSISTANT, I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT'S GONNA HELP YOU CLEAN THE TENNIS CENTER. WELL, GAINING A, A GROUNDSKEEPER FOR ATHLETICS OR A MAINTENANCE TECH WILL BENEFIT ME TREMENDOUSLY. MM-HMM . UM, AND WE CAN STILL HELP RAM OUT ON THE WEEKEND. OKAY. AND, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE AN INCREASE ON, A LITTLE INCREASE ON OUR TEMPS. SO WE COULD ALSO LOOK AT TEMPS. WE COULD LOOK AT ALL THOSE DIFFERENT AREAS TO GET HIM HELP WITH CLEANING. AND SO, OKAY, SO LET'S, UM, TAKE OFF THE, UH, TENNIS MAINTENANCE. IS THAT OKAY WITH THIS [01:25:01] COMMISSION? YES. OKAY. AND THEN WHAT'S THE NUMBER? 302 73 3 39. HOW IS IT THE SAME? OH YEAH. 'CAUSE IT WAS UNDER THE TENNIS FUND. OKAY. YOU NEVER SAID THAT. BUT THAT, BUT THAT'S FUNDED. IT'S STILL FUNDED OUT UNDER FROM THE GENERAL FUND. DID YOU CHANGE IT TO GENERAL FUND ? IT, IT'S, IT'S CLASSIFIED AS SOMETHING ELSE, BUT THEY STILL GET MONEY FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO, TO FUND IT. SO , WE, WE HAD TALKED ABOUT THAT THIS MORNING. THAT'S COOL. IS 'CAUSE THEY GET FUNDED OUT OF THE GENERAL FUND. WE TRANSFER MONEY OVER THERE TO SUPPORT THE OPERATIONS OF THE TENNIS COURT. THAT'S WHY IT DOESN'T CHANGE. 'CAUSE UNDER WE UNDERSTAND, BUT WE JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS THAT WE'RE WORKING WITH. YEAH, IT'S 2 73. 2 73. SO IT DIDN'T CHANGE ANYTHING FOR YOU TO ME. NO. IT, IT'S, IT'S NOT MAKING A CHANGE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? CAN THAT NO, NO. IT'S NOT MAKING A CHANGE. NO. YOU JUST GAVE IT UP. YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE. YEAH. SO, OKAY. I FEEL LIKE WE'RE IN VEGAS 2 73. DO YOU? I MEAN, I, I'M NOT FULLY, UH, I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAME UP WITH THAT, BUT I'M, I'M JUST KIND OF, UM, IT RELYING ON, IT'S 'CAUSE THE OPERATION OF THE TENNIS COURT IS FUNDED BY THE GENERAL FUND. SO THE GENERAL FUND TRANSFERS MONEY TO I UNDERSTAND. YEAH. TO THE, I UNDERSTAND THAT PART, BUT I DON'T KNOW. WHEN WE DID THE CALCULATION, I ASSUME THAT YOU WERE, UM, ADDING, ADDING THAT IN, AND AS THE NUMBERS, YOU WERE ADDING THEM UP. LET ME ASK THIS, WHAT OTHER HIDDEN THAT THAT'S THE ONLY 1, 2 70 MADE CHANGE THIS MORNING. WHAT'S THAT? IT'S, 'CAUSE WE MADE THAT CHANGE THIS MORNING, AND IT WAS JUST TO SHOW THAT THE TENNIS FUND IS NOT A TRUE ENTERPRISE FUND. IT'S BECAUSE THE TENNIS FUND IS A SPECIAL REVENUE FUND AND IT'S, IT'S ON ITS OWN. RIGHT. SO WE ACCOUNT FOR IT IN, IN A SPECIAL REVENUE FUND. MM-HMM . AND SO GABE'S POINT IS WE TRANSFER MONEY OVER THERE TO SUPPORT THAT OPERATION. SO IT SHOULD REALLY JUST BE IN THE GENERAL FUND. SO PUT THAT POSITION IN THE GENERAL FUND. YEAH. SO THAT, THAT'S WHAT WE DID, IS WE HAD TO, EVEN THOUGH IT'S A REVENUE FUND, IT DOESN'T REALLY GENERATE ANY REVENUE. MM-HMM . WE CHARGE $2. JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER, YEAH. YEAH. RIGHT. OKAY. SO AGAIN, NOW 200 WE NEED, OKAY, SO THE NUMBER IS WE NEED TO GET TO 2 73 OR WE NEED TO CUT 2 73. I ALREADY FORGOT. SO THE PO SO THE POSITIONS YOU CAN ADD UP TO 2 73 IN POSITIONS. OKAY. TO BALANCE. RIGHT NOW WE'RE ADDING. OKAY. SO WHAT IS, CAN YOU GIVE ME, WHAT ARE, LET'S, UH, TAKE TAKING OUT THE PARKS GROUND SUPERVISOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT. WHAT DOES THAT LEAVE US IN TERMS OF PARKS? HOW MUCH, WHAT, WHAT ARE THOSE POSITIONS? THE PARK GROUND SUPERVISOR, 4 31, 4 70 MINUS 53, 4 15 AND 70. YEAH. 3 0 8. OH 20 0 8 0 0 2. 3 0 8. OKAY. SO IF WE ARE ONLY FUNDING PARKS, WE CAN'T FUND ALL OF PARKS. AND IF ARE, ARE, IS IT THIS POSITION OF THE COMMISSION THAT WE'RE JUST GOING TO PASS ON THE LIBRARY, THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, THE, THE SENIOR SENIOR PLANNER, WHICH IS A HUNDRED THOUSAND, AND THEN THE HEALTH INSPECTOR, AND WE'RE JUST FOCUSED ON PARKS? OR ARE WE WANTING, UM, ANY OF THESE THREE POSITIONS? PERSONALLY? I, I LIKE TO SEE THE LIBRARY GET THEIR, GET THEIR PERSON. OKAY. UH, THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT, YES. WE, THAT'S A GEN, UH, THAT REV THAT GENERATES REVENUE FOR THE CITY. OKAY. AND OBVIOUSLY WE DO NEED A HEALTH INSPECTOR. OKAY. SO THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDED. SO YOU WANNA, THAT'S GONNA THROW EVERYTHING OFF, BUT, UH, HOW MUCH MORE CAN WE, UH, DO AWAY WITH? WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING TO GET TO 2 73. WE'RE TRYING TO FUND 2 73. SO THAT ESSENTIALLY GETS US TO 200 MORE OR LESS. JUST ROUNDING UP, RIGHT? OH, 100 PLUS 51 PLUS 42 PLUS 40 ISN. OH, BUT NO PARKS. WELL, THAT WOULD LEAVE US 73. SOME, A LITTLE MORE THAN 73 FOR PARKS, WHICH IS NOT DOABLE. RIGHT. WHICH IS A PERSON AND A HALF EVEN LOOKING AT THE LOWEST PAID 51 5 8 9. WHERE IS THAT? UH, ONE OF THE RECREATION ASSISTANCE? 51. IT'S 41, EXCUSE ME. 41 0 5 8. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. I THINK WE NEED TO GET AS MANY GROUNDSKEEPERS AS POSSIBLE, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THE PUBLIC SEES ALL THE TIME. AND THAT'S WHERE A LOT OF THE COMPLAINTS COME. [01:30:01] I, I DON'T DISAGREE. RIGHT. IT'S JUST LIKE I'M TRYING TO WORK MY WAY THERE. YEAH. AND SO IT'S LIKE, WHAT DO WE CUT? I SAY WE CUT THE HEALTH INSPECTOR, OR MAYBE THE, UH, WE DIDN'T, WE ALREADY GET A LOT OF THE, THE P AND Z STUFF. TO FRANK'S POINT, THE SENIOR PLANNER IS REVENUE, A VERY IMPORTANT POSITION. AND I THINK THAT THEY'VE BEEN STRUGGLING, UM, OVER THERE WITH ANA. YES, MA'AM. UM, SO I, I MEAN, I DON'T, I DON'T DISAGREE THAT THAT'S, UM, A PRIORITY, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THE, AND I, I'VE, I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS OVER AND OVER, THE, THE, UH, THE EXPECTATIONS ON PARKS IS REALLY, REALLY HIGH. AND YOU'RE, THEY DON'T HAVE THE, UH, IF THEY DON'T HAVE THE STAFF TO KEEP UP, THEN JUAN, IT'S NOT GONNA GET BETTER. I APOLOGIZE. I DIDN'T MEAN TO INTERRUPT. I SURE YOU DID. SORRY. GO RIGHT AHEAD. JUAN. PAINT ME A PICTURE. AS YOU GET THESE POSITIONS, WHAT DO WE SEE? WHAT IMPROVEMENTS DO WE SEE? UM, BASICALLY EVERYTHING THAT'S COMING UP RIGHT NOW THROUGH EMAIL TEXTS, ALL THE INPUT IS WHAT EVERYONE SEES OFF THE EXPRESSWAY. WHAT EVERYONE SEES ON HIGH TRAFFIC AREAS IS OUR PARKS AND OUR GROUNDS AND OUR MAINTENANCE. SO, UM, HAVING THESE POSITIONS WOULD PUT US IN A GREAT POSITION TO FULFILL A LOT OF THE NEED THAT'S THERE. UM, AND TALKING TO STAFF PERSONALLY, UM, THEY'VE EXPRESSED THAT THEY'RE PRETTY MUCH PUSHING TO THE LIMIT. I MEAN, THEY'VE REALLY OPENED UP RECENTLY ABOUT IT. SO, UH, I HEAR THEM OUT, YOU KNOW, SUPERVISORS LET ME KNOW WHAT'S BEING TALKED ABOUT, AND THEN I'LL GO SHOW UP AND TALK TO THEM. AND THERE'S A, A BIG NEED THERE, UM, WITH OUR GROUND OPERATIONS AND OUR MAINTENANCE TECHS. UM, NOW THAT WE HAVE THESE CHECKLISTS THAT I PRESENTED TO GABE THIS MORNING, AND WE'VE IMPLEMENTED SOME OF THOSE, WE, WE'VE NOTICED ISSUES WITH OUR PLAYGROUNDS. UM, WE'RE NOTING IT, UM, THAT'S GONNA COST MONEY FOR REPLACEMENT. UM, BUT, UM, PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE IS A REALLY BIG THING TOO. SO WE NEED STAFF TO FOLLOW THESE CHECKLISTS NOW. THEY'RE GONNA BE GOING OUT THERE. UM, BUT STAFF HAS EXPRESSED THAT THEY NEED HELP. AND LOOKING AT WHAT WE'RE LOOKING WITH, WHAT WE ARE LOOKING TO DO WITH THE REC CENTER AT PENDLETON, LOOKING AT WHAT WE WANT TO DO WITH, YOU KNOW, GOD WILLING, WE GET THE, THE MONEY FOR THE SOCCER COMPLEX, GOD WILLING TO GET THE MONEY FOR WILSON. UH, WE'RE PUTTING ALL THESE IMPROVEMENTS IN, THAT'S GONNA PUT EVEN MORE STRAIN ON A DEPARTMENT THAT'S, UH, I'M NOT GONNA SAY YOU GUYS ARE BUCKLING, BUT WE'RE STARTING TO SEE SOME TREMORS. YEAH. I'M ONLY TALKING ABOUT THE PARK MAINTENANCE ASPECT. IF YOU LOOK AT THE RECREATION COMPONENT AND YOU'RE LOOKING AT PROGRAMMING AND THE PROGRAMMING THAT'S COMING, WE DON'T HAVE IT. UH, WE HAVE ONE ATHLETIC SUPERVISOR, WHICH IS LUPE. WE HAVE, UH, RECREATION, UH, SUPERVISOR IN AERIAL. UM, BUT WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT THE STAFF OR PICKLEBALL PRO SHOP, WE'RE LOOKING AT THE REC CENTER AND THE POSSIBLE BASKETBALL LEAGUES. VOLLEYBALL LEAGUES, ALL THE SENIOR PROGRAMMING THAT WE WANT TO IMPLEMENT. ALL THE NEW PROGRAMMING IDEAS, I WOULD HAVE TO SAY WE, THAT KIND OF HINDERS A LOT OF THE STUFF THAT WE'RE PLANNING ON TRYING TO HOPE TO BRING TO THE CITY AND TO THE COMMUNITY. AND A LOT OF IT IS VOICE TO THEIR OPINIONS OF WHAT THEY WANT, WHAT THEY SEE. AND SO NOT JUST SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT AT THESE EVENTS WHEN THEY SHARE WITH SASHA AT THE HEALTH, UH, COMMUNITY CENTER, WHAT, WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE. UM, SO YEAH, WE MOVE FORWARD AND WE PLAN ACCORDING, LIKE IF WE HAVE THE STAFF, UM, JUST SO WE'RE PREPARED. AND THEN IF WE GET THE STAFF, GREAT, THEN WE CAN IMPLEMENT IT. BUT, UM, ACROSS THE BOARD FROM PARKS TO RECREATION, UH, YEAH, I JUST KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, UH, I THINK I TOLD JUAN THIS AND I TOLD, DEFINITELY TOLD MANAGEMENT THIS YEAR WAS THE FIRST YEAR MY, UH, MY TWO BOYS PLAYED A SOCCER AT THE HEART OF SOCCER COMPLEX. AND IT WAS PRETTY ROUGH BEING OUT THERE, THE SHAPE THAT IT'S IN. AND IT'S NOT THROUGH ANY FAULT OF YOUR OWN, BUT WE HAVE TO PRIORITIZE, RIGHT? AND SO, LOOKING AT THAT, UH, I KNOW THAT ABOUT THREE OR FOUR MONTHS AGO, CHRIS, OSCAR, UH, JUAN, WE WENT TO VICTOR PARK. AND I'M STILL GETTING THOSE EMAILS ABOUT VICTOR PARK AND EVERYTHING WE NEED TO ACCOMPLISH OUT THERE. UH, I THINK WE GOT AN EMAIL TODAY ABOUT LIGHTING. UH, AGAIN, YOU GUYS HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB ABOUT, UH, THE WALKING TRAILS, BUT I THINK EACH OF OUR PARKS, UH, JUST NEED A LOT OF LOVE, MAN. 'CAUSE I GO INTO THOSE BATHROOMS, MAYOR, AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE BEING A LITTLE OSA, RIGHT? BUT THEN YOU GO TO THE BATHROOM AND YOU'RE JUST LIKE, THIS IS ROUGH. WE'RE IN PRETTY DIRE STRAITS IN JUST FACILITY. AND THAT'S, I'M A JAIL FOR THE, OR I'M GONNA DETER FOR THE COUNTY WITH THE COUNTY JAIL. AND I'M JUST SAYING, YOU KNOW, OUR FACILITIES NEED A LOT OF TLC. AND SO I [01:35:01] THINK ALL THESE REQUESTS, I DON'T SEE, YOU KNOW, ANY REQUEST HERE ON THE STAFF SIDE THAT I'M SEEING AS BEING A WANT OVER A NEED. AND SO I THINK IN MY VIEW RIGHT NOW, I THINK WE'RE IN A HARD PLACE. SO I, YEAH, JUST, JUST, YOU KNOW, UM, SORRY. UM, PIGGYBACKING OFF OF, OF THAT, AND JUST FOR CLARITY PURPOSES, UM, YOU KNOW, MENDOLA HAD ALREADY SHAVED OFF POSITIONS BEFORE HE CAME TO US. 'CAUSE IT WAS ALMOST DOUBLE WAS THE, GIVE ME THIS SO THAT WAY I CAN MEET THE EXPECTATION. AND THEN WE ASKED HIM, OKAY, WE CAN'T, WHAT DO YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO YOUR POINT OF, YOU KNOW, NEEDS AND NOT, NOT, UM, WANTS, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU CAME UP WITH, RIGHT? YES, MA'AM. AND JUST THE FACT THAT LIKE, YOU HAVE A, A PERSON LIKE RAM WILLING TO SACRIFICE A POSITION THAT HE COULD PROBABLY TAKE JUST 'CAUSE HE'S LOOKING AT THE BETTERMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT, SPEAKS VOLUMES THAT LIKE MM-HMM . YOU KNOW, WE HAVE NEEDS, UM, ANYBODY OUT THERE WANNA GIVE UP THEIR ? SO AROUND WAS PROBABLY LIKE, I SHOULDN'T HAVE SAID IT, DONNA'S REAL QUIET TODAY. , BUT YEAH. WELL, I MEAN, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS THESE, YOU KNOW, I'M LOOKING AT RACHEL KIND OF SITTING THERE AND SHE HAD A BUNCH OF REQUESTS THAT WEREN'T EVEN ENTERTAINED, UM, BY THE COMMISSION BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE MONEY. AND I SAW THEM. I, I, I AND I MM-HMM . AND I SEE THE NEED AND I KNOW THAT IT'S OUT THERE ON, ON, YOU KNOW, KIND OF JUST BLOGS AND STUFF THAT THE CITY IS ENTERTAINING THAT WHEN IT HASN'T EVEN, UM, BEEN DISCUSSED IN. AND SHE SITS HERE AND SHE'S WANTING TO KNOW HOW SHE'S GONNA BE ABLE TO MANAGE HER DEPARTMENT, WHICH ALSO IS IMPORTANT IN PROVIDING INFORMATION TO OUR COMMUNITY. AND, UM, KNOWING THAT WE HAD LIMITED FUNDS WORKING ON THE THINGS THAT ARE REALLY CONTRIBUTING TO THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN TERMS OF PARKS AND DRAINAGE HAS BEEN THE FOCUS. AND THEN OBVIOUSLY, UM, PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE AND EVERYTHING THAT WE'VE GOT GOING ON AND, AND, AND IN TERMS OF, UM, THE, THE, THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT. AND SO I THINK, UM, YOU KNOW, STAFF DID A REALLY GOOD JOB IN PRESENTING THE THINGS THAT NEEDED, UH, IN ORDER TO JUST CONTINUE TO STAY OPERATIONAL, RIGHT? AND, AND, AND MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE DOING THE BEST, THAT THE BEST THAT WE CAN. SO MAYOR, MAYOR JUAN, UM, ARE ALL YOUR POSITIONS ALWAYS FILLED? UM, SO WE HIRED QUITE A BIT OF POSITIONS. SO, UH, WE'RE GONNA BE FILLED, FILLED RIGHT NOW. I THINK TWO WERE INTERNAL TO TRACTOR MOWERS. SO THOSE TWO GROUNDSKEEPERS WILL BE VACANT. UM, PRIOR TO FILLING THESE POSITIONS, WE HIRED, I BELIEVE, FIVE OR SIX. LET'S JUST SAY IT WAS SIX FIVE, UH, QUITE THE FIRST WEEK. UM, SO WE'RE HAVING A HARD TIME RETAINING A LITTLE BIT, BUT, UM, TYPICALLY WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE SEASONS, UM, USUALLY LIKE AROUND TOWARDS THE CHRISTMAS TIME, HOLIDAY AREAS WILL, WILL BE FILLED. AND THEN SUMMERS SOMETIMES ALWAYS DIFFICULT BECAUSE THE HEAT, RIGHT? SO IT'S JUST USUALLY WHAT WE SEE IS, UM, WHEN WE HIRE THEM IN THE FALL, WINTER TIME, EARLY YEAR, THEY TEND TO STAY AND RETAIN, UH, THE NEW HIRES IN THE SUMMER. LIKE IT'S NORMAL, LIKE WE'RE OKAY WITH IT. SO IF THEY ARE VACANT FOR LIKE HOW LONG ARE THEY VACANT? UM, THIS, THIS TIME GO AROUND, UM, WE HAD TO RESET THE POSITIONS. UM, THEY WERE ON THERE FOR A WHILE. UM, AND THEN WE RESET IT, WE RESET, AND THEN WE HIRED AGAIN. BUT TO GIVE YOU A TIME, UM, IF IT'S MAINTENANCE, UH, WORKER ONE AT $10 AN HOUR FOR PART-TIME, IT'S QUITE A BIT, IT'S QUITE A LONG TIME. I MEAN, LIKE A MONTH, A WEEK, NO, THOSE, THOSE POSITIONS PROBABLY GO TO FIVE OR SIX MONTHS AND WE WILL GET LIKE MAYBE SEVEN POSITIONS FOR THAT ONE GROUNDSKEEPER. UM, THEY'LL BE, THEY'LL BE POSTED FOR A MONTH OR TWO JUST TO GET A GOOD POOL OF PEOPLE. SURE. UM, AND THEN, UH, TRACTOR MOWER POSITION WILL GET MORE APPLICANTS FAIRLY QUICKLY. I MEAN, TWO TO TWO WEEKS TO SIX WEEKS, IT PAYS A LITTLE BIT MORE. UM, BUT AGAIN, WE'RE, WE'RE LOOKING AT INDIVIDUALS TO, UM, AS THE OLD SAYING GOES IN THE, IN, IN OUR INDUSTRY, IT'S LIKE IF THEY HAVE A POLICY, YOU CAN PUT 'EM UP OUT THERE. BUT WE, WE TRY TO LIKE, WE, BUT WE LOOK AT JUST THEIR BACKGROUND, RIGHT? SURE. IF THEY'RE CROSS-TRAINED. SO IF THEY HAVE SOME CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND, CONCRETE TRADES, I MEAN, WE LOOK AT THE WHOLE SPECTRUM, NOT JUST CUTTING GRASS BECAUSE ONCE THEY'RE, ONCE THEY'RE HIRED, WE LIKE TO CROSS TRAIN AND USE THEM IN DIFFERENT AREAS. SURE. I ASKED BECAUSE THAT, THAT MONEY THAT IS NOT BEING USED WHILE IT'S VACANT, IT'S SITTING THERE. I MEAN, IT'S NOT THAT WE'RE USING IT ALL YEAR. RIGHT. UM, AND GENERALLY EMPLOYEES DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THAT. RIGHT. BECAUSE WHENEVER THERE ARE VACANCIES AT THE END OF THE YEAR, THAT GETS USED FOR EITHER, UH, SOME OF THE [01:40:01] EXPENDITURES THAT HAPPEN THAT WE HAD TO COVER SURE. OR IT GOES INTO THE FUND BALANCE. RIGHT. THEY'RE SWEATING. RIGHT. YEAH. THERE'S, UH, YEAH, BUT WE'RE NOT ACCOUNTING FOR IT. WE MEAN RIGHT NOW WE'RE ACCOUNTING IT AS BUDGET FOR IT TO COUNT FOR THE WHOLE YEAR. BUT, UH, IT'S HARD TO, UH, BUDGET FOR THAT BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A VACANCY. RIGHT. AND BEFORE WE DID THE ADJUSTMENTS TO POLICE AND FIRE, WE WOULD ACTUALLY BUDGET THREE TO $400,000 A YEAR ON SALARY SAVINGS BECAUSE WE, IT WASN'T UNCOMMON TO HAVE, UM, BUDGET FOR THAT BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT, UM, SORRY, THAT'S, I'M JUST MAKING SURE THAT I WAS GETTING A MESSAGE THAT IT'S NOT STREAMING. OH. AND, AND SO NOW BECAUSE WE'VE INCREASED OUR SALARIES, WE'VE PROVIDED BETTER BENEFITS. UM, THE, THE VACANCIES IN POLICE AND FIRE ARE MAYBE ONE. AND THAT'S A GOOD THING. SURE. BECAUSE EVERYBODY WANTS TO STAY, STAY. CERTAINLY. YEAH. OKAY. UM, ROBERT, WE, THE, UM, THE ONE TIME EXPENDITURES, WE TOOK THOSE OUT OF FUND BALANCE, DID YOU TRANSFER THE HALF MILLION FROM FUND BALANCE INTO THIS BUDGET ALREADY? THAT'S NOT THE WAY IT WORKS. LIKE, YOU DON'T TRANSFER OUT A FUND BALANCE, IT JUST REDUCES BASED ON YOUR REVENUE EXP EXPENSE. NO, BUT DID, DID YOU, DID YOU REDUCE THE, UH, THE, THE EXPENDITURES TO ACCOUNT FOR THAT INCREASE? NO. THE, LIKE YOU'D HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY IDENTIFY WHAT EXPENDITURES YOU'RE DOING TO REDUCE IT. LIKE WE'RE ALREADY REDUCING THE FUND BALANCE BY 1,000,003 35, RIGHT? IS THAT WHAT YOU MEAN? 1,000,003 35? YEAH. THE ONE TIME EXPENDITURES. THOSE ARE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. NO, BUT, BUT, BUT WHAT WE, OKAY. AND THE ANSWER IS YES, YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THAT, BUT IT, IT'S NOT 1 MILLION 3 35 WAS WHAT IT WAS BEFORE WE MADE ALL THOSE CHANGES AND WE BROUGHT IT DOWN TO LIKE 480,000. YEAH. THE ONE 1 MILLION 3, 335 IS WHAT WE ADDED FROM THE WORKSHOP NUMBER ONE. RIGHT. BUT THEN WE JUST, WE JUST AMENDED THAT SEE, RIGHT. YEAH. AND SO THAT, THAT IS COMING FROM THE, THE EXPENDITURES TO REDUCE FUND BALANCES. OKAY. OKAY. NEVERMIND. IT'S OKAY. SO, UM, ANYONE ELSE HAVE, HAVE UH, THOUGHTS? GABRIEL, YOU SURE YOU DON'T HAVE A MAGICAL ATM CARD SOMEWHERE? I DO, BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY. NOT WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. UH, IF, IF WE TAKE THE, UM, THE LIBRARY, NO, THE PLANNING, THE SENIOR PLANNER POSITION AND THE PARKS GROUNDSKEEPERS, THREE OF THEM MM-HMM . THAT PUTS US AT 229 PARKS GROUNDSKEEPERS. THE THREE OF THEM. THREE OF THEM. AND THEN THE ONE, AND THEN THERE'S SENIOR PLANNER THAT PUTS US AT 229,733. SO THAT MEANS GET RID OF THE LIBRARY ASSISTANT AND THE HEALTH INSPECTOR AND THEN THE OTHER, THE PARKS MAINTENANCE TECH, RECREATION ASSISTANCE, THE AQUATIC FULL OPERATOR. YEAH. CAN YOU PUT THE DASHBOARD UP THERE AGAIN, ROBERT? OH, THERE IT'S, YES. OKAY. WE, I ADDED THOSE POSITIONS. OH, YOU ADDED THOSE, THOSE FOUR POSITIONS. OKAY. THEN WE'VE GOT 43,000 LEFT IN REVENUE, WHICH I THINK WE SHOULD NOT USE THAT FOR ANYBODY. SO YOU COULD, YOU COULD, YOU WANNA WIPE IT CLEAN? YOU COULD GET ONE MORE PERSON. HMM. NO, I DON'T WANNA WIPE IT CLEAN. I, WELL, I I THINK THIS IS, UH, FOR PURPOSES OF, UM, ILLUSTRATION, SO YOU WANT SENIOR PLANNER AND THREE GROUNDS KEEPERS, CORRECT? YES. THE THREE, THE THREE PARKS GROUNDS KEEP, UM, KEEPERS. AND THEN THE, THAT TAKES CARE OF THE ONE POSITION THAT COMMISSIONER MORALE ASKED FOR. AND THEN THE THREE THAT COMMISSIONER PEREZ HAD TALKED ABOUT THE PLANNING AND, AND WHICH OTHER ONE? IT WAS A SENIOR PLANNER AND THEN THE THREE GROUNDSKEEPERS, CORRECT? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT. YEAH. OKAY. AND SO IS, IS THAT WHAT THE COMMISSION WOULD LIKE TO DO? AND THAT IS NOT, UM, OKAY. SO GABE, YOUR THOUGHTS OF HAVING $43,000. SO, WELL, LEMME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE. UM, AT VICTOR PARK MM-HMM . THE, THE CONCESSION STAND MM-HMM . WENT DOWN, UM, AND IT CAUSED AN OUTAGE IN THE BATHROOMS THAT WAS CAUSED BY, UM, THE LEAGUE LEAVING A FRYER ON IN THE CONCESSION STANDS OVERNIGHT. AND SO IT WIPED OUT OUR CONCESSION STAND IN BATHROOMS FOR US TO REPAIR THAT IS GONNA COST US $30,000. SO WE'RE GOING TO WHAT? IT WENT UP. YEAH. [01:45:01] OH, YOU'RE FULL OF GOOD NEWS TODAY. OH, YEAH. OH YEAH. SO WE'VE BEEN SO, SO . SO OUR TEAM HAS BEEN WORKING ON JUST GETTING SOME ACCURATE NUMBERS. SO YEAH, IT'S, IT'S GONNA GO UP. SO WE'RE LOOKING AT THE ELECTRICAL COMPONENT. IT ACTUALLY CAME DOWN FROM EARLIER TO ABOUT 12,000. THAT'S COMPLETE REPAIR. AND THEN THE ACTUAL CONSTRUCTION, IT WAS JUST A GAUGE AMOUNT. UM, BUT WE'RE, ONE PERSON CAME IN AT 75,000 AND THEN ANOTHER ONE CAME IN AT 45,000 TO COMPLETELY, UH, CHANGE TO, 'CAUSE BASED ON THE PICTURES IN THE VIDEO, IT'S CHARRED EVERYTHING. THE CEILING'S CHARRED THE, UH, SHELVING. OKAY, WELL WE GET THE PICTURE. SO YEAH, YOU CAN, YOU CAN SEE WE DIDN'T HAVE ENTRANCE. THIS WAS JUST AN EXAMPLE. UM, WE, WELL, WE'RE GONNA TRY TO, FIRST WE'RE GONNA TRY TO HAVE THEIR INSURANCE PAY FOR IT FIRST. THEIR INSURANCE THEIR YES. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT, HOW GOOD IT IS. AND SO, UM, I DID SPEAK WITH THE ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT. HE DID GET A CALL AND HE SAID, UH, HE GAVE THEM THE APPROVAL TO PROCEED. SO THE ADJUSTER WILL BE OUT THERE ON THURSDAY, BUT WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO MAKE THE REPAIRS WHETHER THEY HAVE THE FUNDING TO COVER ALL OF IT OR NOT. SO, BUT WE'LL GET REIMBURSED. WHEN DID THIS, UH, PRIOR GO OFF? MM, ABOUT THREE WEEKS AGO, MAYBE THREE OR SO. AND WE'RE JUST GETTING BACK TO, TO INSURANCE RIGHT NOW? NO, WE SENT THAT OFF A WEEK, A WEEK AND A HALF AGO, WEEK, A WEEK AGO. IT'S BEEN SOME TIME. AND THEN BY THE TIME WE GOT ALL THE QUOTES, THEY HAVE TO GO OUT THERE, DO AN INSPECTION. UM, IT'S, IT'S A PROCESS. BUT, BUT THAT WAS JUST AN ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT CAN HAPPEN WAS AN EXAM. YES. WE'RE GETTING, WE'RE GETTING OFF OF, YEAH. SO, SO OFF TOPIC. YEAH. SO THAT'S WHY I WANTED TO HAVE SOME SORT OF CUSHION EXCESS REVENUE JUST TO COVER INCIDENTS LIKE THAT. SO 43,000 IS SOME, BUT IT'S NOT GONNA BE ENOUGH FOR WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. SO, AND, AND IN, YOU'VE BEEN HERE FOR QUITE SOME TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE TIME THAT YOU HAVE BEEN HERE. HAVE YOU EVER, UM, WITNESSED BEEN PART OF A BUDGET OR WITNESSED A BUDGET WITH SUCH A, UM, VERY MINIMAL, UH, DOLLAR AMOUNT LEFT? YES. AND WHEN WAS THAT? OH, 2008 WHEN WE HAD A, A RECESSION. UM, WE'VE HAD 2000, THE 2002 TO MAYBE 2005 YEARS WERE VERY LEAN. DID THAT AFFECT THE RATING OF THE CITY, IF YOU RECALL? UH, I DON'T RECALL MAYOR. OKAY. UM, BUT WE'RE IN A MUCH BETTER PLACE NOW. SO IF SOMETHING TRAGIC WERE TO HAPPEN, WE'VE GOT, WE'VE GOT A RESERVE THAT COULD, RIGHT. YEAH. IT JUST, UM, IT JUST SEEMS MY OPINION, THIS IS MY, MY OPINION AND DOESN'T SEEM THAT WE'RE BEING FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE IF WE TAKE THAT STEP. SO IF I MAY ASK, MAYOR, IS YOUR POSITION TO CUT MORE? I WOULD SAY IF, IF YES, IF THAT'S WHAT, IF NEEDS TO BE DONE, WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS, UM, I WOULD SAY THAT WE NEED TO LEAN ON, ON, ON GABE. GABE IS A CITY MANAGER AND, AND THE NUMBER THAT HE FEELS COMFORTABLE, UH, IS NOT GOING TO, UH, JEOPARDIZE THE STANDING OF THE, OF THE CITY IN, IN RELATION TO ROBERT. EARLIER, HE SAID I WOULD, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE REOCCURRING EXPENSES AND I WOULD NOT, UM, I WOULDN'T, I, IF, IF, IF, IF GABE HAD HIS WAY, HE'D HAVE NONE. NONE OF THE POSITIONS FUNDED. 'CAUSE WE'VE DONE 84 POSITIONS SINCE WE GOT HERE. UH, AND SO THAT IS IT, IT VERY AGGRESSIVE AND VERY MUCH NEEDED. SO THAT'S MY CON MY CON MY CONCERN. WE WANNA KEEP THE, WE WANT TO KEEP THE TAX RATE AS, AS, UH, PRESENTED. THEN I DON'T THINK THAT WE CAN FUND THE ASKS, BUT THAT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, I MAY BE IN AN, IN AN ISLAND ALL BY MYSELF OUT HERE, BUT, UM, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT. AND I KNOW, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT WE NEED IT. I THINK IT'S GOING TO, UM, IF WE DO DO THAT, THEN THERE IS GOING TO BE A DOMINO EFFECT. AND I DO THINK THAT THEY'RE GONNA HAVE ISSUES. THEY'RE GONNA BE STRUGGLING IN THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS. UH, BUT WE NEED TO BALANCE WHAT IT IS THAT WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH HERE. SO YOUR POSITION, MAYOR, IS JUST LEAVE IT TO GABE AND WE [01:50:01] JUST APPROVE THEM. THE BUDGET GABE GIVES US, NO, I THINK EVERY COMMISSIONER HAS THEIR, UM, YOU KNOW, POSITION THAT'S MINE. I THINK THAT IF WE, YOU KNOW, IF WE'RE GOING TO, YOU KNOW, ROBERT GAVE US DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, AND THAT'S WHY IN THE VERY BEGINNING I ASKED, YOU KNOW, IS IT POSSIBLE IF WE'RE GONNA HAVE, IF WE'RE GONNA ENTERTAIN WHETHER WE'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO DO THIS RESPONSIBLY, THEN THE REALITY IS THAT, THAT WE DON'T, YOU KNOW, THIS, THIS, THIS TAX RATE DOESN'T SUPPORT THE ASKS THAT THE COMMISSION IS PUTTING ON STAFF TO BE ABLE TO BALANCE THE BUDGET. AND NOW WE'RE SAYING, OKAY, WE'RE GOING EMPTY OUT. WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA STRIP IT UNTIL, YOU KNOW, WE'RE KIND OF PULLING FROM ONE, ONE DEPARTMENT, THE OTHER DEPARTMENT, WHICH ONE'S MORE IMPORTANT? THEY'RE ALL IMPORTANT. UM, SO THAT'S THAT. ALL RIGHT. HIT THE HEAD. YOU'RE DONE. POW, DONE. , I MEAN, IS THAT NOT ACCURATE? YES. YES, I DO. YOU ARE THE, I MEAN, WE LEAN ON YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE OUR FINANCE DIRECTOR. YEAH. WHERE DO WE WANNA BE? WE WANNA BE WHERE WE ARE BEING FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE. WE'RE BEING GOOD STEWARDS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS. IF WE WANNA DO THAT, THEN WE HAVE TO STOP SPENDING. RIGHT. I THINK THINK IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO BALANCE THE BUDGET MM-HMM . TO REVENUES, EXPENDITURES. SO, UM, MAYOR, WHAT MM-HMM . WHAT WE'VE DONE SO FAR GIVES US A BALANCE BUDGET. GREAT. AND SO WE'VE GOT SOME TIMELINES. UM, UH, IF WE'RE GONNA ADOPT THIS BUDGET, WE NEED TO ADVERTISE THIS SATURDAY. YES. AND SO, UH, IS THERE, THERE'S A 10, UH, A 10 DAY, UH, PERIOD WHERE YOU HAVE TO, UH, ADVERTISE FOR THE PUBLIC HEARING MM-HMM . AND WE HAVE OUR PUBLIC HEARING, AND THEN WE HAVE TO ADVERTISE FOR, FOR THE, UH, FOR THE NEXT READING, THE SECOND READING MM-HMM . SO WE CAN HAVE THE, THE PUBLIC HEARING AND THE, UH, THE FIRST, UH, READING OF THE ORDINANCE MM-HMM . AND THEN WE'LL HAVE TO SCHEDULE THE NEXT SECOND READING AND FINAL READING OF THE, OF THE ORDINANCE. BUT WE HAVE TO DO THAT FIRST PART OF THE ORDINANCE AFTER 10 DAYS. RIGHT. UH, SO IF WE ADVERTISE IT SATURDAY YES. THEN WE WILL WAIT THE 10 DAYS, HAVE THE PUBLIC HEARING, AND AT THAT SAME MEETING, WE CAN HAVE THE FIRST READING OF THE ORDINANCE, AND THEN WE HAVE TO POST OF COURSE, FOR THE, UH, FOR THE NEXT MEETING WITH A PROPER NOTICE. AND THEN WE'LL HAVE OUR SECOND, UH, READING OF THE ORDINANCE. OKAY. BECAUSE IF YOU ADVERTISE THIS SATURDAY, UH, THE NEXT MEETING IS ONLY FOUR DAYS AWAY. YEAH. SO THAT'S NOT GONNA WORK. NO. OKAY. IT WOULD PROBABLY HAVE TO BE A SPECIAL MEETING. OKAY. UM, MAYOR. MM-HMM . MYRA WILL PULL THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION TO SEE WHEN THE WEEK OF THE SEVENTH MM-HMM . YEAH. WE CAN HAVE A SPECIAL MEETING TO START THE PROCESS OF ADOPTING THE BUDGET BECAUSE WE HAVE TO ADOPT IT IN SEPTEMBER BEFORE THE, THE, THE DEADLINE BEFORE THE, THE END OF SEPTEMBER. SO YOU NEED DIRECTION NOW. YES. SO, I MEAN, WHAT IS THE COMMISSION'S THOUGHTS ON GABE TELLING US THAT IF WE DO THIS AND HE'S GOT $40,000 AND AN EMERGENCY COMES UP, THAT IT'S NOT GONNA BE COVERED? RIGHT. I MEAN, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. WELL, THAT'S ACTUALLY WHAT HAPPENED THIS BUDGET YEAR. WE, WE HAD, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO MAKE SOME EXPENDITURES. WE MAY GET REIMBURSED FOR IT, BUT WE DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MM-HMM . UH, BUT THIS IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF MM-HMM . WHAT CAN HAPPEN. UM, SO, BUT, UH, WE HAVE GREAT STAFF, GREAT DIRECTORS THAT THEY, THEY MAKE IT WORK JUST TO GO THROUGH. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ADOPTING IT BY, BY THE DEADLINE IS YOU, YOU WOULD HAVE TO ADOPT A KNOWN NEW REVENUE RATE. NO, WE, I THINK THAT WE NEED THAT. THAT'S WHY I'M SAYING, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO THE COMMISSION JUST, IF THIS IS, IF THIS IS THE WILL OF THE COMMISSION TO DO IT IN THIS FASHION, THEN WE NEED TO, WE NEED TO HAVE SOME DI DIRECTION OF, OF WHERE WE'RE GOING. SO WE'LL KEEP IT AT THE SAME RATE THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW THAT WOULD BUY YOU A LITTLE BIT MORE BREATHING. BUT IT WOULD BE LIKE, WHAT, 70,000? ABOUT 65, 66. 65,000 TO KEEP THE, IT'S A ONE 10TH OF A PENNY. YES. MM-HMM. SO INSTEAD OF, UH, INSTEAD OF ONE, ONE PENNY'S ABOUT 600,000. YEAH. SO THAT WOULD BE ONE 10TH. SO, SO YOU SIX ABOUT 60,000? YEAH, ABOUT 65. I THINK THAT'S WHAT WE CALCULATED LAST TIME. OKAY. WOULD THAT BE PLUS, PLUS THE SIX? OH, THAT'D BE PERFECT. [01:55:01] WOULD THAT BE FINE? WOULD THAT BE BETTER FOR YOU? MM-HMM . BECAUSE THAT GIVE YOU ABOUT A HUNDRED THOUSAND. A HUNDRED THOUSAND. YEAH. THAT'D BE BETTER. AND THAT'S KEEPING THE TAX RATE THE SAME. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE DIRECTORS COME IN AND ASK FOR SOMETHING THAT WASN'T APPROVED TODAY. SO NO, IT'S, IT'S WHATEVER THE, THE ITEMS THAT WERE SELECTED TODAY. SO HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT THAT ? FIRSTLY, EXCUSE ME, ROBERT. YES, SIR. I'D LIKE TO SEE, UM, EVERYTHING THAT WE'VE DISCUSSED INSTEAD OF JUST TRYING TO KEEP IT IN MIND. COULD YOU PROVIDE US US WITH THOSE, WITH THOSE DETAILS TOMORROW OR THE DAY AFTER ANOTHER OF THESE OF ALL THE CHANGES? YES. YES. MM-HMM . BUT WE NEED TO GIVE HIM DIRECTION TODAY BECAUSE WE HAVE A, A DEADLINE TO, TO MEET. SO TODAY WE NEED TO HAVE A PROPOSED TAX RATE, RIGHT, RIGHT. YEAH. DIRECTION. WE HAD A PLAN FOR THE BUDGET BECAUSE WE WOULD POST BOTH AT THE SAME TIME. CORRECT. THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE BUDGET AND FOR THE TAX. MY SUGGESTION IS WE KEEP IT THE SAME. COMMISSIONER, I, I KNOW THAT WE'VE, THAT WE HAVE LOWERED THE TAX RATE EVERY YEAR, AND, UM, I WOULD HATE NOT TO DO THAT AGAIN, EVEN THOUGH IT'S A MINIMAL AMOUNT. SO I THINK STAFF WOULD KNOW THAT THEY'D HAVE TO WATCH THEIR EXPENDITURES, UH, JUST SO WE CAN CONTINUE TO DROP THE RATE AGAIN, AT LEAST THIS YEAR OR SO. AND IF THERE'S SOME SORT OF ISSUE, WE CAN ALWAYS COME BACK AND TRY TO WORK IT OUT TOGETHER. BUT ARE WE PUSH, ARE WE SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT BY DOING THAT? UM, THAT'S MY, THAT'S MY WORRY. IT, IT'S $60,000. WE, WE, UH, WHAT, WHAT DID WE PROJECT FOR GROWTH ON THE SALES TAX? 5%. WE KEPT IT AT 5%. AND THEN YES, SIR. THE PROJECTIONS FOR THE, UH, THE RATE OF RETURN ON OUR ACCOUNTS AT TAXABLE, UH, RIGHT NOW IT'S ABOUT 3.5%. I MEAN, THEY'RE PLANNING TO INCREASE IT A QUARTER OF A PERCENT OR A, I THINK, I THINK WITH A QUARTER OF A PERCENT WILL BE ABLE TO COME UP WITH THAT. I MEAN, WE'VE BEEN, WE'VE BEEN DOING GOOD WITH OUR, WITH OUR INTEREST. YEAH. AND THEN WE'RE, WE'VE GOT THE SWEEP WITH OUR BANK. AND OF COURSE, THAT'S ALREADY CALCULATED IN HERE. LIKE THAT PROJECTION IS IN HERE. YEAH. I, I THINK WE HAVE A OKAY, COMMISSIONER, WE KEEP THE PROPOSED RATE OF JUST DROPPING IT BY ONE 10TH OF 1%. I, I, IT'S NOT WHAT I WOULD PREFER, BUT I THINK WE NEED TO DO THAT. SO IS THAT YOUR RECOMMENDATION? YES. AND SO, LET'S SEE, WHERE'S JUAN IN ONE? UM, I'M LOSING MY MIND HERE. OKAY. UM, EARLIER YOU SAID THAT YOU COULD HANDLE THE TENNIS CENTER, RIGHT? AND NOW YOU'RE THE SAME. YOU'RE, YOU'RE LIKE, GEEZ, WHAT WAS IT? OKAY. DIDN'T SEE IT GOING THIS WAY, SO I KNOW. CAN I GO BACK AND REWIND? DIDN'T GET ANY MONEY. TALK ABOUT IRONY. GEEZ. SO WE'RE YOU, ARE THE, THE PROPOSED AS IT, WHAT I'M HEARING, UH, AND I COULD BE WRONG, BUT THIS IS WHAT I'M HEARING, YOU WOULD GET THREE, UH, GROUNDSKEEPERS AND NOT THE MAINTENANCE TECH, NO REC ASSISTANT, NO. A NO AQUATIC POOL OPERATOR, NO PARKS GROUND SUPERVISOR AND NO PARK SUPERINTENDENT. AND EARLIER I HEARD YOU SAY THAT YOUR, YOUR STAFF IS A LITTLE OVERWHELMED AND, AND SO IS GOING INTO THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR, YOU'VE GOT THESE THREE GUYS. IS THIS, OR PEOPLE, UH, IS THAT GONNA BE ENOUGH FOR YOU? LIKE TO, TO MOVING FORWARD? IT DEFINITELY WILL HELP. SO THAT'S A GOOD ANSWER. HOW WOULD YOU, WHAT WOULD YOU DISCUSSED? HEY, CASSANDRA, CAN YOU POP UP HERE REAL QUICK? CAN YOU GIVE US YOUR MONEY? ? I HAD TACTICS. THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE WE'RE GOING, BABY. THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE WE'RE GOING. WELL, LAST TIME IT WAS EXCITING. LET'S SEE, CASSANDRA, WHO KNOWS WHAT'S COMING IF RAM'S BIG POSITION, UH, AND THE, WHAT HE'S TRYING TO DO IS BRING THESE TOURNAMENTS IN TOWN AND HAS ALREADY PROVEN [02:00:01] TO BE SUCCESSFUL WITH THE COLLEGE, UH, TOURNAMENT THAT WAS HERE WITH ESPN, UH, THE FACT THAT HE'S TRYING TO DO IT EVERY WEEKEND. IS THERE A WAY THAT RAM HIMSELF, BECAUSE THAT'S THE GOAL OF HAVING TOURNAMENTS JUST ABOUT EVERY WEEKEND, CORRECT? JUAN? IS THAT YES. CAN WE PAY FOR RAM UNDER CBB? UM, TO MY KNOWLEDGE, I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THAT POSITION WOULD FALL UNDER A CBB FUNDED, UH, EMPLOYEE. BUT WE CAN REACH OUT TO, UH, THLA AND SEE WHAT THEIR RECOMMENDATION IS FOR THAT. YEAH, BECAUSE I, THE WAY I SEE HIS POSI, GRANTED, HE DOES DO TENNIS LESSONS AND ALL THAT, BUT THE IDEA OF HIM IS TO BRING AS MANY PEOPLE INTO TOWN HEADS AND BEDS. YEAH. SO YES, I UNDERSTAND. IT'S JUST THAT I GUESS WE NEED TO SEE WHAT HE DOES ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BE MAKING SURE THERE'S HEADS IN BEDS. RIGHT. AND THE ONLY WAY YOU DO THAT IS BY MARKETING OR SUPPORTING EVENTS. IF HE'S OUT THERE DOING LESSONS OR HE'S MAYBE LIKE DOING CASH REGISTER, OTHER ITEMS LIKE THAT, IT WOULD NOT FALL UNDER CBB APPROVED. SO HYPOTHETICALLY, IF WE WERE TO HAVE RAM THE, THE MAJORITY OF HIS ROLE TO, TO BRING ON ALTERNATIVE, IT HAS TO BE FULLY, IT CAN'T JUST BE LIKE, YOU PARTIALLY DO THIS AND PARTIALLY DO THAT. IT'S NOT ACCEPTABLE. I, I THINK THE ONLY WAY WE CAN DO THAT COMMISS, LIKE A BLURRY POSITION DOESN'T WORK, IS THAT WE PAY FOR PART OF HIS SALARY UNDER CITY BBB. NOT ALL OF IT. I MEAN, WE CAN CONFIRM THAT. LIKE I SAID, I, TO MY KNOWLEDGE, I DON'T THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE, BUT WE COULD ALWAYS ASK, YOU KNOW, THEY COULD SAY ACTUALLY NOW, OR, YOU KNOW, MAYBE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IS TRYING TO CHANGE. YOU KNOW, THE LAW IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING, YOU KNOW, DIFFERENT BECAUSE WE'RE PROBABLY NOT THE ONLY CITY THAT IS SUFFERING LIKE THIS. UM, THEY SOMETIMES BRING UP LITTLE CAVEATS LIKE THIS, SO I COULD ALWAYS ASK THEM, JUST SEE WHAT THEY SAY. MM-HMM . OR, OR IF WE WERE TO PIVOT A DIFFERENT WAY, IF WE HAVE SOMEONE WHO WORKS AT THE MUSEUM OR SOMEONE WHO WORKS AT THE AUDITORIUM WHOSE JOB SOLELY IS TO BRING IN, UH, ACTS, CAN WE FULLY FUND THEM? YEAH. I BELIEVE THAT WOULD FALL UNDER, ARE THERE ANY POSITIONS? AND WHAT I'M LOOKING AT DOING IS TO ROB PETER AND TO PAY PAUL IS TO FULLY FUND A POSITION OVER HERE AND THEN USE THAT SAVINGS FROM THAT SLOT TO THEN PAY FOR THE TENNIS ASSISTANT. I COULD, I COULD SEE WHERE YOU'RE, UM, FROM AN ATTRACTION STANDPOINT, SO LIKE, UH, MAYBE MUSEUM OR LIKE YOU'RE SAYING IN THE ARTS DEPARTMENT, WHICH WOULD BE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT DEPARTMENT, WHAT I BELIEVE. CORRECT. SO IF YOU RESTRUCTURED IN A WAY OF LIKE CBB IS THE UMBRELLA OF THOSE DEPARTMENTS, AND THEN MAYBE LIKE THAT FREES UP GENERAL FUND MONEY FROM THOSE TO PAY FOR THE PARKS DEPARTMENT OR TO PAY FOR THE TENNIS DEPARTMENT. I CAN SEE WHERE THAT WORKS. JUST PUTTING OPTIONS BEFORE YOU, GABE, THANK YOU SO MUCH, CASSANDRA. YOU'RE WELCOME. I MEAN, WE CAN ALWAYS REACH OUT TO THE GUY THOUGH, STILL. CORRECT. PLEASE DO. CASSANDRA, IF, IF THESE EMPLOYEES ARE FUNDED UNDER THE CBB, THEN THEY WOULD BE WORKING FOR THE CBB. IS THAT NOT RIGHT? YEAH. RIGHT. SO AND THEN YOU WOULD USE HOTEL MOTEL TAX TO FUND NOT GENERAL FUND, RIGHT? SO THEY WOULD BE UNDER YOUR DEPARTMENT? YEAH. THAT, THAT'S HOW IT WOULD WORK. OKAY. I MEAN, GABE, I'M JUST SAYING BECAUSE WE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH THE MUSEUM, AND THE MUSEUM IS NOT UNDER CB. SO IF WE'RE GONNA HAVE AN EMPLOYEE THAT IS A DOWNTOWN EMPLOYEE, IT, THAT'S NOT GONNA, THAT'S NOT GONNA JIVE. YEAH. SO JUST SO THAT WAY WE'RE CLEAR, CORRECT. I'M, YEAH. TRYING TO SHAKE I GET IT. SHAKE THE TRUTH FOR AS MUCH MONEY WE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE, WE UNDERSTAND, UM, COMPLIANCE TAX. YEAH, AGREED. WHICH HAS A LOT OF RULES. CORRECT. RIGHT. BUT ATTRACTIONS BEING ONE OF THEM. SO I MEAN, OTHER CITIES DO THAT. SO THEY'RE, YEAH. AND SPORTING EVENTS WHEN YOU HAVE A TOURNAMENT ARE, ARE ALLOWED, BUT IT'S USUALLY IT'S MARKET FOR THE EVENT FOR THE TOURNAMENT ITSELF. NOT, UM, SO NOT DRAINAGE, NO. NOT WHAT, OR STREETS? I'M JOKING. OR FIX THE PARK DRAINAGE. SORRY. YES. WHAT EXCUSE? I SAID SO NOT DRAINAGE. OH YEAH. NO, I'M JUST DOING SILLY. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. SORRY, . OKAY. SO IS, UH, WE DO NEED TO GIVE SOME DIRECTION. UM, COMMISSION IS COMFORTABLE NOT FUNDING THE ENTIRE NINE POSITIONS THAT WERE REQUESTED FROM PARKS, UM, FOR THE LIBRARY ASSISTANT OR THE HEALTH INSPECTOR. YEP. SO THIS WOULD BE JUST, UH, ANNAS AND THEN THE THREE, UH, PARKS AND, UH, OUT, OUT OF THIS SLIDE. MAYOR, I THINK THE, UM, ANIMAL CARE WAS, WAS THAT WAS ALREADY IN [02:05:01] THERE. YES. THAT WAS ALREADY MM-HMM . SO IS THAT, IS THAT WHAT THE COMMISSION WANTS? AND THAT'S THE DIRECTIVE IS TO, UH, ADOPT THAT RATE. SO YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE, UH, ANIMAL CARE THAT YOU WANT THAT'S NEEDED. THE, UH, UH, THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT. UH, THE SENIOR PLANNER. THE SENIOR PLANNER. THAT'S POSITIVE. POSITIVE, UH, LIBRARY ASSISTANT? NO, NO. THE HEALTH INSPECTOR. NO. NO. AND THEN THE OTHER THREE PARKS, GROUNDSKEEPERS. YES. CAN WE COME BACK TO, UM, THE LIBRARY ONCE WE HAVE SOME MORE FUNDS LATER ON IN THREE MONTHS? WE, WE CAN DO THAT THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. WE'VE DONE THAT BEFORE. ADDED POSITIONS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE ONE THAT I WOULD REALLY WOULD WANT TO SEE. I KNOW THAT THEY JUST OPENED UP THAT THE KIDDO SECTION, AND THAT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT'S GOING THROUGH THE ROOF. SO I BELIEVE SHE NEEDS SOME HELP. YEAH, I KNOW DONNA'S STRETCHED REALLY THIN. SHE WAS TELLING ME ABOUT IT, HOW THEY'RE, THEY'RE NOT GETTING THE VOLUNTEERS THAT THEY USED TO BE ABLE TO GET RELY ON. SO I KNOW SHE REALLY, THERE, THE LIBRARY STAFF HAS BEEN DOING GREAT, BUT THEY, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T WANT 'EM TO, AND THE, UM, RECREATE SPECTRUM RECREATION ASSISTANT WITHOUT FUNDING, THIS MEANS THERE'S NO ONE TO MAN THE PICKLEBALL. RIGHT. THE $50,000 REALLOCATION TO IDEALLY THAT, THAT THEY WERE GONNA BE THERE HOUSED, UH, TO HELP RUN IT. UM, BUT WE WERE ALSO GONNA USE THE REC ASSISTANT FOR OTHER AREAS. MM-HMM . SO OUR SOFTBALL LEAGUE OVERSEEING THAT AT NIGHT, UH, QUITE A BIT. SO WE NEED THE REC ASSISTANT SOMEHOW. CAN YOU MAKE IT WORK WITH TWO SOMEHOW GROUNDSKEEPERS AND ONE REC ASSISTANT? I, I CAN'T LOSE OPERATIONS . SO I NEED, I NEED THE THREE GROUNDSKEEPERS, THE GRANT. SO YEAH. UH, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO, YEAH. I, I CAN'T LOSE OPERATIONS PARKS. WELL, MY RECOMMENDATION WOULD NOT TO BE, TO LOSE ONE OF THOSE THREE GROUNDSKEEPERS. KEEP IT THE SAME. WE CAN GET YOU ONE TALKING ABOUT THE, THE RATE THE SAME. WE CAN MORE HELP. UH, DO YOU HAVE THE TAX RATES FOR THE CITIES, ALL THE OTHER CITIES? DID YOU BRING THAT BY ANY CHANCE? CAN YOU SEE WHERE HARLAN AND FARES? I THINK EDENBERG AND MACALLAN ALREADY ADOPTED THEIRS. THIS UH, UM, RIGHT, THIS, THEY, THEY'VE ALREADY FINISHED THEIR WORKSHOP. I DON'T HAVE THE 26TH. OH, OKAY. SO YOU'RE SURE THESE ARE ACCURATE? YEAH, VERY MUCH . OKAY. I GET 'EM FROM THE TEXAS COMPTROLLER WEBSITE. ALL RIGHT. SO FOR THE COMMISSION'S, UM, INFORMATION AND FOR THOSE THAT ARE LISTENING IN, UM, WHAT I'M LOOKING AT, I'LL JUST GO THROUGH CAMERON'S, THERE'S A LOT OF HIDALGO ON HERE TOO. UM, CITY OF SANTA ROSA, 82 CENTS. CITY OF HONDO, 80 CENTS, CITY OF PORT, ISABEL 79 INDIAN LAKE, 76 LA AREA 73, SANTO 70, COMB 70. THAT'S, UH, CITY OF LOS FRESNO, 68. CITY OF BROWNSVILLE, 60 CITY OF LOS INOS, 55, CITY OF HARLINGEN, 52. SO IN CAMERON COUNTY, YOU'VE GOT SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, RANCHO VIEJO, PALM VALLEY, AND BAYVIEW THAT ARE LOWER THAN US. SO BROWNSVILLE KEPT THEIRS AT 60. MM-HMM . MCALLEN KEPT THEIRS AT 44. YEAH. AT 2026. YES. AND I THINK EDINBURG ALSO KEPT THEIRS AT 60. SO EDINBURG, I [02:10:01] KNOW THEY KEPT IT THE SAME. THEY ARE AR WHERE ARE THEY? EDINBURG, 63 CENTS. SO IN REALLY, UH, CITY OF MCALLEN HAS A LOWER TAX RATE THAN HARLINGEN, BUT ASIDE FROM THAT, AS OF AUGUST 23RD, EDINBURG'S AT 63. MM-HMM . YEAH. SO DOES ANYBODY WANNA SEE THIS? I LEFT THEM UP RIGHT NOW OVER TOO. I'M SORRY. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. OKAY. NOW WHILE WE'RE CONTEMPLATING THIS, THE, UH, THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE, IF WE WERE TO ADOPT THAT, COULD WE FUND ANYTHING, UH, ROBERT? THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE? YOU WOULD HAVE TO DROP MORE. WE WOULD HAVE TO DROP MORE. OKAY. I'M JUST, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE I THINK PEOPLE WANNA KNOW MM-HMM . YES. YEAH. YEAH. ACTUALLY, LIKE IN WITH A SCENARIO, UM, FAWN WOULDN'T GET ANYBODY. YEAH. HE'S LIKE SWEATING OVER THERE. , I, I, I, I JUST, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR, UM, FOR FOLKS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS WORKS. UM, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE CAN ACTUALLY PUT THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE IN THERE. SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT THE EFFECT WITH EVERYTHING THAT WE'VE ADDED, IF YOU WANNA SEE THAT, OR, OR IT DOESN'T MATTER. BUT, UM, BUT YOU WOULD FUND A WHOLE LOT LESS, INCLUDING THE CBA, RIGHT? WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO PAY THE A OFFICERS NO. WHAT THEY'RE REQUESTING. NO. AND WE PROBABLY WOULDN'T AFFORD THE, IT WOULD BE AT 50 CENTS. POINT FIVE 0 5 6 5 6. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO, UM, I HAVE A QUESTION. SO WE ARE AT WHAT, 5 5 2. WHAT DID I SEE? UH, THIS BUDGET IS PREPARED ON 0.5 2 5 0 6 0, WHICH HAS A ONE 10TH OF A CENT LOWER THAN WHAT THE CURRENT RATE IS. LOWER. YES. BUT WHAT DO WE SAY THE SAME? IF WE STAY THE SAME, IT WOULD BE ABOUT 60,000, 65,000 MORE. WE COULD HELP IN THE PARKS A LITTLE BIT MORE OR GIVE GABE A LITTLE BIT MORE ROOM. WHY AREN'T WE STAYING THE SAME? THAT'S WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY. THAT'S WHAT I'M PROPOSING. GABE, A FEW GUYS, DID YOU PROPOSE THAT? HMM? DID YOU PROPOSE THAT? NO, I, I PROPOSED WE DROP 0.001, BUT I WOULD, IF WE COULD STAY THE SAME, THAT'D BE EVEN BETTER. AS LONG AS YOU DON'T REALLOCATE THAT REVENUE, DID YOU? WHY DO WE NOT STAY THE SAME? WELL, UM, THAT, THAT WAS AN OPTION IN THE RATES, BUT THESE ARE THE OPTIONS THAT WE HAVE. MM-HMM . SO THEY'VE PROPOSED THESE MM-HMM . SO YOU CAN ADOPT ANY OF THESE. IT'S ON, IT'S ON PAGE TWO. PAGE TWO. MM-HMM . YEAH, THAT WAS AN OPTION. I'M LOOKING AT THEM RIGHT NOW. MM-HMM . AND THAT WOULD GIVE OUR, OUR FUND SOME MORE ROOM SPACE IN CASE SOMETHING CAME UP. ABOUT 60,000 MORE 60,000, 60,000 CAN FIX A CAR OR MM-HMM . I DON'T KNOW ABOUT A TRUCK CHIEF, BUT , . BUT, UM, SOMETHING, YEAH. AND JUST, AND, AND I THINK IF I'M, UNLESS I'M WRONG, BUT, UM, I THINK WHEN WE CAME ON BOARD, THE TAX RATE WAS LIKE 63 SETS. WASN'T, ISN'T THAT RIGHT? YEP. MM-HMM . IT WAS, IT'S ABOUT SIX THREE. YEAH. SO WE WERE KIND OF THERE WITH EVERYBODY ELSE. WE'RE STILL LOWER, BUT THERE'S BEEN, UM, CONSIDERABLE DROP IN THE YEAH, I THINK IT'S COME DOWN EVERY YEAR SINCE, SINCE THAT, YES. SO GABE, UM, JUST TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, GABE, WHEN HE SAID, UH, HE SAID TO CONTINUE WITH THE DOWNWARD TREND, THAT'S WHY THAT OPTION IS ON HERE. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO ADOPT IT. IT'S JUST ONE OF, UM, ONE OF FOUR LEVEL. BUT IF WE GO DOWNWARD, AND THEN NEXT, LET'S JUST SAY NEXT YEAR, WE HAVE TO JUMP TWO MORE, JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, IT'LL HAPPEN TO US, LIKE WHEN WE HAD TO DELAY THE [02:15:01] HARLING AND WANNA WORKS FOR TWO YEARS, AND THEN THEY'RE NOT GONNA UNDERSTAND LIKE WHY WE HAD TO DO THAT. AND, AND PEOPLE SOMETIMES DON'T. UH, WE DON'T UNDERSTAND. AND, AND IT'S HARD WHEN PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT, NOT THAT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND IT, LIKE, LIKE MENTALLY, IT'S JUST THAT THEY DIDN'T WATCH THE MEETING OR THEY DIDN'T, THEY DIDN'T SEE THAT WE HAD CHOICES. AND SO WHY DON'T WE JUST PROPOSE WHAT THEY'RE ALREADY PAYING? I AGREE. AND THEY WOULDN'T FEEL THE DIFFERENCE. OKAY. SO IS THAT THE DIRECTION, UM, OR HOW DO YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? WHAT ALICE? I MEAN, I WOULD LOVE TO LOWER IT. I'M SORRY. GO AHEAD. UH, LIKE I SAID BEFORE, I LIKE TO SEE THE NUMBERS. I, I'M NOT THINKING FAST ENOUGH TO PROVIDE JOE A YAY OR NAY THE WAY THEY WANT RIGHT NOW. THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING. ASIDE FROM THAT, YOU WANT US TO PREPARE LIKE THE POWERPOINT TO MAKE IT, I MEAN, YOU CAN DO THAT OVERNIGHT RESPECTFULLY. THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE THOUGH. YES, I UNDERSTAND. AND I'M NOT SURE THAT YOU DO. OH, OKAY. UH, WE'RE, WE'RE HERE BECAUSE HE NEEDS, IF, CAN YOU GO OVER THE CONSEQUENCES AGAIN OF NOT GETTING DIRECTION TONIGHT? MADAM MAYOR, I, IF YOU CAN JUST LET ROBERT SPEAK, PLEASE. IF WE, IF WE DON'T, UH, IF WE DON'T, UH, ADOPT A RATE BY, BY THE DEADLINE, WHICH WE HAVE SEVERAL, UH, MILESTONES AND WE HAVE TO ADVERTISE FOR 10 DAYS, UH, THEN WE WOULD BE REQUIRED TO ADOPT THE LOWEST RATE POSSIBLE, WHICH IS AN NO NEW REVENUE RATE, WHICH WOULD BE THE 0.5 0 5 6, 5 6. IT SHOULD NOT, WHICH WOULD RESULT IN LESS. NO, CBAI KNOW THE CHIEF IS LOOKING FOR HIS GU UH, AND WOMEN AND MEN AT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. UM, SO THOSE ARE, ARE, ARE BIG, UH, CONSEQUENCES. NOT, AND, AND OF COURSE I KNOW, UM, WE WENT, WENT THROUGH ALL OF THIS AND THE, THE NUMBERS THAT YOU'RE ASKING FOR, UH, COMMISSIONER ARE REFLECTED BEFORE YOU IN THIS SPREADSHEET. AND IN THE PAST WE'VE STARTED OUR BUDGET CONVERSATIONS IN JULY, THIS TIME AROUND, IT'S MID AUGUST. SO WE'RE PRESSED TO MAKE DECISIONS ON THE SPOT. AND THAT'S SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE FAIL TO SEE. WE, WE DIDN'T GET NOTIFIED BY PD ON THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TILL LATER IN THE, IN THE YEAR. AND WE ALSO DIDN'T GET THE, UH, NOTICE FROM THE TAX APPRAISER UNTIL WHEN ROBERT, UH, JULY 25TH. YEAH. SO THEN WE HAD TO WAIT TILL AFTER THAT TO START PUTTING TOGETHER OUR BUDGET. AND SO, UM, SO WE COULD, SO WOULD IT BE FAIR TO SAY THAT ALGO COUNTY SO FAR AHEAD THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO FINISH, LIKE MACALLAN IS ALREADY DONE WITH THEIR BUDGET, THAT THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT APPRAISER THAN CAMERON COUNTY. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING IN ICAL COUNTY, BUT THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT, THEIR, THEIR, THEIR SYSTEM IS DIFFERENT THAN OURS. APPLES AND ORANGES. UM, BUT, BUT YOU KNOW, STAFF HAS BEEN, I KNOW GABE HAS BEEN WORKING REALLY HARD TOWARDS THIS, AND SO HAS, UM, ROBERT AND THE NUMBERS ARE HERE. UM, THEY'RE NOT GONNA CHANGE BECAUSE YOU HAVE 'EM ON ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER. THEY'RE STILL GONNA BE THESE NUMBERS HERE. UM, BUT, UH, UH, RENIE, HOW ARE YOU? ARE YOU OKAY WITH THIS? UH, I'M OKAY WITH KEEPING IT THE SAME. OKAY. AND MIKE ISN'T HERE. AND SO THAT LEAVES YOU, DANIEL. AND, UM, THE ISSUE I'M STRUGGLING WITH IS WHEN YOU TALK TO SO MANY OF OUR RESIDENTS, THE ISSUE I'M STRUGGLING WITH IS WHEN YOU TALK TO SO MANY OF OUR RESIDENTS, WE HAVE SO MANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT PARKS, RIGHT? AND SO I'M REALLY STRUGGLING WITH HOW DO WE, IT FEELS, AND COMMISSIONER PEREZ HAS DONE A GREAT JOB OF THE TRASH CLEANUPS TO HELP CHANGE THAT PERSPECTIVE, RIGHT? BUT HOW DO WE PUT ON OUR BEST FACE? HOW DO WE PUT OUR BEST FOOT FORWARD? RIGHT? I THINK WE'RE DOING A GREAT JOB ON DRAINAGE. WE'RE DOING A GREAT JOB ON STREETS, RIGHT? AND SO IT'S, I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WHAT SQUEEZE WATER FROM A STONE HERE TO GET MORE THAN WE CAN OR MORE THAN THIS TAX RATE IS ALLOWING US TO GET. BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE ALWAYS WANT THEIR TAX RATE TO GO DOWN, BUT YOU KNOW, EVERY, SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE, RIGHT? AND SO I THINK WE'VE DONE A GREAT JOB, AND I COMMAND EVERYONE ON THIS COMMISSION. I COMMAND STAFF. WE'RE TRYING TO CUT AS MUCH AS WE CAN. BUT I THINK THAT EVEN DOING THIS, STAYING AT THE, THE TAX RATE THAT WE ARE NOW, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE UP UNHAPPY BECAUSE [02:20:01] THE CITY'S NOT LOOKING THE WAY THEY WANT IT TO LOOK. IT'S NOT GETTING THE, THE, THE CODE ENFORCEMENT THAT THEY WANTED TO GET, RIGHT? SO THAT'S, HOW DO WE JUGGLE THAT, RIGHT? HOW DO WE JUGGLE WHAT PEOPLE'S EXPECTATIONS ARE WITH THE BUDGET? I, I AGREE. I DON'T, I DON'T DISAGREE, BUT WE HAVEN'T HAD THOSE CONVERSATIONS. THEY'RE HERE. UM, BUT THE REALITY IS THEN WE NEED TO FIND, AND, AND, AND WE HAVE BEEN REALLY FORTUNATE, UM, PAST BUDGETS TO BE ABLE TO, UM, YOU KNOW, RECOMMENDATION FOR ANOTHER DRAINAGE CREW. WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO REALLY ADOPT A TAX RATE THAT SUPPORTS THE BUDGET, A VERY AGGRESSIVE BUDGET. BUT THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT. UM, AND IT'S DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF WHAT WE'VE DONE UP UNTIL WE GOT HERE. SO THE ONLY WAY TO, THE ONLY WAY TO FUND EVERYTHING THAT, UH, PARKS IS ASKING FOR, WHICH AGAIN, IS SLASHED IN HALF BY WHAT THE INITIAL ASK WAS. UM, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, ROBERTO THERE WITH, UH, WANTING TO MOVE FORWARD WITH ANOTHER DRAINAGE PROJECT, ALL OF THESE THINGS IS TO HAVE A CONVERSATION OF ANOTHER TAX RATE. BUT IF WE CAN'T DO THAT, THEN WE NEED TO, YOU KNOW, WE NEED, WE, WE, WE NEED TO, UM, FIRST IDENTIFY A TAX RATE THAT WE WOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH. THAT IS NOT THE CURRENT RATE OR THE PROPOSED SLIGHT REDUCTION. IF THERE IS A CONVERSATION TO BE HAD AND THE COMMISSION FEELS COMFORTABLE, THEN WE CAN DO THAT. AND THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE. SO IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT WE DO? I MEAN, I, I'M NOT SAYING THAT IT'S NOT THAT WE SHOULDN'T DO THAT. I AGREE THAT, UH, EVERY POSITION THAT WAS REQUESTED IS NEEDED FOR THE CITY. AND I AGREE THAT WE ARE SETTING UP OUR STAFF TO CONTINUE TO NOT MEET THE NEEDS OF THIS CITY IF WE GO IN THIS DIRECTION. CORRECT. AND WE'D HAVE TO EDUCATE OUR COMMUNITY AND SAY, THE REASON WHY WE'RE UNABLE TO DO THIS IS BECAUSE WE ONLY HAVE CERTAIN AMOUNT OF HOURS IN THE DAY AND A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF STAFF THAT ARE ABLE TO FULFILL THESE PO, THESE, UM, SERVICES. AND THE REASON WHY WE CAN'T GO AND TICKET FOR CODE IS BECAUSE OF THESE REASONS. THE REASON WHY WE CANNOT MOVE FASTER ON THIS PERMIT IS BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE STAFF. WE HAVE TO HAVE THAT CANDID CONVERSATION WITH OUR COMMUNITY. SO WE CAN EITHER WE, YOU KNOW, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO DO IF WE ADOPT THIS, WHICH IS, WHICH IS FINE. PEOPLE ARE NOT GONNA BE HAPPY ABOUT IT. BUT, YOU KNOW, THERE'LL BE A, A CERTAIN, UM, UM, POPULATE. YOU KNOW, THERE MAY BE A FEW PEOPLE THAT WILL SAY, YOU KNOW WHAT, I, I, I WILL SACRIFICE THAT SO I CAN HAVE A, A LESS TO, YOU KNOW, TO PAY. BUT THEN, YOU KNOW, THE OTHER THING IS, UM, EXPLAINING HOW OUR TAX RATE IN THE CITY, UM, IS JUST A SMALL PORTION OF THE OVERALL TAX BILL. RIGHT? YEAH. YOU KNOW, THIS PAST WEEKEND, OR MAYBE IT WAS LAST WEEKEND, I DROVE, I THINK I TEXTED CHRIS ABOUT IT. I'M DRIVING BY PD, IT'S BURNT. LIKE THE, THE GRASS IS ALL BURNT. I'M DRIVING BY VICTOR PARK. GRASS IS BURNT, RIGHT? I'M DRIVING THROUGH SO MANY PLACES MM-HMM . AND I'M LIKE, WHAT'S GOING ON? AND CHRIS IS LIKE, IT'S INFRASTRUCTURE, MAN. LIKE, WE NEED TO FIX PIPES. WE CAN'T FIX PIPES UNLESS WE HAVE STAFF TO BE DOING IT. RIGHT? AND SO IT'S PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, YOU LOOK AT SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU SEE, OR YOU TALK TO PEOPLE AND THEY HAVE THESE, THIS VERY, I DON'T WANNA CALL IT NEGATIVE 'CAUSE THERE'S VALIDITY TO IT, BUT THE REALITY THAT THEY'RE SEEING IS IT LOOKS LIKE HARING IS NOT GROWING, EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW IT'S GROWING. THE, THE STATISTICS ALL SHOW WITH RETAIL STATISTICS SHOW WITH THE GROWTH IN THE, THE SIZE OF OUR CITY. BUT IT'S THOSE THINGS AND HOW DO WE ADDRESS THOSE CONCERNS? UH, AND SO EVERYONE LIKES TO COMPARE US TO MACALLAN OR BROWNSVILLE OR TO EDINBURG, BUT THEN YOU LOOK AT, WELL, HOW MUCH MONEY ARE THEY BRINGING IN? MM-HMM . TO PUT THE, TO REINVEST INTO THE INFRASTRUCTURE, TO REINVEST INTO STAFF, RIGHT? THEY SAY THEY WANT US TO HAVE PARKS LIKE, UH, A MISSION, BUT THEN SO MANY OF OUR RESIDENTS, WHERES A MISSION TECH OR WHO, WHOMEVER, RIGHT? YOU SUBSTITUTE WHATEVER CITY YOU WANT. YES. RIGHT? ALTHOUGH THEY WANT US TO BE LIKE WESLACO. BUT THEN WHEN YOU SHOW THAT ANALYSIS OF, OKAY, WELL THIS IS HOW MUCH WESLACO IS [02:25:01] PAYING IN THEIR PROPERTY TAXES. MM-HMM . THIS IS HOW MUCH THIS CITY'S PAYING THAT PROPERTY TAXES. AND THEN HAVING THAT DISCONNECT THAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. AND SO I'M STRUGGLING WITH, OKAY, DO YOU WANT, DO YOU WANT THAT? DO YOU, DOES OUR RESIDENT WANT THAT, UH, BEAUTIFUL CITY, THE GREEN GRASS, ALL THE PERFECT PARKS, ALL THAT STUFF, AND ARE THEY WILLING TO PAY FOR IT? OR WE GO, UH, THE, WE WE GO WITH THE TAX RATE OR, YOU KNOW, DROP IT WHATEVER'S, YOU KNOW, UH, 0.001, AND THEN THEY'RE STILL HAVING THE SAME COMPLAINTS THAT THEY'RE HAVING, RIGHT? MM-HMM . AND IT IS GONNA ONLY GET WORSE. MM-HMM . SO THAT'S WHERE I'M AT. THAT'S THE INTERNAL STRUGGLE I HAVE, IS EVERYTHING. THERE'S A CONSEQUENCE TO EVERYTHING, UNFORTUNATELY. AGREEMENT. YES. UM, I, I'M IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT WITH WHAT YOU JUST SAID. AND, UM, I KNOW YOU STARTED YOUR DRAINAGE PROJECTS AND THEY'VE GONE VERY WELL. I HAVEN'T STARTED WITH THE ONLY WAY THAT I WOULD GO IS TO LOWER THE TAX RATE. UH, MIND DRAINAGE PROJECTS IN DISTRICT ONE HAVE NOT STARTED. AND OSCAR, WE DON'T KNOW HOW, HOW THAT WILL GO FOR US. AND WHEN THEY DO GO, WE MAY NEED A LITTLE MORE MONEY AND, AND HOW'S THAT GONNA GO? WHAT AM I GONNA TELL MY CONSTITUENTS? AND, AND, UM, BUT THE ONLY OTHER WAY THAT I WOULD GO, MY AREA WOULD BE LOW AND, OR, OR STAY THE SAME. AND THE ONLY, THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE CAN KEEP THAT IS TO, TO STAY THE SAME AND TO GET SOME MORE MONEY IN THERE TO HAVE IN THE GENERAL FUND. BECAUSE, UM, LIKE YOU MENTIONED, UM, MAYOR PROAM IS TO EITHER THEY HAVE THE, DO SOME EDUCATION, LIKE YOU MENTIONED MAYOR, AND, AND, AND ACTUALLY TELL THEM THIS, THIS IS WHAT WE WANT. EITHER WE'RE, WE'RE EITHER GONNA PAY FOR IT, PAY FOR IT FOR WHAT WE HAVE, UM, KEEP IT HOW WE HAVE IT, AND WORK ON WHAT WE HAVE AND OR, UM, WORK WITH WORK, WORK WITH WHAT WE HAVE TO WHERE OUR GOALS ARE GOING. AND THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE OSCAR, AND I'M GONNA EXPECT SO MUCH FROM YOU BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED OUR DRAINAGE PROJECT AND OUR DRAINAGE PROJECT OFF OF, UM, ADAM'S CROSSING IS GOING TO BE HUGE. AND THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE EXPECTING FROM US. AND THEY HAVE BEEN CALLING. AND SO WE EXPECT THAT FROM US. AND THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING. I'M NOT SAYING THAT WE'RE GONNA TAKE AWAY FROM THAT. SO LET'S PUT IT IN THERE TO TAKE IT FROM THERE. I'M SAYING THAT, UM, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE GONNA NEED IT FOR, AND WE DEFINITELY NEED SOME MONEY FOR THAT. SO I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT IT STAYS THE SAME. AND, AND LIKE I SAID, THE ONLY OTHER WAY I WOULD GO IS TO GO LOWER. SO IF I UNDERSTAND, UM, JUST SO WHAT COMMISSIONER LOPEZ IS, IS ALLUDING TO IS THAT IF WE STAY THE SAME, THEN WE COULD POTENTIALLY NOT BE ABLE TO FULFILL THE NEEDS THAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR DISTRICT. IS THAT RIGHT? IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? THERE ARE, YES. WELL, IN EVERY DISTRICT, RIGHT? YEAH. WELL, I, BUT, BUT GIVEN THAT, THAT, THAT COMMISSIONER'S TALKING ABOUT, OR DISTRICT IT IS CITYWIDE, BUT IN TERMS OF THE ANALYSIS, YOU, YOU WANNA SHARE? YEAH. I JUST THINK YOU GET SIMILAR CALLS THAN I GET, JUST LIKE MM-HMM . MORALE IS, WE ALL GET THE SAME CALLS ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A PARKS ISSUE, IT'S A STREET ISSUE OR WHATNOT. AND THE ONLY WAY IN MY MIND, YOU CAN CONTINUE GROWING AND CONTINUE IMPROVING IS YOU NEED MORE MONEY FOR IT. RIGHT. AND THAT'S THE, THE ANSWER NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR. AND EVERYONE'S GONNA BE IN AN UPPER ROAR BECAUSE THEY'RE SAYING MONEY'S TIGHT. AND I GET THAT. RIGHT? SO IT'S HOW DO WE FIND THAT BALANCE? THAT'S WHAT I'M DRIVING AT. I SEE, I SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. I I, I DIDN'T TAKE IT LIKE THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU TALKED, BUT IF THIS COMMISSION WANTS TO DO THE KNOWN NEW TAX, OR NOT THE NEW, EXCUSE ME, IF WE WANNA STAY THE SAME, SORRY. SORRY, SORRY. IF YOU WANNA STAY THE SAME, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO THAT DECISION. IF WE WANNA GO AND GO TO THE, YOU KNOW, DROP IT BY 0.001, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO THAT DECISION. MM-HMM . IF YOU WANT TO GO UP BY A PENNY OR TWO PENNIES OR THREE PENN, THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO THAT DECISION. WE CAN GO UP FOUR, 4 CENTS. YES, SIR. THE BUDGET WE WERE LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW, WHAT WERE WE DOING? POINT ZERO ZERO ONE, DROP A SMALL DROP, A SMALL DROP. IT'S, IT'S REALLY INSIGNIFICANT. MM-HMM . IT, BUT IT'S, IT'S, IT'S MORE TO SAY WE KEPT THE STREAK ALIVE, RIGHT. THAN IT IS TO, AND THAT'S THE ONE, THAT'S THE DROP THAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. RIGHT? SO WE HAVE, SO EVERY, EVERY CENT ADDS WHAT TO THE, TO THE BUDGET. IT'S LIKE 566,000. RIGHT? SO ADDING, JUST TO PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE, ADDING AS CENT FUNDS, THE PARKS DEPARTMENT IN TERMS OF ALL OF THE POSITIONS, [02:30:01] WHICH IS, AND, AND THEN SOME, AND MAYBE ONE MORE. WE, WE WOULD HAVE TO ALSO LOOK AT VEHICLES BECAUSE I THINK 5 61, 5 61 9, 9, RIGHT? WELL, AND THEN THE, AND THEN SOME WOULD BE PROBABLY THE VEHICLES, UM, BECAUSE THEY'RE ABOUT 40, 50. RIGHT. UM, I DON'T KNOW WHAT SIZE HE WOULD NEED IF THEY'RE GONNA BE HAULING AROUND CREWS AND YOU NEED A CREW CAB WITH, UM, AND THEN A TRAILER TO TOW ALL THEIR, IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE, UM, SUPERINTENDENT AND SUPERVISOR, THOSE COULD BE A REGULAR CAB. THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE A EXTENDED CAB. YOU KNOW, IT CAN BE THE ENTRY LEVEL. UH, OUR OLD PARK SUPERINTENDENT USED TO HAVE AN ENTRY LEVEL, REGULAR CAB, NON EXTENDED ROLLED UP WINDOWS AND EVERYTHING, BUT IT WAS NEW. SO WE CAN GO THAT ROUTE. UM, COST-WISE, I DON'T KNOW. I WOULD HAVE TO GET WITH, DO YOU NEED EQUIPMENT? UM, IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE, UH, SUPERINTENDENT AND SUPERVISOR, UH, WE DON'T NEED A TRAILER FOR THEM OR ANYTHING. THEY'RE GONNA BE SUPERINTENDENT SUPERVISOR, WE WOULD NEED COMPUTER DESK, OFFICE SPACE, YOU KNOW? WELL, THE REASON I WAS SAYING THAT IS BECAUSE IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, I MEAN, IT WAS 490, UM, WHAT WAS THAT NUMBER? UM, IT WAS FOUR THIRTY ONE, FOUR THIRTY ONE FOUR SEVENTY TEN, TEN FOUR, FOUR THIRTY ONE FOUR SEVENTY. AND YOU SAID ROBERT, 600,000. SO WHAT I WAS SAYING IS THAT YOU WOULD FUND ALL OF THE NINE POSITIONS PLUS WHATEVER IT IS THAT THEY NEEDED IN TERMS OF VEHICLE, IF YOU WERE TO INCREASE IT BY 1 CENT. THAT'S PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE. LIKE THIS IS THE TANGIBLE, UH, CORRECT. WHAT YOU GET FOR THAT, AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T GET FOR THAT. AND SO THAT'S THE CONVERSATION TO, TO HAVE, WE HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY WANT TO BRING IN TOURNAMENTS INTO THE TOWN. MM-HMM. BUT HOW DO YOU BRING TOURNAMENTS INTO THE TOWN AND THE FACILITIES AREN'T THERE? MM-HMM . LOOK THE WAY THEY LOOK, RIGHT? AND OR WE PUT THE MONEY IN AND THEN THEY'RE, WE PUT THOSE $3 MILLION IN, WE PUT THE FIVE AND A HALF MILLION AT VICTOR. MM-HMM. OR EXCUSE ME, AT TONY BUTLER, $3 MILLION AT VICTOR PARK, AND THEN WE JUST DON'T MAINTAIN IT. MM-HMM . SO WE BUY IT, WE BUILD THIS BEAUTIFUL THING, AND THEN WITHIN A MONTH. RIGHT. SO, UM, SO IS THAT, UM, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WE ARE GOING TO WANT TO DISCUSS FURTHER? I THINK COMMISSIONER HAD A QUESTION. ROBERT'S STILL HERE, RIGHT? OR JUAN. JUAN MANOLA. WE HAD OUR MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, AND YOU MENTIONED THAT THE, UH, CERTAIN PARKS HAD TIMERS. OKAY. THE DAY AFTER ON THURSDAY, I DROPPED BY VICTOR PARK AT NOON, 1130 TO BE EXACT. I DON'T KNOW IF THERE WERE ANY TIMERS. THE FIELDS WERE BEING IRRIGATED. WE, WE WERE ACTUALLY WORKING THERE. UH, I, I SPOKE WITH OUR LEADERSHIP GROUP, SO WE WERE STILL WORKING ON THE LEAKS, AND WE WERE REPLACING THE SPRINKLER HEADS. AND I WAS THERE AT LUNCHTIME. I I DID SEE YOU THERE TOO. UM, REALLY? YEAH. YOU PASSED BY ME IN FRONT OF THE FOOTBALL FIELD. I WAS PARKED WITH PEDRO, AND THEN PEDRO WAS OUT THERE, SO WE WERE WORKING ON THE IRRIGATION. SO I HAD TO SEND A TEXT TO LEADERSHIP TO LET 'EM KNOW IRRIGATION'S GONNA BE ON, WE'RE WORKING ON IRRIGATION, JUST TO BE ON THE SAME SIDE. WHY DON'T YOU CALL ME, UH, COMMISSIONER? HOW IS THIS IMPACTING OUR DISCUSSION? THE, THE, THE DISCUSSION IS THIS, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE FIELDS BEING DRY. AND HE TOLD US ON WEDNESDAY THAT THE IRRIGATION WASN'T A TIMER THAT WILL COME IN AT FOUR O'CLOCK, FIVE O'CLOCK. SO I HAVE AN ISSUE, NOT WITH WHAT YOU JUST TOLD ME, BUT WITH THE FACT THAT IF IRRIGATION IS BEING DONE LATE IN THE AFTERNOON, OUR FIELDS WOULD BE BETTER IN BETTER SHAPE. OKAY. THAT'S MY POINT. OKAY. YOU CAN READ EVERYTHING ELSE INTO IT, WHICH IS PROBABLY TRUE. THAT'S MY POINT. NOW, GETTING BACK TO THIS, GABE, UM, YOU PROPOSE THIS 0.001 REDUCTION? CORRECT. AND I KNOW THAT WE NEED MONIES. SO INSTEAD OF RAISING IT 1 CENT, CAN WE RAISE IT BY HALF CENT AND THEY'LL GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT OF CUSHION. THAT'S ABOUT 250,000, [02:35:02] 280,270,000. YEAH. GIVE YOU THE CUSHION SO WE CAN MOVE FORWARD. SECONDLY, WE DO TOURNAMENTS THE WAY WE SHOULD, WE SHOULDN'T HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE HERE SPENDING A FEW DOLLARS THAT WOULD INCREASE OUR REVENUES VIA THE TAX SALES. AND DANIEL, YES, SIR. I OWE YOU A CONVERSATION AND WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THAT SOONER OR LATER. I LOOK FORWARD TO IT. OKAY. AND SO I WOULD BE COMFORTABLE WITH THAT. SO IF I UNDERSTAND YOU CORRECTLY, COMMISSIONER, WHAT YOU'RE, WHAT YOU ARE PROPOSING IS AN INCREASE TO THE TAX RATE BY HALF A CENT. CORRECT. OKAY. DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY, UH, COMMENTS IN, IN, IN REGARDS TO THAT? WHAT DO THOSE, WHAT DO THOSE NUMBERS LOOK LIKE IF THAT'S THE CASE? ROBERT, WHILE YOU DO THAT, I'M GOING, WAIT, LET'S TAKE A TWO MINUTE, UM, COMFORT BREAK SO THEY CAN PLUG IN THOSE NUMBERS AND THEN WE'LL COME RIGHT BACK. THE TIME IS NOW THE [02:43:04] JOSH, CAN YOU GET THEM TO PICK IT UP? GOT IT. TIME IS NOW 7:58 PM AND WE ARE BACK IN OPEN SESSION AFTER TAKING A BRIEF, UH, COMFORT BREAK. AND ROBERT, THE COMMISSIONER MORALES REQUESTED AN INCREASE IN THE TAX RATE BY 0.5, HALF A CENT. MM-HMM . DID YOU PLUG IN THOSE NUMBERS? YEAH. SO THAT WOULD BE AN ADDITIONAL, SO THAT WOULD LEAVE THE REVENUES OVER EXPENDITURES OF 3 83 87. NINE NINE. OKAY. THIS SEEMS PRETTY SIGNIFICANT. SO, PLUGGING, AND THAT IS TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE, UH, POSITIONS THAT WERE ALREADY REQUESTED, LIKE THAT WERE ALREADY INCLUDED. THE THREE FOR MENDOLA, THE PLANT, UH, PLANNING FOR ANA? YES. OR THE SENIOR PLANNER. MM-HMM . OKAY. AND SO WE HAVE THREE 80, RIGHT? MEANING WE CAN HAVE ADDITIONAL POSITIONS, RIGHT? NOT ALL OF THEM FOR PARKS, CORRECT. ONLY UP TO THREE. UH, RIGHT. WELL, NOT THE TWO THAT REQUIRE, OR YOU COULD HAVE TO MOVE THAT AROUND, BUT I KNOW THAT MORALES, WHAT WAS IMPORTANT FOR YOU WAS A LIBRARY. YES. SO YOU WANNA ADD THAT IN IF POSSIBLE, BUT, UH, NO, JUST ADD. SO THAT WAY WE JUST LOOKS ON THE, ON THE SPREADSHEETS. GO AHEAD. BRINGS US TO 3 38 0 0 5. I'M SORRY. 3 38 0 5 0. [02:45:03] OKAY. COULD YOU PASS THESE? WHERE WHERE IS THAT NUMBER? IT'S IN THE THIRD COLUMN, THE GREEN COLUMN. UH, THIRD ONE DOWN. 3 3 3, 8 0, 5 0. OKAY. 3 38 0, 5 0. MM-HMM . ALL RIGHT. OKAY. YES. STAFF WAS FREEZING. I THINK COMMISSIONER KAM SAID TO GO AHEAD AND TURN IT, TURN IT BACK UP. I SAVED ALL OF YOU. . I THINK IT'S STILL A LITTLE WARM. COMMISSIONER . OKAY. SO, UM, NOW GOING BACK TO OUR POSITIONS, IS THERE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON ADDITIONS FOR POSITIONS FROM, FROM THE COMMISSION? WELL, THAT'S THE CASE. UH, THE SENIOR PLANNER, THAT, THAT'S ALREADY IN. THAT'S ALREADY IN. OH, THAT'S RIGHT. THAT'S RIGHT. MY APOLOGIES. TURN ON THE HEATER. TURNED ON THE HEATER. WHAT'S THAT? I GO, THEY TURNED ON THE HEATER. WHAT? OKAY, LET'S NOT TAKE, LET'S NOT GO CRAZY. YEAH, NO, THAT'S, THAT'S CRAZY. OH, I SMELLED IT. OH YEAH. YES. RECOGNIZE THE SCENT. RECOGNIZE THE SCENT. JUST RUNNING NUMBERS ON MY TAXES, RIGHT? MM-HMM . OH, . UH, I KNOW FOR THAT PERCENT INCREASE. WELL, SO MY HOUSE IS APPRAISED AT A HUNDRED AND, UH, $132,536, RIGHT? AMEN. YEAH, I DO. WELL, OH, THANK YOU. UH, I BOUGHT WHEN IT WAS, UH, MARK WAS DOWN. SO YOU GOT TRAVIS PE, , AND I ACTUALLY, YES. YES. . SO, UH, IF WE WERE TO LEAVE THE TAX RATE THE SAME OR WRITE THE SAME, I PAY 6 97 21. IF WE LOWER IT BY 0.001, I SAVE A DOLLAR 32. I KNOW THEY SHOULD. YEAH. AND THEN IF WE WERE TO GO UP A CENT, I PAY MORE. I PAY $13 26 CENTS MORE FOR EVERY CENT MORE THAT WE PUT IN FOR ME. RIGHT? OBVIOUSLY, EVERYONE'S HOUSE IS VALUED DIFFERENTLY. UH, I INTENTIONALLY BOUGHT AN OLDER HOME, UH, AND THEN AN ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORHOOD, RIGHT? MM-HMM . UH, AND EVEN THEN, MY HOUSE WENT UP JUST LIKE MANY OF Y'ALL, MY HOUSE. I BOUGHT MY HOUSE FOR 60,000 IN 2014 IN OCTOBER OF 2014. AND NOW IT'S VALUED AT, YOU KNOW, DOUBLE THAT, A LITTLE OVER DOUBLE THAT. AND SO EVERY PERSON HAS TO MAKE THE DECISION FOR THEMSELVES, RIGHT? HOW MUCH THEY THINK, YOU KNOW, CLEAN PARKS ARE WORTH TO THEM ADDITIONALLY, RIGHT? MM-HMM . THAT'S JUST HOW I'M LOOKING AT IT. SO THE HALF CENT, THE HALF CENT, WELL, 13.26 DIVIDED BY TWO, SO ABOUT $6 AND 75 CENTS, $7. I WAS A GOVERNMENT MAJOR, NOT A MATH MAJOR. SO I USE MY CALCULATOR 6 75 OR SO. SO 6 63. SO IF WE WERE TO GO THE HALF CENT, AND THIS IS AT HOME, I PAY $6, $66, 63 CENTS MORE PER YEAR. AND THAT A HOME VALUED AT A HUNDRED AND FIFTY, A HUNDRED THIRTY TWO, A HUNDRED THIRTY TWO, A HUNDRED THIRTY 2,536. AND THAT'S WITH MY HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. MM-HMM . SO EVEN, YEAH. I'M SORRY. SO EVEN A, AGAIN, I SECOND THAT, BUT, SO EVEN A HOUSE, THREE TIMES YEAR WORTH WOULD STILL BE PAYING LESS THAN 20 BUCKS, WITH MORE OR LESS, LET'S, LET'S PLUG IN A HOUSE WORTH 200,000. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT 200,000. SO LET'S LOOK AT A HOUSE THAT'S 250,000 BECAUSE, UM, IF [02:50:01] YOU'RE PURCHASING NEW YEAH. NEW, IT'S INSANE HOW MUCH YEAH. HOUSES COST, RIGHT? BUT I, I, I DO SEE THAT A LOT OF THE FOLKS IN OUR COMMUNITY, UM, HAVE LIVED HERE FOR A LONG TIME AND, AND IN NEIGHBORHOODS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE A CULTURE OF, UM, YOU KNOW, GENERATIONS LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF. AND SO WE DO HAVE A, A WIDE RANGE OF, OF HOMES, BUT FOR PEOPLE COMING IN NEW TO THE, UH, TO THE COMMUNITY, THAT IT, IT DOES IMPACT THAT IN TERMS OF ALL THE NEW DEVELOPMENTS COMING IN. I MEAN, YOU'RE STILL, EVEN IF, EVEN IF YOU GO THE, THE, UH, VOTER APPROVAL RATE IN THE CITY OF HARLINGEN, YOU'RE STILL UNDER THE REST OF THE, THE REST OF, UH, CAMERON COUNTY. YOUR HOME IS CHEAPER IN HARLINGEN THAN IT IS ANYWHERE ELSE, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF LIKE, ON THE ISLAND. BUT THE PRICES ON THE ISLAND ARE A LOT HIGHER. SO YOU'VE GOT THAT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID, UH, COMMISSIONER GOMEZ, BUT NOW IT SMELLS REALLY BAD IN HERE. I I ONLY SAID NOW IT'S FREEZING. WHO TOUCHED IT? IT WAS A POLICE CHIEF. IT WAS, OH, . IT WAS CHIEF VE, RIGHT? YES. MM-HMM . IT DOES SMELL LIKE THE HEATER THAT WE HAVEN'T TURNED ON IN LIKE A YEAR. MM-HMM . NOT GOOD AT ALL. WHILE, UM, DANIEL IS DOING THAT, IS THERE ANY $25? OKAY. IF THERE, IF WE WERE TO LEAVE THE TAX RATE AT A, A HOME THAT'S $250,000 AT A TAX RATE OF 0.5 2 6 0 6 0, WHICH IS OUR CURRENT RATE, THEY'RE PAYING $1,315 AND 15 CENTS. IF YOU WERE TO GO UP BY 1 CENT, ONE PENNY, IT GOES, WHICH I DON'T THINK THEY MAKE, BUT IT GOES UP TO 1,340 AND 15 CENTS, WHICH IS $25 DIFFERENCE BY ONE SEC. WOW. IF I MAY, COMMISSIONER, UM, KEEP IN MIND, WATER RATES ARE INCREASING. OKAY. CORRECT. SO WE NEED TO KEEP, KEEP THAT ON THE FOREFRONT, WHETHER IT'S 13 BUCKS OR 25 BUCKS, COULD BE IRRELEVANT. AND HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT THEY NEED TO DO A HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION? THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP IN MIND. MM-HMM . WE HAVE TO THINK FOR THEM A LITTLE BIT. OKAY. SO I WOULD, I WOULD RATHER KEEP IT AT THAT HALF ABSENT AT ALL POSSIBLE. IT'S A LOT MORE THAN WHAT GABE SUGGESTED. WE CAN MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. MM-HMM . I THINK YOU'RE 100% CORRECT, COMMISSIONER AND I, I, UH, THANK YOU FOR BRINGING UP THAT POINT. 'CAUSE I CONSIDERED IT EARLIER THAT ANY ADJUSTMENT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER THAT WATER RATE ADJUSTMENT AS WELL, AND FUEL, RIGHT? MY, MY TRUCK'S GOING UP, RIGHT? FOOD. AND SO THESE ARE THOSE HARD DECISIONS THAT WE'RE ELECTED TO MAKE. AND IT'S HOW DO YOU PROCEED FORWARD IN A WAY THAT'S EQUITABLE, RIGHT? AND WE TRY TO PUT THE CITY AND THE RESIDENCE CONCERNS AND FIRST, SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT. EXCELLENT POINT. BEIS, THAT'S IT. HMM. DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD? NOPE. OKAY. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? SO WE CAN START GOING THROUGH THE NUMBERS? SO THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO, I EARLIER SAID THAT IT WAS THE ONLY WAY EITHER STAY THE SAME OR GO DOWN, BUT HOW DO WE DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE? AND THIS IS THE ONLY WAY, AND THE ONLY WAY TO BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD IS TO TEACH, EDUCATE, AND TALK TO EVERYBODY THAT LIVES HERE. PEOPLE ARE NOT GONNA LIKE IT. OUR OWN FAMILY'S NOT GONNA LIKE IT. MM-HMM . BUT IT'S TO TEACH AND TO HELP UNDERSTAND AND, AND TO HELP UNDERSTAND THE, THE, THE LOGISTICS OF IT. MM-HMM . SO COMMISSIONER, ARE YOU SUGGESTING A 1 CENT, OR ARE YOU, UM, OKAY WITH THE MORALE HAVE SENT? I, I THINK IF THE COMMISSION FEELS COMFORTABLE WITH THE HAVE SENT, WE CAN DO THAT. WE JUST NEED TO GET, [02:55:01] WE NEED TO GET THE CITY MOVING, CONTINUE TO KEEP THEM MOVING CITY, MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, UH, IN THE WAY THE PUBLIC HAS OVERWHELMINGLY TOLD EACH OF US INDIVIDUALLY AND TOGETHER MM-HMM . AND SO I THINK THIS CAN MOVE US, START MOVING THE NEEDLE IN THE RIGHT WAY. BUT RECOGNIZE TO, UM, MR. MANDOLA'S POINT IS AS WE BRING THESE BUILDINGS ONLINE, WE'RE GONNA NEED TO REDIRECT OR ADD MORE STAFF SPECIFICALLY FOR THOSE MM-HMM . SO, SO THE, SO THE 1 CENT, 1 CENT GETS, 1 CENT GETS YOU ALL OF PARKS, PLUS THE, THE UNITS THAT THEY NEED. AND THE HALF CENT GIVES US, UH, LESS THAN THAT. YOU WANNA WALK US THROUGH THAT, FRANK? WHICH ONES YOU WANNA KEEP AND WHICH ONES YOU WANNA STRIKE AS FAR AS THE PARKS? I THOUGHT WE ALREADY DID. WELL, NOW YOU'VE GOT 300, 350, 2,640 WITH THE, SO YOU CAN, UM, FUND OTHER POSITIONS, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. THAT'S ON SLIDE 10. MM-HMM . SLIDE 10. YES. SO WE GOT THE GROUND, THE THREE, UH, YES. ATHLETIC, YES. MM-HMM . GO WITH THE, UH, PARKS. MAINTENANCE TECH, RECREATION TECH. ONE OF EACH. SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? SO WE HAVE THE 3 38 UNDER THIS THREE 50, ABSENT INCREASE. 3, 3 52, 6 43 52, 6 40. BUT I THINK WE JUST ADDED THE, UM, LIBRARY. THAT'S WHY I DROPPED AT 3 38. 3 38. YES. SO WE AT THE LIBRARY. OKAY. THE YOUTH ASSISTANT, I KEEP LOSING IT. IT'S RIGHT THERE. 3, 3, 8, 0, 50. SO LIBRARY ASSISTANT, WE ARE KEEPING THE SENIOR PLANNER, CORRECT? YES, SIR. YES. THAT'S ALREADY IN. AND THEN DID YOU GUYS WANT THE, AND I'M SORRY, FRANK, COULD YOU REPEAT WHICH ONES YOU WERE SAYING? UM, THE PARK MAINTENANCE TECH, WHICH IS 47,849. WELL, IF YOU WOULDN'T MIND, FRANK, IF YOU WOULDN'T MIND ONE SECOND, JUAN, WHICH ONES DO YOU NEED THE MOST? I AGREE WITH COMMISSIONER MORALE THERE. UH, THE MAINTENANCE TECH. OKAY. MAINTENANCE TECH. AND SINCE WE ALREADY HAVE THE, UH, GROUNDSKEEPERS, THEN WE WOULD GO TO THE MAINTENANCE TECH. UH, I BELIEVE WE REDUCED IT DOWN TO THAT ONE. AND THEN, CAN I ASK, LET ME ASK, OH, I'M SORRY. GO FOR IT. YOU WERE JUST, I INTERRUPTED YOU. OH, GO AHEAD. THAT AQUATIC POOL OPERATOR, HOW MUCH MONEY ARE THEY GONNA SAVE US? WELL, RIGHT NOW, UH, CESAR OUR AQUATIC, UM, TO GIVE YOU AN EXACT BALLPARK, I, I, I DON'T HAVE IT, COMMISSIONER, BUT I WILL SAY THAT WE'RE GONNA BE, ALL PULLS WILL BE ONLINE, VICTOR PARK, WE'RE GONNA HAVE A SPLASH PAD, WE'RE GONNA HAVE THREAD HOLE WITH A SPLASH PAD. LON HILL'S GONNA GET A RENOVATED SPLASH PAD. UM, YEAH. AND WE, WE DON'T HAVE AN OPERATOR. SO, SO GOING NOW, LOOKING AT YOUR LIST, WHAT ARE YOU ASKING FOR? UH, 1 CENT. I, UM, . JUST KIDDING. SO, SO LET ME, SORRY, IF YOU DON'T MIND, UM, TELL US, I KNOW WHY, BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT, UM, FOR CLARIFICATION, FOR POTENTIALLY OUR COMMUNITY. WHY IS IT THAT YOU NEED A PARKS GROUND SUPERVISOR AND A PARKS SUPERINTENDENT, LIKE THESE POSITIONS? HOW CRUCIAL ARE THEY? WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO ENSURE? 'CAUSE WHEN YOU'VE GOT STAFF, BUT NO BOSS, RIGHT? LIKE, LET'S TALK ABOUT, LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT. RIGHT. SO OUR CURRENT, UH, PARK SUPERINTENDENT, UM, SO THE WAY WE WERE GAUGING IT IS IF WE GOT ANOTHER SUPERINTENDENT, HOW DO WE FIT THIS MOLD? SO OUR CURRENT PARK SUPERINTENDENT IS A GENIUS WHEN IT COMES TO CONSTRUCTION, UM, PROJECTS, HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE AND SO FORTH. UM, THE OTHER SUPERINTENDENT THAT WE WANTED TO BRING IN WAS MORE CONCENTRATED ON STRATEGIC PLANNING, UM, BUT ALSO THE GROUNDS, UH, THAT'S ALL FIELDS, ATHLETICS, OPEN SPACE, UM, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, THEY WERE GONNA BE MORE OF THE HANDS-ON WITH THE ISSUES THAT WE SEE. AND THEN THE SUPERVISOR, WE ONLY HAVE ONE SUPERVISOR RIGHT NOW, WHICH IS MARTIN SERTA. AND, UH, YEAH, HE'S SUPER RELIABLE, BUT OVERWORKED AS WELL. UH, HE NEEDS HELP AND ASSISTANCE. SO WHAT WE WANTED TO DO IS TELL US WHAT HE DOES. UM, SO YEAH, WHAT DOESN'T HE DO? UM, SO HE'S WORKING EVERY SINGLE DAY, [03:00:01] NO MATTER WHAT TIME OF THE DAY. UM, HE OVERSEES, UM, OUR STAFF, BUT HE'S ALSO VERY HANDS-ON. SO HE'S PRETTY MUCH SECOND IN COMMAND WHEN IT COMES TO OUR IRRIGATION. UM, ADDRESSING SOME OF THOSE NEEDS AND HOW WE CAN TRY TO IMPROVE IT ALSO WITH OUR STAFF. UM, OH, OUR SUPERINTENDENT AND OUR SUPERVISOR IS SO HANDS-ON THAT THE SUPERVISION COMPONENT IS, IS TOUGH, ROUGH FOR THEM RIGHT NOW BECAUSE WE'RE SO SHORTHANDED. UM, WITH THESE POSITIONS, IT WOULD GIVE THEM THE ABILITY TO NOW SUPERVISE SUPERINTENDENT HELP PLAN. UM, AND THEN THE SUPERVISOR, JUST TO KIND OF GIVE EVERYBODY THAT'S WATCHING AN IDEA IS IF YOU LOOK AT HARLINGEN AS A WHOLE, NOW THAT WE HAVE, IF WE GET A SECOND SUPERVISOR AND SUPERINTENDENT, WE CAN KIND OF DIVIDE THE CITY NOW. SO IF WE WANNA LOOK AT EAST, WEST SECTORS, NORTH, SOUTH, HOWEVER YOU WANT TO DIVIDE THE CITY, THEN NOW WE CAN ACTUALLY ALLOCATE EACH SUPERVISOR WITH THEIR SECTIONS AND THEN THEIR SECTIONS. THEY HAVE THEIR CREW LEADERS, THEY HAVE THEIR TRACTOR MOWERS. UM, SO NOW WE'RE LOOKING AT THAT STRUCTURE. AND THEN HOW WE CAN JUST BE MORE EFFICIENT TOO. UM, BUT THEY'LL BE ABLE TO OVERSEE AND MANAGE AND RELATE TO US, UM, JUST EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE DOING AND HOW ARE WE'RE IMPROVING. UM, RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE WE'RE SO SHORTHANDED, THE LEADERSHIP POSITIONS ARE IN THE GROUNDS, BOOTS IN. UM, SO WOULD IT BE FAIR TO SAY THAT IF YOU HAD THOSE TWO POSITIONS, THEN THE FOLKS THAT ARE WORKING UNDERNEATH THEM WOULD BE WORKING MORE EFFICIENTLY AND TO THEIR POTENTIAL? BECAUSE THERE WOULD BE MORE ACCOUNTABILITY AND THEN THAT INFORMATION WOULD BE OBVIOUSLY RELAYED TO YOU, WHICH IN TURN YOU WILL SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH US? I BELIEVE SO. AND THEN JUST ALSO DEPENDING ON THOSE INDIVIDUALS THAT WE DO BRING FROM WHEREVER THEY COME, IDEALLY, HOPEFULLY THEY'RE, UM, KNOWLEDGEABLE IN THE FIELDS. MM-HMM . UM, IN TURN, THEY'LL TRAIN OUR STAFF AS WELL, TEACH OUR STAFF MAYBE DIFFERENT THINGS THEY'VE LEARNED FROM WHEREVER THEY'RE COMING FROM. UM, SO WE'RE JUST LOOKING AT THAT COMPONENT AS WELL THAT I DON'T WANT TO, I WANNA MENTION THAT PART. MM-HMM . TO, TO THE MAYOR'S POINTS, EVERY POSITION I'M ASKING YOU, JUAN, TO LOOK AT, AND THIS COMMISSION'S ASKING ME IS WE NEED TO MAXIMIZE OUR RETURN ON EACH AND EVERY POSITION. AND SO I WOULD ASK THAT YOU LOOK AT THESE, WITH THAT IN MIND, ARE YOU ASKING ME TO CUT OUT OF HERE? THE ONES THAT ARE REQUESTING, OR WHAT I'M ASKING YOU IS THAT ANY ONES THAT YOU'RE REC MAKING THE RECOMMENDATION FOR, WE NEED TO SEE THEM ESSENTIALLY BRING IN AND OR BENEFIT THE CITY MORE THAN WHAT WE'RE PAYING THEM, PAYING THEM AND ALL THEIR EQUIPMENT AND ALL THAT. SO OPERATIONS WISE, IT'S DESPERATELY NEEDED. WE'VE ALREADY GAUGED THAT AND LOOKED AT OTHER CITIES AND WE BENCHMARKED AGAINST IT. AND WE NEED, WE NEED THE STAFF. UM, IF WE'RE LOOKING HERE, OPERATIONS IS HEAVILY NEEDED. I KNOW HERE WE CAME DOWN TO TWO REC ASSISTANTS. IF, IF, IF WE GET TO THAT ONE REC ASSISTANT, THAT'S FINE, BUT I DON'T WANNA LOSE MY OP THE OPERATIONS TEAM THAT WE'RE REQUESTING. SO INSTEAD OF TWO REC ASSISTANTS, ONE IS GOOD, BUT MAINTENANCE TECH IS VERY IMPORTANT. AS COMMISSIONER MORALE HAS MENTIONED. UM, THAT ADDED MAINTENANCE TECH WOULD HELP US WITH CHANGING PARK SLIDES, THE EQUIPMENT, UH, WHETHER IT'S TAKING OLD PARK EQUIPMENT DOWN. UM, AND THEN IDEALLY WOULD HELP US ATTAIN TO THE NEXT GOAL WHERE OUR STAFF NOW LEARNS TO INSTALL PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT INSTEAD OF HAVING TO PAY SOMEONE 30 TO $50,000 JUST TO INSTALL PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT, WHICH IS INITIALLY THE COST. SO TO YOUR POINT, YOU'RE SAYING THAT THAT PART MAINTENANCE TECH CAN SAVE US $50,000. 'CAUSE WE'RE PUTTING IN A, A EQUIPMENT AT ROOSEVELT, WE'RE PUTTING IN EQUIPMENT, ATTO RETO THAT'S ALREADY THIS ONE POSITION JUST SAVED US $50,000. WE WOULD, UH, INITIALLY SEND THEM TO THE RIGHT TRAINING. BUT YES, ONCE THEY GET TRAINED, UM, THEN THE MAINTENANCE TEAM, ONCE TRAINED CORRECTLY WOULD BE YES. INSTALLING ALL THIS EQUIPMENT TO, UH, THAT WE'RE PAYING QUITE A BIT FOR. THAT'S WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR. YEAH. THANK YOU. AND SO THEN YOU'RE SAYING THE SAME THING FOR THE AQUATIC POOL OPERATOR? CORRECT? YES. UH, PAUL, UH, AQUATIC OPERATOR WOULD TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING IN-HOUSE REPAIRS, SO FORTH. SO, WHICH IS ESSENTIAL, I THINK EVERYBODY ON THIS COMMISSION HAS PROBABLY GOTTEN MORE THAN A HANDFUL OF, UM, EMAILS, ESPECIALLY OVER THE SUMMER, WANTING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE, OF THE POOLS, ALL OF THE ONES THAT WE, THAT WE HAVE. SO YOU [03:05:01] GOT A MAINTENANCE TECH THIS YEAR, CORRECT? UM, WE WERE REQUESTING ONE THIS YEAR. YES. NO, YOU, THIS BUDGET YEAR. THIS BUDGET YEAR AT LEAST. SO YES. YEAH, YOU DID. AND YOU ALSO GOT A RECREATION SUPERINTENDENT? YES, WE HAD THE RECREATION SUPERINTENDENT WHO IS, UH, MICHAEL HADIO, WHO'S, UH, REALLY THE ONE THAT'S GIVEN THOSE IDEAS AND PLANNING FOR WHAT WE'RE DOING, THE JITTER RUN SERIES, A LOT OF THE PROGRAMMING, UM, A LOT OF IT IS COMING FROM OUR TEAM, BUT HE'S, UM, REALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND ALL THAT. SO IT'S BEEN A GREAT ADDITION TO OUR TEAM. SO THEN WHAT I'M LOOKING AT HERE, CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, THE THREE GROUNDSKEEPERS, THE PARKS, MAINTENANCE TECH, AND THE AQUATIC, THE AQUATIC POOL OPERATOR, THOSE ARE THE FIVE AND A REC ASSISTANT. AND A REC ASSISTANT. AND SO THAT LEAVES OUT ONE REC ASSISTANT AND THE TWO, THE SUPERVISOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT, WHICH IS OUR GUYS THAT ARE OVERWORKED. YEAH. IF I MAY, I MEAN, IF WE ARE ABLE TO GET EITHER THE SUPERVISOR OR THE SUPERINTENDENT ADDED TO THAT, THAT'D BE GREAT. I DON'T THINK WE HAVE MONEY FOR THAT, BUT I'M JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE. YEAH, WELL, I, WE'RE, WE'RE WORKING WITH THE, OKAY, SO, UM, WE GOT YOU. OKAY. SO CAN YOU PLUG IN FOR ME, MAKE SURE YOU'VE ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR THE THREE GROUNDSKEEPERS, BUT ADD ONE, UH, ONE RECREATION ASSISTANT, THE PARKS, MAINTENANCE TECH, THE AQUATIC POOL OPERATOR, AND, AND WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? 200,000 7 63? WE STILL OVER REVENUES, OVER EXPENDITURES BY 200,000. OKAY. GABE WANTS A HUNDRED LEFT IN THE BANK. RIGHT. OH, THAT'D GREAT. IS THAT WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT? THAT'D BE GREAT. YEAH. OKAY. AND SO THEN, UM, YOU DO THAT HEALTH INSPECTOR AND THAT RECREATION ASSISTANT, THE OTHER ISSUE, WHAT ABOUT, WHAT ABOUT A, UM, A PARKS GROUNDS SUPERVISOR? I WOULD AGREE WITH THAT ONE OVER THE, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO PRIORITIZE, RIGHT? THAT PUTS US AT RIGHT. A LITTLE LESS THAN A HUNDRED. IF YOU WERE TO DO THE HEALTH INSPECTOR AND OH, IT WAS LIKE NO HEALTH INSPECTOR, ARE YOU STILL YEAH. SO YOU'RE SAYING RECREATION, THE SECOND RECREATION ASSISTANT? NO, JUST ADDING THE SUPERVISOR. WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? IF WE JUST ADD THE SUPERVISOR PARKS GROUND SUPERVISOR, ARE YOU GONNA NEED ANY EQUIPMENT, JUAN OR ANY A TRUCK. A TRUCK. A SMALL REGULAR CAB TRUCK. AND THAT'S IT. NO OTHER MOWERS? NO. OR RANGERS FOR THE SUPERVISOR? MM-HMM. NO. NO. OKAY. UH, I'M NOT KIDDING. HUH? RANGER? I'M NOT. WE'RE TRYING TO KEEP THAT. WHERE'S, WHERE'S, WHERE'S ANTONIO? I MEAN, ROBERTO, RIGHT? FORD RANGER. RIGHT? ALL THE WAY, ALL THE WAY WE GO WORKS WORKS FINE. UM, OKAY. WE ARE AT, I CAN'T, I'M LOST WITH THE NUMBER AGAIN. 1 47. 1 47. 1 47. OKAY. AND SO THEN A BUDGET OF LESS THAN 47,000 FOR A VEHICLE LEASE PUTS YOU AT A HUNDRED THOUSAND. UM, SO, BUT THAT, OKAY. THAT'S WHAT THAT IS. AND YOU GET, YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR PARKS SUPERINTENDENT. OH, WHERE'S MEN? THE OTHER YOU ARE . I'M SORRY. IT'S BEEN A LONG DAY. UM, AND WE DON'T HAVE THE HEALTH INSPECTOR. WHAT'S THAT GONNA DO, SHANNON? MY CON THIS IS MY FEAR, JUST SO YOU KNOW, SHANNON COMING IN, IS I DON'T WANT ANY OF OUR BUSINESSES BEING SLOWED DOWN FROM OPENING UHHUH , UH, OR GETTING THE THINGS THAT THEY NEED TO ON THE RESTAURANT SIDE OR THE HEALTH SIDE. SO WE HAVE, WE HAVE THE RESTAURANT ASPECT YEAH. TO IT, WHICH IS AT AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE. WE ALSO HAVE THE VECTOR SIDE OF IT, THE MOSQUITO CONCERN. YES. AND AGAIN, IN 20 YEARS, WE HAVE NOT EXPANDED EITHER OF THESE POSITIONS, AND WE'VE DONE MORE WITH LESS, MORE WITH LESS, MORE WITH LESS. AND WE'RE FINALLY TO THE POINT WHERE WE'RE BUSTING AT THE SEAMS. AND I KNOW I GET CALLS, ESPECIALLY DURING MOSQUITO SEASON, MOSTLY, UM, ABOUT CONSTITUENTS WANT THIS AREA SPRAYED, WANT THIS AREA SPRAYED, AND, AND WE'RE VERY LIMITED. AND TRYING TO HIT ALL THOSE AREAS IS INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT WITH THE NEW SUBDIVISIONS AND ALL THE, THE ADDED MILES THAT HAVE BEEN PUT INTO THE CITY, AND YOU HAVE YOUR DAILY FOOD INSPECTIONS AND JUST ENSURING THE SAFETY, THE FOOD SAFETY OF EVERYBODY. UM, NOT MORE THAN EVER. IT SEEMS LIKE EVERY DAY THERE'S A NEW, A NEW ISSUE COMING OUT. I SAW THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SHUT [03:10:01] DOWN. YES. THERE A COVID OUTBREAK, RIGHT? MM-HMM. UM, . YEAH. OH, REALLY? MM-HMM . . YEAH. UM, TELL, TELL US AGAIN HOW MANY YOU CURRENTLY HAVE. I HAVE TWO INSPECTORS AND A SENIOR INSPECTOR. OKAY. UM, THE SENIOR INSPECTOR DOES EVERYTHING THE OTHER INSPECTORS DO, BUT HE JUST HAS A LOT MORE ADDED, HE DOES PLAN REVIEW. MM-HMM . UM, SO YOU GOT THREE I HAVE THREE TOTAL INSPECTORS YES. FOR THE ENTIRE CITY. AND YOU HAVEN'T HAD A CHANGE IN 20 YEARS? OVER 20 YEARS. OKAY. AND SO I THINK WE'VE GROWN IN 20 YEARS, RIGHT? MM-HMM . AND THAT'S WHY I SAY WE'VE, WE'VE, WE'VE CONTINUED TO DO MORE WITH LESS MM-HMM . AND, AND WE'RE JUST FINALLY TO THE POINT WHERE, I MEAN, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE STRETCHED AS FAR AS WE CAN STRETCH AND THEN SOME, OKAY. IS THIS ONE GONNA NEED A VEHICLE? THAT ONE WOULD NEED A VEHICLE? YES. OKAY. SO WE GOT WHICH ONE? RIGHT? AND THEY CAN'T, THIS ONE, THEY CAN'T USE ARRANGER. THEY NEED AN F-150, RIGHT? CORRECT. BECAUSE OF THE EQUIPMENT, BECAUSE OF THE ULV THAT GOES IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK. SO YOU NEED TO BUY ONE OF THOSE TWO THEN A UV F-150? YES. AND, AND A ULV ALSO? NO, WE HAVE THE ULV. UM, SO WE WOULD HAVE ALL THE OTHER EQUIPMENT. IT'S JUST THE, THE TRUCK FORD F-150. OKAY. SO IT LOOKS TO ME THAT YOU EITHER GET THE PARKS GROUND SUPERVISOR AND GET HIM, UM, READY TO GO. UM, OR YOU GET THE HEALTH INSPECTOR WITH ALL THE STUFF THAT THEY NEED. LIKE WE CAN ONE OR THE OTHER BASED ON THE OB, THE, THE, UH, GROUND SUPERVISOR IS ROUGHLY ABOUT THE SAME. UH, VERY CLOSE IN, IN, UM, SALARY. MM-HMM . AND EXCEPT FOR THE HEALTH INSPECTOR'S, VEHICLE WILL COST JUST, UH, A LITTLE MORE THAN THE, THE GROUNDS. UM, MORALES, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT? I WOULD GO WITH THE, UH, HEALTH INSPECTOR. THE QUESTION IN REFERENCE TO THE VEHICLE, CAN THAT BE LEASED? WE COULD, BUT IT'S STILL CAUSED, IT STILL BE A COST TO THAT. I THINK WE LOOKED AT LEASES A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, IT DIDN'T WORK. IS THAT RIGHT? WE DID. THAT WAS THE CONSENSUS. BUT AFTER THREE TO FOUR YEARS, THE MAINTENANCE ON THAT DOUBLES AND TRIPLES AND HAVING A VEHICLE IN REPAIR VERSUS HAVING SOMETHING THAT WE CAN TURN IN, WE MIGHT AS WELL TURN IT IN AND GET SOMETHING ELSE. ESPECIALLY FOR OUR POLICE OFFICERS. WELL, WE'RE ALREADY GOING ON THAT DIRECTION. YES. I UNDERSTAND. JU JUST TO THROW IT OUT THERE AS WELL, AT LEAST WITH THE HEALTH VEHICLE BEING HONEST WITH YOU, I DON'T KNOW HOW A LEASE WOULD WORK SINCE WE BOLT DOWN THE ULV MM-HMM . TO SECURE IT INTO THE BED OF THE TRUCK. SO WITH A LEASE, I'M NOT SURE HOW GOOD POINT THAT WOULD WORK. NO ADDITIONS TO IT OR? YEAH. SO JUST FOR THOUGHT. OKAY. SO WE'RE CURRENTLY AT 1 47, 3 46 WITH, RIGHT? YEP. TO HAVE THE HEALTH INSPECTOR. SO WE HAD THE HEALTH INSPECTOR THAT'S WITH NO TRUCK. WITHOUT THE, WITHOUT THE TRUCK. AND THE HEALTH INSPECTOR THAT'S WITH THE GROUNDSKEEPER, CORRECT? HAS A GROUND. YEAH, THAT ONE HAS A GROUNDSKEEPER. THE, THE, THE SUPERVISOR. SO WE'RE EITHER ONE OR THE, LIKE, TO BALANCE OR TO BE ABLE TO, YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE ONE OR THE OTHER. AND, UM, MORALES IS SAYING TO, TO THE HEALTH INSPECTOR, BUT REMEMBER THAT, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE PROBLEMS IN THE PARKS ARE IN YOUR DISTRICT COMMISSIONER AND A GOOD CHUNK OF THE COMPLAINTS FOR THE MOSQUITOES. UNFORTUNATELY, THEY'RE ALSO IN MY DISTRICT. SO IT'S A, IT'S A TOUGH SITUATION. IT'S A, IT'S A HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE WITH ME ON THAT HEALTH. I INSPECT, I WILL, I WANT TO GET BOTH MM-HMM . CLEARLY. BUT IT'S A TO COMMISSIONER, UH, MORALES'S POINT. IT'S A HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE. MOSQUITOES, I GET THE SAME CALLS. I KNOW. UH, THANK YOU TO PARKS AND, UH, NOT PARKS. UH, PUBLIC WORKS. WE'RE GONNA BE CLEARING OUT, I THINK TODAY I WENT TO GO CHECK IT OUT. THEY'RE CLEARING OUT ONE OF THE BIG AREAS FOR MOSQUITOES IN ONE OF MY NEIGHBORHOODS, BUT STILL. OKAY. SO IT'S A WANT CLEAN RESTAURANTS TOO. SO THAT'S KIND OF IMPORTANT. HEALTH INSPECTION, , HERE WE GO. IT'S KIND OF IMPORTANT. OKAY. IT'S KIND OF IMPORTANT. SO CAN YOU SWAP THOSE 1 49? SO THAT WAS JUST SWAP THE GROUND. THE, UM, GROUNDSKEEPER. THE GROUNDSKEEPER. [03:15:01] NOT THE SUPERVISOR. THE SUPERVISOR GROUNDSKEEPER. OKAY. RIGHT. THAT'S WHAT SHE DID. YEAH. YEAH, THAT'S WHAT SHE DID. AND THEN, UM, SO THIS HAS US AT 1 49, BUT WE DO KNOW THAT THIS IS GOING TO REQUIRE A VEHICLE. AND SO HOPEFULLY THE BUDGET IS LESS THAN THE 49,000. I THINK WE NEED TWO VEHICLES. NO, WE JUST NEED THE ONE. JUST THE ONE. OH, THAT'S RIGHT. WE GOT RID OF THE SUPERVISOR. OKAY. YEAH. OKAY. SO IS EVERYBODY COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? I THINK THE FORD RANGER'S GONNA BE WHAT, ABOUT 50? THAT'S NOT GONNA BE A FORD RANGER. IT'S NOT. I'M SORRY. UH, FORD F-150. OH, THE F-150. YEAH, THOSE ARE ABOUT 52. 52. SO YOU'RE GONNA DIP A LITTLE UNDER A HUNDRED THOUSAND. YOU'RE COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? THAT'S FINE. YEAH. OKAY. AND, UM, IS THERE ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS BY THE COMMISSION? ALL RIGHT. OKAY. SO THEN THE DIRECTIVE IS, UM, BASED ON COMMISSIONER MORALES'S, UM, SUGGESTION, UH, IS TO CREATE, UM, OUR BUDGET BASED ON AN INCREASE OF HALF A CENT ON THE TAX RATE. YES. THAT WOULD BE, SO THAT'S 3 1 0 6, WHICH IS NOT ONE OF THE OPTIONS THAT WE'VE GOT ON HERE BEFORE US, BUT IS EVERYONE COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? UM, UH, COMMISSIONER GOMEZ? I JUST GET A, I STAND BY WHAT I SAID EARLIER, BUT I UNDERSTAND IT. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHY WE'RE DOING IT. WELCOME TO THE COMMISSION. THAT'S MAKE MY POINT. IT'S MY FIRST YEAR ON THE COMMISSION. AND, AND THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TO DO. I I WANTED TO STAY THE SAME. BUT YOU UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND IT. I WANTED TO STAY THE SAME. AND WE STARTED, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED THIS, THIS PROCESS RIGHT NOW, WE WERE GOING A LITTLE UNDER. AND, UM, I WANTED TO STAY THE SAME, LIKE COMMISSIONER PEREZ SAID, YOU KNOW, WHY DON'T WE JUST STAY THE SAME? AND NOW WE WENT TO HAVE A CENT HIGHER. SO WHAT IS YOUR, UM, SUGGESTION? BUT I SEE HOW MANY POSITIONS IT TOOK BY, I MEAN, IT, IT NOW APPROVED BY GOING HALF A CENTI AND HARLINGEN NEEDS TO GROW AND MOVE FORWARD. AND WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE. AND SEEING THE, THE LIST OF WHERE WE'RE AT COMPARED TO OTHER CITIES. THIS IS WHY WE'RE NOT, BUT THIS IS MY FIRST YEAR ON THE COMMISSION AND I'M HAVING A HARD TIME WITH IT, BUT I UNDERSTAND. THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY. OKAY. YES. OKAY. PEREZ. I'M FINE. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO YOU'VE GOT YOUR DIRECTION AND THEN YOU'LL PULL THE COMMISSION SO WE CAN, WE CAN HAVE IT AS EARLY AS THE NINTH FOR THE HALF THE FIRST. THAT'S A MONDAY. NO, THAT'S A WEDNESDAY. THAT'LL BE A WEDNESDAY. BUT ISN'T THERE A PD IN HERE? UM, I CAN CHECK TOMORROW AND THEN I CAN PULL EVERYBODY FOR THE NINTH. OKAY. THAT, THAT WOULD BE THE EARLIEST. OKAY. GIVEN THE DAYS IT NEEDS TO BE POSTED. DOES THAT WORK FOR YOU? IS THAT, UH, 10 DAYS? YES. THAT BE ON THE 11TH? IT'LL BE ON THE 11TH DATE. SO, AND THEN ORDER FOR IT TO BE ABLE TO BE PUT FOR THE 16TH FOR THE SECOND READING MM-HMM . BECAUSE I WILL BE POSTING AGENDA ON THE 10TH. OKAY. SO, AND THAT COULD GO, THE SECOND READING COULD GO ON THE 16TH. PNC HASN'T POSTED THEIR MEETING YET. NOT THAT I TUESDAY. IT'S ON A TUESDAY. TUESDAY. OH. SO WE'RE GOOD TO MEET YOU ON. OKAY. AWESOME. ALL RIGHT. WE'RE GOOD. SO THAT'LL GIVE SUFFICIENT TIME FOR THE SECOND READING ON THE REGULAR, ON THE REGULAR SEPTEMBER 2ND. ARE, ARE YOU SURE? YES. YES. I WILL BE. I'LL SIT WITH HER AND DOUBLE CHECK IT TOMORROW. OKAY. SO, UH, CONFIRM AND THEN, UM, NOTIFY THE COMMISSION IMMEDIATELY. CORRECT. UH, DOES EVERYBODY HAVE TO BE PRESENT IN ORDER TO VOTE? UH, THEY VOTE ONLINE IF THEY'RE NOT HERE. NO, I, MARK, I KNOW WE HAVE TO HAVE A QUORUM. I KNOW WE NEED TO HAVE A QUORUM. THE CITY. YEAH, BUT WE HAVE TO HAVE A ROLL CALL VOTE YES. A ROLL CALL VOTE. SO I JUST IN CASE, 'CAUSE MIKE ISN'T HERE AND, AND, AND I DON'T KNOW YOU, I KNOW YOU'VE GOT A, SOME NO, NO SCHEDULE. THAT'S, THIS WEEK IS A ROUGH WEEK. AND THEN THE WEEK OF THE 14TH I'M GONNA BE S SLAMMED. OKAY. AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY, MY LIFE IS TERMS CLEARLY NEED A QUORUM. QUORUM PRESENT. YEAH. SO WE NEED A QUORUM PRESENT. BUT THE QUESTION IS, SHOULD THE, UM, ANYONE ON THE COMMITTEE, I DON'T WANT ANY DELAYS. RIGHT. AND SO IF SOMEONE HAS TO APPEAR VIA ZOOM, THEY CAN VOTE SO [03:20:01] LONG AS THERE'S A QUORUM IN THE, IN, IN, IN THE TOWN HALL. CORRECT. AS LONG AS WE DO THE ROLL CALL VOTE AS REQUIRED BY LAW. SO WE CAN DO THAT. SO WE CAN DO THE, THE, THE EACH, EVERYBODY VOTES. UM, EVEN IF THEY'RE APPEARING VIA ZOOM, SHOULD THERE DO THE ROLL CALL VOTE WITH THE ONE PERSON A VIDEO? OKAY. YEAH. I MEAN, SOMEONE COULD BE SICK. YOU KNOW, FRANK WAS OUT SICK NOT TOO LONG AGO. AND SO WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT EVERYBODY CAN PARTICIPATE SO THAT WAY WE MEET OUR DEADLINES. YES. YES. OKAY. WE VOTE ON THE SECOND HEARING IS THAT YOU VOTE ON VOTE? WE HAVE TO, YOU HAVE TO VOTE. IT'S A RECORD VOTE. EVERYBODY HAS TO VOTE INDIVIDUALLY FOR US TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE STATE. OKAY. OKAY. ALL RIGHT. WELL THANK YOU ALL. UM, IF THERE'S NO, IS THERE ANY OTHER DISCUSSION IF THERE'S NO OTHER DISCUSSION? THANK YOU. THANK YOU, UH, ROBERT. THANK YOU GABE. AND THANK YOU TO THE COMMISSIONS. AND WE, WE HAVE DINNER FOR EVERYBODY. WE ARE ADJOURNED. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.