The veterans capitol of the usa. From inside the alicia chacon commissioners courtroom of the
enrique moreno county courthouse. You are watching the el paso county
commissioners court meeting. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Today is monday,
december 8th, 2025. Today we are joined by asl interpreter selena salloum and tamara
marquez. Commissioners court is meeting in regular open session. Commissioner olguin, would you
like to introduce our pledge of allegiance students for today? Yes. Thank you. Good morning
everyone. So today we are blessed to have a rather large group of students from fabens
high school that are going to be leading us in the pledge. So as they make their way to the
podium, I do want to give them a shout out. So these are students from the texas
association of future educators, fabens chapter, and from the student council, the texas
association of future educators. Chapter eight of these young folks actually just made it to
state. So they will be competing at the state level here in the next few months. So
congratulations to them. And of course, I want to give a shout out to their teachers, miss
sotelo and mr. Vasquez. Without them, without their support, this wouldn't be possible. And
thank you again to doctor segovia, the superintendent for fabens. And these students will
actually be receiving a tour of the county court house after they listen to a few
resolutions here in the commissioners courtroom. So I want to give a big shout out to
lynn from the law library as well, for always doing such a great job and hosting our
students when they come take tours of the courthouse. All right. Thank you. Welcome. I
think we're ready. Mr. Chairman. Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states
of america and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. Honor the texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, texas. One
state under god, one and indivisible. Thank you so much. We welcome you and enjoy your
your day here at the court. Thank you. Thank you all. Great job. And now we will receive an
invocation by pam perrone. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you judge. Good morning. It is good
to see you. You all judge samaniego and commissioners, all who are with us today are
invited to join me as I pray, our father, who art in heaven, hallowed, holy and honored, be
your name for the book of revelation. The unveiling or revealing tells us who shall
not fear you, o lord? For you alone are holy. Thy kingdom come according to your word. In
revelation 1115, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his
christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. We declare thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven. We know that in heaven no child is neglected, hungry, abused, trafficked, or
harmed in any way. For your word is clear in revelation 21 four and god will wipe away
every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There
shall be no more pain. For the former things have passed away. Give us this day our daily
bread. Jesus words written in john 635 are clear I am the bread of life. He who comes to
me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. And forgive us our
trespasses, the offenses we have committed against you. Oh, god, as we forgive those who
trespass against us. For in matthew 614 and 15, jesus reveals that if you forgive men
their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men
their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses. And lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the word of god is clear. In james
113, let no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted by god. For god cannot be tempted by
evil, nor does he tempt anyone. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever
and ever. For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. And the government will
be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty god,
everlasting father, prince of peace, of the increase of his government and peace, there
shall be no end upon the throne of david and over his kingdom, in order to to order it and
establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the
lord will perform this today. When we declare thy kingdom come, we celebrate with the
words from handel's messiah. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our lord
and of his christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. King of kings and lord of lords.
hallelujah! Lord, we are grateful that you have given us your truth in your word. You
sent your son, born in a manger, into the world as savior, prince of peace, the word, the
way, the truth, and the light. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light upon them. A light has shined. Amen. And so be it. Thank you. We welcome you, or
my best to your family, mrs. Ferrone. Thank you. Would you like to make opening comments
before we thank you? Well, you know, thank you for being here. We welcome you on behalf of
myself and our commissioners. We're always, always extremely thankful that that you're here
with us today. You're going to hear some incredible resolutions. El paso I mean,
one of the things that makes us unique is that we recognize people, organizations and and we allow others to understand who these individuals are because they make such an
impact on our community. Just want to wish you well through the the holidays, and make sure
that you go to the lake for the lights. You'll be very, very impressed with with what we
have out there. So I thank you very much. As you could see, our I had a struggle with pa pa
rate, I think is what it was called. So. We'll give you a little chance to, to see that.
but. Yeah, the drone show was pretty magnificent.
you please take your families. You have the opportunity to drive around
the lake, or you can stop. And there's so many places to take pictures with your family. But,
you know, I keep saying that this, for some reason, this christmas has to be very
special. A lot of things went, you know, the shutting down of the benefits like snap and
federal government and still a lot of people struggling out there. So if you can make it a
point not only to be kind to your family, but go a little outside of your family, I think
we're going to show the rest of the country what a great place el paso is. So thank you once
again for being here and wishing you the best this whole week. Thank you. Item number
four is the consent agenda, composed of items for a through four v. We do have a correction
to read in for item four f correction reads. Accept the texas county and district
retirement system plan assessment for plan year 2026. Contract number 2025 1024. We
also have a request to delete item 40, which is a proven authorize the county judge to
sign the interlocal agreement for law enforcement services with the el paso county
hospital district, doing business as university medical center of el paso. For law
enforcement services at the main hospital, campus and satellite emergency sites from
december 1st, 2025 through november 30th, 2028, in the amount of $1,171,611.67.
contract number 2025 0988. This item will be brought back at a later meeting. Are there any
other items? Members of the public have any pool? If not, I'll move to approve. Have a
motion by judge samaniego to approve. Second, by commissioner olguin. The voting
is open. Motion carries. Item five resolutions five a approve an adopt a resolution
recognizing the el paso marine honor unit for its exceptional service, sacrifice, and
dedication to honoring our nation's heroes and its lasting contribution to the veterans
and families of el paso county, texas. Thank you. Could you please come up, please? Oh, mr.
wayne. Thank you. As you know that with the veterans capital of the usa. So we always get to
honor all of these amazing contributions toward that end. Will I have the honor of
presenting this resolution? And then we'll hear from our speakers? Whereas el paso
county proudly recognizes el paso marine honor unit for its outstanding dedication and
continued service to the veteran community, providing solemn and dignified honors to
those who have served our nation and was. El paso marine honor unit was established in
september 2015 with a mission of providing an honor of firing party detail for deceased
veterans at their interment, ensuring that each veteran is laid to rest with military
honors they have earned. Whereas since its formation, the el paso marine honor unit
has conducted more than 900 honor firing details and memorial services for deceased
veterans throughout the el paso area. Reflecting a decade of unwavering commitment to duty,
honor and respect. Whereas during the covid 19 pandemic, when restrictions limited
ceremonial participation, the el paso marine honor unit was on several occasions the only
organization authorized to render honors at fort bliss national cemetery, ensuring
that no veteran was buried without the dignity of a proper military farewell was. The el
paso marine honor unit has also played a vital role in supporting the unaccompanied
veteran burial program, standing in solemn tribute to those veterans who have no
known family, ensuring that every service member is honored and remembered as part of our
nation's promise that no veteran will ever be forgotten. Whereas through the unit has
been a reduction in membership due to age and medical challenges, it continues to
faithfully serve the veteran community by providing honors for their fallen comrades with
the same reverence and professionalism that has defined their service since its
inception. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the el paso county judge and commissioners court hereby expresses its deepest appreciation and gratitude to the el paso marine
honor unit for its exceptional service, sacrifice, and dedication to honoring our
nation's heroes, and commends the unit for its lasting contribution to the veterans
and families of el paso county. Signed this eighth day of december 2025, we have a motion
to approve by judge samaniego, second by commissioner stout. The voting is open. Motion
carries. Welcome. Mr. Way, you have the also a veteran of the year as well. Actually our
first veteran of the year. We start out a little bit bigger when we originally what we have
right now, but we're still dedicated to taking care of our deceased veterans. It's a job
we don't like to do, but we love to do because it's the right thing to do. And being
the only veteran group right now for this length of time that's doing this, we're, you
know, pushing to get more. We have started a veterans el paso honor unit through the united
americans veterans organization. So for the past year I've been dual hatted, working with both
of them. So that again, if we can't do it, they go off there and try and do it. Excellent.
and again, it's a commitment that we're going to go as long as we can. And so thank you.
thank you. You want to introduce yourselves please. Morning. My name is rafael
luevanos. Thank you. Thank you. Gomez thank you. Eddie santiago. Thank you. Good morning, jose
martinez. Thank you. You know, sometime back about four years ago, I was asked to go to an
unaccompanied burial. And I don't think I've ever gone through a more sad experience.
and one of the things when we talk about being the veterans capital of the usa, we get
challenged, right? I mean, how can we have unaccompanied burial with nobody there? I
mean, these were the landscape we're trying to, you know, get the casket out. It was just
I'll never, ever forget that. And now after everybody, as always, you know, you all
rallied. Now we've had as many as 100 people show up at unaccompanied burials. And that
makes all the difference. The next thing we need to do is try to identify that someone
doesn't end up in that situation, that didn't have friends, didn't have family.
and I know there's a lot of work going towards that. Tony and others and debo and others
are trying to figure out, you know, what can we do before we get to that point to realize
that they were unaccompanied? So I thank you. It's something very important for el paso. As
you mentioned, the word dignified. Oh my goodness, that's you. We have to you
can't be a veteran and not have that, you know, someone honoring you in that honor. So
we thank you very much. And we'd love to take a picture with all of you. Thank you.
item five be approved. Adopt a resolution recognizing the first, second, and third place
winners of the 2025 sticker design contest in el paso county, texas. Thank you. This
is such a a special resolution, and I'd like to publicly thank lisa for everything. People
don't realize how much goes on behind the scenes to do the elections. I mean, it's just
amazing. People just show up and like magic. Everything just was there. But lisa, thank you
so much for everything that you do. So I'd like to read the resolution. Whereas voting is a
fundamental act of civic participation through which individuals contribute to the strength of our democracy. And while it is only one form of civic engagement, it remains
one of the most powerful ways for young voters to make their voices heard and shape the
issues that affect their lives and communities. Whereas voter education is essential to
fostering a culture of participation, equipping future voters with knowledge and
awareness necessary to understand the electoral process, and inspiring our
youth to register and vote once they become eligible. And whereas, for the fourth edition
of the I voted sticker contest, the el paso county elections department invited local
elementary school students to design the next future voter sticker and high school student
to design the next I voted sticker, for both of which will be proudly distributed during
the 2026 electoral season in el paso county, as well as through the power of art. The el paso
county elections department has fostered greater participation and civic engagement among the next generation of voters through this contest and for years to come, we are committed
to using the sticker design contest as a creative and impactful tool to inspire civic
pride and encourage lifelong participation in the democratic process. With this annual
contest reflects el paso county's ongoing commitment to engaging youth and celebrating
creativity and ensuring that every resident, present and future understands the
importance of participation in the democratic process. Now, therefore, be it resolved by
the el paso county judge and commissioners court that recognize the first, second and third place winners of the 2025 sticker design contest, signed this eighth day of december
2025. We have a motion to approve by judge samaniego, second by commissioner stout.
the voting is open. Motion carries. Thank you lisa. Welcome. Thank you. Judge.
commissioners lisa weiss, the el paso county elections administrator. Before I start talking about this wonderful program, I'd like to invite our three winners for the future
voted future voter stickers and the I voted sticker so I can have all six of my recipients
up here. I know there's some in the back and some up towards the front. Right. You guys want
to stand right here? That'd be great. Welcome, chico. And of course, chico. So this year,
the el paso county elections department, as you stated, invited local elementary and high school students to showcase their creativity and promote civic engagement
through the 2025 sticker design contest. This is something that we started. I think they said
this was our fourth. So we've we've done it a couple of times, and every time it gets better
and better, we get more submissions, we get more judges, we get the art is is improving
as well. So the future voter category was open to elementary school students and I voted
category was open to high school students. This year we received 162 submissions,
compared to 68 for the last two midterm elections. I'm sorry for the last midterm election
year. The first place winning designs will be distributed to voters during the 2026 election,
so everybody will be seeing them out. Sorry I'm not flipping through for me. Okay,
here we go. So an interesting thing is we had this was blind judging. As far as you know,
our judges were not able to see the names or anything of that on the on the, the competitors.
but as you can see, we have six wonderful young ladies from el paso county. Who managed to
secure all of our spots this year. So I'm going to read off our future voter stickers first,
and then we will go to the I future. I voted stickers and we have miss el paso usa here.
welcome handout. Thank you. To help hand out the to help out the certificates. And
afterwards we have some donations back in our office that we'd like for you guys to
come back and grab as well. So for the future voter, third place, we have francella belen
marin from lamar elementary, fifth grade. If you want to come over here and get your.
and afterwards we'll take pictures with the court. So if you guys want to come stand up
here, go on that side with pablo. Our second place for future voter is zoe tarango
from alicia chacon international school, sixth grade. Congratulations. And our
first place future voter sticker that you'll see thousands and thousands
hopefully running around in 2026 is sofia salas from coach wally hartley, fourth grade.
yeah. Congratulations. Yeah, they did great. As you can see, we posted their art up here and
we've posted on our website and you'll see it out again. You'll see these first place winners
out in the out in the community. Once we get started with 2026, the I voted, which were the
high school students for third place, we have yamilet margarita garcia from mountain
view high school, 12th grade. Congratulations. And if you can see these I mean, these
stickers are so gorgeous. It's hard to pick because every single one was so it was so
creative and colorful and vibrant and it just we really we love seeing everyone's
talent. So in second place for the I voted is sofia alexa garcia from horizon school,
12th grade. Congratulations. And our number one first place where we will be printing
hundreds of thousands of these stickers for the community is novalee leon fortenberry, 10th
grade, eastwood high school. Congratulations. Judge. I just want to take a couple minutes
really quick and thank our judges because we would not be able to do this without them.
every two years that we've done this, we've reached out to community leaders and we continue to get incredible support. So we just want to really quick and quickly thank
our judges. Gina martinez, the ceo of la nube. Okay. She wasn't able to come. Miss iris
lopez from 93.1 kiss co-host and founder of mija. Yes you can. Everyone knows iris. Local
artist juan ornelas is here. Local artist and photographer marcus ray. Our official el
paso chihuahua mascot. Chico. And our final judge who was unable to be here but is here
in spirit. Paydirt pete official utep mascot. The last thing I want to say, just
really quickly is that along with all of these, with the certificate, we also received
donations from some really great community raising cane's we received. We want to thank
wendy's. We want to thank el paso chihuahuas. We want to thank la nube. We want to thank.
and mija, yes we can. I'm sorry. Miha. Yes you can. We want to thank. And our two local
artists donated some really beautiful items. Juan ornelas and marcus ray. Thank you.
thank you so much. And last but not least, I want to thank my two staff members who do this
every two years. It's a lot harder than you probably think it is. Melissa martin and pablo
aguirre. Stand up, stand up. These guys really go out. They print, they make sure all of
the booklets are ready. They contact the judges, they do everything. So without them we would not be able to do that. So thank you everyone. And I think we'll have pictures and
that's. Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for everything as you saw all the things that have to
take place and and for all of you, what a great honor to to be able to 160 plus entries and
to be able to be here at this point in time, very thankful for that. I had the opportunity
to walk in when the judges were there at the at the end. Oh my god, they looked like it was
difficult for them. It was so competitive. My staff reminded me, I apologize, I forgot. We
made a quick video of all of the entries. Okay, great. Just. We're not okay. Sorry. Okay.
technical difficulties go online. So yeah, go online. You can go online and you'll find
them. So you'll find the the video with all of the entries. Otherwise I think yeah. Once
again remember as you know this is a resolution that that highlights the importance of
voting. We as elected officials, we're much better off when people go out to vote. We also
when we have challenges like in state challenges or federal challenges, we want to be in a
community that votes that have a lot of people that come out, and that makes a big difference
to whether or not they're going to listen to us. If we're a community doesn't vote, we don't get a lot of attention in the state or federal level. So thank you, lisa, for everything
that you do. Good luck on your 2026 elections. I know it's a little more complicated, but
once again, one more round of applause for this. Incredible. All right. If you guys want to
head up here.
congratulations. Great resignation. Congratulations. Thank you so
much. So great. I mean, they're just gorgeous. You guys okay? They want to do one winners and
then. When you. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. All right. 12123. All the judges. Can I get one with
the shirt. Yeah I guess you can. Girl power. You guys have your shirts. It. All. Girls. We did
it. Ready? One. Two. Three. Me. Hi. Yes you can. The judges that are present.
oh, I wanted to get our superintendent.
item five c approval to adopt a resolution recognizing utep
volleyball head coach ben wallace for being named conference usa coach of the
year, and for his exceptional leadership and dedication to the success of the utep
volleyball program.
thank you. Welcome all of you. So I have the honor of reading the
resolution into the record was the arrival of coach ben wallace in 2018 ushered in a
run of unprecedented success for utep volleyball program. And whereas, on november 15th,
2025, the miners defeated fiu 3 to 0 at memorial gym to to clinch a share of their first
ever conference usa regular season championship, where the miners made their first ever
ncaa tournament appearance in 2024 and was. The miners earned a second straight at large bid
to the ncaa tournament on november 30th, 2025, garnering the number six seed and
matching with north carolina and madison, wisconsin. And whereas, the utep volleyball program has racked up an astounding 52 victories over the last two seasons with only
ten losses, whereas during that two year span, the miners have been dominant force in
conference usa, posting a record of 31 and three in regular season league play,
whereas utep 2025 team accomplishments include winning 3 to 0 on october 25th to snap
the hilltoppers 100 match conference usa regular season win streak. Whereas utep
volleyball program is firmly entrenched amongst the nation's elite programs, whereas the
utep volleyball team continues to throw a parsons, posting a 25 four record at memorial gym
over the last two years, while averaging 1624 fans per match. Now, therefore, be it resolved
that the el paso county judge and commissioners court hereby recognize and proudly honors
coach ben wallace and the utep volleyball program for a two year run of exceptional play
and for representing el paso with pride, honor and excellence. Sign this eighth
day of december 2025, we have a motion to approve by judge samaniego, second by
commissioner coronado. The voting is open. Motion carries. Welcome. Welcome. Who cannot be
heard. Can we hear that music again?
thank you, thank you. Welcome. Thank you guys so much. Ben is, of course a very busy
man and wishes that he could be here. He's actually on an all region call right now for the
whole entire ncaa. So he's out there voting for all region players with other top ncaa
volleyball coaches. So he wishes he could be here. And he's obviously honored to
receive this award as well as our whole entire team. We're incredibly proud of this year's
effort, obviously last year as well, and we've got a great group of young ladies behind us
that does all the work, and us as coaches just kind of get to sit back and watch them shine.
and we're very proud of getting to represent the city of el paso, always on on a national
stage everywhere we go, including in madison over the over the weekend, and obviously
would have wished for a better result. But we're very proud of the season that these guys put
up and especially the seniors that played their last college volleyball games, were really
proud of them and their efforts over the past four and five years and just really, really
proud to be utep miners and represent el paso and get to wear the logo across our chest.
and a lot of people used to not know what the pick was or what utep was, but they're starting
to recognize it as far as on a volleyball stage goes. And that's that makes us really
proud when we get to go places, and they are finally starting to recognize the work that
we're putting in here. So I wouldn't want to work for anyone other than ben wallace. I wish he was here to be able to to talk to you guys too. But we're just we're just all
really proud. And thank you very much for having us. And we were proud to receive this last
year. We've got the resolution from last year hanging in our our brand new locker room, and
we'll be proud to put this one right next to it. So thank you guys for having us. Well thank
you so much. This is. You know, every time you put an el paso on the map, we go from what
people believe we are to who we really are. And it's individuals like yourselves. And I have to always say that now you have a certain responsibility when you go
through that kind of experience. There's, I think, some responsibility to help others.
you saw the the six young ladies that were here for the artwork. Where's mihai? Yes.
you can. Here you have them. I mean, it's just an amazing opportunity for el paso. Thank
you for putting us on the map. Continued success to each and every one of you and ben, I
know that. Please let him know that we really, really appreciate what he does and the
work that's put in. But to every all the staff. And also don't forget that you're here
because of your parents and what they do for each and every one of you. And so always be
blessed that you're here in this opportunity. And there he is, and there he is. Well,
thank you once again. And we'll take we'll take a picture with all of you. And thank you for
honoring el paso. Thank you. Which of you are seeing which of you are seniors? I'm sorry,
where are the seniors? Well, thank you all for your participation in the program and appreciate y'all. Yes. Yeah. We're going to have you introduce yourselves, if you
don't mind just going in and letting us know what class you're in and and your name,
please. We'll start. I am alexis, and what was the other question? Oh, I am a junior.
thank you. I'm mackenzie and I'm a freshman. Well. I'm kayla and I'm a senior. Thank you,
thank you. You can clap. Okay. There's no don't. I'm lavina and I'm a sophomore. Yeah. I'm
ella and I'm a freshman. Yeah, well, I'm jordan and I'm a sophomore. Welcome. I'm kayla
and I'm a junior. Okay, we're going to do a one clap, okay? I'm lauren and I'm a sophomore.
yeah. My name is danika washington and I'm a senior. My name is torrance and I'm a
senior. I'm landry and I'm a sophomore. My name is sarah and I'm a senior. My name is hannah,
and I'm a sophomore. My name is maddie, and I'm a senior. I'm emma, and I'm a junior. Wasn't
sure there. Hi. My name is sydney, and I'm a freshman. Hi. My name is lexi, and I'm a
freshman. Wow. It's a young group, alex. Who's missing? Who's missing? Come. Come on in.
come on in. My name is alex, and I'm a gay. Okay, gentlemen, you. We want to know who you
are. I'm nick, and I'm an assistant coach. I'm also lexi, and I'm an assistant coach. My
name is dale brown, and I'm the sport admin for volleyball. Hi, I'm liliana valdespino. I'm
their sports information director. I'm missing any. Anyone. Okay. Thank you. And
for those of you that are staying for next year's program, no pun intended, but go kill it.
and you, you're a very young team, as I could see. My goodness, we got a long ways to
go. Thank you. I think maybe we should get behind. Yeah. You guys, thank you so much. Great
job, great job, great job, good job, good job okay. Thank you so much the first time. All the
great. Next year you guys are going to be even better. Thank you thank you thank you. All
know. Yes. All right. They're a little taller. Three. Two one.
congratulations. Thank you.
item five approve and adopt a resolution declaring december 8th, 2025 as el paso executive
women lions club appreciation day in el paso county, texas. You want to come on up and
you're going to have. Yeah. Up here first. That'd be okay. Can we reread the agenda once I get
everybody up here? Yeah. Thank you. Approve and adopt a resolution declaring december
8th, 2025 as el paso executive, women's lions club appreciation day and el paso county, texas.
okay. We're ready. Okay. I've already read it. I've already read it twice. Okay. Where are
we? Okay, I'll read the resolution. Well let me. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Okay. Was a group
of professional women decided to form a lions club dedicated to empowering women and
supporting our great community. On october 14th, 2013, the el paso executive women lions club
was formed and chartered under lions club international and texas district 23223, whereas
the el paso executive women lions club was founded by lion betsy castillo, who currently
continues to serve the club as its membership chair. Whereas lions club international each
year serves millions of people worldwide. Last year, from july 1 to 20, 2023 through june 30th,
2024, more than 420 million people were helped all over the world thanks to the unwavering
commitment of the more than 1.4 million lions around the world. Whereas the el paso executive
women's lions club has conducted numerous local events, including helping our children
to get much needed school supplies, supporting our vulnerable neighbors, the elderly, women, children and the justice involved to meet their food and basic needs.
assisting the homeless with blankets and toiletries. Assisting our local animal
services agency by walking shelter dogs. Assisting the services of tnr to trap and
neuter cats and control their population. Supporting financially and with labors of
love. The children of grief center el paso's fighting hunger, the rescue mission, the
opportunity center, the salvation army, nami central, san vicente and the alzheimer's
association, and numerous other community organizations. And by supporting the goals of lci,
the district two tier three serving individuals facing cancer, diabetes vision
challenges, as well as numerous environmental efforts through the area, cleanups and
recycling for el paso executive, women's lions club has partnered with the el paso
veterans and writers association to support veterans and their families by distributing snacks at va facilities, providing meals to displaced veterans, welcoming
and returning our military, and supplying essential, essential items to veterans and military
families. The epb deeply appreciates their support in our annual veterans food drives
with el paso executive. Women's lions club supports el paso county's denomination of
veterans capital of the usa, and will do its best to ensure this great initiative continues
to grow and continues its support all over el paso veterans. Now, therefore, be it
resolved that the el paso county judge and commissioners court do hereby declare
december the 8th, 2025 as el paso executive women lions club appreciation day, signed this
eighth day of december 2025. We have a motion to approve. We have a motion to approve by
judge samaniego, second by commissioner. I'm very proud the voting is. Open. The vote.
here we go. Motion carries. I'm sorry. It's been a long day. It's always like, okay, let's,
let's let's do this. Well, we got we got work to do. Welcome, darrell. I'm very proud to
announce that I am also lady lion. So they have patiently put up with me and my craziness
and my ideas. But they're an awesome team. I have never seen a more dedicated group of
ladies in my entire life who have such a goal of supporting our community. Even I have a
hard time trying to track everything they're doing and they are outstanding. They are
truly deserving of this recognition, and we look forward to working with them
more. And we would like that, you guys, to know that they're here, they're very effective.
they're awesome. So without further ado, miss betsy, the membership, the founding
members. Thank you. Thank you betsy. First of all, thank you for having us. Welcome. I would
like to thank the commissioners and county judge. And also with us today is past district
governor patsy, who's decided to be with us. Welcome. Thank you. As well as pdg orlando
ortega. And thank you all for doing rodriguez I'm sorry, orlando rodriguez good morning.
county judge, county commissioners and distinguished guests on behalf of the el paso
executive women lions club, I am honored and deeply grateful to accept this resolution.
recognizing the formation of our lions club, we are humbled that our county has chosen to
acknowledge this moment in our club's history, a moment that reflects not just the beginning
of an organization, but the beginning of service, commitment and community impact.
the lion motto is we serve. Those two words guide everything we do. With this
recognition, you affirm the values we stand for, which is compassion, volunteerism, the
belief that when people come together and the shared purpose, incredible things can happen.
when we were newly chartered in december of 2013, our hearts were full of big plans. We
looked forward to supporting local needs, from vision health initiatives to youth leadership,
community partnerships, helping our veterans and responding wherever there is a need. We
are here to work together with local leaders, businesses, nonprofits and every resident
who wants to make a difference. What makes our club extraordinary is not just the
work we do, but the heart behind it. Each member brings strength, dedication and spirit
of service that defines who we are and what we stand for. Our community feels the difference
because of the passion we bring to every project and every act of kindness. It has been a
complete honor to serve alongside these remarkable women, and I look forward to
our continuing journey and building an even stronger legacy of service, working
collaboratively for the betterment of el paso. To the county commissioners, thank you for welcoming us and for believing in our mission. Your support energizes us and
reinforces our commitment to serve with passion and integrity to our fellow lions.
thank you for stepping up to serve, your willingness to give your time, your ideas, and your
talent shows that leadership begins with action. And finally to our community, I get
emotional. We are here for you, we are ready to listen and we are ready to help and ready to
serve. Together we will make a lasting impact. Together, we will continue to serve and
prove that where there is a need, there is a lion. Sincerely, betsy. Thank you.
beautiful words. Thank you so much. And at this time we've got our current president
that's holding us all together. Debbie fierro. Welcome. Excuse my voice. On behalf of the el
paso executive lions club, we are we extend our sincere gratitude to you, judge and
commissioners, for recognizing our service. Your support affirms our mission to uplift
the community and inspires us to continue making a positive impact and reflects our
commitment to compassion, dignity and service to those in most need. We are honored by
this acknowledgment and we thank you for standing up with us. Thank you so much, I
appreciate that. You want to introduce yourselves. Please introduce yourselves. You could
come up to the mic. Thank you judge. Good morning everyone. Thank you for having us. I am
associate judge dolores reyes with the county, but I'm also currently serving as the lions
secretary for this year. Thank you so much. We could say our very own. Good morning. Mendoza.
I'm chief of your eighth court of appeals. I'm a charter member of this club. Very proud
of our work in the community. Great. Another county employee. Good morning. My name is
christine selig, and I'm proud to stand as the second vice president. Thank you. Good
morning. My name is denise morales, and I'm the immediate past president. Thank you. Good
morning. I'm nancy zambrano. I'm a member, just a regular member, but I am a retiree from
the county for 31 years of service. And it was an honor. Thank you for your service.
thank you. I am christina gonzalez and I am the treasurer for this year. Thank thank you.
we're going to do the one clap. We're going to get. Good morning magdalena delgado to
town. I am part of the board. Hello nancy diaz I'm a chartered member and I'm also a
firefighter. And I'm very honored to be part of this group. Welcome. Miriam guerrero.
I'm also a member from workforce solutions. Hi, patsy. Good morning. My name is patsy.
I may pass district governor and very proud to be their guiding lion. Thank you, thank
you. Do we get everybody? Oh, orlando. Hi. I'm a past district governor, orlando
rodriguez. I'm also president and publisher of spotlight news. Well thank you, thank you. We
got everybody right. Well thank you for everything that you do. I mean, I keep saying that
because of organizations like yourselves, it takes a lot of pressure from the county. You
know, when when the county's outside of our county is not responding, it sort of falls on
us. So anything that you do, you're actually helping the county government be able to do
their job better. So we thank each and every one of you for doing that and wishing the best
for, for each. And and I've got to be involved one way or the other. And I've seen how
powerful it is for what you do. So thank you on behalf of myself and our commissioners,
thank you for all your hard work. Thank you.
thank. You, thank you for you, thank you, thank you for your work. Thank
you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you,
thank you. Good. Thank you for the work. Thank you for being a lady. Thank you.
for.
we'll see you, judge. Commissioner said we'd be done by 12.
item five approve and adopt a resolution recognizing the el paso county
sheriff's office for successful safety operations, including the 2025 4th of july and 2025
turkey run at the red sands. Yes. Yes, judge and commissioner. Thank you,
commissioner butler. Yes, I want to invite our sheriff's office and our constable, who
are here in attendance, to join us at the front, if you don't mind. That's rudy right back
there. Is that rudy? That's. The one the resolution is from. So good morning, judge. County
commissioners welcome. Council. Thank you for being here, constable. Precinct six. Thank
you. I'll go ahead and read the resolution. But really I want to. Stress how important the
work that our sheriff's office has been doing in red sands this year. It really is, I
think, a matter of life and death. And we've seen that because for the first time in
many years, we've had zero we've seen zero fatalities at red sands over these major
holiday weekends. And so I'll go ahead and read the resolution. But I really do
want to stress that. The investment of time and resources that have been made
by the sheriff's office, by our constables, our esd, and all of the partners who have
participated in these operations has saved lives. And it's something worthy of immense recognition. So I'll go ahead and read this, and then I'll ask for some comments.
whereas the el paso county sheriff's office, comprised of 1027 hardworking individuals,
has this year alone coordinated, multi-agency efforts to maintain public safety during
some of the county's most high impact events, including the 4th of july weekend and the
annual turkey run at red sands. And whereas, during the 4th of july safe streets operation,
the sheriff's office organized and unified the efforts of multiple law enforcement
agencies, including the el paso police department, the socorro police department, horizon city police department. Clinton police department, anthony police department, san elizario
marshal's office, texas department of public safety, and the offices of el paso
county constable's frank armada, precinct one, luis aguilar, precinct four, and javier
garcia precinct six. And whereas, the sheriff's office deployed 168 units across the
county during the 4th of july weekend, with dedicated patrol coverage in each municipality to deter impaired driving, reduce collisions, and ensure a visible safety presence during
one of el paso's busiest and most dangerous holiday periods. And whereas for the first time,
the sheriff's office station deputies inside red sands, an area that draws thousands of
visitors despite being privately owned and lacking formal infrastructure, during
the 4th of july weekend, deploying approximately 30 deputies equipped with 4x4
units atvs, lighting towers and on site medics to proactively prevent accidents and protect
the surrounding precinct one neighborhoods. And whereas, during the annual turkey run at
red sands, the sheriff's office once again conducted proactive operations, deploying more than
40 units within the off road recreation area to prevent dangerous accidents, respond
rapidly to emergencies, and safeguard nearby neighborhoods. And whereas, during both the
4th of july weekend and the turkey run, the sheriff's office prioritized public
education and community outreach to help residents and visitors understand how to stay
safe in and around red sands. And whereas these large scale operations exemplify the
county's ongoing commitment to public safety, and they highlight the sheriff's office ability to mobilize significant resources, build strong interagency partnerships, and
address high traffic, high risk areas such as red sands. And whereas, due to these
coordinated strategic efforts, the county recorded zero fatalities and zero serious accidents at red sands during 4th of july and the thanksgiving holiday events. An
extraordinary demonstration of effective planning and multi-agency cooperation. And
whereas these proactive deployments deployments mark a major step toward improving
safety in an area that draws thousands of visitors despite lacking formal public
infrastructure or jurisdictional oversight. Reflecting the sheriff's office
commitment to protecting families in and around precinct one. Now, therefore, be it
resolved that the el paso county commissioners hereby recognizes sheriff oscar ugarte and the el paso county sheriff's office for their outstanding leadership,
professionalism, and safety operations throughout 2025, which significantly contributed
to the well-being and protection of residents across el paso county, especially
those living in and visiting precinct one. Signed this eighth day of december 2025, we
have a motion to approve by commissioner butler, second by judge samaniego. The voting is
open. Motion carries. Welcome. Good morning judge. Good morning, commissioners. Deputy
chief for the law enforcement bureau. We know public safety is expensive, but this
administration does listen to the concerns of the community and the court. And we put this
operations in place. And we are happy to report that during these operations in our areas
of responsibility, we had no shootings, major accidents or fatalities. We also like to
thank the constable precinct one, four and six, the texas parks and wildlife department, the montana vista fire rescue. We continue to work hard to make this a safe community, and
we thank the court for your continued support. Additionally, I'd also like to thank the
commanders, lieutenant perales, that worked very hard on this logistics. As you can imagine,
putting this together, making sure that everybody's in the right places, everybody's getting fed, everybody's getting breaks while, you know, making sure that everybody's
having a safe and time during these events. So I'd like to also thank constable garcia for
his tremendous support towards these operations. And again, thank you ultimately for all
your, your, your wonderful support in getting and putting this operations together.
safety operations. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Go ahead. And the constable is
everywhere. Good morning judge. County commissioners javier garcia, constable precinct six.
commissioner butler, thank you for recognizing the sheriff's office and for including the
constable's office. It's always our pleasure to go help, you know, keep our community safe
and assist the sheriff's office with their patrols. Even though it's not one of our duties,
we're still peace officers. And it's our pleasure to go out there and keep our community
safe. I'd like to thank sheriff ugarte and his command staff and all of his supervisors for,
you know, including us and letting us go out there and keep our community safe. Thank
you, council, for everything that you do. Always. You're always available for anything that we ask for. Go ahead. Welcome. Good morning commissioners. Commissioners.
my name is ruben. Sorry, I'm commander for the patrol division. Thank you,
commissioner butler, for introducing this resolution for recognizing the sheriff's
office, along with many other first responders. The operation could have not been a success
without everyone's participation. The goal was simple to show presence so that
families can go out there and safely enjoy their holiday to prevent accidents, shootings,
or disasters. This is a beginning of many more operations to come for the
safety and well-being of the citizens of this community. And again, thank you for your resolution, your support. Thank you. Thank you for everything you do. Thank you, thank you.
anyone else? Commander. Welcome. Good morning. Morning, jerome washington. Commander, el paso
county sheriff's office. Well, you know, in law enforcement, we have a saying, you know, you
kind of get dealt with the cards that you have to play with, right? And in this
situation, you know, we would love to have that area in red sands kind of just regulated, you know, turn into a state park or something like that. But ultimately it's not. So our
philosophy running up to that and going into the future is that visibility saves lives. So
we're hoping that we can continue this with you all. Support under the sheriff's leadership to prevent lives. That is our biggest thing. We understand that alcohol and off
roading do not make a good combination. But again, visibility saves lives and we thank you for your support and we will continue to do our job. Thank you. Thank you for
everything you do. Thank you. Anybody else okay. Well, yeah. Each one of you that could
introduce yourselves, to say hello. Morning, morales. I'm deputy sergeant with the el
paso county sheriff's office. Thank you. Good morning. Court judge lieutenant perales, also
with the sheriff's office. One thing I do want to say is recognize the deputies that
were inside red sands taking care of business. It wasn't only us that were out there. It
was also several deputies, several several other partners that that made this happen. So
I want to recognize recognize them as well. Thank you, thank you. Good morning. Eduardo
martinez from precinct six, constable's office. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I got to
be quick. Just real quick. If you don't mind, I want to personally thank commissioner
butler when you said about what's happening, she's the one that's really pushed on this
and got everybody together. Worked with sheriff ugarte, constables and everyone else.
we thank you very much for that and for that. Continued. And when you talk about what's
going to happen in the future, it's in good hands with the commissioner. I think she'll
find a way to to make sure that we make it more of a recreational place that we can
control. And I just want to give you thanks because I, I'm very privileged. Sometimes when
we talk to companies that are coming in and there's a couple of things that if we didn't
have it, we have great people. They always talk about that. But the first thing that
attracts them to our community is we're one of the safest communities. And people don't
realize when you see, like meta, come in, give yourselves credit because they they come in a
little like, are you sure you're the the safest community? They come a little leery and
then they realize we have this great, safe community. So a lot of the reasons that we bring
great companies in is because of the being one of the safest counties in the united states.
so we thank you for that. I hope that you realize that you're contributing to the
economic development by by being the way you are. So thank you. And thank you once again,
commissioner butler. Thank you. Thank you, judge, I appreciate that. I wanted to also recognize somebody who's behind the scenes but deserves recognition. That's priscilla
contreras, and she is the public information officer for the sheriff's office. A lot of
what has transpired with these two major holidays has also included a public education
campaign, and priscilla has been the one driving that. And she's there at red sands
documenting it. And I think that's really important as well, because we need to change the
narrative about red sands. We need to be able to google red sands and see that it's a
family friendly, safe environment. And the more that we can continue these
operations and and prevent and reduce accidents and fatalities, the more that narrative will
change to the better. And priscilla is a key part of that. So thank you, priscilla. She's
not going to come forward. But thank you for can I know there she is. At least come can be
part of the picture. She's always hiding somewhere. But thank you. Absolutely. And then
I do want to mention that the, the the deputies and everybody who is involved in these
operations worked on a holiday. They sacrificed time with their families, with their children.
and and I know it's not easy to do that, but I, I again I want to reinforce that that what
they did, what you all have done has saved lives. And I hope that you know that, that
you're making a difference. You're serving the public. You're you're saving lives with
every operation and with your presence out there. So thank you very much for everything
that you do. And I love that call. I get that call from sheriff ugarte. No casualties
the the next day. It's so exciting. I could see in his voice. And of course, priscilla
there, sleepless nights and all of you. So very heartfelt. Thank you to each and every one
of you. Thank you. Let's go ahead and take a picture. Okay. We.
thank you. Thank you for your work and your thank you guys. Thank you so much. Thank
you. Thank you so much for. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate y'all. After the
group picture. 123.
it's all about efficiency. Item five e I'm sorry. Item five f approve
and adopt a resolution celebrating the life of miss austin davis and recognizing
her many contributions to el paso commissioner stoute. Thank you, judge and commissioners. I
have the honor of being able to read this resolution into the record. We're joined here today
by michael davis, mrs. Dean's son. But I want to start off by by saying that some individuals
really leave a legacy that is so deep that it becomes woven into the fabric of a community.
and mrs. Davis was one of those rare figures here in el paso for more than eight decades.
she helped shape the cultural, civic and historic landscape of south central el paso through
her leadership, creativity and unwavering commitment to service from her early years in
el paso, in the segregated, segregated schools here, to becoming one of the first black
women to own and operate her own business in our region, mrs. Stein broke barriers with
grace and determination through her iconic barber shop, her mentorship of young people, her
work preserving black history, and her involvement in civic and community initiatives. She
became a pillar of strength, pride and progress for generations. So I'm going to
read the resolution and then we'll hear from from michael, the resolution states. Whereas
mrs. Stein died peacefully on november 10th, 2025 at age 92. And whereas mrs. Davis was born
in troy, texas, on december 5th, 1932, to clark and beulah hill, her family moved to el paso
when she was six years old, and she attended the segregated douglas elementary and douglas
high school, which at the time was the only school black children were allowed to attend
in el paso and juarez. Mrs. Steen moved to tyler, texas at 18 for barber school, then
returned to el paso to work at fort bliss. In 1964, she joined east side barbershop, owned by
her godfather, mr. Roscoe marlin, and took ownership the following year. Known as mrs.
steen, she cut hair for over 62 years at 106 north piedras street, and whereas she was one
of the first black women to own and operate her own business in el paso, texas, styling diverse
clients from harlem globetrotters and entertainers like little richard and earl
grant to professional wrestlers, college athletes, countless soldiers including army general
officers, and everyday citizens who frequented the streets of piedras and alameda. And
whereas, austin's barbershop welcomed visitors with a sense of history, especially through
her wall of fame, which featured significant achievements by black americans from various backgrounds. The wall included 1966 national basketball championship team
from texas western college, now utep, who received complimentary haircuts. And
whereas, mrs. Stein was an active member of the shiloh baptist church in el paso for
over 82 years, supervising and mentoring many young boys and girls. As director trainer of
the children's usher board, ages 8 to 12 for over 65 years, organizing the easter parade
each year at el paso national bank. Miss davis was also a member of mission society
number two, and as mrs. Stein was the first black person to graduate from mannequin manor
finishing and modeling school, inc. In el paso, founded stein's fashion model agency,
which was the sole black modeling company in the southwest for more than 30 years and founded the annual miss black el paso southwest scholarship pageant. And
whereas mrs. Stein was a dedicated community activist in el paso's black community,
designing floats and joining the thanksgiving parade from 1982 to 2021, she was active
with the naacp el paso chapter and co-founded the mccall neighborhood center in 1983. As
president of the el paso chapter of the ninth and 10th horse cavalry association, she
worked to preserve the legacy of the buffalo soldiers, and whereas for over 60 years, mrs.
stein worked with city, county, and statewide leadership on numerous transportation, infrastructure, housing, commerce, and civil initiatives for the south central el paso
area, a community that held a special place in her heart. There are numerous books,
articles, and formal essays written about mrs. Stein davis and her accomplishments to
include wheresoever my people chanced to dwell by doctor marcel c daly, and borders in a
dream fulfilled at austin's east side barbershop. After all these years by eddie delgado,
29th of april, 2010. And whereas mrs. Stein was a charter member of eta iota zeta
mckay of the zeta phi beta sorority, and whereas following her retirement on 25th
september 2022, mrs. Stein envisioned a renewed economic future for eastside central el
paso. This vision led in january 2023 to the establishment of the nonprofit
organization eastside central coalition, which aims to expand business opportunities within
both government and commercial sectors. In the alameda corridor. And whereas, she was
preceded in death by her parents, clark and beulah hill. Sisters, viola arabel, iola and
esther. Brothers clark, junior ezell and boston, and her son william isaac davis junior. And
whereas, she is survived by her son, michael davis denise. Sister in law, amelia hill
johnson. Five grandchildren, tracy, tia, james, marquez, sarah and antonio. Five great
grandchildren, jada, miles cottrell, atray and one great grandson, emmett. Four nieces
and three nephews, a host of other relatives and friends. And now, therefore, be it
resolved that the el paso county judge and commissioners court extend its warmest
condolences to the family of mrs. Austin davis and recognizes her as a trailblazer
and force to be reckoned with. Sign this eighth day of december 2025, the honorable
county commissioners court. Okay, we have a motion to approve by commissioner stout.
second by judge samaniego. The voting is open. Motion carries. Welcome, michael. Thank you.
thank you all. Thank you very much. Over the last five days, I've had to tell everyone to
keep it short. And the different venues that I've participated in when talking and and honoring my mother, mrs. Dean davis. And so I'm going to keep mine short as
well. I am honored and blessed that I had miss davis as my mother, with such a role model
to not only the black community, but the entire community that she loved so, so much. She's an
icon in his biggest sense. She's only five feet, two and a half and 90 pounds, but she was
such an energy, such a dynamic individual. It's big shoes for us to step into and we hope
through the east side, central coalition and all of the members and people that live in
the community that we're able to do just a few of the things that she was able to do in the
90 plus years that she was on this planet and in el paso. So I thank the thank everyone for
the honor. And I know she's upstairs arguing with god, no doubt. And god just told her to
go down as an usher and stand at the gate with the white gloves on. And she's probably
doing that with with great, great professionalism. So thank you all very much. And michael,
thank you so much. It was such a beautiful ceremony and the privilege to speak in reality.
I was speaking on behalf of of commissioner stout because he's been so involved. I'm sure he I
mean, he wasn't able to be there, but but I really was representing you and what
you've done in that community. And I'm so glad that the young people here, if you look her up
and one of the things I said, you know, she is going to survive the test of time, her,
you know, she'll go forward and we'll remember her. You won't get to meet her, but you need
to see her as a role model because I've never seen something. Everything that
she's gone through. And I was saying that anybody that comes out of douglas, something
happens. They're like, on fire. They come out and they go through a lot, a lot of
adversity. But she's turned adversity into success every step of the way. Everything was
going to be new. Everything was a challenge, everything. And she was able to, you know, move
forward. So we're very thankful for her memory. And we as I said, we got to figure a way
how to keep her memory going as much as we can in the community for young people like we have
today. So, michael, thank you for for allowing me to be there. And commissioner, thank you for
your help on, on, on, on promoting that that area and what she wants in the future.
thank you. Thank you. Thanks, judge. And michael, do you want to come up and take a picture
with the with with the with the resolution. But I just want to say thanks to michael for
continuing her legacy and continuing the advocacy. It's obvious that the apple didn't
fall far from the tree. And he's been a been a strong advocate for for his community
and her community. And and I'm looking forward to continue continuing to working with you
to continue pushing her legacy and making sure that people do not forget the work that she
did in this community. And and she will continue to to to live in our memories forever. Thank
you.
item five g approve and adopt a resolution to recognize the efforts of margarita perez,
mario ornelas, alberto perez and all of the supporters and organizers of el paso trails
for toys and to designate december 13th, 2025, as el paso trails for toys day in el paso
county, texas. Commissioner olguin thank you, judge. Good morning again everyone. It is
such an honor for me to be able to recognize this organization and all of the incredible work
that they do. For those of you all that may know, margie and alberto and marty, they like so
many people who do incredible work in our community. They they don't want credit for it.
they do it from the bottom of their heart because they want to help in whatever way that
they can. But we felt that it was very important to honor the three of them and all of the
volunteers that help with everything that they do from food drives, thanksgiving
basket gifts. And they're not just a blessing to the socorro community, but they provide
gifts to children internationally as well. So I know you don't like being in
the spotlight, margie, but I really felt that it was important that everyone in our community knew about the wonderful work that you all do. So I'm going to go ahead and
read the resolution into the record, and then we'd love to hear from the three of you. And
we have a couple of our elected officials. Mayor cruz from the city of socorro, thank you for
being with us, constable garcia. Thank you also for all of the support that you provide to
margie. So whereas christmas trails for toys is a volunteer driven effort that mobilizes
families, clubs and local businesses to collect toys and essential items for children
and families in need across el paso county and beyond, often organizing car show benefits
and community drives to power its giving. And whereas through these community events,
christmas trails for toys and its partners have gathered toys, raised funds and assembled care
packages at local venues to benefit under-resourced children and families while
building a culture of neighbor to neighbor service across the region. And whereas, the
organization service has included international and cross-border generosity, such
as the donation of uniforms and 20 pairs of eyeglasses in venezuela in 2022 and 2023, as
well as local and regional outreach, including 500 pairs of new boots from cowtown boots
delivered in january 2023 to socorro area schools, churches and daycares within the socorro
independent school district community, and 100 toys delivered to casas grandes,
chihuahua for christmas in 2022. And whereas this community effort is animated by the
leadership and dedication of margarita margie perez, alberto perez and mario ornelas, whose
consistent organizing, fundraising, logistics and hands on service have inspired
volunteers and partners across el paso county to join in the mission of helping families
during the holidays and throughout the year. And whereas christmas trails for
toys extends heartfelt thanks to the many volunteers, donors, small businesses, faith partners, school communities, venue hosts, and civic allies whose contributions, large and
small, make this work possible and multiply the impact for children and families across
our borderland community. And whereas, in recognition of exemplary community leadership,
margarita perez and her organization have been honored with the following awards and
recognitions. Telemundo march 2025. Mujeres imparables award, mujeres con sentido, march 2024
award. Constable's office precinct precinct six 2023 award, serna elementary may
2023 award, socorro isd 2023 volunteer education empowerment award, cte diamond gallery 2023
award ktsm 2023 remarkable women award, clint univision, 26th march 2022 rompiendo
barreras. And whereas local media and community storytellers have highlighted
margarita perez's tireless advocacy for families, underscoring her determination to help those most in need and to rally our community to action through christmas trails
for toys. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the el paso county judge and commissioners court
in grateful recognition of christmas trails for toys, generous service to children and families in appreciation of the leadership of margarita perez, alberto perez and mario
ornelas. And with thanks to every volunteer donor, partner and friend who helps make this
mission possible. That december 13th, 2025 be hereby declared as christmas trails for toys
day, an official official recognition thereof. The commissioners court hereby
affixes their signature this eighth day of december 2025, we have a motion to approve by
commissioner olguin, second by judge samaniego. The voting is open. Welcome, commissioner.
thank you. Motion. Motion carries. Good morning, judge samaniego. Commissioners.
christmas trails for toys has been in existence since 2003. We serve the community. We
serve underprivileged children from mainly socorro, texas, as children, but we also serve
mexico, south america, and we do it from the bottom of our hearts. Christmas trails for
toys. We give the children and make them smile. Christmas toys, christmas goodies. We provide
turkey baskets, medical items, dental items. And you know, we really thank you for the
acknowledgment of all our hard work and dedication. Here's a little something that we would
like to present to you for your dedication to our community. Thank you. Thank you very much.
oh, beautiful. Well, thank you, maddie. Thank you so much. Good morning. County judge, county
commissioner, once again, once again, javier garcia. Constable, precinct six. Constable. I was
asked to accompany miss margie perez this morning, and I'm. I'm here to show my
appreciation and my support for her organization and tell her just thank you. Maddie, albert,
margie, all your family for always bringing smiles and and providing for my hometown of
socorro. I grew up in that area and I know the needs of of of that community, you know. So
thank you so much for for always being there for for my community and for always
allowing my office to help you. Thank you. You know, if you go to her house during
thanksgiving and christmas, she sacrifices her house because it's full of toys, it's full of
food, it's full of turkeys and all to help out the socorro community. So once again, thank
you so much for everything you do. Commissioner. Thank you for drafting up this resolution and
recognizing such a wonderful organization. Thank you constable. Mayor rudy cruz,
welcome. Thank you. Good morning. County judge and commissioners. First and
foremost, just to echo what constable garcia said, I've witnessed it myself. Miss
margie, along with her sister and her husband, have have been have been pillars of our
community. If you were if you were to look up the definition of what a pillar for the community means, you'd see a photograph of these three individuals. They're a small
group, but they it's a big impact that they make in the city of socorro, such an
underserved population and just the work that they do in socorro, not only that, but in
other countries, it's something that should go, you know, just recognized and, well, margie, I
know her as margie, miss perez, I'm just so thrilled to see you recognize that you've you've
been the steady heart of this community for so long, and you're always there to lift
others up. Your strength and kindness are truly unmatched. So. So cheers to you, margie,
on this amazing achievement and just want to let the the commissioners court know, as
well as those in attendance and those watching that we need more people like margie in our
community because it's very difficult. And I'll take my hat off to say this out of respect
for margie and christmas trails for toys, but it's very difficult as elected officials
because we can only see and do so much. But with the help of people like this and
organizations like this, it's just so impactful. So we we try and help out as much as we can
as elected officials. But margie, today's your day and today's a special day for
christmas trolls, for toys and for that city of socorro is forever grateful. Thank you so
much. And mayor mayor rudy cruz, thank you for what you do and the support you you provide to
our commissioner. It's really we're very appreciative. Thank you. Again. Thank you so much
for acknowledging our work. And december 13th will be our toy giveaway in the city of socorro.
and we are we will be having a small parade. And then at peter piper's will be our toy
giveaway for the children and the sisd area. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Introduce
yourselves. Just introduce yourselves. Just let us know who you are. And I'm mario
ornelas and I have been a socorro resident for the past 65 years and very proud to
serve my community. Thank you. Alberto perez. Thank you. Just a quick shout out also to our
commissioner olguin and everything she does in that area. I know she gets a lot of
support for anything that that comes up. And like I said, mayor, thank you for that partnership that we have with the rural mayors and being able to do as much as we can at
every different community. So, commissioner leon, back to you and thank you very much. Thank
you. Well, I just want to remind everyone, margie is still collecting toys for the
toy giveaway that she just mentioned that will be taking place there in socorro on the
13th this coming saturday morning. So if anyone has any toys that they would like to
donate to christmas trails for toys, please reach out to my office and we will gladly get
them to margie. There is a lot of need in the community, as we all know, and that's why we are
particularly thankful for all of the incredible work that the three of you do every single day. Thank you, thank you.
do we scoot over a little?
for the pledge kids? Do you? Of course, yes. Come on. Some of you maybe.
I have. To. Okay. Thank you. Item five h approve and adopt a resolution recognizing and
honoring the legacy of doctor pedro galaviz for his remarkable contributions as an
educator, mentor, and community leader during his time as superintendent of the canutillo
independent school district commissioner, coronado. Thank you, judge and commissioners.
this is really not just an honor, but a pleasure to be able to present this resolution
to the court. We've known this gentleman for quite some time, and I was very honored and
proud that I was a board president when we canutillo independent school district
recruited and hired doctor pedro galaviz to be the leader of the canutillo independent
school district, and we knew we had the right person for the job there and is really
currently the longest serving superintendent in this region. And so I really gives me
pleasure to read this resolution to the court. Whereas doctor pedro galaviz
has faithfully served as superintendent of canutillo independent school district
cisd for nearly 13 years, demonstrating unwavering dedication, exceptional
leadership and a steadfast belief in the potential of every child. And whereas, under
doctor galaviz leadership, canutillo isd earned statewide recognition as one of the
highest performing school districts in texas, achieving three consecutive a ratings
from the texas education agency and accomplished unmatched by any other district in the el
paso region. And we're after doctor galaviz legacy extends far beyond academic metrics,
reflecting a deep commitment to students, educators, and families. His belief in the
power of education changed countless lives, uplifted diverse communities, and
fostered a culture of respect, celebration, and opportunity. And throughout his tenure,
doctor galaviz championed numerous innovative initiatives, including the establishment of
the region's first public montessori program, the creation of the steam academy
at canutillo middle school, the public service academies at alderete middle school, and the
advancement of the northwest early college high school to the us department of
education's national blue ribbon school status. And whereas, under his guidance,
canutillo isd earned the prestigious h-e-b excellence in education award for the best
small district in texas, marking the first time in el paso area district received
this honor. And whereas doctor galaviz played a pivotal role in the successful passage of
the 2024 bond, ensuring the district facilities will continue to grow and modernize
in service of present and future students. And whereas doctor galaviz decision to
retire this year marks the end of a remarkable chapter in canutillo history, and the el
paso county community recognizes the profound, lasting impact of his
leadership and service. So now, therefore, be it resolved, that the commissioners court of el
paso county formally honors and expresses its deepest gratitude, doctor pedro galaviz, for his
visionary leadership, his tireless dedication to students and families, and his
extraordinary contributions to public education in our region. Signed this eighth day of
december 2025 by the honorable commissioners and the honorable county judge, we have a motion
to approve by commissioner coronado, second by judge samaniego. The voting is open.
motion carries. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, judge and commissioners, I just wanted to
I have to tell the fabian's kids because I told them santa claus is from canutillo. So I
want to make sure that fabian's sorry about that. I'd like to also introduce your one of your
newest assistant district attorneys, my son, gabriel galaviz. Welcome. 2018 grad
from. So he came back because he he knows that, you know, el paso's growing and there's a
lot of opportunities here. But so you brought me 13 years ago to make a difference. You miss
patsy mendoza, armando rodriguez I got miss cindy, trustee. Miss miss. Your
brother bobby was a trustee, but you all brought me here to make a difference and do
something special for for the kids in the region. And we did it. I know we did it. So thank
you for this resolution and for recognizing my 13 years as superintendent of canutillo. It
has been the honor of my professional life to serve the students, families, and
educators of our community. Every graduate we celebrated, every improvement we made, and
every challenge we faced was done with partnership, shared purpose, and a belief in public
education. You know, judge, you mentioned something about putting putting el paso on the
map, making sure that what you say is not who they think we are, but who we really are. And
I think that's very important. So I have a call to action for you all. El paso needs a true
regional plan, not one agency at a time, not a district by district, but together, city,
county school systems, higher ed economic transportation, public housing or housing and
public safety. Because our students move across boundaries. So our leadership must as well,
if we want a future that keeps our young people here working, raising families, contributing,
we must align funding, planning and a vision across the region. Thank you for this recognition
and thank you for your continued commitment. For every child in el paso county. I am
grateful for the partnership, the service and the opportunity to lead on behalf of students.
for more than a decade. Again, it's really a team effort, and I'll let each member of the
team come up and be recognized. Gustavo, I'll stop using ai now for my speeches. Thank you.
come introduce yourselves, please. Hello. Jessica arellano, interim superintendent for
canutillo isd, emeritus of doctor galaviz. And not only a friend, but of the family, but
really an example in a model. Hard shoes to fill. Definitely. Thank you. Good luck. Hi, my
name is cindy andrade and I'm a school board member and I really don't know what to say.
I just want to say thank you. He's helped us a lot. You know, I was really, really new to
being a board member. And he guided me, you know, through a lot of things that I didn't
know and just want to say thank you and we'll miss you. I get free tamales. True. Thank you.
and I am oscar rico. I oversee operations at the school district. And I want to thank
you all for letting the rest of the county know what we knew all along that we had an
amazing leader, and that we continue to have him as member of our community and our county,
for which we are a lucky bunch to to have him around. So thank you. Thank you. Just one rule
you can look better than us. So when you come to commissioners court, cut it down a little bit.
judge. And I'm abiding by that rule. So here we go, gustavo. Rebels. I'm the director of
communications for the school district. And I was lucky enough to work for doctor galaviz twice and try to keep him in line. But I was not very successful most of the time.
thank you. Good morning. I just want to thank mr. Coronado because he brought our family
here and my daughter, who couldn't be here to el paso canutillo region. And my dad
was very concerned as to where my husband was going to bring me, bless his soul. But
everything that you mentioned judge that el paso was a safe community, and it was the best
place my husband could have brought our family here to serve the community, parents
and students, which I have been blessed to do as a nurse practitioner. Thank you, thank
you, thank you. And then my name is gabriel galaviz. And yeah, thank you all for
honoring my dad today. But we do got to get more people to move to el paso. Everybody's
leaving. I know nobody wants to come back when they leave, so I'm glad I'm here. I'm back and
going to try to help bring more people back to el paso. But thank you all again for
honoring honoring my dad. It's been a wild journey and we're all happy we're here. Welcome
back. Yeah. Thank you. Go ahead. Bob, the two gentlemen. Good morning. Judge. Commissioners,
I'm a committee member. Canutillo lifelong. I was on the school board. I was lucky
enough to serve or help doctor galaviz. He's done wonders for our district, and and we really
appreciate him. We're going to miss him, but he's going to be around, and I think he's going
to jump in and and and be part of our community for and help our students for, for as long
as he can. And again, I thank you very much, and I thank and appreciate you all for honoring
him today. Thank you. So silica commitment, doctor galaviz that you're not leaving. Yeah. One
more gentleman. You want to go ahead and introduce yourself to. Buenos. Yes. And superintendent
doctor galaviz es el mejor superintendent bueno en la comunidad. Ya mucho mucho se ha
ganado el carrinho de toda la gente en la comunidad. Y pues es el mejor para muchas gracias.
muchas gracias. You know. You know what's really cool is that your commissioner coronado's
biggest fan and that he's your biggest fan. So I just what a person to be able to that
understands canutillo. And so his words come from the heart. And so we thank you for
everything that that you've done for being a role model. You know, we always have
difficulties in the schools. And and somehow you've been able to evolve into all these
challenges and continue to be a role model. So we thank you for everything that you do. And
obviously the relationship you have with with our great commissioner is very valuable.
I know tio or orange because, you know, he'll jump in, right? Completely. So back to you,
commissioner. Thank you judge. Commissioners again, pedro, it's been an honor to have you
leading our humble but proud district and canutillo and all the accomplishments. And we
know that the most of all that that I can say about him is that he's really student
centered and he's ingrained ourselves not just in the school system, but in our
community, including his family. And so we appreciate everything you do for our community, not
just for the students, but our entire community. And we really appreciate you and make your
honor honorable and honorary. El pasoan. Thank you. You. And yolanda commissioner, a little
bit more. If you make your color a little bit more of burnt orange, a little well,
thank you each and every one of you. We thank you for that. And we'll take a picture with all
of you. Thank you. Now, I really do like it. Like like the three of us. Yeah, yeah. Oh
thank you. Yeah, I love it. Thank you. I saw you. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for coming up. Oh.
hey.
for pedro. Thank you so much. One, two. Thank you. Thank. You. Just put it in the
middle here. Pedro. Thank you. Notice you. Okay? Item six is public comment. We do have
several speakers for public comment. First, we have mr. Darryl jamon. Who do we have?
oh. Welcome. It's a long day. Beautiful day, beautiful day, beautiful day to be in the
veterans capital of the usa. Yes. I just want to give you an update on the food drive. We've
been doing well. We are start picking up food donations, everything. Friday we picked up from the district attorney's office. We also picked up from. Your box is almost full, but we
had the help so we emptied out. We did something this year to kick off our food drive with
the city of socorro with the, you know, they cut the the support from the federal
government on on food stamps and everything. And we coordinated with mayor rudy cruz. We went out there and did an emergency distribution of food. The epi coordinator, with
him, we just we distributed over 400 bags of food to the socorro residents. And we want
to thank mayor cruz, the socorro pd, and the city manager, adriana, for their
help and cooperation. But I really want you all to just take a moment. Come here. He's
like the hardest person to get modest, you know? Join me. Give me mayor cruz a big round of
applause. What he has done out there, the one clap. Okay, that's very special. All that
practice for nothing. Well, he is an author. Socorro has been amazing, coordinating efforts
with the entire county and everything. And commissioner green and everything. All this has just been really amazing. We appreciate it and the support and everything. We will
start picking up the food on december 18th. If you need an earlier pickup, please
coordinate with me. If not, we can go out there. Also, the army recruiting command has
came in. Correction, el paso army recruiting has came in. You can now leave all food at
any army recruiting station. They're supporting us. A lot of people are coming to support us.
group one four has been our major supporter. They're going to be our base of operations for the food drive this year. So if you guys want to volunteer and come pass out
food, I know you got a lot on your plate, but we can always use help. Thank you. Appreciate
that. Thank you all for what you do. Thank you for what you do. Thank you mayor. Thank you
for your partnership. Really appreciate that. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all.
have a good day. Our next public comment is from miss elizabeth crawford. Welcome,
elizabeth. Miss crawford could not be with us. She sent in her comments. I'll be reading those
in. Thank you. Miss. From miss elizabeth crawford. Good afternoon. I first want to
express my appreciation for the courtesy and kindness shown to me when I've had issues calling
in. Thank you so much. I often tell my friends I am often taken aback by the courtesy of
el pasoans. This morning as I fly to the midwest. It is my hope to be there on the day
that the mw abortion center in lewisville is being demolished to make room for a new hotel
construction. We as pro-lifers are thrilled beyond words. Thankful to the lord.
louisville, kentucky. In indianapolis, little rock, arkansas, and jackson,
mississippi are for the cities in the center of our nation where the surgical abortion
centers have closed down. In this season of focus on the incarnation of jesus, it is
fascinating to look at the prophecies of the christ child tucked in a passage written
through the prophet isaiah spoken to king. Is a promise of a sign with its ultimate
fulfillment. Centuries later, in the advent of the lord jesus, therefore the lord himself
shall give you a sign behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
emmanuel. We often hear christians in our day speak about the founding fathers of
our nation being christian. Some were, yes, some were christians, but a number of
them were deists. Deism basically teaches god made the earth, wound it up like a clock,
and let it go to function completely by natural laws untouched by divine
intervention. Deism. The bible teaches the exact opposite. Immanuel means god with us. God
is with his children even through suffering, deism, miscarry, and hopeless. Those
who support abortion generally embrace this mindset. They reason impossible situation,
financially messed up relationship. Product of an affair. A baby conceived in
rape. Just abort the baby and move on. Yet the god of the bible delights in bringing
beauty out of the ashes for those who come to him desperate for help, god does indeed
intervene in the affairs of mankind. In the beautiful words of the carol hark, the herald
angels sing christ by highest heaven adored, christ the everlasting lord. Late in time
behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the godhead see. Hail the
incarnate deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell in jesus our emmanuel. This is still in the
21st century. The good news of the baby. Once lying in the manger, there is a god who has
lovingly intervened in the history of mankind. Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name emmanuel, which being
interpreted is god with us. Matthew 123. End of public comment. Thank you. And finally,
judge, we do have the elections video for the I voted sticker contest that we'd like to go
ahead and play for the court. Thank you. Thank you very much for that.
well amazing entries. My goodness. It's must be really tough for the judges.
wow. And that completes everybody signed up for public comment. Item seven county
administration seven a receive a presentation. Discuss and take appropriate action
regarding federal legislative items and communications with the 119th us congress. Buenos
dias. Good morning, judge and commissioners alisa tamayo, governmental affairs manager.
today, with a federal legislative update. I won't take a lot of your time. I know
there's a letter also posted on the backup, but I'll just go through the slides real quick
to just share a little bit of what has happened with the us 19 119th congress over the last
few months. So a little reminder about h.r. One and sb 1790, which is, as you might
recall, earlier this year, it was senator cornyn who introduced senate bill 1790 to
include reimbursements for border states for immigration enforcement operations. And
later in the summer, the the budget, h.r. One included some of these provisions. A lot of
the senate bill 1790 provisions were rolled into h.r. One, which is the budget for
congress, and then the one senate bill 1790, before we knew about those versions,
rolling into into the h.r. One bill, the court directed staff to send letters to our
congressional delegation members requesting that these funds be sent directly to
counties following kind of the arpa model from previous years in lieu of like the the state
pass through model. However, during those budget negotiations, these provisions,
like I said, were rolled into h.r. One. And that is a current budget bill. And so following
up with that, we sent a couple of weeks ago, we sent two different letters to our
congressional delegation asking for guidance on on how to access those funds from from
h.r. One to get reimbursed for those border enforcement operations. I, I'm not sure if
we've received a response yet or not, but the letters went out, I believe, the before
thanksgiving, and I know it was our county attorney, christina sanchez, who signed the letters
and sent them out. And if you have any questions, let us know. But I know we will be following
up to see, you know, if we get a response or how we can access those funds. Also during the
visit in february, this could be something to bring up with our congressional delegation to
see how we can, like I said, tap into the funds or get some guidance. We haven't seen
anything yet, and I know it takes a few months to to get that out, but but we're working
on that. If we could go to the next slide, please. Some updates about the government
shutdown. As you know, they're not only were a lot of federal employees affected by the
shutdown that lasted over 40 days, the longest government shutdown in our history, but
also snap benefits recipients, you know, they struggle during those month and and ten days.
the healthcare access was also impacted. Funding for congressional project funding,
funding requests and and all those things were all impacted. Right now, congress has been
funded through a continuing resolution. So it's still they haven't passed the 12
appropriations bills. They have only passed, I believe, like three of those. So they have
until january the 30th to fully pass all the appropriations. So we don't go on with this
continuing resolution funding. There's they're part of the government shutdown.
negotiations included a vote. There was a promise of a vote on healthcare subsidies.
there's a short window to extend those enhanced tax credits, what they call a
premium tax credits on the affordable care act before the end of the year. If they expire,
then a lot of the health care premiums for many people in our community will go up. There is
an alternate proposal being floated around. I know that a lot of republican members are
discussing potentially direct health savings accounts payments for enrollees, instead
of giving the these tax credits to the insurers and the marketplace. So there's a lot
of negotiations going on right now, which is the reason that we drafted this letter for your
consideration that is attached to the backup. Most affordable care act enrollees must sign up
before or by december 15th for coverage in the next year, or they would risk being shut out
of the market and not have insurance or access to healthcare. There's also a
pending proposal by the white house for an affordable care act extension with a lot of
limits, but we haven't seen what that looks like as of yesterday. There's still no
public proposal from the white house. All that we know is that there's been ongoing
negotiations, so I don't know if we have another slide or if you have access to the backup.
yes. So the letters that are letters that are attached to the backup to our two senators,
john cornyn and ted cruz, asking them for their vote in this. We don't know when the
vote is going to happen, but, but, but that was a promise to reopen. The government
essentially was to have a vote on the enhanced premium tax credits. And the senate
leadership committed to a mid-december vote. So it should be coming up. But house
leadership did not hold the same commitment. So that's why the letter would be to our two
us senators basically asking them to to for their vote to approve the extension of this
expiring enhanced premium healthcare, enhanced premium healthcare tax credits for the
affordable care act. And I'm happy to answer any questions, if there's any at the moment.
yes, commissioner butler. Thank you, lisa, for the overview. I just had one comment on the
letter. The proposed letters to our senators on the affordable care act subsidies. I think
it's a good letter. I, I think it would it would help if we at least mentioned umc in there
and our county hospital district and talk about the uncompensated care that they
currently amount they currently provide in uncompensated care now, because, I mean, it does
mention affordability and impact to taxpayers here, but that is really, I think,
something that we could strengthen and personalize a little bit. And, and really
hopefully tell a story about how this will impact el paso county, specifically in the
taxpayers here. I don't know, I mean, I'm I'm assuming umc has that information we could get
from them. Yes. I've been working with umc with ruben and lisa hernandez. They did share
some one pagers and some of that info is included, but not. But you're right, I can I can
add on a paragraph if you if you'd like. After the second paragraph where we mention how
many people are impacted in the congressional district, I know that the congresswoman put out
that information, which is very helpful, but if you'd like, I can just add something after
that paragraph to say this is how much it's costing our hospital district, and then
just get that info from umc. Yeah, I mean, it would the the way I was reading it, it would
make sense to put it at the end of the second to last paragraph where you're talking about. A
fiscally responsible choice that impacts taxpayers. Yes, yes. Putting it on there. Okay.
definitely. I can add that information after after that sentence, I think it would make
sense. You're right. Unless there's any other feedback from the rest of the court. I had
other comments not related to the letter and just a couple of issues that that I'm tracking.
and I don't know how how closely we track the information that naco puts out,
but they've been putting out a lot of information related to hud cutting the continuum of
care funding for housing, which could have dramatic impacts here for our homeless
prevention efforts. And I get that information through the economic and workforce
development committee. But I'm not sure if anybody here is is tracking that there might be an
opportunity to send some letters to our delegation on that. And I know that there's
litigation that's been filed to stop that. Those cuts from happening as well. Good morning.
judge. Commissioners melissa carrillo county operations. We can definitely, if you'll allow
lisa and I to circle back to, to really clarify what's going on there and then bring back an
item regarding potential letters. We'd absolutely do that. One thing I wanted to mention is we recently met with staff of congresswoman veronica escobar, and given the timing
and the tax credits, this kind of jumped to the forefront, which is why we wanted to get
on your agenda. And I apologize for placing it on a resolution day, but just there's some
critical timing happening with regards to the tax credits. But absolutely, commissioner butler, if you'll let me circle back and we can bring an additional item with letters for your
consideration in the near future. Okay. And just one other issue that we talked about briefly at our transit board meeting last week, and something that I know our
executive director is watching very carefully is potential cuts to transit federal transit
funding, which would, would would cripple our our transit operations in el paso county.
so I understand the tax credits are you know, there's a there's a timing urgency for that. But
there are a lot of other issues related to federal spending cuts that I think I would like
to see if we're tracking them and how we could participate in, in advocating for those in the
next couple of months. Yes, ma'am. We'll do. Thank you. Commissioner, any other
feedback on the letter or on this item? No. We're okay. Thank you. Then get a motion to
approve the letter with the edits as suggested by commissioner butler. And then
we'll make sure to send that letter this week. Thank you lisa, as always, thank you for
keeping us up to date. We have a motion to approve the changes for the letters by commissioner
coronado, second by judge samaniego. The voting is open. Motion carries. Thank you,
thank you, judge. Thank you commissioners. Have a wonderful day, lisa. Thank you. You too.
thank you. Item eight human resources 88a. Receive an update. Discuss and take
appropriate action regarding hb 71 eight and the county tax assessor collector's office.
judge. Commissioners valeria fernandez with the human resources department, as
requested by the court, the hr department is here to provide the weekly update on the tax
assessor collector's office and its ongoing progress with hb 718 since our last update, we
do have the following information to share. The tax office currently has seven
vacancies and as previously reported, two of those positions will be filled in
january. Three employees were promoted this pay period, which vacated two customer relations
specialist positions and one customer relations specialist intermediate position. The
vacant accounting specialist intermediate position was posted internally and is
anticipated to be filled soon, and when this position is filled it will leave an entry
level accounting specialist position for which we have already posted and tested for.
the results are being sent to the department today. The last vacancy is an investigator
position which was vacated recently. We are also concluding the testing phase
for the entry level customer relations specialist in anticipation of future
vacancies, and our talent management team will continue to work with the tax office to
expedite any recruitment efforts. The court was previously updated that the tax
office will work the two saturday sessions in the first two weeks of december, and so
at this time, there are 576 pending transactions in web dealer. This is a reduction of
305 transactions from the last reporting date that we provided last week. We'll continue to
monitor staffing, training, process adjustments and report to the court. And then the time
and motion study is forthcoming. Does the court have any questions? Commission. I, I
guess my question is we've gotten my office has gotten a lot of outreach recently due to
the tax office being closed one day a week at the east side annex, and I believe the
posting on the door says due to a staffing shortage. And so I. I guess I want more clarity
about. The staffing needs that have been communicated by the tax assessor collector. From my
understanding, we've been responsive to all of his requests and have prioritized
filling the positions that he's asked for. So I'm really trying to to get a better
understanding of what needs are still pending. And and if there's any way that we can
validate that there's a staffing shortage that requires a closing of offices. If I can
respond to that before you add any details. So one of the things that mr. Gonzalez has
said is that we have denied his request for staff, and he's talking about over the last
couple years, we have not denied his request for staff. We have not accepted requests
for staffing. So departments, the sheriff's office is a great example. They have staffing
needs. They have used other positions to create the positions they needed. But but
he hasn't been able to submit staffing requests the last couple years. So those are
that's he he I know he phrases it as his requests have been denied his request have not
been able to be submitted for evaluation. The time and motion study the hr is completing will
tell us more information based on the number of transactions, the time it takes, and then,
you know, relief factors that have to be considered and other factors that have to be
considered in in providing full staffing. It will give us a recommendation on how much more
staffing, if any, but if if more staffing is needed for the tax office to be able to
operate at a reasonable operational level. So hopefully in the next couple weeks we'll
get that and be able to take it under advisement as we consider allocating positions coming in
into the coming 2026 year. Okay, I have a question as well. Have have we looked at other
counties that are similar to that are going through the same thing and what what they're
doing? And I mean, are they increasing staffing by a large amounts? Are they spending lots
more on overtime like we are? What what's going on in other counties and what what can we
do to what else can we do to make sure that we, you know, we're being as efficient as
possible? Because I don't really believe that throwing more resources all the time or
money or staff is, is the correct way to do things. We need to look at efficiency
first. Sir. There's there's a few things about this. So the large counties that I've talked
to, which is the majority of our largest counties, the ones I've spoken to directly, have
not added staffing, have not added overtime. They started doing training early on beyond
what the state provided to try to get dealers to minimize mistakes. By the time it was
actually required to be implemented. But that's not to say that we weren't
short-staffed before the law change. So this hr study will help us with that. But as far
as efficiency and, you know, there's so many things to any operation and leadership, how
you manage it. So you can you can to your point, commissioner. You can give as much staffing
as possible as long as it's being used effectively, that there's no morale challenges,
no other operational challenges. Those things also are an impact to efficiency. And so that's
part of what I do believe. When hr completes its time and motion study, it'll be able to
tell us comparatively for the number of transactions we have. Web dealers, some other
counties don't have web dealers. You know what? Or I'm sorry, not web dealers, but we have
contracted offices. Those all of those factors need to be taken in. But even even if it's
apples to apples, how we're operating is also an important part of the analysis, because
that that could be a factor as much as well. So even like our sick leave comparison to other
counties, which can be a sign of the morale in the office, those are things that would
need to be taken into consideration. I also want to mention that the tax tax
assessor has indicated that there's a resistance to give him staffing or space, and I
want to be clear that there's no individualized resistance to him having the space he needs
or the staff that he needs. As you mentioned, though, he needs to be using it efficiently and
just coming and asking for staff. No, none of our departments are allowed to just
come ask for staff without justifying the request, showing that they're using their
current staff efficiently. There is no different standard being applied to the tax
assessor. He's just not meeting our basic standard to request staff in the way he does it. He
needs to be able to show the data, show how he's using his staff efficiently, and we've
had conversations with him over years. I have been around for a long time and have had, every
time I met with him, have had similar conversations about that exact issue. Yes, sir.
yeah. And I think one of the hardest thing is the discrepancy between what's
coming out of his office and then what we're trying to accomplish. And, you know, I've
always felt we should be more in partnership, but it's just really difficult that, you know,
we go through all of this. We're trying our best to as much help as we can. And then
coming out of the offices like we're, you know, just sitting in our hands. So I wish there
was just a way we could, you know, close that gap between what's really happening and
what's being put out there. And, of course, he's an elected official, so he could do what
he needs to do. But I think in for the community, it's confusing the community
tremendously. I mean, I get a lot of calls about, you know, we're not assisting and then we
have to go through the whole thing that's about. It's about correcting the record and
setting the record straight. It's not about trying to point fingers. I mean, we're we're
all a team and we're trying to address this problem as, as quickly and as efficiently as
we possibly can. But we also need to make sure that the public understands what's being
done and what has been done and what hasn't. And you know how we got here and what we're
doing to get to get out of here. I agree. Thank you. Commissioner. Yes, commissioner
coronado has has he used up the allotment that we did for overtime? No, not yet sir, he
still has not. It's only about half, I think. Right, as of the last update, as of the last
update. And so this is periodically updated because it it's deducted from that account
once payroll runs, which is every two weeks. And the last time we reported it was almost
11,000 out of the 20 that's been approved. I know mr. Gonzalez was out out of town
for a couple of weeks. Do we know if he's back? Yes. Yes, ma'am. Okay, so then perhaps we
can ask him to be present at the next update so we can maybe answer some of these questions
for us. And, commissioner stout, to your question, previously, if there was other counties
that had approved new positions from our records and what we had been notified, there's been
three counties, two that denton and montgomery that did approve new positions. It was two and
three new positions. Bexar county also added new staffing, but I believe they opened a
large new office. From that location. And it was 20 full service deputies that were
added at that point. And so we are reviewing and that is will be part of that analysis that
we're conducting. Thank you. Thank you. I have one more question. I know that that up
till now these weekly updates have been related to to the changes in, in legislation and
the requirements that are that are coming forth because of that. But related to the office
closures, do you think do do we if we wanted to talk about that and address that, should we
have a separate agenda item in a future meeting? And and my my question is so, so up till now,
the primary impact did community has been the dealer community. But the the calls
that my office is getting now are from people who are just going to the tax office to
renew their registrations and, you know, do their do their basic renewals or pay their
taxes. They're taking time off of work and, you know, adjusting their schedules,
expecting the tax office to be open. And they show up and it's not and and it's not always
accessible or easy for them to travel across town to find a tax office that is open. And so
if this is going to be ongoing, I think, I think it would be helpful if we could get more
information from the tax assessor collector on how long that's going to continue. And
then if there's something that we can do to better communicate that to the public, recognizing
that the tax assessor collector, and this is what I tell my constituents, is we cannot
control whether he closes his office or not or where he does that. That's that's his
decision. And he's operating his office. And making those decisions. But it is impacting
the people who live in our communities. And so if there's a way that we can maybe
communicate that a little bit better, especially with the closures, if we can figure out how long that's going to be taking, I think that would be very helpful for the community.
so right now, we are able to discuss the item in terms of signage because presumably,
right, we have his action with regards to 718. Right. So because of presumably their
work on that, it has affected other items. If we are going to take a deep discussion to all
the other projects and things that he he does, I would recommend we bring that back.
but I think we do have a little bit of leeway if they're working on 718, and that's
therefore impacting their their hours and signage we may need. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So
when these closures are happening, do we know that all the personnel are working on
the issues related to 718? Do we know anything from that from the office? It's my
understanding that the staff in those locations is then shifted to work on the web dealer. So
that way I from my understanding, the staff, that of the office that's closed
each of those days is then reassigned to work on that web dealer. All of those items, I
can't say for certain, commissioner, I'm sorry, but that's my understanding, is
that that staff is reallocated or reassigned to. These are the kind of things that we need to
know. Yeah. That's why I think we need to ask them to be present at our next update.
yeah. Absolutely. Is there anything else I can answer? Thank you. I appreciate
everything you're doing. Thank you. Okay. We will take no action for item eight a item
nine public works nine a discuss and take appropriate action regarding the el paso
area transportation services. Local government corporation's proposed fiscal year 2026
staffing plan. Yes, county judge and members of the commissioners court john ando,
executive director of transit operations for eta. And I'm here today to request the
commissioners court's consideration to authorize the director. Let me use the exact
wording to take appropriate action to approve funding for the el paso area transportation
services. Local government corporation's proposed fiscal year 2026 staffing plan, and
further approve reorganization in conjunction with the el paso county human resources
department at the july 2025 board of directors meeting, I did present a proposal of a
staffing structure for eta to prepare eta for separation from county government next fiscal
year and to ensure that the organization has the appropriate fiscal, technical
and legal capacity to manage federal transit administration grants and the various transit
programs that that is presently under the purview of eta. Presently, in the current
budget, we have a director, which is myself and associate transportation planner, a
transit planner and administrative specialist senior, and then one vacant
position, which is the senior transit project manager. We are proposing to reclassify the
senior transit project manager and then add three additional positions that would function
in four distinct units of operations. We would have an operations group, a planning
group, a finance group, and an administration group. The proposed positions that I'm
proposing to add include an accounting and office manager, which will lead the finance
group, a contract coordinator which will support the transit operations group under the
transit planner, a grants and compliance specialist that would ensure that all of eta's
grants that we would be receiving directly from the fta, as well as from txdot, ensuring
that we're complying with those grants. And then a human services transportation plan
coordinator that will support the planning unit and ensure that we're effectively planning
transit services for the county. We have included in the eta budget, which was transmitted
to the eta board and approved at its september meeting. The appropriate funding through
various tech stocks, grants to cover these positions. And we are requesting that the
commissioners court approve the proposed staffing plan and that we will coordinate with human
resources on the next steps to fill those positions. I should stress that the positions are
in the budget for six months, so we anticipate we would start recruiting in early winter of
2026 and fill those positions around the spring time frame of 2026, and I'm happy to answer
any questions about this proposal, if there are any. I, I just have one comment. Thank
you, mister ando, for that overview. As mr. Ando mentioned, the eta board did review the
staffing plan in july, right after mr. Ando came on board, and I. I also had the
opportunity to sit in a meeting with mr. Gonzalez, who is the lead for txdot for for el paso,
for the transit side of texdot. And he was presented the staffing plan as well. And he
he gave us his his blessing and and really commended mr. Ando for the thoughtfulness he put
into that, because it does. Mimic what other transit operations that are the size of
eta have for staffing, not just in terms of size, but in the positions that mr. Ando is
trying to create and hire for. So, mr. Andrew, I appreciate your thoughtfulness in putting
the staffing plan together. And and again, this we have ensured that there is sufficient budget
for these positions in the next fiscal year. Good morning. Anna schumacher assistant county
attorney. I'm just going to restate that motion that mr. Andrews said at the beginning. Mr. Ando, please let me know if I misstate anything that was to approve funding for the el paso
area transportation services, local government corporations. Proposed fiscal year 2026 staffing plan and further approve reorganization in conjunction with the el paso
county human resources department. That is correct. Thank you, thank you. We have a
motion by commissioner butler, second by judge samaniego. The voting is open. Judge.
commissioners, may I make a comment first? This is barbara parker, county auditor. My
understanding is that the funding is through the grants. It's not through county funding.
unless we use some of the grants that require a 20% match, and they do have available
match. Thank you. Barbara. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you judge and
commissioners. Appreciate your time. Thank you john. Nice sweater by the way. Yes, it's
my san francisco muni cable car sweater. Okay. True. Transit nerd over here. Thank you,
thank you. Good day. This brings us to item ten executive session. Before before we move
into executive session, we do have a legal memo to read in by county attorneys for item ten c.
thank you, miss dominguez. Anna schumacher an assistant county attorney. So staff is asking
that item ten be heard in executive session pursuant to texas government code section
55 1.0725. The county is currently in negotiations with phillips usd meacham partners,
regarding the consulting services agreement. The information to be discussed includes issues of business and financial information related to those contract negotiations,
and the court must be free to discuss those issues without undermining the county's
position. Therefore, erica resolves gaglione, as your legal advisor, has determined
that deliberation and open meeting concerning these business and financial issues relating to those negotiations would have a detrimental effect on the position of the
commissioners court in negotiations. Therefore, I am requesting that commissioners court unanimously vote that deliberations in an open meeting would have a
detrimental effect on the position of the commissioners and the county in the
negotiations, and that all deliberations take place in closed session. I would further request that the commissioners court direct the county administration, commissioners,
court reporters to ensure that all proceedings in closed session be recorded. If the commissioners court agrees, I need a motion, a second and a recorded vote at this time. And
I will also note that a copy of this legal memo has been provided to the county
administration, commissioners, court reporters to be made a part of the official court records. We have a motion to approve by commissioner butler, second, by commissioner
coronado. The voting is open. Motion carries commissioners court will now recess into
executive session to discuss items ten a through ten pursuant to texas government
code section 55 1.071 and 551.0725 commissioners court will reconvene to take official
action. It is 12:15 p.m.
oh my gosh, the ledges are wonderful. They grind amazing. Every
everything is smooth. It's beautiful. Park. We are so grateful. Thank you so much.
one, two and three. So today is a very, very happy day because we are here celebrating the
renovations at agua dulce park, but also the naming of this specific skateboard park to the
mario navarro skateboard park. Mario was a person who was very involved in our community and
who spent a lot of his own personal time teaching children how to skateboard and how to
skateboard safely. A big part of this project was receiving guidance and assistance from
actual skateboarding professionals. We had a skate park here at agua dulce before,
but it's nothing like what you see today. Go ahead. Woo woo! The county received grant funds
in 2021 to build three safe skate parks, and it was matched by county funds. The family of
elizabeth avila contacted us to let us know that they would like naming the park in her
honor as an option, and we were more than happy to do that. Elizabeth was an avid skater
and unfortunately passed away due to a skating injury, and so this is a way to honor her
legacy. You know, it's a bittersweet. Of course, I would want to see her here, but I know that through her tragedy, we can offer now these safe skate parks. And this park was
designed with safety in mind. And so we're really, really proud of the fact that we're
promoting safety in all aspects. And we hope that the skating community will use our parks
and know that it's a safe place for them to do so. Oh, this is a great event that we have here
out at gallegos park in the northwest area of the county, right next to canutillo middle
school. It's it's really nice. There's a lot of different areas that we can do different
tricks on. I'm really hoping that there's more skate parks to come. As you can see, a lot
of the community members are out here. These skateboarders have been out here actually, as soon as it was finished, they didn't wait for the ribbon cutting. They've been out here
daily using this park. Yeah. So I love the fact that one thing that stuck out to me is this
halfpipe here. Not a lot of skate parks here have half pipes that we can utilize. What
this means is that this community now is on track to make sure that el paso moves
forward with quality of life projects. Oh, it was excellent.
this is our second annual dog canine fiesta. We allow the dogs to come swim with their
owners for the end of the season. It kicks off our pilot program last year. We're going
to have dog days of the summer. Everybody's super excited. The dogs are actually inside the
water for the majority of the time, and all of our participants are just super
excited to be here and very happy. First one we have is chewbacca. Woohoo! The mariachi!
woohoo! This is super important to bring the community together for special events like this.
there's not a lot of places for owners to swim with their dogs, so that's where we came up with
the idea to enjoy the entire month of september. And it's just it's an overall exciting
event for our community to enjoy. So it's been really, really exciting for the end of
the summer to have such a different event. Lyla, minnie mouse, lyla, the winner, winner.
my dog lyla was dressed up as minnie mouse and I was mickey mouse and and we decided we
were looking for something fun to do. So we heard about this and we came home a winner. The
water makes it so much more fun. The costumes made a lively. You could judge a community by the
way they treat their dogs. And clearly el paso cares a lot, a lot about their canines. And
this canine fiesta was a great, great thing to do. And I know they're going to keep doing
things. And clearly everybody has had a great time today. Good job. Thank you to
everybody who has joined the county for the entire season. It has been a very great summer
with a lot of people that just really came to enjoy the fall. So we want to thank everybody
who joined us this summer, and we can't wait to start again next season.
el paso I'm laura gallegos and this is el paso county connects the county,
continues working hard on community projects, events and voter approved improvements
across our region. Let's take a look at what's been happening around the county. El paso
county and at&t kicked off a major broadband expansion that will bring high speed internet
to more than a thousand homes, including 57 colonias. As part of the celebration, 125
refurbished laptops were donated to families to help bridge the digital divide. The
county hosted this year's state of the county event, where judge ricardo samaniego
delivered the keynote address. He highlighted major progress in public safety,
infrastructure, economic development and the voter approved bond projects now moving forward across the region. Families camped out under the stars during the
annual ascarate park campout, a weekend filled with outdoor fun, games and community bonding at
one of the county's most iconic family gathering places. Communities across el paso
county came together to honor our heroes with veterans day parades and celebrations. As
the veterans capital of the usa, the county proudly recognized the service and sacrifice of
our veterans and active duty military. The county officially opened the new sparks park,
bringing fresh recreational space to the community. The project was made possible
through partnerships and will continue to grow, with future improvements funded by the 2024
capital improvement bond. The county continues its commitment to keeping residents informed
every step of the way. On 2024 voter approved projects this month, two major community
meetings took place one in fabens for the san felipe off-highway vehicle park
improvements and another for the new county animal shelter. Residents had the chance to
review early concepts, ask questions, and share ideas that will help shape these projects
as design work moves forward. It's all part of the county's effort to ensure transparency,
accountability, and strong community engagement throughout the entire bond program. That's
it for this month's el paso county connects. We hope to see you at the ascarate park
improvement meeting coming up on december 9th. As these community projects continue
moving forward from all of us at el paso county, we wish you and your family a very happy
thanksgiving. Until next time, stay warm and stay connected. Feliz navidad. Welcome to you
to the lights on the lake 2025 lighting ceremony at the beautiful park. The sunsets,
the mountains, our beautiful desert. You guys look amazing. I like the energy. I want to
wish you a merry christmas. I'm so grateful that all of you guys came out here to listen to
some music, to have some fun. As you all know, ascarate park is the heart of el paso county
and we are so happy to have so many of you here celebrating with us tonight as we celebrate
tradition and community and the joy of the season. Hey, hey. Why?
I think it was pretty awesome. Yeah, I liked it. Very colorful for the spirit of
christmas, so I liked it. You know what? It's awesome. This is the first time I come here.
so it's it's really awesome to know that our county is coming together and doing new stuff.
yeah. Get everyone in the holiday spirit better than being at home and, you know,
get everybody out and enjoy the holidays. Get ready for him. You know, it's free. People can
come here. They can enjoy. They can write in their in their cars, or they can get down lots
of beautiful places to take pictures with the family. Our parks and recreation team here
at el paso county dedicated 2660 staff hours, and our incredible volunteers and
community service members contributed an additional 2380 hours to bring this holiday
experience to life. Merry christmas to everybody here in el paso, and a special thanks
to the el paso county, especially all the commissioners here. And we'll
keep everything going strong here in el paso, especially here at esquerita. Thank you
very much. Merry christmas and happy new year. Hey merry christmas. Happy new year.
merry christmas, happy new year. Happy christmas and happy new year.
oh my gosh the ledges are wonderful. They grind amazing. Every everything is smooth.
it's beautiful. Park. We are so grateful. Thank you so much. One, two and three. So today is
a very, very happy day because we are here celebrating the renovations at agua dulce park,
but also the naming of this specific skateboard park to the mario navarro skateboard park.
mario was a person who was very involved in our community and who spent a lot of his own
personal time teaching children how to skateboard and how to skateboard safely. A big part
of this project was receiving guidance and assistance from actual skateboarding
professionals. We had a skate park here at agua dulce before, but it's nothing like what you
see today. Go ahead. Woo woo! The county received grant funds in 2021 to build three safe
skate parks, and it was matched by county funds. The family of elizabeth avila contacted us to
let us know that they would like naming the park in her honor as an option, and we were
more than happy to do that. Lizbeth was an avid skater and unfortunately passed away due
to a skating injury, and so this is a way to honor her legacy. You know, it's a
bittersweet. Of course, I would want to see her here, but I know that through her tragedy,
we can offer now these safe skate parks. And this park was designed with safety in mind.
and so we're really, really proud of the fact that we're promoting safety in all aspects.
and we hope that the skating community will use our parks and know that it's a safe place
for them to do so. Oh, this is a great event that we have here out at gallegos park in the
northwest area of the county, right next to canutillo middle school. It's it's really nice.
there's a lot of different areas that we can do different tricks on. I'm really hoping
that there's more skate parks to come. As you can see, a lot of the community members are
out here. These skateboarders have been out here actually, as soon as it was finished, they
didn't wait for the ribbon cutting. They've been out here daily using this park. Yeah. So
I love the fact that one thing that stuck out to me is this halfpipe here. Not a lot of
skate parks here have halfpipes that we can utilize. What this means is that this community
now is on track to make sure that el paso moves forward with quality of life projects. Oh,
it was excellent.
this is our second annual dog canine fiesta. We allow the dogs to come swim
with their owners for the end of the season. It kicks off our pilot program last year. We're
going to have dog days of the summer. Everybody's super excited. The dogs are actually
inside the water for the majority of the time, and all of our participants are just super excited to be here and very happy. First one we have is chewbacca. Woohoo! The
mariachi! Woohoo! This is super important to bring the community together for special
events like this. There's not a lot of places for owners to swim with their dogs, so that's
where we came up with the idea to enjoy the entire month of september. And it's just it's a
it's an overall exciting event for our community to enjoy. So it's been really, really
exciting for the end of the summer to have such a different event. Lyla. Minnie mouse hey,
lyla, you're the winner. My winner. My dog lyla was dressed up as minnie mouse and I was
mickey mouse. And and we decided we were looking for something fun to do. So we
heard about this and we came home a winner. The water makes it so much more fun. The
costumes made a lively. You could judge a community by the way they treat their dogs. And
clearly el paso cares a lot. There a lot about their canines, and this canine fiesta was a
great, great thing to do. And I know they're going to keep doing things. And clearly
everybody has had a great time today. Good job. Thank you to everybody who has joined the
county for the entire season. It has been a very great summer with a lot of people that just
really came to enjoy the call. So we want to thank everybody who joined us this summer, and
we can't wait to start again next season. Have a winner.
el paso I'm laura gallegos and this is el paso county connects
the county, continues working hard on community projects, events and voter approved
improvements across our region. Let's take a look at what's been happening around the
county. El paso county and at&t kicked off a major broadband expansion that will bring high
speed internet to more than a thousand homes, including 57 colonias. As part of the
celebration, 125 refurbished laptops were donated to families to help bridge the
digital divide. The county hosted this year's state of the county event, where judge
ricardo samaniego delivered the keynote address. He highlighted major progress in public safety,
infrastructure, economic development and the voter approved bond projects now moving forward across the region. Families camped out under the stars during the
annual ascarate park campout, a weekend filled with outdoor fun, games and community bonding at
one of the county's most iconic family gathering places. Communities across el paso
county came together to honor our heroes with veterans day parades and celebrations. As
the veterans capital of the usa, the county proudly recognized the service and sacrifice of
our veterans and active duty military. The county officially opened the new sparks park,
bringing fresh recreational space to the community. The project was made possible
through partnerships and will continue to grow, with future improvements funded by the 2024
capital improvement bond. The county continues its commitment to keeping residents informed
every step of the way on 2024 voter approved projects. This month, two major community
meetings took place one in fabens for the san felipe off-highway vehicle park
improvements and another for the new county animal shelter. Residents had the chance to
review early concepts, ask questions, and share ideas that will help shape these projects
as design work moves forward. It's all part of the county's effort to ensure transparency,
accountability, and strong community engagement throughout the entire bond program. That's
it for this month's el paso county connects. We hope to see you at the ascarate park
improvement meeting coming up on december 9th. As these community projects continue moving forward from all of us at el paso county, we wish you and your family a very happy
thanksgiving. Until next time, stay warm and stay connected. Feliz navidad. Welcome to you
to the lights on the lake 2025 lighting ceremony at the beautiful ascarate park. The
sunsets. The mountains are beautiful desert. You guys look amazing. I like the energy. I
want to wish you a merry christmas. I'm so grateful that all of you guys came out here
to listen to some music, to have some fun. As you all know, ascarate park is the heart of
el paso county and we are so happy to have so many of you here celebrating with us
tonight as we celebrate tradition and community and the joy of the season. Hey, hey.
why?
I think it was pretty awesome. Yeah, I liked it. Very colorful for the spirit of
christmas, so I liked it. You know what? It's awesome. This is the first time I come here,
so it's it's really awesome to know that our county is coming together and doing new stuff.
yeah. Getting into the holiday spirit better than being at home and, you know, get
everybody out and enjoy the holidays. Get ready for him. You know, it's free. People can come here. They can enjoy. They can write in their in their cars, or they can get down lots
of beautiful places to take pictures with a family. Our parks and recreation team here
at el paso county dedicated 2660 staff hours, and our incredible volunteers and
community service members contributed an additional 2380 hours to bring this holiday
experience to life. Merry christmas to everybody here in el paso, and a special thanks
to the el paso county, especially all the commissioners here. And we'll keep everything going strong here in el paso, especially here at esquerita. Thank you
very much. Merry christmas and happy new year. Merry christmas. Happy new year. Merry christmas,
happy new year, happy christmas and happy new year.
oh my gosh the ledges are wonderful. They grind amazing. Every everything
is smooth. It's beautiful. Park. We are so grateful. Thank you so much. One, two and three. So
today is a very, very happy day because we are here celebrating the renovations at agua dulce
park, but also the naming of this specific skateboard park to the mario navarro skateboard
park. Mario was a person who was very involved in our community and who spent a lot
of his own personal time teaching children how to skateboard and how to
skateboard safely. A big part of this project was receiving guidance and assistance from
actual skateboarding professionals. We had a skate park here at agua dulce before,
but it's nothing like what you see today. Go ahead. Woo! The county received grant funds in
2021 to build three safe skate parks, and it was matched by county funds. The family of
elizabeth avila contacted us to let us know that they would like naming the park in her
honor as an option, and we were more than happy to do that. Elizabeth was an avid skater
and unfortunately passed away due to a skating injury, and so this is a way to honor her
legacy. You know, it's a bittersweet. Of course, I would want to see her here, but I
know that through her tragedy, we can offer now these safe skate parks. And this park was
designed with safety in mind. And so we're really, really proud of the fact that we're
promoting safety in all aspects. And we hope that the skating community will use our parks
and know that it's a safe place for them to do so. Oh, this is a great event that we have here
out at gallegos park in the northwest area of the county, right next to canutillo middle
school. It's it's really nice. There's a lot of different areas that we can do different
tricks on. I'm really hoping that there's more skate parks to come. As you can see, a lot
of the community members are out here. These skateboarders have been out here actually, as soon as it was finished, they didn't wait for the ribbon cutting. They've been out here
daily using this park. Yeah. So I love the fact that one thing that stuck out to me is this
halfpipe here. Not a lot of skate parks here have halfpipes that we can utilize. What this
means is that this community now is on track to make sure that el paso moves forward with
quality of life projects. Oh, it was excellent.
you. This is our second annual dog canine fiesta. We allow the dogs to
come swim with their owners for the end of the season. It kicks off our pilot program last year.
we're going to have dog days of the summer. Everybody's super excited. The dogs are actually
inside the water for the majority of the time, and all of our participants are just
super excited to be here and very happy. First one we have is chewbacca. Woohoo! The
mariachi! Woohoo! This is super important to bring the community together for special
events like this. There's not a lot of places for owners to swim with their dogs, so that's
where we came up with the idea to enjoy the entire month of september. And it's just it's a
it's an overall exciting event for our community to enjoy. So it's been really, really
exciting for the end of the summer to have such a different event. Lyla. Hey, lyla. The
winner. Winner. My dog lyla was dressed up as minnie mouse and I was mickey mouse and and we
decided we were looking for something fun to do. So we heard about this and we came
home a winner. The water makes it so much more fun. The costumes made a lively. You
could judge a community by the way they treat their dogs. And clearly el paso cares a lot, a
lot about their canines. And this canine fiesta was a great, great thing to do. And I know
they're going to keep doing things. And clearly everybody has had a great time today.
good job. Thank you to everybody who has joined the county for the entire season.
it has been a very great summer with a lot of people that just really came to enjoy the call.
so we want to thank everybody who joined us this summer, and we can't wait to start again
next season. Have a winner.
el paso I'm laura gallegos and this is el paso county connects the county continues working hard on community projects, events and voter approved
improvements across our region. Let's take a look at what's been happening around the
county. El paso county and at&t kicked off a major broadband expansion that will bring high
speed internet to more than a thousand homes, including 57 colonias. As part of the
celebration, 125 refurbished laptops were donated to families to help bridge the
digital divide. The county hosted this year's state of the county event, where judge
ricardo samaniego delivered the keynote address. He highlighted major progress in public safety,
infrastructure, economic development and the voter approved bond projects now
moving forward across the region. Families camped out under the stars during the
annual ascarate park campout, a weekend filled with outdoor fun, games and community bonding at
one of the county's most iconic family gathering places. Communities across el paso
county came together to honor our heroes with veterans day parades and celebrations. As
the veterans capital of the usa, the county proudly recognized the service and sacrifice of
our veterans and active duty military. The county officially opened the new sparks park,
bringing fresh recreational space to the community. The project was made possible through partnerships and will continue to grow, with future improvements funded by the 2024
capital improvement bond. The county continues its commitment to keeping residents informed
every step of the way. On 2024 voter approved projects this month, two major community
meetings took place one in fabens for the san felipe off-highway vehicle park
improvements and another for the new county animal shelter. Residents had the chance to
review early concepts, ask questions, and share ideas that will help shape these projects
as design work moves forward. It's all part of the county's effort to ensure transparency,
accountability, and strong community engagement throughout the entire bond program. That's
it for this month's el paso county connects. We hope to see you at the ascarate park
improvement meeting coming up on december 9th. As these community projects continue
moving forward from all of us at el paso county, we wish you and your family a very happy
thanksgiving. Until next time, stay warm and stay connected. Feliz navidad. Welcome to you
to the lights on the lake 2025 lighting ceremony at the beautiful park. The sunsets.
the mountains are beautiful. Desert. Desierto toledo. You guys look amazing. I like the
energy. I want to wish you a merry christmas. I'm so grateful that all of you guys
came out here to listen to some music, to have some fun. As you all know, ascarate park is the
heart of el paso county and we are so happy to have so many of you here celebrating with us
tonight as we celebrate tradition and community and the joy of the season. Hey hey, one.
I think it was pretty awesome. Yeah, I liked it. Very colorful for the spirit of christmas, so
I liked it. You know what? It's awesome. This is the first time I come here. So it's it's
really awesome to know that our county is coming together and doing new stuff. Yeah. Get
everyone in the holiday spirit better than being at home and, you know, get everybody out and
enjoy the holidays. Get ready for them. You know, it's free. People can come here, they can
enjoy. They can write in their in their cars, or they can get down lots of beautiful places
to take pictures with the family. Our parks and recreation team here at el paso
county dedicated 2660 staff hours, and our incredible volunteers and community
service members contributed an additional 2380 hours to bring this holiday experience to life.
merry christmas to everybody here in el paso, and a special thanks to the el paso county,
especially all the commissioners here. And we'll keep everything going strong here in el paso, especially here at esquerita. Thank you very much. Merry christmas and
happy new year. Merry christmas. Happy new year. Merry christmas, happy new year, happy christmas
and happy new year.
go ahead. Has reconvened to regular open session. Item 11 a discuss and
take appropriate action pertaining to the commissioners court. Participation in the el
paso metropolitan planning organization meetings and the mpos. Proposed amendments to
its bylaws. Good afternoon. Anna schumacher, assistant county attorney. We're not getting any action for this item. Thank you. So no action for item 11 a item 11 b discuss
and take appropriate action regarding the consulting services agreement between el paso county and phillips mitchum partners. Contract number 2025 0811. An assistant
county attorney. I heard you say no requested action at this time. Thank you, thank you.
action item 11 b, that completes all the items on today's agenda. Judge. Okay.
thank you. Just wishing all of you a great week. Thank you. Appreciate everything.
everybody does. Promotion team doctor. Thank you. This concludes today's meeting at
1:16 p.m.