Okay, it is 9 o'clock. In fact, it's
9:02 a.m. It is November tw 12th, 2025,
and this is a meeting of the Camino Rial
Regional Mobility Authority Board of
Directors.
Um, so I'm officially calling the
meeting to order. Raymond, would you do
roll call, please, to confirm a quorum?
» Yes, ma'am. Miss Wilson,
» Here.
» Miss Masters,
» Here.
» Mr. Mroy,
» Here.
» Mr. Palasios,
» Here.
» Mr. Linder,
» Miss Perez
» Here,
» And uh currently Miss Ortega is out, but
she should be joining virtually here
shortly. Do we do have a quorum?
» Okay. Thank you. Are there any public
comments?
» No, ma'am.
» Then I'll move to item three. Um item
two, introduction of Christopher Linder,
our new RMA board member. Uh welcome,
Chris.
Um
um Chris and I know each other from um
another board relationship. He is on the
Roycom
um board of managers which is a
subsidiary of Ready One Industries. Um
he also um has a very distinguished
career in the military and was at Fort
Bliss for a substantial period of time.
I'm going to let you um introduce
yourself and talk about your background.
Um, but I'm excited to have him on the
RMA board um because he does bring to
the table a really important um
connection with Fort Bliss that we um
have had with previous long-term board
members who have termed out um but which
we don't have now. So that's he's going
to be a really valuable addition. So
thank you for agreeing to serve and
welcome and
Good morning. Uh, so I've lived in El
Paso now I think about nine and a half
years. I came here in 2016. I was the
chief of staff at William Bowmont, the
old hospital. Had to oversee the uh
movement to the new hospital and some of
the construction there. Of course, the
uh core of engineers oversaw all the
construction projects, but for me, it
was more so, you know, what uh where
things were going to go inside the
hospital. Um and then the movement from
the old hospital to the new hospital. Uh
since then, uh I when I retired in 2020,
I worked at the MCA for a couple of
years, which saw oversaw some of the uh
COVID response here in El Paso. uh
bringing in some partners from outside
of the region to help with uh the
response plan. Um and then worked a
little bit uh in the commercial sector
after that and now I work uh with a
Alaskan Native American company with
some government contracting in the
healthcare industry. So um glad to be a
part of the board, glad to be helping
out as much as I can here in the region
and in El Paso. Thank you.
Um, good morning. Monica Perez is u we
met this morning. Welcome to have you
here. Um, I'm an attorney in town at
Mounts Green Meyers and I've been on the
board for about three years, I believe.
» I'm Leah Masters, retired now. I was in
banking for all of my career and um just
welcome to our board.
» Matthew Malroy, we met earlier. Um
welcome. [clears throat] And I've
bounced around doing transportation
stuff throughout my professional career.
So glad to have you here.
» I'm Robert Palasio. Nice to meet you.
I'm in real estate development. I'm also
fairly new to the board. Joined earlier
this year. Uh just moved back to El Paso
from Chicago where I was in real estate
development for several years. and um
yeah, looking forward to working with
you on the board.
» Do you want to introduce yourself even
though you don't need an introduction?
» Miss Ortega, can you hear us?
» Yes. Good morning. My name's Lee. I'm an
attorney and I started serving on the
board the same time Robert did. And I'm
sorry I'm not there to personally greet
you, but I promise to do so at the next
board meeting. Welcome.
» Thank you.
» And um now that you're here and we have
a full compliment on the board, I
believe we have um a void on the
planning committee. Is that the one or
the finance committee?
» Finance.
» Finance. So I for for the balance of um
this year until we like readjust
committee assignments um we'll go ahead
and put you uh with the finance
committee. Uh Leah is um the chair of
that committee and so um it'll be really
interesting um and it'll be a good way
to learn kind of about all the sources
of funding and um the different projects
and things we're working on.
Okay. So, with that, we'll go to item um
three, which is adoption of the minutes
of the board meeting of September 10th,
2025.
» No changes. Move to approve.
» I have a motion.
» Second.
» I have a motion and second. Any
discussion? All in favor?
» I
» I Any opposed?
» Motion passes.
Item four, presentation, discussion, and
action on a board resolution to select
one or more firms pursuant to the RMA's
request for qualifications
for indefinite deliverable contracts
dated September 9, 2025 and to authorize
the executive director to begin contract
negotiations with the selected firms.
» Good morning. Ray Mateus, executive
director of the Camino Rail Regional
Mobility Authority. And today we've got
a a PowerPoint for you to walk you
through this procurement that we've
talked about a couple of times. Uh so as
read into the record, this is a
procurement for indefinite deliverable
contracts.
Ah, there we go. Okay. So here's our
agenda. This is included as part of your
backup. So I'll I'll breeze through this
pretty quickly, but I'm happy to slow
down if you have any questions along the
way.
Is that okay? Thanks. So the the purpose
of this particular uh procurement
relates to the way that this
organization operates. We have as you
know um a a rotation of engineering
firms that we pull from whenever we have
design or or other activities that we
need uh to be completed. So what we do
is we'll put out a uh a request for
qualifications for indefinite
deliverable contracts and we receive
submittals from those firms looking for
the types of services that you see there
and these are just examples but
surveying right away mapping everything
that you see there uh is included in the
type of procurement that we're looking
for. So next
here's the timeline that that we've had
uh on this particular procurement. Back
in August, the board established the
scoring criteria that we use for this
procurement. The RFQ was issued in
September. We had a question and answer
process that was completed uh there in
September as well. And at the end of
September, we received submitts, 15 in
total. That's the most we've received uh
on any prior IDC program. So, it was
quite a few uh submitts. We uh also had
an evaluation committee, which we'll
talk about here in a moment, that met on
November 6th to finalize the scoring.
And so today we have a recommendation
for you uh in terms of the the proposed
teams that we're that we want to move
forward with. It's a bit of a short
list. And then uh we'll be back for
approval of individual agreements with
those firms if if you so approve. These
are the submitts that that were
received. And again, this is part of
your backup, so I won't read through all
of them, but these are all of the firms
that we received submittals for. Uh, and
this will be posted online after after
the the board meeting as well for the
public. This is the the scoring criteria
that the board authorized back in
August. 35% of the score went to team
organization staffing and approach to
DBE. 25% was uh related to uh past
project experience. And we also had a
sample project that was included and we
asked them to put together a sample uh
uh procedure for uh that project and
that was 40% of of the maximum score.
I mentioned the evaluation committee. So
we reached out to El Paso County, the
city of El Paso and the and Texot. Those
are our three primary u partners that we
work with regularly. So we thought it
would be useful to have some engineers
from those organizations help us make
the selection. So from the county we had
Roxan Medina who uh we work with
regularly, Ismael Sepa from the city of
El Paso and Sheetal Patel from Text. So
I want to thank them uh for their work.
They were uh you could tell during our
discussions last week that that they
spent quite a bit of time on on each of
these and I really appreciate their
their work. This is the ranking. So the
of the uh total submitts CA engineering
group was ranked number one. HDR was
next with GFT third and Consor
Engineering fourth. And what we're
recommending to you today is to move
forward with these four shortlisted
firms. Uh we would ask in fact on the
next slide there's the motion that we'd
be asking a motion to approve the exe
evaluation committees rankings and
authorize the executive director to
begin negotiations with the top four
ranked firms provided that the resulting
master agreements and subsequent work
authorizations will be returned to the
board for review and approval. So, as a
reminder, uh we would negotiate master
agreements with these four firms. They'd
be on the shelf. When a when a project
comes up, then we would issue a an
individual work authorization. Both the
master agreement and the subsequent work
authorizations would come back for board
review and approval. Happy to answer any
questions, but that would be our
recommendation today.
» Two small ones. When you put
[clears throat] out the original RFQ,
did you specify the number of firms that
would be selected?
» We did not. We left it open. And then
when you scored them, I saw the ranking.
Um, how how did they stack up in terms
of points one, two, three, four, five?
Was there some big gap where you cut it
off out into four? There was a gap. If
you'll um allow me
uh to pull that up or maybe Robert, you
could get to it quicker.
I should have had that ready. I
apologize.
And I'll I'll share, in fact, I'll send
an email out to the full board with the
with the scores and the and the full
rankings if you're interested.
» Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm not finding it.
Robert, can you
» Ah, thank you.
So I'll I'll give you the the scores for
the top four. The the top was 81.67.
The second was 79 and then it dropped
down to 77.75
and 74.75.
» And then after that what was next?
» Uh 73.42
71.33 down to 70 and 68.
» Okay. Um
are four sufficient?
» Yes, we we believe so. So in in our past
the one time we had we selected five but
that was actually based on the scoring
the the fourth and fifth were very
close. So normally we have three or four
um historically four actually and then
one time five
» And in terms of anticipated work these
four firms would represent the skills
that you would need. Well, so that's
that's the tough part in prior the the
uh instance where we selected five that
was based on the fact that we were
heading into the vehicle registration
fee program. So we knew we had a quite a
bit of sufficient quite a bit of
funding. That's not the case this time.
So we don't exactly know what the work
will look like. So there's no work
guaranteed to any of these firms. Now
hopefully we'll be able to continue to
to generate work uh for them. But at
this point we don't know what the
program looks like.
» Okay. I have no question. I move to
approve.
» Okay. No other questions from anyone
else.
» All right. I have a motion to accept the
recommendation as submitted.
» I'll second.
» We have a second. All in favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Good
work, everyone.
» Can I assume all these firms have a
presence here in the community?
» Yes, ma'am.
» Okay.
» The for sure. Some of them actually
» Okay.
» Okay. Good.
Um number item number five, discussion
and action on board resolutions
authorizing the execution of work
authorization number seven with H&TB
Corporation and interlocal agreements
with the following entities in relation
to the medical center of the America's
placemaking guidelines project. A city
of El Paso. B. El Paso County. C. Texas
Tech University Health Sciences Center
at El Paso. D. El Paso Children's
Hospital. And E, El Paso County Hospital
District.
» Okay, we've got another PowerPoint for
you. We don't have a lot of PowerPoints
today, I should mention, just to prepare
you, but this one I think is is useful.
This is an interesting project that came
to us uh from an initiative that came
out of the El Paso uh Mobility
Coalition, which is part of the El Paso
Chamber. Next slide. So the intent here
uh and I I'll skip this. This is part of
your backup as well. Uh so the intent
behind the initiative uh El Paso
Mobility Coalition's initiative was to
focus in on the medical center of the
Amedicas and the the ways in and out of
the of the system, excuse me, of the of
the center. So they felt that um
sorry
well so apologies. So they felt that um
it was not the the ways in and out of
the medical center were not uh
representative of of the amount of
investment that our community has made
in the medical center. So you see there
a list and I should mention the first
six slides come from uh the chamber.
This one shows the the significant
investments that this community has made
in in the medical center. So, next
slide. Uh these are some of the comments
made by by folks over the years noting
that there's not a a a positive way to
enter um the the medical center. That
last one is is normally highlighted by
the chamber as [clears throat] it comes
from a a dental student uh who notes
that it's just not inviting. You want uh
you want quality when you want to have
the presence and the feeling of quality
as you're entering uh into into this uh
medical center. So, next slide.
And here's some examples of of prior
wayfinding plans that have been
developed in the area. So, next slide.
And some example of examples of
noticeable notable uh public entrances.
So, next slide. Let me speak more
generally. So again, the idea then was
that the chamber wanted to make some
improvements to the medical center area.
They wanted to create a major gateway
entrance along Reynolds. But as uh they
put stakeholders together, including
Texas Tech, UMC, all of the major
stakeholders in the MCA, the
conversation [clears throat] was
broadened into developing more of an
aesthetic for the area. Not only do they
want to have a major gateway entrance,
but they also wanted a a unified
aesthetic throughout to to show the
unified coordination of the medical
center. So that's where the RMA came in.
Uh we were asked if we could assist with
that exercise. So we met with the group
and and essentially agreed to to pursue
this. Next slide.
So we agreed to develop a placemaking
plan. Uh so there are five partners that
that will will help us uh develop this
this guide and that's what you see as as
that first bullet. The city, the county,
Texas Tech, UMC and the Children's
Hospital will fund this placemaking
plan. The RMA will uh bring on H&TB
which is one of our general engineering
consultant teams and they will actually
do the work. However, we use a project
committee uh composed primarily of the
five uh project partners but also major
stakeholders throughout the the MCA area
and they'll guide the development of
this plan. Next slide.
Uh so there are the steps and and I
won't I won't go through all of them but
the the gist is that we will review all
of the prior developed documentation for
the area. all of the master plans that
the MCA has developed, all of those uh
documents that each of the stakeholders
have developed and use that as a
starting point. We'll we'll bring all of
that and present that to the committee
and and receive guidance from them on
developing the plan and going forward. I
would mention there's not only the the
placemaking plan, but one also one
really important addition was um what
we're referring to as grant application
support. So at the end of this exercise,
not only will we have a a placemaking
guideline document that each of the
stakeholders will utilize when they're
making in improvements to their
individual facilities, but we will also
actually have some initial grant uh
documentation that we could submit for a
joint project that we can pursue
together or individually with one of the
stakeholders. Uh next slide.
The here are some of the highlights. We
think it'll take about 12 months from uh
issuance of the notice to proceed. Uh we
have meetings with the committee as I
mentioned and and those are some of the
deliverables that that we've kind of
glanced over. Next slide.
Uh we have signed agreements from Texas
Tech, the University Medical Center and
Children's Hospital. Uh the city of El
Paso has approved their agreement as
well. So four out of the five are
approved if not signed. And El Paso
County took this to commissioner's court
last week and we presented there uh and
they have authorized staff to negotiate
the interlocal agreement with the RMA
and to identify the funding source. So
we will have to go back one more time to
the commissioner's court for
authorization to execute and to pull the
funding for that. But I should note we
are very close to to advancing. Once we
get the county's approval then we'll be
able to sign all five and issue the
notice to proceed.
So I'm happy to answer any questions.
Otherwise we've got several action items
for you. The first one would be uh
authorizing and these are all through
board resolutions authorizing the
execution of work authorization number
seven with H&TB and then the subsequent
uh interlocal agreements with the city,
the county, Texas Tech, Children's
Hospital and uh the county hospital
district. So happy to answer any
questions.
» Yes, ma'am. One action.
» Are there any discussions? Matthew,
» Just a question. [clears throat]
And this advanced warning, it's going to
get in the weeds a little bit.
[clears throat] Placem is really broad
definition. Um
the placem that you imagine get getting
into is sounds like it's going to cover
potentially everything from
architectural standards to building
placement, building massing because
you're answering listed all of that
stuff. Is that going to be in the final
product that's provided
» Potentially? So it it really is going to
be dependent upon where the committee
takes this. So we've included quite a
large uh scope and in fact actually
Kelvin is here should you have any
questions on the individual scope items.
» Um and in fact actually the scope is
included as as the backup for uh the the
underlying item. Um but I think
primarily the focus will be wayfinding
aesthetic improvements uh aesthetic
treatments along the corridors and that
sort of thing.
» So for public properties only not
necessarily private. No, actually so
some of these the well the guidelines we
can't force them onto the private
properties, right?
» You could
» Well,
right? So So we'll we'll develop the
guidelines. Now if the city and the
county want to do something with them,
uh that's they certainly could.
» Okay. So all of that yet to come from
the committee.
» Correct.
» Okay. I'll move to approve.
» Any other discussion? I just have a
question about funding again.
» Um, so we have funding for the group to
get together and decide on what they
want to do. Is that correct? But we
don't have funding for the actual
placement.
» That's correct. So the the funding so
the five partners shared it shared
equally the the total cost of 340,000.
Okay.
» So roughly $68,000 per partner. That
funding will be used to pay H&TB to
develop the guideline document to to for
the committee meetings and and to walk
us through this process and develop that
document. Okay.
» But it also creates the grant
application at the back end. So as part
of the process through the through the
planning document, we'll also as a the
committee will identify one particular
project that they're most interested in
that they would like to to pursue first.
Okay?
» And we'll create some grant application
documents for that. So that will end up
with a document that we could actually
submit through whatever funding source
we're pursuing. So those are the two
primary deliverables. But at the end of
it, you're you're right, there won't be
funds for the building of the a thing or
or that sort of thing. It's really the
guidance documents and the grant
application.
» Okay. And the placement you you're
trying to get grants for the actual item
that or whatever is going to be built
» Potentially, right?
» Yeah. If the committee identifies um the
Reynolds gateway as as the primary
project, then that would be the grant
application that we develop and then and
then either collectively or one of the
individual partners could then take that
and and pursue funding.
» Okay. Yes,
» Ma'am. That's what I understand.
» And it does it doesn't preclude any of
the partners from using their funds to
fund it should they desire to. Right.
» That's correct. That's correct.
» Okay. It would it would become then a a
project.
» Yes, ma'am.
» Capital project. So does so
um because we have a representative from
the no here given the nature of this
type of work are there still fun
categories available for sort of like
you know street activities that short of
the constructing the road but the
aesthetic standards and treatments there
used to be some alternative categories.
» Yes ma'am.
Sorry for putting on the spot, but
» That's all right.
» That's what happens when you come to a
meeting.
» I'm used to it. Sorry. My name is
Eduardo Calvin. I'm executive director
of the El Paso MO. Uh yes, there are
some some programs that are available
precisely for this type of of projects
like the it's called the TA uh
transportation alternative whatever it's
called. Um but it's uh there are two
opportunities there. one at the local
level where the some funding comes to
the no then we do a call for projects
and we select projects those tend to be
smaller you know dollar amounts and then
there's a second opportunity at the
state level that the that text manages
that there's more funding available but
of course the competition is is uh
bigger because it's open at at the state
level and then locally yes we we've you
know bounced off some ideas with with
Raymond about uh maybe we could some of
the depending on the scope of the actual
project that is that is uh determined.
We could perhaps use maybe CME category
five which is congestion mitigation and
and air quality if we can justify um for
example you know part of the project it
makes you know walking more more
attractive um and the super flexible
category is seven which is what we use
for ops system projects and and so on.
So there there's some opportunities but
of course you know the funding is
» Well they're competitive and I know it's
limited. That's good to know. Okay. So,
I do have a motion. Do I have a second?
» I'll second.
» So, I have a motion and second. Any
further discussion? Call for the vote.
All in favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes. All right.
Moving on to item six, discussion and
action on board resolutions authorizing
execution of the following instruments
as they relate to the Wilder Aerial
Tramway Project. Item A, amendment to
the project development agreement with
the Texas Park and Wildlife Department
and B, work authorization number 46.2
with Atkins Realis USA.
» Okay, this is a another good good news
item. Uh, item 6A is the amendment with
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. We
have an an uh an agreement with them
where we are designing and constructing
the the WER project for them. Uh this
amendment adds another $7 million from
the most recent legislative session.
That $7 million will be focused on the
design and the construction of the
tramway itself. So as a reminder, we've
got three pieces to this project. Phase
one, which is has been designed and is
currently under construction and should
be done within about a year. Phase two
then is the design which is complete uh
of the visitor center at the base
station and the aerial station as well.
And that is unfunded currently. And then
the third piece is the tram itself. And
so this 7 million will go towards the
tram. So item 6A is for the amendment
with parks to to provide those funds to
us. And then 6B uh is the work
authorization with Atkins Realis who
will uh support us in pursuit of a tram
provider.
So would recommend approval on this item
as well.
» Any questions?
Um if not, I'll call for a motion.
» So move.
» Second.
» We have a motion and a second. All in
favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes. And
actually, there was a really good
article with Paul Foster bringing the um
his committee here and um doing a big
promotion for us. So, that was exciting
to see. Yes,
» Um item seven, discussion and action on
a board resolution authorizing those
actions necessary to submit a grant
application for a proposed pedestrian
crossing at the medical center of the
Americas as part of the text dot
offsystem rail grade separation state
fund program.
» Okay, this is another interesting
project as well. This one came to us
from the medical center of the Americas
Foundation. the the chairman of that
organization reached out asking if we
could support uh the pursuit of some
grant funds. So in the last legislative
session, the legislature approved what's
referred to as the Texas offsystem
railgrade separation state fund program.
So that's $250 million that were set
aside to help communities uh deal with
atgrade crossings of railroad uh
crossings throughout the throughout the
state. These are specifically for
off-state, which means non- techtop
facilities. So, city, local, county
roadways, that sort of thing. Um, the
MCA Foundation has identified Rick Rick
Francis, the crossing at Rick Francis to
be uh a major um concern for them. Uh
this is this is the main roadway that
runs parallel to Reynolds. And on either
side, you've got uh a lot of the the
main facilities. You've got the dental
school, the medical school, um the
nursing school. So, you've got quite a
few major uh activities there and I
think the cancer center will be uh
located there as well. So, a lot of
activity. In fact, um I've seen video of
uh there are three rail cross three uh
rail lines there that cross at Rick
Francis. One of them I believe is a spur
and and is not used, but the other two
you've got video of two trains stalled
out on those tracks and you've got folks
uh students and and employees of the of
the MCA area uh crossing those trains.
So, very dangerous, not ideal. So,
they've asked if we could assist. Um the
program itself has a two-step
application process and uh I think we're
ready to go on the submittal in the
preliminary applications. The
applications themselves uh will be due
November 14th. So I'm asking for
authorization to pursue this grant
application uh um
with your support.
» So is this the training you went to?
» Was this in relation to the training you
said you were going to to learn more
about the program and the grant process?
» Yes, ma'am. There was a webinar that Tex
put together and there was a question at
that time whether RMAs could were
eligible entities to to apply. They've
since answered that we can.
» Okay, great. All right, ma'am.
» Um, any questions or discussion? I'll
call for a motion.
» Move to approve.
» Second.
» I have a motion and second. All in
favor?
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes.
Um item eight, discussion and action on
board resolutions to authorize execution
of amendments to the following
instruments as they relate to the I10
frontage road extension project phase
one. A advanced funding agreement with
the Texas Department of Transportation
and B work authorization number two with
Consort Engineers LLC.
» Okay, this is the project that we are
designing for Texot. This adds uh
westbound frontage lanes from Executive
over to Sullman Park. Um we've been
working with them for quite some time on
this project. These amendments um add
additional funding from Texot to add to
geotechnical services that need to be
added for some of the columns that are
out there. We need to go deeper to
identify the soil conditions and in
addition to that uh additional design
activities to account for u uh streets
that are tying into this facility in the
in the uh developed area uh near this.
So that's what you see before you u
under 8A it's a an amendment with text
to provide the additional funding and
then under 8B you've got the work
authorization with console who's
providing the design services for us to
actually add those additional services.
So, I would recommend approval.
» Move to approve.
» I have a motion.
» I'll second.
» I have a motion and a second. Any
discussion?
All in favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes.
Um, number nine, discussion and action
on a board resolution authorizing the
execution of an amendment to the
interlocal agreement with El Paso County
for the Canot Roads and Sidewalks
Project Colonial Border Grant.
» This item is actually a bit of a cleanup
item there. Um, some time ago, you
remember, you may recall the county
auditor f auditor team asked for more
explicit language within our interlocal
agreements that would authorize the use
of project funds for RMA administrative
expenses. So, what you see under this
item is just an amendment to our
interlocal that allows for that
explicitly. So, I would recommend
approval.
» I have a motion.
» Second.
» I have a motion and a second. All in
favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes.
Um item 10, discussion and action on
board resolutions authorizing the
execution of amendments to the following
instruments as they relate to the val um
valley chili road project. A interlocal
agreement with the village of Venton and
B work authorization number two with
Huelet Solers Inc.
» Okay. Uh item 10A then this is a project
that we're developing on behalf of W of
the village of Vinton. Item 10A
recognizes a change in the way that the
village of Inon was originally funding
this project. So it allows us to use
different funding sources. That's 10A.
10B then uh is an amendment to the Huitt
Zer's work authorization. They're the
folks that did the design work on the
roadway as let me take a step back. This
project uh includes two distinct
components. the roadway which we
designed and will construct using normal
MO federal funding and then there's a
water component that is being funded
through Congresswoman Escobar's u
office. Uh the water component was
designed by the village of Vinton
directly with a firm by the name of Park
Hill. Uh we need Park Hill to be able to
provide design services during
construction while we're managing the
entire construction. So we're bringing
Parkhill in through this work
authorization uh amendment with you. to
its dollars. So that's what you see
under item 10B. So I would recommend the
approval of both of these items.
» No questions. I'll move to approve.
» We have a motion.
» Second.
» We have a motion and second. Any
discussion?
All in favor?
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes.
Um item 11, discussion and action on a
board resolution authorizing the
execution of an amendment to work
authorization number 24.1 with Atkins
Realis USA for the Darington Roadway
improvement project.
» This is a project where we are among
other things we're doing rightway
acquisitions for the county of El Paso.
This project is at the end the east end
of Pelicano and we are doing rightway
acquisitions but we need survey services
as well. So that's what you're seeing
being added here under item 11, $4,800
for survey services under Atkins. So
would recommend approval.
» Move to approve.
» I have a motion.
» Second.
» I have a motion and a second. Any
discussion?
All in favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes.
Um item 12, discussion and action on
board resolutions authorizing the
execution of amendments to the following
work authorizations with H&TB
Corporation to extend at the time of
performance for A number three for the
automated weather observing system
project. B number six for Homestead
Meadows shared use path project. C
number eight for the Howard Low project
and num and D number 10 for the Alamo
Alto phase 4 project.
This one is also a bit of house uh
keeping. Uh these particular work
authorizations had explicit uh schedules
tied to them within the work
authorization. So we've expanded those
those timelines because each of these
require additional time uh to be
completed. They do not increase the the
fees. They just extend the time. We've
also added some language in these and
will include additional language in
future work authorizations to allow for
an administrative uh uh uh fix of of
this issue. So I would recommend
approval of this item as well.
» So any discussion?
» I have a motion.
» Second.
» I have a motion and second. All in
favor? I
» I Any any opposed? Motion passes.
Um, number 13, presentation and
discussion on change orders recently
approved by the executive director for
the Fabins airport hangar expansion
project.
We've got a quick PowerPoint for you on
this one. Um, as a reminder and for the
benefit of Mr. Lindner, we've uh the the
board some time ago approved a board
resolution that authorized the executive
director ex to execute u change orders
um under a certain amount. So, next
slide.
So you'll see here we have two change
orders that were approved u since the
last time we met. Go ahead. And it deals
with the Fabins airport hanger expansion
project. So if you'll skip skip that
this is part of your backup. So you can
spend some time with it or give me a
call if you have any questions. U since
our last board meeting we I've approved
two two separate change orders number 17
which added temporary electric
generators at the hangers. This these
were required because the U electrical
lines had not been connected yet, but we
needed to test the the hanger doors. So,
we brought in those electric generators.
Didn't want to slow the project. That uh
cost uh just shy of $5,000. Uh
incidentally, as with all change orders
with the county projects, the county
reviews and approves the change orders
before I execute. So, that was approved
by the county before. And number 18 as
well, which uh added heaters to the
project, which were not originally
included. Uh the county did want those
added. So that added another $10,000. So
both of these were approved. There's no
action required. This is just required
of me to to brief you on it.
Okay. Any questions?
If not, then I'll move on to item 14.
Discussion and action on the following
reports for the fourth quarter of the
fiscal year 2025.
operating budget, investment report, El
Paso Bike Share, Sun Cycle Program, and
the use of local resources from
engineering consultant teams. Good
morning. Robert Stutter, director of
finance. For the record, yes, the
finance committee met back on October
21st to review these items in depth. Um,
as we've done previously, we're going to
ask for the board's approval, but don't
plan to go over them in detail. Um,
we'll have Mr. Lindner at our meeting in
January. he'll get to jump right into it
with the audit and I'll talk about more
uh more of that in item 15A but do
recommend approval of the items.
» Do you have any comments? No.
» Um we just had a Monica and I had a
questions about some line items which uh
Robert and uh Raymond were able to
expand on and explain what what they
were. We did talk about uh what on the
bike share program um the the bikes that
are being um retired what we they were
going to do with it. In fact, they had
had some interest in another community
purchasing those or uh taking those over
for us. I don't know if you all want to
know about that, but other than that, we
approved everything.
» Okay.
» Uh so the the other community is still
in development. We'll see if it happens
or not, but we had some initial
discussions, but we're still a little
ways off from something concrete.
» So, typically, if the committee has
vetted them and looked at them in detail
and approved them, we don't go through
the presentations unless there's
questions or concerns about any of the
reports. Um, so if there's no other
discussion, I'll entertain a motion to
accept the reports.
» I'll move to accept the reports.
» Okay.
» Second.
» I have a motion and second. All in
favor?
» I
» I.
» Any opposed? Motion passes. Then moving
to the last item, number 15, staff
reports.
A status of the 2025 annual audit. B,
CRRMA project manager job posting. And
C, status of the Pelicano Drive widening
project.
» Okay. So, Robert Sudter, again, I'll be
giving you the update on a uh so we've
not begun the audit yet. uh we knew it
was going to be a late start based on
our uh audit
uh auditing firm and uh and where we
stand, but we we should be in good
shape. Almost every single PBC is ready
to go. So, we should hit the ground
running. Um Miss Wilson, we talked about
needing to reschedu the January board
meeting and that we would do so at the
December board meeting. So, uh if you
can come with your calendars prepared to
look at dates probably the last week of
January. And that again is to help that
we meet the city's timelines for turning
our audit into them because we're a
component unit o of the city. So if we
wait till February, it really squeezes
the city because then they only have a
couple of weeks before their deadline is
the end of February. So it helps them a
lot if we can move up our our uh push
back our our January board meeting. Um
and so we'll schedule that at the
December board meeting.
» Then I I'll take the last two items. 15B
relates to the project manager job
posting. So you you each received a copy
of that. It's also part of your backup.
Uh we have closed that that application
period and we received 26 resumes. So
we're we're happy with that number. Uh
so Robert and I will start uh going
through those very soon. Uh 15C then is
the status of the Pelicano Drive
widening project. So we haven't talked
about this one in a little while. Uh as
a reminder um we have an agreement, we
have come to an agreement between the
county, the RMA and the Shy company.
We've uh they have executed their
construction contract with the the
takeover firm which is a group by the
name of hot construction which we use on
other projects. We're very happy to have
them on board. They have started work.
They've installed their their
construction office on site. Uh they've
replaced all of the traffic control
devices um and uh and they've done
cleanup as well which helped that
community out there. The weeds had
gotten quite out of control. So that was
very helpful. Um in fact they've taken
over control of the site. So there was a
an accident out there that knocked down
the one of the street lights and so they
took control of that as well. They are
currently working on survey uh for the
entire roadway for this phase one. So
that's underway now. They believe that
they should begin construction uh
activities on the roadway in December,
but currently they're working on the
ponds. First is the one by the school
and that's a safety issue for those
students out there. So, we're happy to
see them working on that now and then
they'll move over to a pond that is
further down the road. Uh, that would be
next. But again, roadway activities
start in December. And then one other
note, the county asked that we notify
the community of of the the restart of
work. So, we've sent out a postcard to
approximately 2,000 folks within half a
mile of Pelicano itself. So, those
should be hitting mailboxes today if
they haven't already. So, that should be
out there and we direct them to our
website which has been updated and and
we've actually brought on um an outreach
group that will help us retool the web
page so we can have regular construction
updates on on the project. So, that that
will be much more uh updated much more
frequently. So, that's all I have. I
just wanted to give you a bit of an
update on on what's happened with with
that project. Oh, I should mention too.
So, we're talking about phase one, which
is the um westbound lanes from Air
Coupoop back to 375. That's important
because the other piece eastbound from
the 375 out to Air Coupoop is
essentially done already. So, that will
complete that that component. The rest
of the work that was not completed by
the original contractor or won't be
completed by this replacement contractor
is considered what we're calling phase
two. The phase 2 design plans are
currently under underway and we should
have those in hand late this month or or
sometime into December. Once we have
those, we'll share those with the shy
company. The shy company will get
pricing from hawk and then at that point
we will know the full exposure of the
shy and we will begin uh full
negotiations with them on how to
complete the the entire project. So
that's coming up as well. Concurrent
paths. Happy to answer any questions but
uh that's all I have for you. No no no
action required.
» Any question comment?
[clears throat] So the timeline that you
laid out, I just want to make sure that
our next update isn't in March or April
because I'd like to see
in some form what the construction
estimate comes back at the engineer the
engineering estimate and then I'd like
to see us give the shity some date
certain to respond by as to whether or
not they're going to accept that price
and then the board at that point can
decide if they want to do anything to at
that point. But but I just I don't want
to wait forever on the shy because of
how long it's already been.
» Understood. So we can do that. We'll
bring once we get the design set
finalized, we'll bring you the engineers
opinion of probable construction cost
and then we'll we'll talk through with
you all what kind of a timeline we want
to we'll want to provide to the shity
company. Happy to do that. Thank you.
Yes, sir.
» And the other thing is
is the shity company still sort of
hanging it out there on an appeal? Yes,
ma'am.
» So, at the time we get all this, maybe
we also need to have our attorney so we
can find out what's going on with that
appeal.
» Yes, ma'am. Yeah, we can do that. So,
the and I should have mentioned that as
well. The the we in the we're in the
district court on the appeal. Uh they
filed their documents and ours were due
I want to say two weeks back. So, we
filed our our response. So, now it's
it's with the court.
» Okay. But but I'll I'll once we get the
plan set complete and we have the
opinion of probable cost, construction
cost from the engineers, uh we'll bring
it back with an executive session and
provide a full briefing.
» That would be really good.
» Seek guidance. Yes, ma'am. We can do
that.
» Okay, good. Thanks. That's very helpful.
And then the other thing that's really
not on here, but um where are we with
our communications group?
» Are they are they doing stuff?
» Yes, ma'am. So, we've got them on board.
Uh, the first task was this postcard cuz
that was pretty immediate. And so,
that's out the door. We have our
newsletter, which is we do quarterly,
and that'll be after this board meeting.
So, within the next two weeks, that
newsletter will go out. Uh, and I
believe we have a third item that
escapes me that that they are about to
start work on. I apologize. I'll I'll
send an email followup on that third
item. But yes,
» Because there's a lot of good stuff in
here, particularly with the MCA and the
railroad project that are sort of um
different from what we've done, plus
some of the work we're doing with Tex
now.
» Yes, ma'am.
» Um the the tramways coming to a closure,
that's a big success. And then just
really highlighting all these like
smaller pro well, they're not small
projects, but the projects in the
smaller communities. So, I really want
to make sure that the the newsletter is
very meaty and substantive.
um really provides a detailed scope and
scale of the effort our our work that is
in progress coming to closure. I think
it'd be a good time to update on
Pelicano.
» Yes, ma'am.
» Give them a little bit of timeline on
that um because you know that's a
project of interest to a lot of people
and um Yeah. So, and the other thing is
on the newsletter the stakeholder list.
» Um, could you share that with us because
maybe we have ideas of people to add to
that?
» Yes, ma'am.
» I just want to make sure it's as I mean
since it's an electronic communications,
I want to make sure as many like groups
out there as possible um interested
parties have access to that.
» Yes, ma'am. Okay. Not I don't want to
micromanage it, but I've not really seen
it. And I know every now and then we
talk and it's like make sure we're doing
this, this, and this. So, I think as we
you know, we kind of keep the
stakeholder list um updated and fluid.
Um then there's opportunities and I
think our project um consultants maybe
you can look at that too. You may have
ideas of because you do a lot of
outreach too of like interested parties
that we want to make sure like are aware
of stuff that we're doing.
Okay,
» We can do that.
» Okay. Um, is there a need for an
executive session?
» No, ma'am.
» Okay, so there's no further business.
Um, and so I'll entertain a motion to
adjurnn.
» I move to adjourn.
» I have a motion.
» Second.
» I have a motion and second. All in
favor?
» I. Any opposed?
Motion passes. It's 9:50 a.m. and the
meeting is adjourned. Thank you so much.
Thank you all for coming. Um, if you
have a moment, um, I'd like for you to,
um, meet our newest board member, Mr.
Linder. Thank you.
Thank you.