[0:05] All right, welcome to the meeting of city council. We are at frisco city hall, the georgia pure 4 municipal center and council
[0:09] chambers, 6101 frisco square boulevard in frisco, texas. It
[0:13] is 511 p.m. On tuesday, march 17, 2026, and I will call the meeting to order. We are joined
[0:18] by the entire council this evening. That moves into closed session. Item 2, recess into closed session in compliance with section
[0:23] 551.001, texas government code, item a, section 551.071, meeting with the city
[0:27] attorney. Regarding a matter in which the duty of the city attorney under the texas
[0:31] disciplinary rules of professional conduct of the state bar of texas conflicts with the open meetings act
[0:36] regarding 1. Receive legal advice regarding proposed interlocal agreement with collin county, texas, and other political subdivisions
[0:41] for the use of the collin county animal shelter and related issues. Item b,
[0:46] section 551.072, to deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property. Located 1,
[0:50] north of stonebrook, west of preston, east of dallas-north, tollway, and
[0:54] south of el dorado. And item two, north of el dorado, west of preston, east of dallas,
[0:59] north tollway, and south of pga parkway. And item c, section 551.087, deliberation
[1:05] regarding commercial or financial information that the city has received from a business prospect. Or
[1:09] to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect I have a
[1:14] motion. Motion by brian. Second. Second by laura. All
[1:18] in favor? Aye. Passes 6-0. Recess an executive session at 5-12. All right, council,
[1:29] can I have a motion to reconvene? Motion by bryan, second by byrd. All in favor? Aye. That passes 6-0.
[1:35] as a result of executive session, there is no action for council to take. And we are reconvened at 6.31 p.m. And I will turn it
[1:41] over to laura for the invocation and the pledge. Good evening, everybody. This
[1:46] evening, our invocation will be provided provided by jessica skidmore,
[1:51] pastor and executive leader at elevate life church, where she serves as the executive
[1:55] director of experience. She oversees key areas of ministry and helps shape the overall
[2:01] experience of the congregation. She is also married and has children. Elevate life church,
[2:06] also called the cathedral of frisco, is a non-denominational church founded 26 years ago
[2:11] by lead pastors keith and sheila craft. Thank you and welcome for praying
[2:16] for us today. Thank you. It's truly an honor to be here,
[2:21] representing elevate life church and serving our community by offering tonight's
[2:25] invocation. So good evening, mayor. And all the council and everybody, the guests here
[2:30] today. So please join me as we bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly father, we come before you tonight
[2:35] with hearts full of gratitude. We invite your presence into this place and ask that you preside
[2:40] over this meeting. Thank you for being a god who loves us and for the unique purpose and
[2:45] gifts you've placed within each of us. Thank you for the opportunity to serve our neighbors and
[2:50] to be good stewards of the people, the resources, and the responsibilities
[2:54] entrusted to the city. Tonight, we lift up our mayor, our council members, and every member
[2:59] of our city staff. We thank you for their service and dedication to this community.
[3:04] we ask for your provision, your favor, your protection over each of them
[3:08] and their families. Lord, grant them wisdom beyond their understanding.
[3:12] give them strength and courage to do what is right and what serves the common good
[3:17] of all citizens. May every decision be guided by integrity, humility, and a genuine care
[3:22] for the people they represent. As they consider the agenda before them tonight,
[3:27] we ask that you guide their thoughts, conversation, and decisions. Bring clarity
[3:31] where there are challenges and inspire creativity as solutions are discussed. Help this
[3:37] meeting to be productive and fruitful. Give them a spirit of unity as they work together toward the shared mission
[3:42] of serving the city well. Direct their words, decisions, and actions towards the right
[3:46] path. We thank you, lord, for the many people who serve and strengthen our community. And
[3:52] all those that work each day to make this place we call home
[3:56] such a wonderful city. May the city continue to flourish. May its people be blessed,
[4:00] its leaders be guided, and may peace, wisdom, and prosperity rest upon this community. We
[4:05] give you thanks and praise. In jesus' name, amen. Amen.
[4:09] thank you. Next for our pledge, we have boy scout troop 216, if you
[4:15] wouldn't mind coming to the
[4:22] stage. I pledge allegiance
[4:40] to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands,
[4:45] one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and
[4:51] justice for all. Honor the texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee,
[4:56] texas, one state under god, one and indivisible.
[5:03] alright well thank you all you'll hang out there for just one moment.
[5:09] we always like to welcome our scouts. Thank you all for being here with us tonight. And I'd
[5:14] love to give you all the opportunity to introduce yourselves and ask
[5:18] kind of one burning question. So here's kind of the gig.
[5:23] it's just your name, your grade, school. And your tough question for tonight is, so
[5:29] today is our city manager wes pearson's birthday. And
[5:40] unfortunately, he's spending it with us working. So to make him feel even worse,
[5:44] I want you to say for your next birthday, where you would like
[5:48] to spend it in frisco. What would be your favorite place or favorite thing that you could
[5:53] be doing on your birthday? That wes can sit over here and
[5:59] wish he was doing tonight? Sorry, wes. You guys ready? You can pass it. So name, age,
[6:05] school. You could do your birthday anywhere in frisco.
[6:09] my name is ian, I'm in fifth grade and I'm ten years old
[6:15] and the mall? Yeah, sure. You
[6:31] like the mall? My name's
[6:38] ayanch. I'm in fifth grade, I'm 10, and I'll spend it playing tennis
[6:43] at my tennis academy. My name is austin, I'm
[6:48] in ninth grade, I go to reedy high school, and I would go rock climbing at canyons rock
[6:55] climbing gym. Hi, my name is vishnu, and I'm 11, and I go to lawler middle school, and I
[7:00] would spend my birthday at like, main event or pinstock. My name is pritish.
[7:08] I'm in sixth grade. I go to lawlor middle school and if I could spend my birthday anywhere, I would go to ifly
[7:13] indoor skydiving. My name is arya patap. I'm 13 years old. I
[7:18] go to pioneer heritage middle school and I'd probably like to spend my birthday
[7:23] at home playing video games. Hi, my name is chris. I'm
[7:28] in eighth grade and I'm 13. I go to clark middle school and I'd like to go to pinstack and
[7:34] spend time with my friends on my birthday. Hi, my name is arav. I'm in 10th grade and I'm
[7:38] currently going to richland high school. If I could celebrate my birthday anywhere,
[7:42] I'd be celebrating at home with my family because they're the ones who appreciate me most.
[7:49] my name is aditya. I'm in 10th grade and I go to richland high school. And I
[7:53] don't have a specific place, but I'd probably go somewhere nice to eat for my birthday. I
[7:59] would actually love in frisco
[8:04] to go to one of the beautiful parks that frisco offers. We're going
[8:19] to try to squeeze. There you go. Y'all three kind of move up there. There we go. We have to face your fans
[8:26] over here. Alright, let's thank
[8:47] our scouts again. We have some frisco pins for y'all. I'm going to hand you to make you
[8:52] in charge, but thank y'all for being here. Much appreciated. Thank you.
[9:00] alright, we have a couple proclamations tonight. One is to celebrate cindy lemus, 20
[9:05] years of service. So, cindy and anyone that would like to join
[9:10] you, make your way up come on, bring the whole crew. Come on,
[9:14] everyone. All right, and it
[9:31] reads, whereas cindy lima began her service to the city of frisco in 2005 as an accountant temp in the old city hall
[9:36] building. Before moving into a full-time role in 2006 as a customer service
[9:41] representative and central cashier in revenue collections. And whereas in 2011, cindy
[9:47] brought her talents to accounts payable, where her reliability, accuracy, and deep knowledge of
[9:53] the field became indispensable. In 2019, she was promoted to senior accounting
[9:58] technician, a role in which she continues to excel. Through her expertise,
[10:02] professionalism, and steadfast commitment to ensuring smooth and efficient
[10:06] operations. And whereas cindy embodies a spirit of joy and connection through cherished traditions,
[10:11] whether cheering on her grandchildren at their sports and activities,
[10:15] creating memories while making gingerbread houses, enjoying peaceful days at the lake property,
[10:20] or rocking out at classic rock concerts. And whereas her contributions
[10:25] extend far beyond her job duties, as she is known for elevating holiday celebrations,
[10:29] especially easter, where she serves as the department's expert egg hider, and
[10:34] for brightening the workplace in thoughtful trinkets,
[10:38] spontaneous bubble machine moments, and an ever-present supply of dr. Pepper. How come you've
[10:43] never brought this to council meetings? And whereas cindy's willingness to support her team,
[10:48] her generosity of spirit, and her dedication to both her family and the city of frisco make her a treasured
[10:52] colleague and a shining example of service. Delivered with heart. She is recognized
[10:58] for her exceptional service, her vibrant spirit, and the positive impact she makes each
[11:02] day. Her legacy of dedication, joy, and kindness continues to inspire all who have the
[11:07] privilege of working alongside her. Now, therefore, I, jeff chaney, mayor of the city of
[11:12] frisco, on behalf of the city council, do hereby bestow special recognition for 20 years of service dedicated
[11:17] to the city of frisco. And proclaim march 17, 2026, as cindy lima day. Testing.
[11:54] okay, this is my husband danny and my son chad. And I have a daughter, but she thought
[11:59] her trip to mexico was more important. You
[12:04] know. She's watching online. Probably not. She's probably
[12:08] at the beach. I mean, you know. You have another 20 years left in you? I'm getting
[12:14] on up there. I don't know. I'll try. How about that? That.
[12:18] alright, let's thank cindy and family one more time.
[12:35] alright, we have a twofer
[12:47] tonight, so hank johnson celebrating 20 years. Man,
[13:09] thank goodness this guy didn't run for mayor of council. We'd be in trouble. Popular. All
[13:15] right. Whereas henry or hank? Johnson began his service
[13:19] to the citizens of frisco on march 27, 2006, and currently serves as crew leader in
[13:24] frisco public works meters division. And whereas hank johnson's life has been marked not only by dedicated work,
[13:29] but by passions that enrich the spirit. His commitment to our community began long
[13:34] before joining the city. Including three years serving the youth of frisco
[13:39] at the boys and girls club. And continued contributions through his work with primmo
[13:44] school, berry best academy, and petty ann's flowers on main street. And whereas,
[13:49] since joining the city of frisco in 2006, hank johnson has exemplified loyalty,
[13:53] reliability, and perseverance, consistently demonstrating a strong work ethic and
[13:58] unwavering dedication to the community. Whereas, amongst his greatest
[14:03] accomplishments are his daily acts of purpose, positivity and kindness, brightening the days of those
[14:09] around him. Henry is known for embracing life's joys, smoking fine cigars, listening
[14:14] to music, gathering with friends, and playing the drums.
[14:18] he's the most interesting man in the world. Jeff chaney,
[14:30] mayor of the city of frisco, on behalf of the city council, do hereby bestow special recognition for 20
[14:34] years of dedicated service to the city of frisco. And proclaim march 17th, 2026, as
[14:40] hank johnson day. Let's hear it for hank. Well, I didn't know I
[15:03] was going to be sharing with cindy lima, so it would be lima johnson. Sound
[15:09] like a law firm. Well, I want to thank all my family that
[15:15] made it. Fuego family back there smell like cigars.
[15:21] but yeah, I just want to give this day to my parents who are not here. You know, my dad passed away
[15:28] december of 20 years this year. And my mom, the day
[15:33] before my birthday in 2007, bestowed all this upon me
[15:39] to give to y'all. And I bet some of y'all are like,
[15:44] they gave him the microphone.
[15:49] yeah, I was like, yeah, wes, I told you. But no, yeah,
[15:55] it's been a good 20 years. And just to let you know, I changed my name to frisco
[16:00] king. And also, I am the mayor
[16:06] of frisco square. So thank
[16:18] y'all for being here. Those of y'all can make it. And people on youtube, I see you.
[16:25] well, thank y'all and have a great evening. Be safe when y'all get to your homes. Come
[16:50] on, alright, let's hear it for hank one more time. All
[17:31] right, we have one more proclamation. This is to celebrate our
[17:36] north texas community and mayor's cleanup challenge. We've got our team coming up
[17:47] here. Hank's a tough show to follow, but I'm confident.
[17:58] all right, the proclamation reads, whereas the north texas community cleanup challenge, otherwise known as
[18:03] ntccc, is an annual region-wide litter cleanup competition
[18:08] organized by the north central texas council of governments. That encourages
[18:13] the north texas communities to work together to reduce litter, beautify the neighborhoods, and protect
[18:18] environmental quality. And whereas? The city of frisco's environmental services and sustainability division has
[18:23] proudly participated in the north texas community cleanup challenge in previous years,
[18:27] demonstrating its ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship, community pride,
[18:31] and sustainability. And whereas? The 2026 fifa world cup has established several
[18:37] sustainability initiatives in advance of the global sporting event,
[18:41] including tree planting efforts and community litter cleanup activities. And whereas fifa
[18:46] has partnered with netcog
[18:51] on the fifth annual north texas community cleanup challenge, further highlighting
[18:56] the importance of environmental responsibility and community engagement on both a regional
[19:01] and international scale. And whereas the 2026 north texas community cleanup challenge
[19:07] will take place from march 1st through may 31st, 2026, providing residents,
[19:12] volunteers, and organizations an opportunity to come together to remove litter and improve local
[19:18] environments. And whereas participation in this event fosters civic engagement,
[19:22] promotes environmental awareness, and regional collaboration,
[19:26] with the mayor's challenge, the city of frisco demonstrates its support of the next north texas community cleanup
[19:32] challenge, and it encourages residents, organizations, and businesses to take on an active role in keeping
[19:37] north texas clean. Now, therefore, I, jeff chaney, mayor of the city of frisco, do
[19:41] hereby recognize the months of march through may 2026 as the north texas community and
[19:46] mayor's cleanup challenge month. So, thank y'all. Hi
[19:59] everyone, my name is jackie sudeiky. I serve as the city's sustainability manager. We invite you all to participate
[20:05] in our clean it and green it earth day litter cleanup event,
[20:09] taking place on april 18th. It supports this community cleanup challenge. Bring your family,
[20:15] your friends, your neighbors. We invite you all. We supply all the materials. We will pick
[20:20] up your litter, weigh it, and you'll take part
[20:24] in keeping frisco clean. Thanks everyone. All right,
[20:43] let's thank our environmental services team again. All right,
[21:10] council, that will move us to to item seven, which is council
[21:14] comment or acknowledgement of proclamations issued
[21:18] since our last meeting. Anything noted? I just want to wish everybody a very happy
[21:25] st. Patrick's day. Traditional way to say, you know, may the
[21:30] sun always shine to your face, may the wind
[21:34] always be to your back, and may god hold you in the palm of his hand. And with that, please be safe tonight if you
[21:38] go out and celebrate. And if you've had one too many to celebrate today. Definitely
[21:43] call an uber, get a ride from somebody else. Okay, that
[21:49] will take us to our report section. Item 8 is our visit frisco report.
[21:58] good evening, mayor and council. You probably noticed that january was a little bit slow, and part of that had
[22:04] to do with fcs not being here, but also the week of ice that we had. Really killed
[22:08] a lot of group business, but I did see our february report this morning and it
[22:13] looked really strong, so we'll have better numbers to reflect. I also wanted to just say a note of congrats
[22:18] to our marketing team. They launched a drip campaign mid january to our convention
[22:24] client database, which was about 5,800. And right off,
[22:29] just today, we've had 143 leads. And after lost business,
[22:35] we still have about 80 that we're targeting. So it's been really successful, and it's going to continue
[22:39] over the course of the next couple of months. So it's a new initiative that we haven't done before,
[22:45] so we're really proud of them for working with our sales team to get that launched. Other
[22:49] than that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. All right. Counsel, what questions do you have?
[22:56] okay. Thank you. That takes us to item nine, our development services report. Good evening,
[23:06] mayor and council. Ralandria russell with development services. You all have our february report
[23:12] in your packet and I'm happy to answer any questions. All right. Council, what questions
[23:17] do you have on the development report? All
[23:21] right. Thank you. Item 10 is our fire department monthly report. Good evening,
[23:31] mayor and council. Lee glover, fire chief. On march
[23:36] 2nd, 2026, frisco fire department amended a peak
[23:41] demand ambulance program that will operate daily between the hours of 8 a.m.
[23:46] and 8 p.m. The peak demand program will increase our total
[23:51] ambulance count from 7 to 8 for a 12-hour period that it's
[23:56] in service. This decision was made following the continuous increase in ambulance call volume over the last six months.
[24:01] we expect this unit to provide relief to the entire ems system during our busiest time frame
[24:06] of the day. And we will continue to monitor this monthly. Looking at our data to make sure that it's still the right
[24:12] thing to do. Junior citizens fire academy application period
[24:18] will open on april 1st. This program is designed for middle school age students who live
[24:24] in frisco or attend frisco schools. Similar to our citizens fire academy, this
[24:31] program gives students a front row seat in the frisco fire department operations,
[24:35] training, and normal a day functions.
[24:39] this program is free to attend and runs between the hours of 9 and 3 p.m. Each day and concludes
[24:44] with a graduation on each friday at noon that we invite family and friends to come to the graduation. These
[24:51] classes will be offered on june 1st through the 5th and june 8th through the 12th. If
[24:57] you'd like to attend, please go to friscofire.com and go to the program section and go
[25:03] down to the link for the junior citizens fire academy.
[25:09] we'd also like to remind all of our citizens about our free cpr aed
[25:14] awareness class and stop the bleed classes. We offer it on the third wednesday
[25:20] of each month from 630 to 9 p.m. Stop the bleed occurs on odd months. And cpr and aed
[25:26] awareness is on even months. Again, if you would like
[25:30] to attend one of these classes, go to friscofire.com and register
[25:34] online. With that, you have our february report.
[25:39] I'd be happy to answer any questions. All right. Thank you
[25:43] for the report. Counsel, any questions? Thank you, chief.
[25:49] and item 11 is our police
[25:59] department report. Good evening, mayor and council. David chilson, chief of police. I'll start with, you
[26:04] were sent our latest bias-based profiling report. This is a
[26:09] report that we're required to submit to the state
[26:13] by law, but one of the things that we're very proud of. At the police department is we
[26:18] were doing this report long before it was required by law. So this is the 22nd
[26:25] year that we've submitted this report, and really just some highlights
[26:30] from it. You can see, year over year the numbers are very similar. One thing that we did
[26:36] notice in our report was we did have an increase in racial profiling complaints.
[26:41] however, that increase, all those complaints were...
[26:46] unfounded, and so certainly something that we will continue to monitor and be very
[26:52] transparent about. This report is available to the public,
[26:57] you can scan that qr code, it's also available off of our website, and you can see the previous versions of the
[27:02] report as well. I also wanted
[27:06] to highlight we recently had our annual awards banquet and many of you were there,
[27:12] had a chance to be there. We don't ever want to take for granted the great work that the
[27:17] men and women of our police department do, both sworn and non-sworn.
[27:23] really, just some highlights from the evening were the six life-saving awards that we
[27:28] honored. All of those officers involved in that, as well as all the award recipients in the various
[27:34] categories that we had. Really want to highlight the chief's
[27:39] unit award, which was our training division. And one of
[27:43] the reasons that that unit received the chief's unit award this year was,
[27:48] as I'm sure you're aware, we started our first police academy here in frisco. And
[27:53] that was a huge lift for our training division. They took it on, and we have
[27:59] already started our third police academy. So we were in our third class. So that
[28:03] group, very hardworking. That was a big project, and they continue to make each
[28:09] academy class better. I also want to highlight the chief's award for service that we
[28:14] recognized our it department. Certainly, it's not just about public safety,
[28:20] it isn't just about the people in our department, it's the partnerships that we have with
[28:24] our other city departments. And our it department has been instrumental in guiding us
[28:30] through what has been the biggest technology project
[28:37] in our city's history. As we changed from one computer aided dispatch system and records management system to another
[28:43] system. And this was a huge lift, didn't just affect us, affected the fire department as
[28:49] well, and so they helped get us through that transition. We're still learning our new system,
[28:54] but it is providing us a lot more functionality than we've ever had. And that will pay big
[29:00] dividends to public safety. Here in frisco, which we're very proud of,
[29:04] couldn't have done it without our it department, and last but not least, we say
[29:11] that opportunity lives here in frisco. Coming up on the 27th, we will celebrate
[29:15] the latest promotions within our department, and we will swear
[29:20] in another set of officers. And so just a way that we
[29:25] welcome and recognize those that are being promoted and those that are just joining us.
[29:30] so certainly want to make sure that everybody has a chance to attend that if they want. If you can't be here,
[29:34] it's also live streamed on facebook. With that, you have our february report.
[29:39] I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, chief. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, and item 12 is our
[29:49] rail district update. Good
[29:56] evening, mayor and council. Jason brodigan, director of engineering services. Just to provide a quick update
[30:00] on construction in the rail district. The aesthetic features on main street keep kind
[30:05] of rolling in. You should see planter boxes now, and I believe trash cans were delivered and installed today.
[30:11] we won't be able to take credit for this, but when the trees start to bud here in a couple
[30:15] of weeks, it's gonna look even better. For 4th street plaza, concrete
[30:20] pours are continuing, which will help us get the brick pavers in. It's a really big
[30:25] step. In the next week, we ought to start seeing the support columns
[30:30] for the shade structure start to arrive. And finally, the parking garage is still working
[30:35] on the facade, the mep, the mechanical, electrical,
[30:39] plumbing, and then it started the hardscape on 3rd and 5th streets. So good
[30:46] progress being made, starting to look really good. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have on the construction.
[30:53] when will the plants start going in the flower pots? I don't have an answer
[30:57] for that question yet, but I will get it. All right. I'm going to bug you every time. Are we
[31:02] still on track for the plaza? We are on track. We will be done by june. We will be done.
[31:07] okay. Good answer. Yes, ma'am.
[31:18] okay, good evening, mayor and council. A quick update on the gift card program. It's expired. Yeah, it's expired.
[31:23] the gift cards have all been redeemed, or they're in the process
[31:28] of being redeemed back to the chamber or a third-party administrator. As you can see at the bottom,
[31:33] the grand total so far is over $400,000 worth of physical gift cards have been redeemed
[31:39] at participating businesses in the rel district. The digital gift card program,
[31:46] the bonus card program portion of it, has expired. Approximately $548,000 have
[31:52] been redeemed, total. Of that, 232 are gift cards that do not expire, and
[32:01] 315,000 gift cards were the bonus gift cards that do expire, that have expired. Our
[32:07] advertising program, again, this is static, but $123,000 in direct investment.
[32:12] since this program went live. And we'd continue with the
[32:17] digital marketing efforts for the billboards. So as a
[32:24] reminder, we talked about this at the winter work session. Our near term goals, as jason
[32:28] mentioned, is finished construction, kick off the downtown circulator,
[32:35] complete all the work downtown, and begin to pivot towards,
[32:39] you know, redevelopment efforts. The long term strategy is
[32:43] activation of events, implementing leasing strategy for the garage, retail,
[32:49] and other city-owned buildings, define and implement the governance structure,
[32:56] and evaluate downtown circulator pilot. So these are kind of the goals
[33:01] for fiscal year 27 and beyond. So next steps, excited to talk
[33:06] about the next steps. We're going to roll out another digital gift card program
[33:11] beginning june 1st. And also help market that to world cup traffic that's coming to
[33:16] frisco. We're going to roll out the advertising grant program on april 15th. We're looking
[33:21] to do a mural on the side of the old city hall, the former school of rock building.
[33:25] we're talking about downtown circulator beginning in june, once the garage is complete.
[33:30] we continue to have discussions in coordination with the rail district advisory board, rail
[33:35] district roundup, and merchants on main, formerly the save main group. We talk
[33:40] about budget discussions for special events, holiday decorations, programming, and
[33:45] the activations I mentioned above. And also, a forthcoming will be an april
[33:50] work session, a deep dive into the special events planned for the 4th street plaza. So,
[33:56] with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. You can still go out and buy a gift card. Just
[34:01] no bonus match, not until june 1st. We did notice when we started the program, initially
[34:08] in november, that there was a huge rush of excitement. So we want to time that excitement june 1st with the grand opening
[34:13] events that we're having downtown. Right, right.
[34:17] council, any questions for ben? Ben, can you just expound
[34:22] a little bit so that the public knows what you mean by downtown circulator? We're
[34:27] evaluating an electrical
[34:32] vehicle, it's a large bus. Capacity up to 18 people, ada
[34:38] compliant, accessible, and the general path would be the
[34:42] parking garage. Downtown on come down elm street, if you can visualize, to north
[34:47] county, along main street, to rollertown, and may even go
[34:52] beyond into simpson plaza, past toyota stadium. So that would be the circulator that we're
[34:57] evaluating. Thank you. Okay,
[35:04] council. Item 13 is council subcommittee reports. Any
[35:09] updates? So for those
[35:15] of you who did not make it out to the work session earlier, this is a continuation from
[35:20] efforts at the cog and the rtc. We will be working
[35:26] with dcta very quickly to bring some public transportation to frisco, so specifically
[35:32] for areas. That need help. So, senior citizens that are living in frisco lakes,
[35:38] in the grove, as well as students, all members of our
[35:42] community will have access to a beta test. And really, really want to thank brian
[35:47] moen, jason brodigan, the city staff for bringing this up
[35:52] to light. So that should help with people. And the second thing is. We are currently also
[35:57] working to get flood mitigation dollars from the state of texas to provide relief
[36:02] for you areas in frisco that could be flooded. So wes and team are definitely on it. So
[36:08] wanted to give that update from the rtc. And yes, the item mentioned will be
[36:13] on an april agenda, where there will be a full presentation for the contract with dcta.
[36:20] all right, that will move us to our consent agenda. Items placed on the consent agenda are considered routine in nature and are considered
[36:25] non-controversial. The consent agenda can be acted upon in one motion. The majority of the council is required
[36:30] to move any item for discussion in separate action. Council members may vote nay on any single item
[36:34] without comment. You may submit written comments as part of the official record. And council, you have 14 through 27 for consideration. Motion
[36:41] by laura. Second. Second by angelia. All in favor? Aye.
[36:46] that motion passes 6-0. Legislative agenda. These items may legally require council
[36:51] action, but by council policy should be the city manager's responsibility. The legislative
[36:55] agenda can be acted upon on one motion. The concurrence of two council members is
[37:00] required to move any item for discussion and action. Council members may vote nay on any single item
[37:04] without comment and may submit written comments as part of the official record. There's one item, council, item
[37:09] 28. Motion by laura. Second.
[37:14] second by angelina. All in favor? Aye. That motion passes 6-0. That'll move us
[37:21] to our regular agenda. Item 29 is consider an act upon adoption of an ordinance
[37:26] amending frisco's code of ordinances number 06-03-31, as amended, chapter 2, article 2,
[37:30] division 1, section 2-19. Article 3, section 2-76, rules or procedures for the conduct
[37:40] of public testimony at meetings, modifying certain rules of procedure for the conduct
[37:45] of public testimony at meetings of the city council, boards, commissions, and committees of the city of
[37:50] frisco. Good evening, marion city council. Ken schmidt, director of special projects for the city. So, the rules
[37:56] of procedure for public testimony were initially established in the late 1980s. And they
[38:02] were applied to the conduct of testimony at city council, board, commission, and
[38:06] committee meetings. Recently, council gave direction to staff to consider updates
[38:12] to the rules of procedure, and as a result, staff facilitated several work sessions
[38:18] with council. Addressing themes related to speaker duration and registration procedures,
[38:24] frequency and timing of public testimony
[38:28] on non-agenda items, and additional rules of decorum. For the ordinance
[38:35] that is before you tonight, for your consideration, it addresses several updates
[38:40] related to speaker duration. Most notably, it proposes a reduction
[38:45] in speaker duration from five minutes to three minutes for testimony
[38:50] on both agenda and non-agenda items. For speakers that
[38:54] require a translator, it proposes a proportional
[38:58] reduction from ten minutes to six minutes for those speakers. This
[39:03] proposed ordinance also eliminates an existing ordinance provision that
[39:08] provides discretion to the presiding bodies. To reduce speaker time
[39:13] on a single agenda item based on the number of speakers who wish to speak
[39:17] on that item. For speakers on non-agenda items, this
[39:21] ordinance limits those speakers to three minutes
[39:26] of speaking time in total, regardless of the number of people they wish
[39:30] to speak on. This ordinance
[39:35] also addresses speaker registration procedures.
[39:39] specifically, it transitions our speaker registration process from a paper form filled
[39:45] out prior to or during the meeting to an online registration form
[39:49] to be completed prior to the start of each meeting.
[39:53] it does provide for reasonable accommodations to be made by the city
[39:59] secretary's office for members of the public. Who may need assistance with that process.
[40:04] outside of the ordinance, as part of our administrative
[40:09] standards and procedures, the city secretary's office will provide for promotional
[40:13] materials, as well as administrative standards to support the online
[40:18] registration process if this ordinance were to be approved. This ordinance
[40:23] also addresses the topic of placement of citizen input
[40:28] on the council agenda. For agenda items,
[40:32] it clarifies that process in that it provides speakers opportunity to speak
[40:37] on specific agenda items, either before or at the time
[40:43] of consideration of that agenda item, but not at both times. This codifies
[40:50] our existing process, and I will note that this was a change that occurred
[40:56] after the agenda packet was. Posted specifically to account
[41:01] for the during the agenda item component that does provide
[41:06] additional opportunity for speakers to address
[41:11] during the agenda item. So that refinement was an improvement
[41:16] to what was originally included in the agenda packet.
[41:21] for non-agenda items, it defines an opportunity for speakers to speak
[41:26] on those items at the end of the meeting. Where a citizen
[41:33] input session would be defined at the end of the council agenda, with the exception
[41:38] of regular council meetings. And consistent with current practice today,
[41:44] public testimony at all other city meetings would be limited to testimony on specific agenda
[41:49] items. The proposed ordinance also provides for additional
[41:55] rules of decorum, specifically prohibitions against disruptive and unruly
[42:01] behavior, to include the disruptive use of props, threatening speech
[42:06] not protected by the first amendment. The use of electronic devices
[42:10] to impede or disrupt a meeting, physically approaching the presiding body more closely
[42:15] than the room is set up to accommodate, or displaying a sign, placard,
[42:20] poster, or banner in the meeting room. This does not include shirts or apparel
[42:26] that may communicate a message. This also addresses a process
[42:31] for treatment of decorum violations,
[42:35] beginning with a warning. From the presiding officer of the meeting and identifying the
[42:41] specific violation. And if that individual does not correct
[42:46] their violation of the rules of decorum, the presiding officer will ask a police
[42:53] officer to remove that individual from the meeting. So staff does
[43:01] recommend approval. The proposed updates to the public testimony rules
[43:06] of procedures. These are aligned with best practices in the region, most notably
[43:11] speaker duration time at three minutes. That is a very common practice in north
[43:16] texas. If you do adopt this ordinance as presented, it would be effective
[43:21] for your april 7th council meeting. We'd be happy to address any questions that you
[43:27] have. All right. Well, thank you for the presentation. Some
[43:32] color I want to add first. Because this isn't just
[43:38] in a silo. And anytime you're talking about public input, especially
[43:43] during campaign season, it's fodder for perhaps
[43:47] political gain or misinformation. So city council receives public input in a number of ways. We do
[43:52] three town halls a year where we physically call out to every single home in frisco, asking them to listen
[43:57] in to the town hall. We usually have thousands of people that will listen to
[44:01] the town hall all the way through. We stream it live on facebook and we also always
[44:05] invite people to join us in audience. It's an intentional effort we've been doing now
[44:12] for almost a decade, to try to get input from all four corners of the community. That's just
[44:18] one item. We have multiple times when we'll actually go
[44:22] out into the community to solicit input. It could be a scenario where it's a very
[44:29] specific issue in a part of the city that residents want to point things to. It's maybe
[44:34] meeting with an hoa. I probably give two dozen presentations a year to various groups with
[44:39] frisco updates and seeking input. Every part of our decision-making process is a
[44:45] citizen driven process. So it starts with our comprehensive
[44:50] plan, which we just had a citizen body who solicited input, along with consultants
[44:55] and surveys and feedback to build our 2040 comprehensive
[45:00] plan. And then every decision goes through a variety of committees, all citizen
[45:05] appointed committees, whether it's planning and zoning, parks and rec,
[45:09] and you name can go all down the list, where their entire initiative is to expand our scope
[45:14] of being able to hear the community and provide additional opportunities
[45:18] for citizen input. Council then does many things on their own. I can say this entire council
[45:24] will spend time meeting with residents at coffee shops for long-form discussions or
[45:29] meeting them in their home. During campaign season, walking and knocking doors,
[45:35] listening to the needs of the community. Many people
[45:40] don't want to speak in front of a council meeting. I'd say, probably the citizen input is probably the tool used the
[45:46] least by the community to reach us. Oftentimes, it's
[45:51] just a simple email that we may get. It may be, you know,
[45:55] one person articulated an issue very well, so they may send
[46:00] out. A petition that they want to show support, that they agree
[46:04] with those points. So kind of the point is, you know, we've always been a city
[46:10] that wants to seek citizen input, you know,
[46:17] and have that information for essentially every single decision. I think two years ago
[46:21] was the first time we actually did a citizen survey, and that's actually going to be
[46:25] followed up again later this year. So all we're addressing
[46:30] tonight, all those other outreach where we're both kind of pushing for feedback and
[46:34] pulling for feedback, will continue. All we're
[46:39] addressing tonight is official city meetings and how
[46:43] to handle citizen input during official city business.
[46:49] and really, as was mentioned in the presentation, we've already had multiple work
[46:53] sessions, and council has kind of narrowed into a scope of things we wanted to think
[46:59] about and discuss. Some of them were coming regardless because of our new electronic system,
[47:04] where we needed to change policies. Be able to kind of manage that. So that was
[47:10] already on the horizon. And then some of the of the others are just changes
[47:15] to practices and codifying practices that we've always used during citizen input.
[47:21] there's probably really only kind of one change for consideration tonight other than practice,
[47:25] which is the length of time. And I'll just kind of open
[47:32] with my comments on that. So it's always interesting when you're in the market
[47:38] for a car, then all of a sudden all you can see on the road is that car. You know, just because you become
[47:43] more observant of what's happening with you. And so I thought, you know, with this coming up,
[47:48] it's made me kind of more perceptive. Of our
[47:52] citizen input process and how we can make it better for the person presenting,
[47:56] but also for how our meetings operate.
[48:00] and so last meeting was a great example where we had more than
[48:04] 10 speakers. Show up. And so all of those speakers on that agenda item then went
[48:11] to the three minute time. And so what I found really
[48:16] fascinating is that usually when we do citizen input, five minutes is a really long
[48:20] time, and it sounds like a really long time. And so people will struggle because
[48:25] they feel like they need to fill the time. And so there's usually kind
[48:30] of what we would call the the academy awards. Beginning part of the presentation where kind
[48:35] of everyone is thanked and you know, and then maybe kind
[48:41] of ramble through some points. And then all of a sudden they look up and they're out,
[48:46] they're out of time. Well, last meeting, I thought we had a lot. Of speakers, and I thought it
[48:52] was actually probably one of the most efficient presentations from a citizen input. Because suddenly three minutes doesn't
[48:56] sound like.and three minutes is I need to get my points articulated. If someone said one of my points, really well,
[49:01] I can say an agreeing statement. Like my neighbor bill, really, I agree with him
[49:05] on that point. Let me focus on some other points. In the past, we've seen
[49:10] strategies where multiple speakers will want to come in, and they may take
[49:15] different parts of the presentation. And so it
[49:19] really kind of, in my mind, made me realize that it actually created a more
[49:24] effective communication tool, I thought, and the most shocking thing is, when we're at five minutes, I
[49:30] would say a very high percentage of people run out of time. When we went
[49:34] to three minutes last meeting, I think 90% of the people of the people finished
[49:39] in two minutes. Because it just changed the mentality of the presentation that we were giving, and I thought it was a
[49:44] much better communication. So that's kind of my take on it, but council, we'll just kind
[49:49] of take these one by one, and the first one is just that duration time. So those are my
[49:53] thoughts and comments, but I'll look for any other comments or questions. Are we
[50:00] looking to take public input before we start? Oh, yes, let's do that. Sorry. We do
[50:04] have three people wanting to speak on this item tonight. So we will start with josh meek, and after that we'll have mark
[50:10] pyland. All right, mr. Mayor,
[50:17] city council members, my name is josh meek. I'm a resident here in frisco and my
[50:22] address is listed there on the blue card. What's going
[50:27] on? It's been a long time since I've kind of been here consistently,
[50:32] so back in the rhythm of it. You know, after reading through the proposed ordinance, I do have some comments. You
[50:38] know, for general public comment, non related, you know, to an agenda item, I think,
[50:42] you know, three minutes is fair. I think, to your point, I think, to your point, I think, you
[50:47] know, most of the stuff that gets covered in a public comment during that time, you know,
[50:52] gets addressed. But I do struggle, honestly, every time. We reduce from five minutes to three minutes whenever we do have
[50:57] more than 10 speakers, just because a lot of the general public isn't up to date with, you know,
[51:02] what the rules of practice are. So they come prepared for that five-minute window.
[51:06] it gets reduced down to three. And, you know I think back to a lot of the times that we've had residents,
[51:12] you know, recently, with the warehouse there on the south side of
[51:17] ridgewoods. But, you know, also the residents there of cobb hill when universal park was coming in,
[51:22] and the residents surrounding harold backus park, you know, with the forest bark dog
[51:26] park. The recent, you know, stuff related to the performing arts center, and, you know, things related
[51:31] to civil service, collective bargaining and unions, you know, is three minutes for some
[51:36] of the density. Of these topics to be, you know, is it enough time, you know, three minutes for that
[51:41] to be allotted? And I would argue that it's not, especially, you know, I think
[51:45] the reason I'm also up here is really for the citizen, the resident that isn't as informed. You know, they're
[51:50] showing up and they don't understand the rules and the procedures, which is one of the
[51:55] things that I was kind of, as I was brainstorming through the process,
[52:00] is that if there's a way to even kind of hyperlink to the electronic form, which I'm all for. If there is
[52:05] a way to hyperlink specifically to that form, or however that's going to be submitted,
[52:11] if there is a way to do that within the actual agenda. But I just don't believe that. Three,
[52:16] you know, reducing from five minutes to three minutes. And I know it's a practice that we've had,
[52:20] you know, in, you know, lockstep for a few years now here locally. A lot
[52:25] of municipalities use it down in austin. Three minutes is used. But since when is frisco
[52:29] ever conformed? Right. We've been the leader. And you guys are the closest level
[52:34] of government. To the people. And so, like I said, reflecting back on some of the
[52:38] public comment that I've heard and seeing, you know,
[52:42] the public comment reduced down from five minutes to three minutes, I just kind
[52:47] of struggle with that. And just kind of, you know, conforming that moving forward from here on out, and not even
[52:52] allowing that opportunity. Obviously, the last council meeting, we had a lot of public speakers. But, you
[52:57] know, if you only have a handful, allowing them that extra time to me is something that is
[53:04] supportive of what we should be giving to our residents and to the citizens of frisco. The
[53:08] only other thing I was kind
[53:12] of concerned about, too, was related to the times. You
[53:17] know, the council meetings start at five o'clock. Your average everyday frisco resident is probably not getting
[53:21] off work yet. Five o'clock, six o'clock, commute time. And I understand there's going to be a component of, you know,
[53:27] electronic, electronic submission, but. With that, do they understand that they can
[53:31] do that? Do they show up at a council meeting, there's an agenda item that they wanted to speak about, and now they can't speak
[53:36] about it? So there's going to have to be a massive amount of education, I think, you know, if we're going
[53:40] to conform to some of these standards. You know, the other thing that I kind
[53:45] of struggle with is, you know, myself and my three minutes would have already been up.
[53:50] but essentially. There's been several times where I have not planned on speaking at a
[53:54] meeting and I felt inspired or motivated, or compelled. So I've seen other residents also
[54:00] do that as well. So I struggle with also to kind of I understand the rules and having
[54:05] an order and structure, but I struggle for that in the moment. Maybe somebody that wasn't brave enough
[54:10] to speak decided to speak up on a topic or something. Triggered was triggered
[54:14] in them, and then they felt motivated and compelled to then speak and stand up for their neighborhood. So
[54:19] there's, I think, a couple of things that I just really struggle with on this. So I
[54:25] just think that, you know, deliberately, of course, you know, reducing the time is just too much. But there's a couple
[54:30] courses of action available of action available to you guys tonight. And I'd
[54:35] ask that you guys continue to edit the ordinance. I don't entirely agree with it
[54:40] in its entirety, and I do believe that it should be edited. But as always, thank you guys for everything
[54:45] you do. I know you all come under the gun recently. I watch these meetings. I attend these
[54:50] meetings. And one thing that I would love to see more of is more professionalism at this dais and treating each
[54:55] other like neighbors. So thank
[55:00] you guys for my time. Thank you. After that, we have shauna sowell. Good evening,
[55:05] mayor and council. Mark pylative in the hollyhock
[55:09] section of frisco. First, a couple comments, mayor, to your comments. The city's
[55:17] getting ready to be a quarter of a million people. And while I know that there are meetings and neighborhoods and
[55:23] gatherings, and that's all great, but the only other thing that's videotaped that the
[55:28] masses of this city can see are our town halls and these meetings here. So while you
[55:33] may have coffee with the mayor, you may have meetings in different communities,
[55:39] the mass of frisco don't see that. They don't hear what you're talking about. So I
[55:43] think for us, we have to evolve into a city that's not 30,000
[55:48] people anymore. It's growing. It's big. And I think that we
[55:52] need to embrace that and think of different ways to get information out
[55:58] of the community. I'm okay with the decorum on the ordinance. I think that's fair. I think all persons that address this council and this
[56:03] body and this chamber should have decorum. I think they all
[56:07] should behave themselves in a proper manner. But I also believe this ordinance is a
[56:12] slippery slope. And as josh said, limiting people to three
[56:16] minutes, you've always had that ability. That's in the current ordinance now.
[56:21] why make it a mandatory three minutes? If you've got ten or more speakers,
[56:25] you've always had the ability to limit that time limit. So I'm not sure why that now
[56:30] becomes mandatory. Putting non-agenda item speakers
[56:35] at the end of the meeting, let's just be honest. That is trying to discourage people
[56:39] from coming here and speaking. What you're saying is, if you have a non-agenda item,
[56:46] we're going to make you wait to the end of the meeting, when maybe most people have
[56:52] left, or when you just can't spend here that long, or you're just too tired or whatnot, so we're going
[56:57] to put you at the end. I mean, that's what this is. Let's just be honest. For once,
[57:02] let's just be truthful about what we're doing here. That's what we're doing. It's a deliberate attempt to discourage people.
[57:07] from speaking. This is an issue to limit citizen speech cloaked
[57:13] in good governance, and that is not what this is.
[57:18] the job of the council is to listen. That is your job as an elected official. If you
[57:24] don't want to listen anymore, reconsider your position, because that's why you were
[57:28] elected. You were elected on transparency and
[57:33] accountability. But you don't want transparency and accountability because you want the transparent people
[57:38] to be there in the meeting when no one's here. That's not transparency, and that certainly is not
[57:43] accountability. Public discourse is an american right.
[57:48] and limiting free speech by
[57:53] time and opportunity is wrong. I can't even begin to think
[57:58] of our people in our country, the men and women, who have sacrificed everything
[58:03] to give us free speech. And this is a slippery slope of this council to try
[58:08] to limit that. It's a knee-jerk reaction to february 3rd and some other times when there's
[58:13] been a lot of speakers here criticizing this council or saying some things that people
[58:18] did not want to hear. But that's what free speech is about. It's
[58:22] about not you agreeing with what they have to say, but you defending their right
[58:28] to say that. And, as josh said, it's comparing us to other cities. I welcome that
[58:32] comparison. Let's make that comparison because it's working here for 10 years. I can tell you, when there's something
[58:37] that we want to do, we'll find a city to make that comparison. But when we don't want
[58:41] to compare with them, we say we're frisco, we're different. I've seen it over a 10-year career here.
[58:47] we'll talk about neighboring cities. Let's have that discussion. We
[58:51] can talk about that because we want to compare ourselves. Let's do the full comparison because I've got some great
[58:56] ideas about how we can be better if we're going to compare with our neighboring cities.
[59:00] this basically is a solution in search of a problem is what this is. And it is limiting.
[59:06] let's just be honest. It's limiting people's ability for free speech. It's just we
[59:10] table this item. This agenda item was posted on march
[59:14] 11th at 5 30 p.m. Let's let other people in this city understand what you're doing
[59:20] here, and let's have this discussion at this podium and get their ideas as well. Thank you very
[59:26] much. Next, we have shauna
[59:33] sowell. Good evening shauna sowell, and you have my address
[59:39] here in frisco. Many of you know that I spent the first 12 years of my professional career
[59:45] as a high school government and history teacher and speech and debate coach. One of my
[59:49] master's degrees also had a heavy emphasis on political speech and first amendment law. So I ultimately
[59:54] have fairly strong thoughts about free speech and the democratic process, especially
[59:59] at the local level. The ability for residents to speak
[1:00:04] to their elected leaders on issues that matter to them is paramount to our
[1:00:10] democracy. I believe the residents have every right to come before their leaders in
[1:00:14] this recorded public forum and share the things that matter
[1:00:18] to them. Pertaining to city business and activities. Democracy and the activities
[1:00:23] therein are messy. There is always a push and pull that the
[1:00:27] founding fathers recognized would always exist between the freedoms that we hold dear and
[1:00:33] the process. But they ultimately landed on protecting the freedoms as much
[1:00:37] as possible, even when it led to messy results. The recent
[1:00:42] meetings have led to this discussion
[1:00:46] among the current city council about the citizen input
[1:00:51] process. There are some changes that I think are fine. I do believe that residents should
[1:00:55] have the first priority in speaking before city council. Residents should not
[1:00:59] have to wait behind a long list of those who do not live here, regardless of the issue.
[1:01:05] but moving all speakers to the end of the meeting makes it more difficult
[1:01:09] for residents to speak. And honestly, the message that it sends is that whatever the
[1:01:14] resident has to say just isn't as important as whatever. We have planned
[1:01:19] for the agenda that evening. It also sends the message that we hope you'll get tired of
[1:01:23] waiting and go home. I also have concerns with requiring speakers
[1:01:27] to sign up before the meeting starts. Electronically is fine, but
[1:01:32] often people who attend the meetings are moved to speak by hearing comments of others
[1:01:36] for or against a topic. And that right should not be
[1:01:40] limited because of wanting to shorten a meeting. We can
[1:01:44] list a litany of supreme court cases and legal gymnastics to determine what can be done.
[1:01:49] but just because it can, doesn't mean it should be done.
[1:01:53] building public trust, especially of times
[1:01:59] of disagreement, is paramount to a functioning democracy,
[1:02:04] including at the local level. Something the audience needs
[1:02:08] to consider. Is the decorum in our meetings. We must all remember that city council
[1:02:13] meetings are legislative proceedings, and civil debate and discourse is so needed.
[1:02:17] you can be passionate about your issue and still show respect and decorum for the
[1:02:24] process, respect the time of others and maintain civility
[1:02:30] in the discussion. How we go about our public input process as members of this community
[1:02:35] matters, and in the manner in which we speak matters. It is the most basic level of interacting
[1:02:39] with our government. So while I stand for your right to speak, I also stand
[1:02:43] for your right to do it respectfully. I've sat through public input,
[1:02:48] both as an elected official on that side of the dais, and as a member
[1:02:54] of the public waiting to speak on several issues on this side of the dais. And regardless
[1:02:58] of the side of the dais, I have maintained the same position. It wasn't about campaigning.
[1:03:02] it wasn't about the issue. It's always been the same. The public must retain the right
[1:03:07] to speak on the issues they deem important. To limit or discourage that right because
[1:03:13] it makes our meetings longer? Presents not only a slippery
[1:03:17] slope, but a weight of conspiracy, a lack of trust, and, ultimately,
[1:03:21] a disrespect for the residents you represent. And I don't believe that's what any of you really want to do.
[1:03:26] don't let your frustration with some of these meetings relegate how those who have
[1:03:31] come and respected the process are treated. Things will settle down and we go on
[1:03:35] about the city's business, but we cannot complain about residents not being informed or
[1:03:40] engaged and then shut them down when it's convenient. Democracy is messy. It takes
[1:03:45] time, but it is certainly worth it. All right, that's all we had
[1:03:55] to speak on this item. And I do want to be very clear that city council landed very
[1:04:01] quickly during work sessions to not limit the topics of citizen input or the content.
[1:04:07] so that's not even something the city council is inquiring or discussing here tonight.
[1:04:12] and as far as the timing of the agenda, the thoughts
[1:04:17] around that is when there's citizen input for agenda items and non-agenda items. When you
[1:04:22] have people in the audience like we do tonight,
[1:04:27] three that spoke on agenda items and others that are waiting for non-agenda items, somebody in the audience is
[1:04:32] waiting to speak. And so it's council's discussion
[1:04:36] as far as where that priority should be. Should the priority be the citizens that are coming to speak,
[1:04:40] like happened at last meeting with the neighborhood? Where we took citizen input first,
[1:04:45] and those 20 to 30 residents that were there to speak on an agenda before the council
[1:04:50] that evening, all had to wait. So that is the argument is who should get
[1:04:56] priority when speaking before council. And so kind of with that, those clarifying
[1:05:01] remarks, we'll just kind of go through these one by one. So
[1:05:05] kind of the top line one is, you know, probably the biggest
[1:05:10] one is the duration. So, council. I don't know if this would even be a fact while I
[1:05:14] was still mayor, so it won't really impact me,
[1:05:18] but what's y'all's thoughts? Are you starting, murray? So
[1:05:23] the question, we're just going to do one by one, so from five to three? I think so. I
[1:05:27] personally don't have a problem with that. We've discussed it in three minutes. I mean,
[1:05:33] in speech class, it seemed about like three hours when I was doing it, so I personally
[1:05:37] don't have a problem with it.
[1:05:42] please keep your comments from the audience. Thank you. Citizen input is over. I have
[1:05:50] heard from many citizens that have, countless citizens
[1:05:55] who have said, can we shorten the amount of time to three minutes? And
[1:06:00] it's not on one specific thing, but I can't not unhear the
[1:06:06] multitude of citizens who have been disturbed. By things that have been said
[1:06:10] in these council chambers, and I know that democracy is messy.
[1:06:15] but allowing non-agenda items to go on for longer periods
[1:06:19] of time to the point the citizens don't feel safe in our
[1:06:25] city anymore is a problem that our. Please remain quiet. I
[1:06:30] have to ask you to leave. Thank you. Excuse me, sir. There's no more comment,
[1:06:36] thank you. If you cannot follow our decorum, we're going
[1:06:40] to have to ask you to leave. So that's where I,
[1:06:45] when we had conversations in council work session about it, I believe three
[1:06:52] minutes is plenty of time. There's lots of opportunity to come and speak
[1:06:57] with council, to speak to council members. Like I said, I've had many citizens reach
[1:07:01] out to me personally and repeatedly said, I don't feel safe in frisco.
[1:07:06] that's not right. I don't think anybody supports that. I don't think anybody wants that. And I
[1:07:12] think part of it comes from what's happening here in council chambers. And I
[1:07:18] think that three minutes is perfectly acceptable to get our points across. I've been
[1:07:24] on council for about five years now, and I can say that this conversation
[1:07:30] around how we govern public input. Has come up several
[1:07:35] times, so I think it's important for the audience
[1:07:39] to know that we are not dealing with the recency effect here. I will not give credence to that
[1:07:44] issue as being the sole reason why we're having this conversation. This conversation
[1:07:49] has surfaced on a number of occasions around putting governance
[1:07:54] in place. It is not about eliminating free speech, it's about brevity of speech. I
[1:07:59] watch this clock because I am responsible
[1:08:03] for pressing the button. To ensure that we start the clock. And I can tell you that there
[1:08:08] are many who come up here and speak and have completely gotten their point across
[1:08:14] in less than three minutes. Generally, when it hits the
[1:08:18] four-minute mark, people are then repeating themselves. But the essence of the message and the point that they're
[1:08:24] hoping to deliver has come across very clearly. Josh, you did that tonight. I watched the
[1:08:29] clock. You hit all of your key points. Your message was well taken
[1:08:34] at the three-minute mark. So it can be done. I am strongly
[1:08:39] in favor of going to three minutes and asking the audience to think about what you say ahead
[1:08:43] of time. And practice the art of brevity. There's nothing restricting people from coming
[1:08:48] every meeting if they want to come every meeting. So I'm
[1:08:54] also okay with the three minutes. And the purpose of that is that. When we've had the amount
[1:08:59] of people that come in and we've got ten or more, we get down to three minutes.
[1:09:04] and those same people are able to communicate the same way that the people who have had
[1:09:09] five minutes. The one concern that I heard that I actually
[1:09:13] wanted to investigate further was for someone who? This is their second language. And
[1:09:18] by using a translator, we've taken account into that, to being able
[1:09:22] to say, if you need a translator to help get your point across, we will make that available to you. And that is very easily
[1:09:28] accessible, as long as you let us know ahead of time. I did some research
[1:09:33] around all the neighboring areas, plano, prosper, denton, mckinney, they're all
[1:09:38] at three minutes already. So, with frisco and the population and the size that we have,
[1:09:43] I think it's also respectful to our residents. To do this in an expedient fashion, so
[1:09:48] that other people have the opportunity to speak as well. So with that, I am okay with
[1:09:54] the three minutes. I guess I'm
[1:10:00] going to be the dissenting voice here. If people had come to the work session when we
[1:10:05] discussed this. I was against going from five minutes
[1:10:13] to three minutes. What makes america the best country, quite frankly,
[1:10:17] is that people have the right to speak their mind, as long as
[1:10:25] they're not breaking the law. If you look at europe now, that's gone. They don't have that ability anymore. We're
[1:10:32] basically the last country that allows that. I don't want
[1:10:37] to see that changed. Yes, the last couple of meetings, I
[1:10:42] think we broke a record that we had to stay here,
[1:10:46] but that's okay. That's okay. I
[1:10:51] do get comments from citizens,
[1:10:56] and I specifically tell them at the end of our conversation, please, if you have more stuff,
[1:11:01] call me back. That's what I'm here for. That's why I got
[1:11:06] elected. That's why you elected me, that you can call and tell me, because I don't know what
[1:11:12] your problems are until you tell me. And so, yes, am I for efficiency? Absolutely. Some of the things
[1:11:17] in the ordinance are good. You know, the electronic part, good. I mean, that's what we're
[1:11:23] all going to. I went to a play down in dallas, and they didn't
[1:11:28] accept a paper ticket. And me, being kind of old school,
[1:11:34] we were fumbling around trying to get the app going, but we figured it
[1:11:39] out and we got it going. So we need to kind of get in the 21st
[1:11:43] century when it comes to some of the stuff, which I think is a good thing.
[1:11:48] but I personally want to encourage openness. And I will tell you, I've been
[1:11:53] on that side and I'm up here. You get nervous. You're not sure what you're saying. And
[1:11:58] five minutes. Is not as much time as you think it is. And so
[1:12:04] I think there's also the aspect, we talk about some very
[1:12:09] complicated issues at times, not all the time,
[1:12:13] but occasionally we do. And five minutes allows someone
[1:12:18] to articulate that, if they choose. They don't have
[1:12:23] to go to five minutes. They don't have to. It just allows them the ability if they have
[1:12:27] something more to say. What I don't like, though, is when
[1:12:32] people, when we ask them to stop, you've got five minutes and they try
[1:12:38] to abuse that. And that I don't want to happen.
[1:12:42] but I think we should stick to the five minutes. I think we should adjust this one item,
[1:12:49] table it, and redo the ordinance. And that's what, just this one
[1:12:54] item, the five minutes. And I'm for keeping also the
[1:13:01] decorum is fine. That can't have banners and stuff like that. We'll go through the other ones. Okay.
[1:13:06] all right. But so anyway, I'm for the five minutes. So let's
[1:13:14] just be real. Five minutes to three minutes. Doesn't seem
[1:13:19] like a lot, right? Five minutes to three minutes. We're doing
[1:13:23] it administratively. We vote. We do this. We do that. The reality is, how many of you are
[1:13:30] professional speakers? Probably not many. Josh, you know why you were on time?
[1:13:34] because you ran for office and you know what it's like
[1:13:38] to answer something in a minute or two minutes, or three minutes. Most people, you know, to jared's point,
[1:13:44] people get nervous. People have issues that they want to talk about. And look, what are we doing
[1:13:49] by cutting the public's time by 40 percent to be able to get an idea out? I get it. There are issues and we want
[1:13:55] to have efficiencies and we want to have government function
[1:14:00] to a point. To get right down to the point. I argue that public input is not meant
[1:14:05] to be efficient. It's meant to be representative. That's
[1:14:10] it. And everybody, thank you, everybody has a right
[1:14:17] to speak, to get up here. And if you can't form your words, you have the right
[1:14:21] to come and speak for the five minutes. This argument, oh, we can do better
[1:14:25] in frisco. Okay, we are. We are at five minutes. The
[1:14:30] comparables that you're using between denton and all these other places, well, does
[1:14:34] denton have the safest city? Does denton have the best police force? Does denton have
[1:14:39] the greatest city staff? I don't want to be a comparator. I want us to be the paragon
[1:14:44] of what should be. And look, a lot of people,
[1:14:48] while they might be. Afraid or be perturbed, or this and that
[1:14:54] with opinions that don't matter. Guess what? They're words. We saw what whether
[1:14:59] or not you agree with charlie kirk, okay? That guy died because he was expressing a
[1:15:05] viewpoint. Like, what are we doing here? We should give everybody the right to speak.
[1:15:10] and this notion, dear council, this notion that we're going
[1:15:17] to fix something by going from five minutes to three minutes? Well, guess
[1:15:21] what? The other night, when we sat here and we listened to 35 residents speak
[1:15:26] about warehouses, if we hadn't, you know, jared and I, we both voted no on it
[1:15:31] to reduce that time. Maybe if we had listened to all of them for five minutes, maybe some of the council would have actually
[1:15:38] heard what their beliefs were and they would have tabled it. You know what? I know what it's like to sit on the other side, too. And I
[1:15:43] remember how tough it was for me to get up here and talk about issues. And mr. Mayor, with all due respect, this isn't about campaigning.
[1:15:48] this isn't about... This is about affording the citizens a chance to come
[1:15:52] in here and say what they need to say. And if somebody wants to come from an hour away, or they want to come
[1:15:57] from five minutes away, to use this platform to get something
[1:16:02] off their chest, it's their right to do so. And you know what we'll do? We'll sit up here as elected
[1:16:06] officials and we'll listen to it. Because that's the american way. So, if you can't
[1:16:11] tell, thank you, if you can't tell, I'm firmly against changing it, why fix
[1:16:16] something that's not broken? What is the issue that we're trying to solve? And as opposed
[1:16:21] to leading from a place of love, why are we approaching this from a place of fear that we call government efficiency?
[1:16:26] sorry. I got a little passionate. I just want to clarify the last two council
[1:16:32] members' remarks because I think people may be misled that
[1:16:36] council is restricting content or speech, which we're not. So that was off the table
[1:16:41] immediately when council had these discussions, so people will be free
[1:16:47] to come and address this. Mr. Mayor, that's not what I said. I said, I'm against limiting five minutes
[1:16:53] to three minutes. Understood what you said. Thank you. Thank you. But I think people could have inferred both of your remarks separately that we
[1:16:58] were restricting. Okay, so to anybody listening, that is not what I'm saying. I'm saying I'm against limiting it
[1:17:03] from five minutes to three minutes. There's no inference. Okay. Speaker represent registration
[1:17:07] procedures. City staff, you've been working on electronic registration. You want to give council kind
[1:17:12] of an update on that? Yes, we continue to work on those, and a lot of that
[1:17:17] is just based on what is decided here tonight, what we make available. We are
[1:17:23] mirroring other surrounding cities that have done this and it is a way to make the process
[1:17:28] more efficient. And quite frankly, I mean, when you have these blue cards,
[1:17:33] it is incredibly difficult to read people's handwriting. I don't know how many people are
[1:17:37] writing letters these days, but if you see what we see, most of the time it's
[1:17:42] not legible. And it makes it difficult for staff and for you as a council to even see what it is that they're
[1:17:48] even writing on their form. A lot of times they leave email addresses that say, hey, I want
[1:17:53] to be contacted, and they say, hey, contact me. And staff is sitting there trying
[1:17:58] to distinguish what in the world is their email address so that we can contact them. And
[1:18:03] so I feel like this is just a more modern way and an efficient way
[1:18:07] to have people register, to speak. And it gets it electronically so that we can
[1:18:11] be able to get through them and read them and note the record more easily. But yes,
[1:18:17] that process is ongoing with our it team. And we had talked during our work
[1:18:23] session about, you know, even having a qr code kind of here on site, so, you know, people that kind of came here
[1:18:29] would be easily accessible. And the process would be pretty easy, just a form would come up
[1:18:33] and they would fill it out and it would get routed to you somehow. I don't know
[1:18:38] about the qr code yet, but yes, we're still working on the basics of the form right now
[1:18:42] with the it plan. You know, hearing some of the comments tonight, you know, kind
[1:18:46] of a fair compromise, maybe that kind of came
[1:18:51] to mind, which is I would say, being the person who's had to run these meetings
[1:18:56] for nine years, it is nice to know. Kind of where citizen input is coming to the agenda,
[1:19:00] so you can adjust the agenda to get our citizens out the door and home quicker. I think to the point, excuse me, sir.
[1:19:07] if you have one more outburst, you're going to be asked to be removed. Do you
[1:19:12] understand? Thank you. Is everyone who is there
[1:19:18] for an agenda item, they'll typically register and say they don't want to speak, you know,
[1:19:24] but they want their comment known? I think it's reasonable
[1:19:28] that if someone has at least registered a comment card or an opinion card on the site saying,
[1:19:34] this is how I feel about this item, should they change
[1:19:39] their mind during the meeting and want to speak, but they've registered, that could potentially be something
[1:19:43] that council could do. Consider to some of our speakers points.
[1:19:48] but my question was, what was the cutoff time for that? 5 p.m. And
[1:19:54] but when will they first be able to file, or to submit it online? And to clarify, sorry, 5 p.m.
[1:19:59] on the day of the council meeting, right? So how long? So that? I mean, we're not going to start
[1:20:04] at 8 a.m that day. They'll have. So as soon as the agenda is posted,
[1:20:08] we will open up those forms for people to register. Which, how many days is that now? That is now three business
[1:20:13] days prior to the meeting. So it's three business days prior. So they'll,
[1:20:18] given that our meetings are on tuesday, they'll have to have a weekend as well. So
[1:20:23] they'll have, yes. So they'll have plenty of time to do it. Correct. Almost a week in some cases. Well, I am
[1:20:29] normally resistant to all things technology. I personally,
[1:20:34] I don't have a problem with that. If we give them five days to if they have five
[1:20:38] days, a minimum of five days to do it and we advertise it, I like the idea
[1:20:43] of putting the link in the agenda. As long as we advertise it and let people
[1:20:48] know how we're doing it. And not just switch one meeting where everybody shows up and they can't talk,
[1:20:52] but advertise, hey, as a effect of this date, it's going to switch to this. I think that's,
[1:20:57] unfortunately, that's just the way everything's going. And as we get more and more people speaking, I think it's
[1:21:01] for the staff and for the record keeping, and for the communication. I actually,
[1:21:11] I believe that going electronic is really good. I know it helps with record-keeping,
[1:21:16] which is important and paramount to the city. But I could also see individuals
[1:21:22] coming in to counsel on the night of and wanting
[1:21:27] to make a comment. And regardless, we're going to have to communicate this
[1:21:33] very strongly to citizens to let them know what going on, but I would almost encourage a
[1:21:37] more phased approach to going. Like, not fully electronic, but gradually phasing
[1:21:43] out blue cards, or even leaving people the opportunity to use the blue cards going forward,
[1:21:48] but encourage everyone to use the qr code and use the electronic form as a way
[1:21:54] to keep that avenue
[1:22:00] of communication open. I'm in total agreement with going to the electronic option of pre registering and getting the
[1:22:06] blue cards out ahead of time. I would ask, though, if there's like a five day minimum. Three
[1:22:11] days feels a little short, so I don't know what our options are when it comes to posting the agenda,
[1:22:17] but I would love to be able to do that and have at least so it always be
[1:22:21] at least five days, because if you think about it, it's three business days and that does not include
[1:22:26] holidays. So typically, we are posting on either a tuesday or a wednesday
[1:22:30] before the actual council meeting. So you typically have a full week, no less than six
[1:22:36] days, not business, but just six days
[1:22:40] to get that agenda, to get signed up. Okay. I am in full support. That is
[1:22:45] accurate. That is just one addition. If we had a special call meeting that didn't cross
[1:22:50] over a weekend, then we would still just have the three
[1:22:55] business days. So, for example, if we had a friday meeting for whatever reason. We posted
[1:23:00] the agenda on tuesday, or whatever the requirement would be. Yeah, it would be the, no,
[1:23:05] so it would be friday, so monday. Monday, so that would
[1:23:11] be, so you wouldn't have the weekend in the case of a special called meeting.
[1:23:16] but for any normally scheduled city council meeting, what christy explained would apply.
[1:23:22] and, to ann's point, I think
[1:23:26] anything that the council decides to change, there's probably going to be a grace
[1:23:31] period and a rollout period where we extend some grace for people who don't know the new
[1:23:36] rules. So I'm sure that would be part of just our process. And plus, staff still has
[1:23:40] to get this up and running, and we probably were going to test it. So it will probably
[1:23:45] be a more phased approach anyway, for the registration, at least. I'm also in support
[1:23:51] of having a transition plan, of moving us into the new thing, but as somebody who has to read
[1:23:57] the names and has a very hard time trying to read them, I am in full support
[1:24:03] of giving people more time. To be able to register where you're not having
[1:24:07] to rush up here just to fill out a blue card and turn it in. You can do it days in advance.
[1:24:12] but then also, it makes it a lot easier for staff, and selfishly also
[1:24:16] for me, to be able to call your name appropriately. When it's time to have you come to the
[1:24:22] podium. I personally think we should, I like the electronic
[1:24:29] because my kids are whizzes on that stuff and they're great
[1:24:36] at it. But I'm kind of old school, my wife will tell you. I think we should keep the blue cards
[1:24:41] for people that struggle with that kind of stuff. But I definitely don't want
[1:24:45] to do the cutoff at 5 o'clock. Because people are rushing here from work, I get it. You know,
[1:24:50] traffic is really harsh now. In the city of frisco, not just
[1:24:55] the city of frisco, the whole north, actually all of dallas, fort worth. I can't
[1:25:00] name a city that doesn't have traffic. So I think we should,
[1:25:06] I think the cutoff should be, you know, once the meeting
[1:25:11] starts, we start at 7, I say, give it an extra 30 minute.
[1:25:18] grace, 7.30. I want to make sure that anybody that comes here wants to sign up and talk, they can do it, and that's good for them. And so, I'm all
[1:25:27] for the electronic. I know, christy, you had mentioned that. I asked you, well, how
[1:25:32] quickly, if someone does the electronic, does it get to you? And you were like,
[1:25:37] well, I'm not sure yet. And that may take 30 minutes. I don't know. Sometimes I get stuff that I submit electronic, doesn't come in right away. So
[1:25:41] until we get that perfected,
[1:25:46] that it's instantaneous. But I know some older people,
[1:25:51] they struggle with the electronic stuff. So I'm for keep for
[1:25:55] introducing the electronic, but also keeping the paper.
[1:25:59] but at least I'm for maybe a cut off at 7, 30, 30 minutes
[1:26:07] after the meeting starts. Well, you all know which way I'm gonna go. Uh, look,
[1:26:12] electronically, covet taught us how to use these to read a menu. So I don't
[1:26:18] think it's gonna be that tough for anybody to go figure
[1:26:22] out electronic stuff and look. Anything that increases efficiency and lowers level
[1:26:27] of effort on four from an engineering perspective, right? However, what mark and
[1:26:32] shauna and what josh said really holds sway, because it reminds me also. I've sat there
[1:26:37] right where you are, sir, and I've been inspired
[1:26:42] to speak because of what somebody else said before me. How do I know
[1:26:46] sometimes what I'm going to say? Or even if I have the courage. To speak until I hear
[1:26:51] somebody else speak. This is, yes, it is a function
[1:26:56] of government to talk about the agenda items and this and that, but as far as having a cutoff.
[1:27:01] for people to have the right to speak, to have the right to be able to get their voices heard,
[1:27:05] that is paramount. Mr. Mayor,
[1:27:12] please. So, to that end, what I would respectfully request.
[1:27:17] the council to do is to table this again. There's an old adage that's, if it ain't
[1:27:22] broke, don't fix it. And the system, the system isn't broken.
[1:27:26] what we can do is we can optimize it with engineering controls,
[1:27:31] but let's not have a cutoff. This is nonsensical. Okay. The third item was placement
[1:27:35] on citizen input on the council agenda. You
[1:27:39] know, and again,
[1:27:46] this is choosing to who are you going to prioritize
[1:27:52] for people who come to speak? So tonight we prioritized people that were speaking
[1:27:57] on an agenda item. Last meeting, we prioritized
[1:28:02] residents that came to speak during non-agenda items, while 35 people that were waiting for
[1:28:07] an actual city business item waited to get through that. My personal take on this one,
[1:28:12] after thinking over it the last couple weeks, is I personally don't think
[1:28:17] this needs to be defined. You know, I think that, you know,
[1:28:25] the mayor runs the meetings per the city charter, and we've kind of moved citizen input
[1:28:30] over the years, just depending on where we were in the agenda. And so one
[1:28:35] of the benefits of having an electronic system is that, you know, the future mayor that
[1:28:40] would be running these meetings will know that if there's agenda item 27 that has five
[1:28:45] people waiting to speak that they can prioritize that agenda item. So my personal
[1:28:49] belief is that when the mayor is planning to run the meeting, you know, after reflection over these
[1:28:55] last couple meetings, is. The mayor should prioritize all
[1:29:00] items with citizen input, but giving a higher priority to agenda items
[1:29:05] with citizen input first. And so that's usually how we build our agendas. When we move to the agenda,
[1:29:10] to the regular agenda, if we typically know or think that
[1:29:18] people will be showing up to speak on an item, we tend to move that up higher in the agenda, knowing to get them out. So I don't
[1:29:24] know that it has to specifically be defined per ordinance,
[1:29:28] as far as where it is in the agenda. I think it can be part
[1:29:32] of a city charter mayor discretion, depending on what
[1:29:38] that night looks like. I'm actually okay with that. Yeah, that's, I don't know how you document that, but I guess just mayor's
[1:29:42] discretion. But yeah, I mean, my whole point is, I want to be able to get through the business
[1:29:47] of the city and the business of the citizens and get
[1:29:51] through that. And do it in a timely manner so that those that show up to participate
[1:29:56] in that can do it. Respect the people that come to speak on other things,
[1:30:01] and your point's valid of how do you manage that? When there could be. Three
[1:30:07] people for an agenda item and 150 people for a non agenda item, so I'm fine with the mayor's discretion. I think that gets
[1:30:12] us to achieve our goal without having to create unforced errors in how you document it,
[1:30:16] so I'm fine with that. I agree.
[1:30:23] I think that having the ability to move the citizen input
[1:30:28] around, I think at the end of the day, we want our residents
[1:30:33] to be able to speak and to get to city business. And I heard that in the public comments.
[1:30:38] council meetings are about city business. They're about listening to the residents, and we want to also ensure that we have
[1:30:43] public trust in council's ability to listen and hear what's being said. So
[1:30:47] I like the idea that it doesn't necessarily get pushed to the end of the meeting,
[1:30:51] that you have the discretion, jeff, but also, I'd like to reiterate that I think even
[1:30:57] with the electronic system, that we have the ability for people to use the blue cards still.
[1:31:02] maybe just gradually phase it all out. I think meetings have an agenda for a reason, and the agenda is
[1:31:07] to keep people focused. And to
[1:31:14] ensure that you are covering what you set out to accomplish at the onset of a meeting. And with that, I think,
[1:31:18] to mayor's point, having residents who have comments on
[1:31:25] the agenda should be prioritized. And however we do that, whether it's
[1:31:30] I'm putting in governance around that. In terms of the timing that they speak
[1:31:35] on the agenda, or whether it's up to the mayor to make that decision. I'm fine, either way,
[1:31:40] but I do want to prioritize those who are speaking on the agenda because that is the
[1:31:45] business of the city. Yeah, we
[1:31:49] had quite a bit of discussion of whether or not this was going to stay where it is. Or
[1:31:54] it was going to go to the end of the meeting. And it could probably be a very valid argument, either way.
[1:31:58] but I do think the in the interest of the city, we want to do what's best
[1:32:04] for our residents specifically. So I'm fine with the mayor's discretion,
[1:32:08] knowing that the mayor will do what's best for the residents. For citizen input, I agree. I
[1:32:13] think we need the agenda items first, but we can do the agenda items first and then do the non-agenda behind it and then
[1:32:18] get on with the meeting. I do want to hear the agenda stuff first. I think that's
[1:32:23] important because that's what most of the meeting is about, typically. But I don't think it
[1:32:28] should be put at the end of the meeting. I disagree
[1:32:33] with that too, because the meetings sometimes drag
[1:32:38] on and if people come to speak. Most
[1:32:43] of these meetings, these items, I mean, people wanting to speak is not that long. And
[1:32:48] so there's been times, yes,
[1:32:53] but for most of the time that I've been doing this, it's pretty short. I'm
[1:32:59] with keeping citizen input at the same spot, but I don't mind the agenda item first,
[1:33:04] but then the non agenda right behind it, but at the same time. And for me,
[1:33:10] I'm for it because it's another law that we don't have to put on the books. So if it ain't
[1:33:15] broke, don't fix it. We'll leave it up to the mayor. So I'm good with that. I think I
[1:33:21] heard consensus on that one. Okay, and rules of decorum,
[1:33:26] this is how we. This is a simple, essentially codifying
[1:33:30] how we've operated in the past, you know, as a city, but actually making it
[1:33:36] something more enforceable. Any comments or turns on on this item? Okay, so that's,
[1:33:43] that's all the items. I heard consensus on decorum,
[1:33:47] I heard consent. We're going to change, you know,
[1:33:51] this paragraph is far as the agenda, so I guess we won't have a physical change.
[1:33:58] but whether we want to codify, sound like there's consensus.
[1:34:03] to prioritize agenda items, citizen input yeah, sorry,
[1:34:07] I didn't know my mic was. Prioritize citizen input
[1:34:14] in general, but here agenda items first,
[1:34:18] I think is a good way to summarize that. We're going to the cards. I heard, I'm not
[1:34:24] sure, maybe I'm 100% solid on the majority of this one. I heard a majority saying fine
[1:34:29] going to the electronic system, having some type of rollout period
[1:34:34] in education, but ann, you may have been the one that differed, that said, wanted to keep blue cards. I wanted
[1:34:40] to keep it, too. Yeah. Mayor, so when we wrote the ordinance,
[1:34:46] we were trying to create alternatives for sign-up. So one thing we
[1:34:50] discussed was have electronic sign-up, potentially have a phone number or email where
[1:34:58] people could call if they were having trouble electronically. And if it didn't work,
[1:35:03] then we would figure out something like a blue card or some other method
[1:35:09] to sign up. So we weren't limited to electronic sign-up. The goal was
[1:35:13] to get as many as we could, but if there's somebody who just can't do it, then we're going to do everything we can
[1:35:18] to accommodate that person, to be able to speak. Okay, that's a good, that's a good,
[1:35:23] helpful distinction. Thank you. Yeah, so to distinguish that, what we do with pirs, pirs are already online,
[1:35:28] but if someone wants to come in and submit a pir in writing, we facilitate that in our office. Like, if they
[1:35:32] can't manage the computer, they can't do any of that. We're already doing that. We would just extend that same
[1:35:37] service to people being able to come into our office and complete a blue card, and we
[1:35:41] will get that entered electronically for them. All
[1:35:46] I'm saying is, I don't think you need to change the ordinance. I think it was baked in there. Got it.
[1:35:51] thank you for that. And then the final, I did hear majority
[1:35:56] of going from the five to the three minutes. So.
[1:36:02] council, I'll look for mr. Mayor, before you say that, can I ask something? Sure.
[1:36:06] given that, you know, I think you said something, and
[1:36:11] I think I stand a good chance of being done before you, without a runoff, and then you.
[1:36:17] I would like to, unless there's opposition to this, I
[1:36:22] like what we're doing. We're trying to become efficient.
[1:36:27] we're trying to add some structure as we get bigger and have more issues and have more
[1:36:32] people come here. I think that's important. I think I brought that up
[1:36:37] on other things, just about our rules of procedure and previous things about making motions. I'm all for structure.
[1:36:42] I personally, while I am for the most of them, of these changes, and you summarize my views great, I personally would like to table it and just have some
[1:36:47] more time to think about it. Because we are impacting our citizens' ability to come speak to us. And I'd
[1:36:53] rather just take another look at it, think about it some more, and just before we start
[1:36:58] making changes, make sure we're getting it right and not. Not rushing into something,
[1:37:02] I know that's extra staff time, but I feel like there was
[1:37:06] enough questions and minor differences that it might not
[1:37:10] hurt. Just to take one more look at it and push it. But that's just my
[1:37:14] well, it would come before us one final time, right? Or no? We could make it
[1:37:19] come before the council. You're going to either have to write the ordinance tonight
[1:37:24] with the changes in it, or you're going to have to come back. So you'll bring it back with the revised
[1:37:28] changes anyway? Yes, sir. Okay, except I'm not clear on
[1:37:32] the revised changes. I'm not either. I'm not even sure. Some of the stuff I said, you
[1:37:38] know, I was kind of going back and forth and waffling. I would
[1:37:42] just, this is important. It's not only important about how it
[1:37:46] looks from the citizens, how it looks at what we're doing. I just want to make sure we get it right,
[1:37:51] especially since.I'm not going to be up here. Probably when it becomes effective. I just want
[1:37:56] to make sure we get it right. I don't have a problem with it. I'm not as passionate about burt. Thinking that, you know, losing two minutes of your
[1:38:00] time to speak is violating your first amendment, right? Didn't say that. But I don't want
[1:38:06] to rush into it, and I'd rather just sit and take another look at it. So to give, I guess,
[1:38:12] direction, you said you're not clear. I think the only change would be the third item,
[1:38:17] the placement on the city. Yes. Well, thank you, ken, but
[1:38:21] I heard some things that were unresolved. So let me, if I may, just real quick. The
[1:38:25] quorum is good. Everybody, I think I'm clear that everybody wants to leave it to the discretion of the mayor
[1:38:31] for the non-agenda comment period. So that's,
[1:38:35] I'm clear there. Bert said something about no cutoff time.
[1:38:39] does anybody support that from the council? Yeah, so no, you can sign up whenever you
[1:38:45] want. Oh. That's one that I'm not sure when I want the cutoff
[1:38:49] time to be, honestly. Five o'clock. I do hear the thought of I'm sitting there and I want
[1:38:55] to say something, but I also don't want. Just all
[1:38:59] night, you know, three in the morning, people just walking up with cars at the last second.
[1:39:04] to start talking about all sorts of things that we've seen,
[1:39:08] some, you know, crazy stuff. But I do want a cutoff. I'm not sure it's five o'clock. So we
[1:39:14] need to get an direction on that. Yeah. Because, frankly, chrissy can talk to the mechanics of that,
[1:39:18] because at 5 o'clock she's up in our office taking notes in executive session. And then
[1:39:23] back at 6.30, trying to get the meeting started. So if it's 5 o'clock,
[1:39:28] they can prep in advance. Is, I think, why you came up with that. Yes. And, honestly,
[1:39:32] 5 o'clock is the latest of any surrounding city. Some
[1:39:36] require them the day before, so like monday. Others require it to be done by noon. I found one that allowed it to be by 4
[1:39:42] o'clock if the meeting started at 630. And so it does,
[1:39:50] it does complicate things to be able to gather all that information and get it
[1:39:55] transferred to all of you and in an efficient manner. Just because we're already
[1:40:01] in a meeting at the time. So I, you know, we're already double-duty at that point.
[1:40:08] so while it's not impossible, I would just say that it just,
[1:40:14] it does complicate things. I guess if we do five, sorry. Okay. If we do by five o'clock,
[1:40:19] but we leave the blue cards open until later, or something like that. I like that idea.
[1:40:23] but that's another thing that needs to be correct. I just would like another, I mean, I don't know. No, that's fine.
[1:40:28] I just, I just personally don't, I like the way we're
[1:40:33] going. I like adding structure. I just don't personally I see the need to. And I just need clarity so
[1:40:37] we can write the ordinance the right way. Right. That's all.
[1:40:43] so if we're going to do a mix of blue cards and electronic,
[1:40:47] the potential issue there is that nobody is going to use the electronics. We're
[1:40:52] just doing blue cards, and we're not solving the issue. That's fair. And then if you're
[1:40:57] trying to prioritize timing and meetings, like right now, most of the speakers,
[1:41:02] they just fill the blue card. Because that's the way. They've always done it.
[1:41:06] right. Right? But we've got quite a few people that want
[1:41:11] to speak during citizen input that probably would have gladly filed online yesterday or today at 430. And I'm not trying to be difficult. I just want
[1:41:16] to make sure we get it right. Yeah. That's where I'm coming from, and I feel like there's been enough nuances
[1:41:21] between what everybody said, that the smart thing to do or not. My opinion about the smart thing
[1:41:26] to do would be to take another look at it. Just pause. I definitely concur
[1:41:30] with brian. That's brian. Weed. What? Livingston, sorry.
[1:41:36] livingston, sorry. Yeah, definitely, I'm for progress using electronic.
[1:41:41] we need to keep the paper. I'm for opening it up, no time
[1:41:46] limit, because,
[1:41:51] like councilman thacker said, someone may get it may get moved and say they want
[1:41:56] to speak and, you know, they're trying to fumble with their phone and stuff.
[1:42:01] and the blue card allows them to do it real quickly and give it to christy. Because I've
[1:42:06] seen people, you know, come up after the meeting has started and handing in a blue card.
[1:42:12] I've seen it more times than not that happens. So, again,
[1:42:17] I want to give people an opportunity. If they're running late or they're not sure,
[1:42:22] and then they decide they want to speak. Let him do it. So I want to keep the time limit
[1:42:26] open. All right, well, to move us along. I think there's enough support, maybe, to table it and
[1:42:31] have another bite at the apple. Um, give staff time to finalize some of the changes they heard tonight and
[1:42:35] then take final action at our next meeting. Make a motion to no. Mayor, sorry,
[1:42:40] you still got more items? I mean, I don't I'm hearing
[1:42:44] what, what jared is saying, but I've not heard consensus from the council. I don't so what do you want
[1:42:49] us to write? That's what I'm saying. So if we want to come
[1:42:53] back and talk about this in another work session, I'd like us to each send you, can
[1:42:57] we send you our comments and thoughts after the meeting tonight? Well, we need to give clear direction
[1:43:01] for what they're supposed to be doing, and they need to know that they have a consensus of counsel. And so this is my
[1:43:06] birthday. I'd love to go home. Yeah, I bet. So I'm
[1:43:10] not trying to be difficult. I just need direction. I'm not trying to be difficult either. I just want to make sure we get
[1:43:14] it right. I agree. I would say that let's bring it back to another work session to have another conversation. Because,
[1:43:19] one, for efficiency. For this evening, we can send you all our thoughts of considerations.
[1:43:24] you can understand where each of us are coming from. But then ultimately we can come back,
[1:43:28] have a conversation, another debate in another setting where you can go enjoy
[1:43:33] your birthday cake. Well, I mean, every time we do a work
[1:43:37] session, that's, I mean, I think we could handle that at a council meeting. I mean,
[1:43:42] I think really, kind of the only item that's maybe I'm hearing not a majority
[1:43:47] comfortable. Is this cutoff time, right? And so cutoff
[1:43:56] time and whether or not we keep the blue cards or not. Right. Yeah, I think that's kind
[1:44:00] of together with it. Now, the city attorney's already said we'll do blue cards if people cannot figure out. Like, we're
[1:44:04] going to accommodate a registration process, right? We're trying to point people to the electronic. We're trying
[1:44:09] to train. That's the way to do it. That's the easiest way to do it. You know,
[1:44:14] but if we're going to accommodate other ways, so that's already baked
[1:44:19] into it. So, really, it comes down to the cutoff time, right? So just for my clarity,
[1:44:24] so the purpose of sending this back is not to discuss lowering this from five minutes to three minutes, but only
[1:44:29] about the cutoff time and also whether or not we're going
[1:44:35] fully electronic. That's it. Council can talk about anything they want if it comes back. I
[1:44:39] think the time can change their mind. Yeah, is to postpone it, to think about it more. That's what I'm
[1:44:46] asking. That's a great idea. I third that. Okay. I will take that as a motion by brian
[1:44:51] to table to the following council meeting. I'm trying
[1:44:55] to give direction. Second. It
[1:45:02] sounds like the only change council will be expecting you
[1:45:07] is maybe the third item. We may still have some discussion on the others. Council, I mean,
[1:45:13] the third item means the non-agenda can go wherever you want it to go? It's basically
[1:45:17] going to stay how it is. It's going to, the change is going to be removed from the ordinance as far as, it'll be on the
[1:45:22] agenda. And then depending on when people, you know, sign
[1:45:27] up, that's how it will be prioritized. The third item
[1:45:32] being the cutoff time and the blue cards. That's, those are the two. Okay. That's the second item. I mean, we're not
[1:45:37] asking, council still needs to have a discussion on that. But I think the third item. Is already direction to change the ordinance? Yes, I
[1:45:42] can, uh. Motion by brian, second, second, second by jared, all in favor. Aye, that
[1:45:47] passes um, six, zero. Um. So that was our last regular city,
[1:45:52] regular gen item, so now we will go
[1:45:57] to public input. Citizen okay, so we do have quite a few this evening. Um, I will
[1:46:02] say your name and then I will give the next person after you. If you could come to the podium, please state your name and address
[1:46:07] for the record, that would be fantastic at the podium. You will see your time clock and,
[1:46:13] as you saw with the agenda earlier. It will beep at you once you get close
[1:46:18] to time, and then it will beep at you again once you or your five minutes are up. So first we have mark palaciano, next we
[1:46:24] have kelly smith. Hello,
[1:46:35] tyrants. I have you guys exposing yourselves tonight. Y'all are doing an excellent
[1:46:40] job, showing everyone your disdain for the first amendment. Of course, you're reducing the time limit
[1:46:45] from five minutes to three minutes. You guys are proving the pressure that I'm applying is working. You guys
[1:46:50] have no respect for the first amendment, and you act like we're being disrespectful for saying things you don't
[1:46:55] like. Nice virtue signaling, ann. But I wouldn't feel safe having elected officials in
[1:46:59] america who don't respect the united states constitution and first amendment. Do you even
[1:47:05] know why I started coming here in april last year to speak? Because t-mobile got me
[1:47:10] censored and shadow banned on every social media platform I was using to expose them as a
[1:47:15] whistleblower. And I knew this was the only place I could come where t-mobile couldn't have me
[1:47:20] deleted from the internet. The first amendment is dying because of tyrants like you all
[1:47:25] and tyrannical companies like t-mobile. And tonight, you're proving it even more. Mayor cheney, the last time you
[1:47:30] talked about ethics and how you're compliant with the law, does that include
[1:47:35] the time your 18-year-old son hosted a graduation party where underage people were drinking alcohol and doing keg stands
[1:47:40] in your backyard? Face a bunch
[1:48:00] of 18 year olds drinking in your backyard. Let me play, uh, well, let me,
[1:48:04] I already played your snapchat. I found that interesting, especially since someone filed an ethics
[1:48:09] complaint about it and the city council shut it down. Also, I have a lot of respect for the frisco police department.
[1:48:14] but now I'm curious as to why they didn't show up to your house. When there were 911 calls about this party,
[1:48:19] maybe the police chief knows more about that. Why wasn't there any more investigation? I
[1:48:23] know if it were me or anyone else in the audience hosting underage kids drinking alcohol
[1:48:28] on our property, we would have went to jail and been prosecuted for it. But since it was the
[1:48:33] mayor of frisco, nothing happens. Maybe it's just another odd coincidence, like your net
[1:48:38] worth exploding while being the mayor. Frisco is cooked. This city is done. You may as well
[1:48:43] change the city name to mumbai, because in a few years, this entire
[1:48:47] city council and mayor will be indian. Last meeting helped prove my point. A bunch of woke
[1:48:52] boomers showed up and virtue signal. While completely not understanding what we're
[1:48:58] talking about. How many of them do you think reached out to me to try and understand more about what I'm exposing? Not a
[1:49:02] single one, even though their entire message was built on with communicating with people. In a few years,
[1:49:07] they'll be sitting in a retirement home needing someone to take care of them, and
[1:49:12] frisco will be completely unrecognizable. I've heard from a lot of frisco residents about the schools here being
[1:49:16] 70% indian kids. That is not diversity. This is an indian takeover, and the rate it's
[1:49:21] happening will continue to increase. Over the last few weeks, I've visited a lot
[1:49:26] of companies with h-1b employees registered
[1:49:30] to them. Do you know what I saw? Ghost offices. Empty offices with businesses registered to them, and tons
[1:49:34] of h-1b employees that were supposed to be there, but weren't. You guys want
[1:49:39] to call me an outside agitator, but I'm a lifelong dallas texan, and what's going on
[1:49:43] with h-1b and the shadiness behind it affects me where I live. People are speaking
[1:49:48] at the plano city council about this issue. The same issue in prosper. The same issue in irving. All of you
[1:49:53] elected officials say it's a federal problem. But I bet if you found me breaking a federal law, your frisco police
[1:49:59] department would engage the feds to prosecute me. But it's funny how that same mindset doesn't work with h-1b visa
[1:50:04] fraud. I can promise you right now, you haven't even seen the attention that you're going
[1:50:09] to get with h-1b and the indian takeover. There are a lot of journalists with big platforms digging
[1:50:14] into what's going on, and there's going to be a day when it goes really viral. And just so you guys know,
[1:50:20] I'm personally being targeted by indians. Indians are now violating federal law with how they've targeted me
[1:50:25] with spam calls. My phone rings over 30 times a day, when it used to go days or weeks
[1:50:30] without ringing. And on top of federal law, they're breaking state law with targeted harassment. But I'm sure none
[1:50:34] of you care, because none of you serve your oath to the constitutions. And as a reminder, t-mobile is the
[1:50:39] biggest private sector employer in frisco, and they're laying off texans while opening up a
[1:50:43] new office in hyderabad, india. And the whole reason I speak here is because t-mobile
[1:50:47] violated my constitutional rights in their office in frisco, texas. At warren
[1:50:52] parkway and the tollway. I've exposed how they use diversity, equity, inclusion
[1:50:56] to discriminate against americans, how they censor text messages during covid, how they
[1:51:00] provide unlimited money for transgender surgeries. And, in fact,
[1:51:04] let me play a little clip of a video of a t-mobile employee sharing their transition surgery
[1:51:09] on a company website, on a company webcast. My top surgery. And so with the dreams
[1:51:14] we're beginning to this is what you get for supporting t mobile. Kelly smith,
[1:51:48] after that we have blake. Hey guys, glad I can
[1:51:56] come up here and give this speech before we turn into europe. I dove deeper and looked into some housing.
[1:52:02] several homes are being bought. The owner is returning to india and renting out every
[1:52:07] room. Some of these homes are even listed as homesteaded on the cad tax wise, even
[1:52:14] though it's being used as a mini-apartment building with the owner in india. And that makes sense, considering
[1:52:18] all the tech companies hiring h-1b employees that are being ran out of them. This advertisement says they will sell a home to an indian family
[1:52:23] for $136,000 less than the advertised price. Registered llcs are buying up properties
[1:52:29] in collin county and only selling to indians and muslims. It's right here.
[1:52:33] there is clear and consistent housing discrimination going on, and the major demographics
[1:52:38] change is further proof of this. Harry whalen flew to india to beg them all
[1:52:43] to come here. There is something like 22,000 h-1b filings in the frisco area
[1:52:48] alone. I thought city council was supposed to represent the taxpayers. I'm pretty sure
[1:52:53] nobody voted to be replaced with india, yet here we are, and this is starting to affect
[1:52:57] the surrounding cities. I'm going to stand up
[1:53:01] for the white kids for a second because I've got two of them. And my daughters don't know
[1:53:06] where they fit into in this country anymore because of what's going on. In 1999, frisco was a rapidly growing
[1:53:10] suburban district with a predominantly white demographic. Tossed test scores exceeded the state averages,
[1:53:14] and the district gained recognition for quality schools. These kids are now
[1:53:20] being downplayed as if they are not intelligent enough to work in their own country.
[1:53:25] microsoft, apple, google, facebook, nvidia, all american-made companies. Dell
[1:53:30] was founded by a university of texas at austin graduate. William higginbotham of
[1:53:34] connecticut created the first video game. Steve russell, an mit student, created
[1:53:39] spaceway, the first game to be played across multiple installations. I could go
[1:53:44] on and on. Americans are forefront, top-tier innovators
[1:53:48] and inventors. Why is our own government failing us? And letting other countries take away our jobs and not investing
[1:53:52] into its own people. The texas house passed house bill 2038, streamlining foreign
[1:53:58] doctors into our system. When our own federal government capped spending
[1:54:02] to fund required residency for its own american doctors in 1997, we need
[1:54:07] to support our american doctors. On my dad's side, I'm a texan through and
[1:54:12] through. I have a county named after my family. My brother serves in the united states
[1:54:18] navy to support my right to free speech. On my mom's side, I'm a third-generation
[1:54:24] italian immigrant. When my italian family came here from sicily, they did not get
[1:54:28] government handouts. There was no welfare, no direct job placement, just
[1:54:33] for being italian. They had to learn english and create work for themselves out
[1:54:37] of thin air. They had to become innovative and embody the american spirit of creating something out
[1:54:42] of nothing. They spoke italian and celebrated their heritage at home, but the moment
[1:54:47] they walked out of the front door, they were americans first. This is my pop-pop.
[1:54:51] look at that american flag. That's the difference between the immigrants back in
[1:54:56] the day and the immigrants coming now. I'm really confused as to what country we live in.
[1:55:01] these people are coming here, they're taking away jobs, they're piggybacking on systems
[1:55:06] that were already built and put into place. We need to bring back the american
[1:55:11] worker, support our american companies, doctors, and future generations, instead of just
[1:55:15] giving our country away. Greg abbott if you hear this, you're a coward for selling
[1:55:20] out texas the way you did. Frisco city council is even worse for exploiting the city
[1:55:25] and surrounding areas for profit over its own texan kids and citizens. Was harry
[1:55:29] weyland aware that the united states commission on international religious
[1:55:34] freedom is calling our government to name india a country of particular concern? They are dragging christian
[1:55:40] preachers in the streets, beating them with bats, and forcing them
[1:55:45] to eat cow dung. You guys only care about money. Not the aftermath of bringing a culture
[1:55:49] here that isn't assimilating and could care less about america. Texas isn't just one
[1:55:54] big business park. It's our home. It's our legacy to pass down to our children. The land,
[1:56:00] the natural resources, the water. Texas needs to be treated as more than an
[1:56:04] investment for foreign interests. Our traditions and traditions and our country
[1:56:08] matter, but we will not survive at this rate of infiltration. I hope the money is worth it.
[1:56:13] god bless y'all. Kaylee,
[1:56:22] seaver and then clayton, york. Good evening, council.
[1:56:45] first, I want to thank these two gentlemen on the end for speaking up for the first
[1:56:49] amendment. And the opposition to limiting the ability for
[1:56:54] public input. And then I'm going to address the public to address the public input. Because claiming it's been a
[1:56:59] long thought process and not a immediate reaction to propose these changes doesn't seem
[1:57:04] entirely true. Here's an excerpt from community impact on this topic from february
[1:57:09] 19th. A non agenda item could be a city related issue, mayor jeff cheney said. It
[1:57:14] could be. I know it's not on the agenda, but I still want
[1:57:18] you to not build the dog part next to my neighborhood, and I'm going to come every
[1:57:24] meeting and tell you that. This is not the first time city council has considered
[1:57:29] changing its rules regarding public comment. City attorney richard abernathy said council members previously asked him
[1:57:34] to review their options for changing the public comment policy when there was an issue about the palestinians.
[1:57:39] quote, particularly young people came every council meeting, asking the council to pass a resolution. We came
[1:57:45] back with a bunch of suggestions. It was decided not to do anything at the time
[1:57:49] because the council didn't think it was the right time. So why is now the right time?
[1:57:54] cheney said city council has opted against changing the
[1:57:58] public comment policy in the past because council members assume the situation won't
[1:58:03] eventually pass. Now, council members are reconsidering rule changes because they believe
[1:58:07] what occurred on february 3rd may not be a one-time issue. Quote, it has always been where agitators have moved along,
[1:58:13] and so then three or four months go by, we have normal
[1:58:19] citizen input, whatever that means, and then we just kind of forget about it, cheney said. But it's becoming
[1:58:25] increasingly likely that this is not going to go away. End
[1:58:30] quote. Three, five minutes, it doesn't matter. Some of you clearly don't listen
[1:58:36] to each other. Like, you don't listen to us, you clearly aren't listening to each other.
[1:58:40] why would you listen to us? Now I'll address what I was here to actually talk about. In 2024, frisco ranked number
[1:58:45] eight in texas for h-1b approvals, the same year that ms. Kelly was talking about
[1:58:49] the director of economic development accompanying the governor in
[1:58:54] flying to mobile. As of right now, 33 h-1b dependent companies are registered
[1:58:59] to one building on warren parkway, an h-1b ghost office. That I went and saw three days
[1:59:04] in a row this week. Empty. No one there. Lights off. I got
[1:59:08] pictures. They also run a foreign investment construction fund, which is building that
[1:59:13] same strip right there on coit, donated to a member
[1:59:17] of this council. A restaurant off preston has been caught only hiring f1 students and
[1:59:23] paying them cash under the table. Now, maybe tonight's facebook post will
[1:59:27] contain h-1b visas or federal issue outside agitators came to spew hate, but does
[1:59:32] anyone really believe that the trip to a foreign country doesn't impact the city of
[1:59:36] frisco? Could he not have said no and commit a hundred percent
[1:59:41] to the economic development of frisco and its citizens already here? If the city official can intermingle
[1:59:47] in foreign affairs, which one could say is also a federal issue, what is stopping the city
[1:59:52] from staying right here? And adopting a resolution requesting state and federal
[1:59:56] authorities to investigate the fraud in the city. Nothing
[2:00:01] in state law prohibits the city council from adopting a resolution that formally requests an investigation
[2:00:06] from entities like the texas ag, attorney general, the state auditor's office, the
[2:00:12] fbi, department of justice, or any agencies under the federal jurisdiction. There's already a
[2:00:17] petition with over 200 signatures requesting this action. But instead,
[2:00:23] we've gotten these proposals to change public input, social media posts calling citizens'
[2:00:28] names, and then literally the next sentence calling for unity, unless you get blocked, cheney. That's lazy
[2:00:34] leadership. You haven't addressed anything. You just made it easier for you
[2:00:40] to not hear criticism. We would like answers, action, not
[2:00:45] facebook posts, and then protections for you.
[2:00:49] thank you. Clayton, york. And
[2:00:57] then next is martin petetti.
[2:01:06] hello, sir. I am sanjay gutpa. I am transracial indian. Sir, I
[2:01:12] just want to say thank you for everything you're doing for the indian community. We need 10,000 more h-1bs.
[2:01:17] to stand in solidarity with the indian community, I've stopped using the city garbage
[2:01:21] service, and I've started throwing my trash outside and pooping everywhere. I love
[2:01:25] poop. The city smells too clean and it is offensive to me and my culture. And I need it to smell more
[2:01:30] like poop so I can feel at home. I also ask that we remove all deodorant and soap from the stores and frisco. Is
[2:01:35] it offensive? Shout out vivek ramaswamy and shout out kash
[2:01:40] patel. We need to legalize public defecation. Thank you. Martin, martin
[2:01:58] pedetti, and then after that, paul jessen. City council
[2:02:05] members and respected mayor, I'm not criticizing anyone, you can laugh. And I don't
[2:02:10] like to disrespect any country's flag on this floor.
[2:02:21] let's respect each other. We are all here, we all live together. Okay, my name is
[2:02:26] martin pariti. I live in majestic gardens on west frisco. I ran into the primaries.
[2:02:32] recent elections and I'm not here for campaign speech.
[2:02:37] and I ran for a justice of peace in denton county prison, too,
[2:02:42] and I got closely, like a 2400 votes. And during my campaign, I listened a lot of people.
[2:02:47] they said people are getting evicted and I didn't realize
[2:02:51] it's a true story or the people are telling the lies. Then I
[2:02:55] went to my fellow judge friend and took court and sit into the eviction process
[2:03:01] in one week. And I saw 80% of the people are getting evicted, and all of these people are
[2:03:06] from the job loss. And then I realized, I asked a couple of questions, why? This is related to the job loss. They
[2:03:11] said that they are all related to the tech jobs, because they have been replaced with the foreign workers. I
[2:03:16] know this night, a lot of people saying about india, indians occupying and all that
[2:03:20] story. We have a solution here. We have a lot of people here talking
[2:03:24] about ordinance. We talked about an ordinance, and I wanted to introduce what
[2:03:29] this ordinance means. The ordinance is a city law that has the same power as your federal and state government.
[2:03:34] you have the law here, and I'm requesting this night all the
[2:03:39] city council members and issue an ordinance. In the h-1b, f-1b, visa fraud is prohibited.
[2:03:45] do you will? Because all these
[2:03:49] people are blaming indians and because a few people are doing something wrong and we have a
[2:03:54] ghost companies. And if you go to any restaurants, you can see students are
[2:03:59] working in the restaurants. So these people did not come here to study, they are coming here
[2:04:04] to settle down. So you can fix the issue, pass an ordinance law, you can make frisco proud.
[2:04:08] we all wanted to live together. We don't want this to be continuing for every week, continuing all this time. So, I
[2:04:13] humbly request all the city council members, try to see if there is a possibility. You can issue an ordinance so that we
[2:04:18] can declare there is no visa fraud is encouraged in this city. That will make
[2:04:22] the frisco proud, that will make united. Thank you so much. This is paul
[2:04:35] jessen. After that, we have sehas kaul. I told you, these
[2:05:08] meetings were entertaining. I
[2:05:13] don't know if that light's going to be out there for me tonight, but just wanted to make sure
[2:05:18] that maybe there'd be some work done on it. My name is paul
[2:05:23] jessen. Paul, I know you intend well, but please don't do that again. I have an eye issue,
[2:05:29] and I've been helped to go to the doctor because of the flash. I'm sorry. I can't have
[2:05:35] bright lights. Thank you. I know you wasn't it was cute. I'll leave it out. Thank you.
[2:05:40] I'll just do verbal. No props. Thank you. Thank you. And
[2:05:46] by the way, I appreciate the correction I got last time. I misunderstood the dynamics. So
[2:05:52] by knowing that, I can do what I need to do properly. So I appreciate
[2:05:56] that. I like being corrected, especially when I'm wrong. So that's good. I want to talk about two things briefly,
[2:06:02] I hope. One of them is this paper that you're probably
[2:06:08] familiar with. It's got 130 businesses from the rail district, and they're still,
[2:06:14] just haven't been clarified. For me. Whether the fact that
[2:06:22] businesses have gone out of business, that shouldn't have
[2:06:27] gone out of business, based upon the decision, and whether intentional or not,
[2:06:32] you just have a result. Oops, these people need to be reimbursed for being businesses here,
[2:06:36] ready for 10, 15, 20 years and all of a sudden going out of business because
[2:06:41] of what happened to it. Just in talking to a lot of people around frisco, there's a lot
[2:06:46] of small businessmen looking at this and saying, hey, if they can do that to their rail district, maybe they can do it to us. So
[2:06:51] it's an optic thing, if not a real thing, that probably needs to be addressed. Second thing I
[2:07:00] wanted to mention was prop 10 on the election. And I think
[2:07:05] the exact wording was texas should prohibit sharia law and the islamic legal code in
[2:07:11] texas. 94.6% agreed
[2:07:18] with that. And this has nothing to do with being, with freedom
[2:07:23] of religion, freedom of anything else. It's just that there's a law thing that
[2:07:28] is if you look at it, it's fairly inconsistent with our laws in terms of the
[2:07:33] constitution. So the answer is, why would there be such a huge
[2:07:39] 94% thing on that? One could be, if we look at the history,
[2:07:44] george washington was asked as president, what was your toughest part of your
[2:07:50] presidency? And he said, islam. And then adams didn't do anything about it,
[2:07:56] but jefferson was in on this. He said, wait a minute. What is
[2:08:00] the real deal? Because over in the barbary coast off of africa, right where libya is,
[2:08:06] our merchant marines were being attacked by the barbary pirates and killed and sold
[2:08:12] into slavery. And stuff like that. So they got a meeting together in london, said, guys, what is going on?
[2:08:17] we've been very respectful. We've not done anything. Why are you doing this to us? And
[2:08:21] the response from the leadership there was, it's simple. Our book says, you're infidels.
[2:08:26] therefore, we get to kill you and do what we do to you. And when the word got
[2:08:30] back to jefferson, he basically said, just deal with it. And
[2:08:35] people don't know this, but the leatherneck, the marines are called
[2:08:41] leathernecks. And that was to prevent the sword from the other side. And then,
[2:08:46] in the marine hymn, it says, from the halls of montezuma to the shores of tripoli.
[2:08:52] that's where this took place. And they got rid of it so that our merchant marine would be
[2:08:57] safe and no longer be harassed. So there seems
[2:09:03] to be a difference. And I appreciated the, who was it,
[2:09:10] distinguishing. We treat all religions alike. I agree
[2:09:16] with that. But islam, what does that mean? Oh, okay. Islam seems to be more a political ideology that does not want
[2:09:20] to adapt and contribute. But take over and dominate. And so there is a wondering why
[2:09:28] all this is there, and maybe there needs to be
[2:09:33] some more discussion. I think I
[2:09:37] mentioned that quote before, that some only fools say we should not discuss religion and
[2:09:42] politics. Why? Because then thieves keep their power and
[2:09:48] false prophets keep teaching. So we need to clarify what really is happening,
[2:09:53] what really are the beliefs. And you look at london, you look at new york city, you look at new jersey, you look at
[2:09:59] michigan, you look at minnesota, you look at all these things that are going on
[2:10:04] in cities, but it's not going to happen here. People say, yeah, but it won't happen in texas. Well, that's what the
[2:10:09] other people said, too. So what is it that's happening? What do we need to be aware of so we
[2:10:13] can make the correct steps, make the right decisions so we
[2:10:17] don't get taken over by those who are not american? Thank you. Okay, next
[2:10:22] we have sehas kaul, and then after that we have neha sutran. Hello everyone,
[2:10:30] my name is sehas kaul, and I've lived in frisco for 22 years. I
[2:10:34] was born at texas health
[2:10:39] presbyterian in plano, so I've been here for quite a while now.
[2:10:44] and I feel like, with a lot of the rhetoric being said about,
[2:10:48] particularly indians, I feel like I have an interesting perspective on this. Being a
[2:10:52] first-generation american, with my parents migrating over in, I think, 2000, it's
[2:11:01] really sad to see what's going on. The fact that I came to this
[2:11:06] meeting and I saw someone bring out an indian flag, talk
[2:11:10] in an indian accent, very saddening. And that's kind of, that's aside from what I was
[2:11:16] going to say, but I just wanted to make that clear with
[2:11:20] everyone that I don't think anyone should be applauding. That sort of behavior, and it is quite
[2:11:25] saddening seeing that in my community, and it truly
[2:11:30] does make me very emotional. But I feel like a divide has been created and the root cause
[2:11:34] of that is misinformation. I feel like there are players that are outside
[2:11:40] of our community that want to bring this rhetoric in here. And I mean,
[2:11:45] I'm looking at the audience, the people that primarily made the the false claims against
[2:11:50] indians, they're not even in this room anymore. They're not here to listen. They're here to just make their
[2:11:55] statement and leave. And
[2:12:02] it's us, as frisco, as a community, can't fall into that. It's dangerous. This misinformation causes
[2:12:07] unnecessary conflicts, unnecessary stirrups,
[2:12:11] and I feel like it just causes divide within our community. And, I mean, I had some statistics
[2:12:18] that I wanted to talk about, but I think it's deeper than
[2:12:23] that. I can say as much as I want about h-1bs, all this,
[2:12:27] but, I mean with my experience here, as the indian population has grown, crime has gone down,
[2:12:31] there's been a lot more economic growth. I had the
[2:12:36] pleasure of talking with chief of police david shielson
[2:12:41] earlier today, and he even said most cities with first class population would be envious of
[2:12:46] our crime rate and our community. Anyone that really
[2:12:51] wants to learn and be educated
[2:12:59] and understand the perspective of someone that's within that community,
[2:13:03] you can come to me, talk to me afterwards, and I'll give you that. Because I feel like this sort of information is
[2:13:08] only spread when you're in your own echo chamber. When you're in your echo chamber
[2:13:12] of thoughts and with social media, with all these things around us, we just get stuck
[2:13:17] within our own thoughts and our own beliefs. And they become extreme. The only way we change that is through communication
[2:13:23] and through coming together as a community. Thank you. Just let
[2:13:33] me know when you start the time. I'll just start the time
[2:13:43] like on my own side, so I can see how I'm doing time wise. You have it on there. Oh, oh my
[2:13:48] god, it started. Okay. Hi, my name is neha surathran. I've lived in texas since 2016, and
[2:13:53] I've significantly watched a demographic change. So today here, I'm here essentially
[2:13:59] to address misinformation about the indian community that has been stated
[2:14:04] at previous meetings, the blatant racism that was displayed quite literally 20
[2:14:09] minutes ago, and all of this has spread to the news. Times of india is
[2:14:13] writing about councilman tucker and how this, that so called activist paul
[2:14:19] has blatantly made racist claims towards him. But many
[2:14:23] of these people that have spoken at previous town halls, they've used the word alleged.
[2:14:27] alleged fraud, alleged activity, alleged concerns. I will not be using that word
[2:14:32] tonight. I'm not here to speculate. I'm here to present facts. I'm here to cite real data,
[2:14:37] and I am here to address directly the misinformation surrounding h-1b visas and harmful stereotypes about the
[2:14:42] indian community in frisco. Tonight, I'm here to talk about two things, the truth
[2:14:47] about h-1b visas and the reality of the indian community in our city. I spoke directly
[2:14:52] with the frisco chief of police, david shilson. Something that I want to make clear to everybody
[2:14:57] here tonight. The frisco council is not responsible for h1b
[2:15:02] visa fraud. That directly goes to a federal bureau.
[2:15:07] complaining here, the only reason why people are
[2:15:13] complaining to the council is to spread blatant hate towards
[2:15:21] the indian community. Because they feel uncomfortable seeing people that do not look like them. What sahas had said
[2:15:25] earlier, frisco is consistently ranked one of the safest cities in america. Not despite its
[2:15:29] diversity, not despite its indian population, but alongside it. And as of today, there are no verified reports
[2:15:34] of h-1b fraud in frisco. If the word alleged continues to be
[2:15:39] used one more time, at this point, I would urge citizens to assume that it is false.
[2:15:43] unless you do a quick research on google. Look at a, like, federal bureau website. The
[2:15:48] statistics, the data, it's all there. Chief shilson
[2:15:52] also said misinformation is one of the biggest threats.
[2:15:56] to our country today. It creates divisiveness and hostility and does everything but promote unity. And that is
[2:16:01] exactly what we are seeing. People are forming strong opinions based
[2:16:05] on social media clips, group chats, and viral posts. Kelly, for example, today at this meeting made a claim that
[2:16:11] hate crimes were happening in india against the christian community. She referenced the
[2:16:15] cornell report. Upon looking at this report, you can see that there have been 200 cases
[2:16:21] of hate crimes towards christians, but india is home to 1.2 billion people.
[2:16:26] relative to the size of population, there has been
[2:16:30] significantly more hate crimes towards muslims and jewish people within india. America.
[2:16:36] so hate crimes happen everywhere, but are disproportionately happening
[2:16:40] in the u.s. Due to uninformed rhetoric spread by people that do not educate themselves. So let's talk
[2:16:46] facts. What about an h-1b visa? You need to have a specialized job offer, work in tech or
[2:16:51] medicine, have at least a bachelor's degree or higher, be sponsored by a u.s. Employee,
[2:16:56] and also, the company has to prove that you, that,
[2:17:01] that that. They're paying the h-1b visa holder the same, if not higher amount as they would a u.s. Resident. They're not
[2:17:06] outsourcing cheaper labor. And it's not an easy system to enter. It's selective,
[2:17:11] competitive, and regulated. And there's a reason that this program exists. Around 70% of
[2:17:15] ai and machine learning graduate students in the u.s. Are international students. In overall stem fields, over
[2:17:19] 50. That means that the very people being trained in our universities in the most
[2:17:24] advanced fields are often not u.s. Citizens. Without programs like h-1b,
[2:17:28] we are not protecting jobs, we are pushing away talent that our own system helped create.
[2:17:33] for every one h-1b worker, approximately 1.8 additional
[2:17:38] jobs are created for u.s. Workers. So the idea that these individuals are taking jobs is
[2:17:44] just not supported by the data. Regions like frisco, with higher h-1b participation, have been shown to experience faster wage
[2:17:49] growth for u.s.-born. Workers. Now, let's talk about the indian community. About 75% of americans hold a bachelor's
[2:17:53] degree, compared to 38%. The medium. Income is 150k, double the u.s. Median. We are among the highest contributing
[2:17:58] groups per capita towards taxes. And if you look towards the crime data, 1.2% of fraud arrests, despite being a larger share
[2:18:03] of the population at 6%. So, statistically, the indian community is associated with higher education, higher
[2:18:11] income, and lower crime rates. So if a group is associated
[2:18:17] with safer communities, stronger schools, and higher economic contribution, why are we afraid?
[2:18:22] if your goal is for your children to grow up in safe neighborhoods. High-performing schools,
[2:18:27] stable communities, then this is not something to fear. This is something
[2:18:31] to welcome. And let me be clear about cultural visibility. We also celebrate thanksgiving,
[2:18:36] christmas. We are not forcing religion onto you. Hinduism does not convert. We believe
[2:18:41] everybody goes to heaven, as long as you're a good person. Can I talk for a little more,
[2:18:45] if possible? Sorry, ma'am. Thank you. Okay,
[2:18:56] but thank you. We have harlan papert and then, finally,
[2:19:02] we have donna schmittler. Well, hi, honestly, after all of this and what we talked
[2:19:06] about, you know, having your time and what you want to talk
[2:19:10] about. I don't even know what to say right now. I haven't been to the city council
[2:19:16] meeting in some years. I think the last time I talked, it was like, about frisco arts, like,
[2:19:22] whatever before covid. Just
[2:19:26] having experienced this, I feel like I'm seeing democracy in action, but I do have
[2:19:33] something to say. I'm looking at the makeup of this board
[2:19:38] here, right, of this council. We have representation of
[2:19:43] different cultures and different people from different places. So when I hear these outsiders
[2:19:50] coming in and talking about frisco, I find that. Terribly
[2:19:55] annoying and terribly frustrating, and I don't know how you all have to sit here and listen
[2:20:01] to that. I didn't know. That's part of the process. That doesn't have anything to do with our city council, right?
[2:20:06] there's nothing you can do about that. Whatever is going on, whatever that is, if it's a problem, it's not a
[2:20:12] frisco problem, it's not a city council problem, you shouldn't have to deal with
[2:20:17] that. I do have some questions though, because initially I
[2:20:22] came here because I think I got a little bit blindsided, and I think some
[2:20:26] of us were blindsided. About that industrial park, what used to be becky's horse
[2:20:31] rescue. So I think a lot
[2:20:37] of my neighbors are rather upset about the whole thing,
[2:20:44] and I thank brian livingston and jeff cheney for speaking
[2:20:49] to me about it when I first got here. I appreciate that because I really didn't know what was
[2:20:54] going on, but I also feel uninformed. And I don't know
[2:20:59] if there's a better way for
[2:21:03] city to inform the residents who would be most impacted
[2:21:08] about some type of construction that will impact their
[2:21:13] backyards. So I think that that
[2:21:23] measure was a little bit rushed. I know that was already something discussed. I heard
[2:21:28] that 25 or 30 people came out. I've also found out just
[2:21:33] yesterday that there was a petition that went around. I
[2:21:38] don't know what impact that had, but I'm just wondering,
[2:21:44] you know, about that and how myself and others could be more
[2:21:48] informed, because I asked a few of my neighbors, and my neighbor showed up,
[2:21:54] and I have another neighbor. They had no idea about this industrial park going on in our backyard,
[2:22:00] and I know it's upset a lot of people. The other part to that is the impact
[2:22:07] environmentally, public safety, and public health. I live in
[2:22:14] prestmont, which was built in 95, 96. I moved there in 2012.
[2:22:19] and when I moved to frisco in 2012, it was a very different
[2:22:23] city, right? The exit from prestmont goes out to
[2:22:28] prestmont and ohio. Where we have all that new, well,
[2:22:35] it's not new anymore. There was nothing there many years ago. Now we have a lot of stores and
[2:22:39] retail and apartments, and there's a lot of traffic. And years ago, we were told
[2:22:45] that there would be traffic controls put in place. And one roundabout was built at warren
[2:22:51] and ohio. But we also have, I think, and I'm sure the
[2:22:55] police can look into, you know, the type of safety problems
[2:23:00] we've had, but... At gaylord and ohio, we have this immense
[2:23:06] intersection, and we were told there was going to be a roundabout put there
[2:23:12] to control the traffic. It never happened. We were also told that potentially something
[2:23:16] was going to be put at presmont, because I will tell
[2:23:21] you, it's a dangerous intersection. Oftentimes, there's a police car posted there because of the
[2:23:26] danger. Personally, I used
[2:23:31] to walk my dog through there, and I can tell you a number
[2:23:36] of times that I had to leap out of the way with my dog. Because I almost got hit
[2:23:42] by a car. My neighbor got hit by a car there. He got t-boned right there. So I just want
[2:23:48] to also ask that we can look into what happened to the traffic control there, because I think with that
[2:23:53] industrial park also going in, we're going to see more traffic.
[2:23:59] so that's what I have to say. Thank you all for your time, and I appreciate everything you all
[2:24:03] are doing here. Thank you.
[2:24:08] thank you. I will add really y quickly, the developer of that project is going to be
[2:24:13] doing another neighborhood town hall. I know laura romel has been working with them
[2:24:18] to coordinate that. I think it's after spring break for people to learn more about the projects,
[2:24:22] and they're also offering to have residents come see another one of their projects
[2:24:28] to understand it. So if you want to know more information about that, we can. We can get
[2:24:32] that to you. Thank you. And jason, would you mind grabbing them afterwards, too, to give them a status
[2:24:37] on the roundabout? Yeah, I
[2:24:41] think it's in design. Donna. Good evening, mayor and council. Donna schmittler, 7037, white rock court,
[2:24:46] frisco, texas. Just want to give you some information
[2:24:52] about the heritage association of frisco. We are having, on march 31st, we are having a
[2:24:56] lecture and a meeting at... At the heritage depot, and it
[2:25:02] will feature the 1903 alan bickerstaff house. That the new
[2:25:08] owners, the petruskas, have spent two years and much blood, sweat, and tears, and some
[2:25:12] dollars restoring the house. So it's open to everybody. We'd love you
[2:25:18] to come and see it. And she has written a book, which will be featured that night as well.
[2:25:24] and we're still working on frisco 125. Which is coming up
[2:25:29] in 2027, and some of you will be hearing from many people. We have hired
[2:25:34] some writers and some authors to help with that. So if you get a call from us,
[2:25:40] it's not a spam call. We really want your input. And thank you so much. I know it's difficult
[2:25:44] what you do. I was on the school board once and it's not an easy thing. So it compels
[2:25:49] in comparison to what you guys are up to. But I appreciate frisco and
[2:25:53] like I said on more than one occasion. I came to frisco for a new life, and frisco has
[2:25:58] given me a good one. Thank you. Thank you, donna. All right.
[2:26:07] item 30 is city council discussion with city staff concerning any actions required by staff. We had the tabled
[2:26:12] item that will come back. Item 31 is governance monitoring, which I had this evening. And
[2:26:18] so council had good discussion on the one regular agenda item. Citizen input. So I gave us
[2:26:29] tonight. With that, I will look for a motion to adjourn motion by burt,
[2:26:37] second by and all in favor that passes 6-0. We are adjourned at 856. Thank you.