We will now call the meeting of the Arlington City Council to order and the City Council will now go into closed session at 1218 PM on October the 15th, 2019 in accordance with the following sections of VTC a government code chapter 551.071 consultation with attorney and 551.087 deliberation regarding economic development negotiations. Now, turn it on. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Thank you. you you you you I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to go to the next room. I'm going to call the afternoon session of the Arlington City Council to order and I'll call upon Miss Mindy Cochran, Executive Director of the Housing Authority to talk about our Housing Tax Credit Program. I'm going to, today I'm here to share a presentation with you that I shared with the community and neighborhood development committee on September 24th and at their request I'm sharing it with the larger group today. Some of you have seen parts of this so I apologize that it won't be super exciting for you. We'll cover the history of the program, how it works, what it does, and why it's important, and the cycle that we go through each and every year. The Has the Tax Credit Program began with Ronald Reagan's 1986 Tax Reform Act. It's the single most successful program to develop rental properties in history. It really shifts the financial risk to the investor. And so it becomes very self-regulating and a lot of private market discipline. Creates a lot of units and also creates a lot of private market discipline, creates a lot of units, and also creates a lot of jobs. It's a way for us to develop class A properties for lower income families. It's a program of the Internal Revenue Service. It's allocated by the housing finance agencies in each different state and by population. And so in our state, that's the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. It's not a subsidy like Section 8. It's truly equity that's put into the development long term. So the way it works, I love this very simple slide here. When most people buy a house or a multifamily development, they put down a little bit of equity and they've got a lot of debt. This kind of flips that upside down, so there's a lot more equity in the project. So it becomes a permanent part of that financing stack and the equity stays in. I hear often, well when does it come back out? It doesn't. It's a permanent part of the financing stack. So the result is when you have more debt, you have to have more revenue to service that debt. So you need market rents to support it. When you have tax credit financing with all that equity in there, you have less debt. So you need less revenue, so you can have more affordable rents to lower income families. And these properties come very rich in amenities and services because they're required to by the state. This is an oversimplified example of how tax credits are determined for a development. I'd also like to point out that the developer doesn't get the tax credit. I also hear that a lot. These are the project is allocated tax credits by the state. And those tax credits are turned around and sold in this example. They were sold for 90 cents each. And that's equity comes from private investors, generally large institutional investors that need tax breaks like large banks. There's two types of projects, but the cycle that we're getting ready to go through here in the next few months deals with the 9% projects. They're very, very competitive, and the reason so is because there is so much equity available. As a very determined application cycle, it'll start on December 1st when the Governor signs the qualified allocation plan. And then those projects all will have to have either a resolution of support or a resolution of no objection from city council. So a developer cannot go out and do a tax credit development without UAL's consent. The equity can be used for new construction as well as substantial rehab. Who lives in these units? The general, the population is those that make 60% or less of the area median income. In an early until, that's about $45,000 a year for a family of four. They can also be mixed income developments so they can have market rate in an Arlington, that's about $45,000 a year for a family of four. They can also be mixed income developments, so they can have market rate mixed in with the low income, and that's a nice way that we don't concentrate poverty in any given area. So I love this slide. It kind of shows why it's so important that we have these. So on the left hand side, you can see based on bedroom size, what average market rent is in Arlington. I know it's significantly higher in somewhat lower in some areas, but this is sort of an average. And the next column is the income that somebody would need in order to support that level of rent without being considered cost burdened. If you took a family that was two people and they were both making minimum wage, working 40 hours a week, they could not afford a one bedroom apartment in Arlington. They would have to work 68 hours each 52 weeks a year in order to afford a two bedroom apartment in Arlington. And it's not that our wages are low. It's just that our rent costs are going up much quicker than what our incomes are. It always shocks me when I look at what the low income in Arlington is for a family of four, $60,000. I don't think of that as low income, but it really is. This slide, if you focus on the red lines, shows the solid line is the number of renters, so we have an increasing number of renters over time. And the dashed red line is the number of cost burden renters, so you can see that that's going up as well. We often ask, where do these families come from? If you're going to build 200 units, are we going to have 200 more people driving on our streets or in our schools? And the statistics show that 59% actually come from only one zip code away. So these are families that might be living in overcrowded situations. We've all seen the house with three or four or five cars even in front of it. This allows families to live in not overcrowded situations or in better, more quality housing. So like I said at the beginning, we're getting ready to start that housing tax credit cycle. It starts with when the QAP or the qualified allocation plan is approved. That is a state document that is used to score these developments. So once that's signed and the developers will submit applications here, they'll be reviewed by staff. We take them through this community and neighborhood development committee and then they'll ultimately will come to City Council for either no action or a resolution of no objection or support. They submit to TDHCA by the deadline and the award of tax credits generally comes in July. So this is a time of year where we like to have to step back and look at our process from last year and look at the policy that's been in use for the past several years and so that's what we're doing right now in preparation of this cycle starting. Historically in 2017 City Council gave support to two senior housing developments. One of those is actually open and opened in July and the other one will open either October or November of this year. In 2018, we didn't have any full applications or projects because of the hurricane down in the Houston area. And then just most recently, Council supported five projects last year for those received an award of tax credits and two of them received the zoning in order to move forward. Statewide, there's about $82 million in tax credits available, and this is region three, is the region that Arlington is in, and last year it had $16 million allocated to our region. So you can see it's very competitive. So I want to talk a little bit about the QAP. There's the state scoring system and that's the QAP, and then there's the city of Arlington council approved housing tax credit policy and so the two all the projects will get vetted by both of these scoring systems The QAP has statutory set-asides and tie-breakers very very often Developers end up with the same exact score and those so there's a three-layer series of tie-breakers that they go through It also has rules to deconsentrate where the developments are. So for example, the first and third item up there really applied Arlington. Last year there were a number of developments where all very close to each other. They're very clustered and TDHCA will only support one development within a two mile radius. So one of those is gonna fall out. Same thing with the one mile three year. If they're the same type of housing development, there can only be one within the three years. So if one was senior and one was family, that would be okay, but you couldn't have two family or two senior. TDHCA has threshold requirements and they've got scoring requirements and the thresholds basically say you must do this, this, and this or you may not do that that and that. So for example they have to be in areas where there's good schools and they can't be in areas where there's industrial waste and then the scoring elements are broken into four categories and we're going to talk a little bit about those next. Promoting high quality housing, serving Texans and supporting Texans most in need, promoting community support and engagement and promoting the efficient use of resources and applicant accountability. You can see the blue arrow there. That's where your City Council resolution of support comes in. It's where 17 points with just very substantial. If a project doesn't get a resolution of support or no objection, it's simply not going to get funded. It's generally two or three points spread between those that are funded and those that are not. So the first of those four criteria promoting high quality housing, essentially all the developers are going to get all the points in this category. It has to do with how large the unit is, the development features, sponsorship characteristics, things like that. So they're all going to max out on those points. The criteria to serve and support Texans in need has a lot of subcategories. And there's a lot of opportunity for development to go ahead or fall behind in the points on these. So these are looking at are you supporting Texans most in need in terms of maybe their income level? Are you serving only 60% AMI? Or are you also serving some units, some families that are only earning 50% AMI? And there's points associated with that as well as resident services that are provided. Also under that same category are a lot of things related to location. I'm often asked why did the developer pick that location versus this location and very often it's because that's where they're going to get the most points and so that's how they can get funded. So for example, this year the QAP right now has a new element in there and it says that developments that are within a new element in there. And it says that developments that are within one mile of a certain number of jobs get points. So within one mile of 16,500 jobs would get six points. And it's a sliding scale down to 2,000 jobs within one mile. And that would be only one point. So you can bet that the developers are overlaying their maps with where the jobs are in Arlington. And to DHTA is using the US Census on the map tool. And so this is sort of a heat map showing where the jobs are in Arlington. So those developers that are chasing those points will certainly be going to look in these darker purple areas. There's also points for the opportunity index and what that means is we want to place these developments where there's low poverty and there's high income. We also want to make sure that they're near amenities for the families to utilize. They can also get points in this category for being an underserved area. And what that is is really looking at where there haven't been any new developments in X number of years. And again, it's a sliding scale. The third category is criteria that promote community support and engagement and this is where the City Council's resolution of support for 17 points or no objection for 14 points comes in. They can also get support from state representatives, they can also get support from neighborhood organizations, from nonprofit organizations, a number of different ways to get points in this category. And then finally, if the development is located in a concerted revitalization area, they can get points there too. So this is an area that was currently distressed, but it used to be a very vital place to live. They cannot duplicate those points in this area and the opportunity index. And then the fourth category is those that promote the efficient use of limited resources and an applicant accountability. And in general they're going to get all the points in this other than the historic preservation, most that most development certainly aren't historic preservation, but in general they're going to get all the points in that area as well. So you can see the two really competitive areas and a number of those are very very location based and that's why they what drives them to those certain locations. So we're in phase one of the cycle C&D committee met this morning to look at the current policy. That'll be updated as well as the application and we'll hold the developer meeting to share that information with them and make sure that they understand what city council is looking for during this round. Phase two, we'll be reviewing those applications over the holidays. C&D committee members can take a site tour. They'll be reviewing them as well and they'll be presented to city council based on C&D committees recommendations. And then if they need zoning they'll be in the process of getting that as well. These are the six elements of the current policy and as I said these are under review by the Community and Neighborhood Development Committee. And I know that Ms. Moise is going to report out on that later so I won't be a spoiler. And that's the summary of the process that we're getting ready to go through and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much, Mindy. Thank you, Mindy. That was excellent. Okay. Next we'll move to connect Arlington Public Transportation Strategy, Ms. Alicia Winkleback. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council, Alicia Winkleback, Office of Strategic Initiatives. Councilmember Odom Wesley recently requested the opportunity to discuss public transportation. So to frame that discussion, I'm here today to give a little bit of background information to council on some of the previous work that was done to create the Connect Arlington Transportation Vision, and just kind of frame that conversation up. So to start, just to ground everyone with the same information in terms of what we are already doing in our community with regard to transportation, Arlington is and has been in the transportation business for quite some time. You can see here that last year there was a total of over $5 million in transportation funding that went into our community and funding transportation services for our community. 2.6 million of that was direct funding from the city and with the FY20 budget approval from council, that would be growing to about 3.8 million this coming year with the increased funding put towards the VA. So a lot of opportunities for transportation in our community. A lot of people are taking advantage of that. You can see that in the ridership chart there. Just wanted to provide that as kind of a basis of information with regards to what's already taking place in our community. And then related to the Transportation Advisory Committee and the development of the Connect Arlington Transportation Vision for the city wanted to And then related to the Transportation Advisory Committee and the development of the Connect Arlington Transportation Vision for the City wanted to provide a little bit of background. Back in 2016, Mayor and Council appointed a Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. They spent one year from October 2016 through September 2017, meeting monthly, really delving into the details of what transportation looks like in Arlington and what they think Transportation should look like in Arlington in the future They were charged with developing a multimodal transportation plan framework that would be used to guide future city council decisions They developed guiding principles and target populations and I will note that everyone in the posted packet, there was a copy of the Connect Arlington Transportation Strategy that is also available on our website if the public wants to look at that. The guiding principles and target populations as well as the other recommendations that I'll go through in a few minutes are in that document if you'd like more information. The committee spent a lot of time analyzing community issues, needs, looking at existing plans and studies. One of the key studies that I would note that was a great tool for the committee and really kind of helped guide their discussion was a transit assessment study that was completed by HDR, a private consulting firm, at a very high level that studies showed that the population, density and land use patterns in Arlington did not support a citywide traditional public transportation solution. If council interested more information on that, I'm happy to share that report or come back at a later time with more information. But wanted to mention that because that was a key tool that the committee used as they started to delve into what transportation should look like in the city. They also learned about best practices and emerging technologies from a lot of transportation professionals. They heard from Dallas area rapid transit, Trinity Metro, which at the time was the Fort Worth or the T. They heard from lift, Catholic Charities, trans stuff, a private consulting firm in the transportation business. So we really tried to give them a broad range of experts who worked in different modes and different types of transportation services so that they really had all the options on the table. When we started the process, we started it with a listening session and really wanted to hear from the committee members what they were interested in learning about and then spent the rest of the time responding to those responses, those requests for information. So I wanted to make sure that they had all the information available to them. They were very interested in knowing what all of the potential options might be and then narrowing down from there to get to their recommendations. Public participation was available at all of our meetings. They were all open meetings and we did have public participation at most if not all of those meetings. And then connect Arlington was the culmination of their efforts and was presented to council in September of 2017. So for the next few slides, everyone has a two-sided map and recommendation chart at their place that might be helpful to reference. The committee started out by developing corridors and hubs as their strategies. You can see there are some of the key corridors that they identified in the city as high traffic corridors or corridors that they identified in the city as high traffic corridors or corridors that were connecting key destinations. These are corridors that you'll see on the next few slides. They felt like needed some sort of maybe a more, I specifically identified or fixed route type service. And then the hubs were key destinations that they wanted to make sure the transportation vision took into account. The committee began by looking at 16 different modes. I mentioned that they were interested in the wide variety of possibilities. They started with 16 different transportation modes and then narrowed that down into the recommendations that I'll go over now. So for corridors one, two, 3, and 6, the recommendation for a mid-term solution was demand response ride share. So you can see then what we did with VIA and that is this document and these recommendations are what directed our investment and our growth in the VIA ride share system that we've got going today. The long-term recommendation for these corridors was a some sort of fixed route service supported by citywide rideshare. So kind of two pieces of the puzzle there, a citywide rideshare system, but you still have the key corridors that you saw in the map. And then the modes that were recommended were some sort of rubber-tired shuttle or personal rapid transit system, ideally autonomous when the technology is available, and ideally where available elevated or great separated, so that it didn't interfere with on the ground traffic. The recommendations for corridors 4 and 5 were also similar. The midterm recommendation for both of those corridors was either a bus rapid transit or high intensity bus connection. These are the corridors that run east and west so they connect us to our neighboring cities. We've got a lot of traffic going back and forth so some sort of high intensity bus or bus rapid transit was recommended there. The long-term recommendation for those corridors was again some sort of more fixed service supported by citywide rideshare. On corridor four, the I-30 corridor, the recommendation was high speed rail. We've now also integrated hyperloop into that conversation at the time hyperloop wasn't quite yet on the table, but so high speed rail or hyperloop wasn't quite yet on the table. But so high speed rail or hyperloop on corridor four, corridor five was again a longer term vision for bus rapid transit or high intensity bus. The committee also had some additional recommendations. They again recommended a citywide ride share system to coordinate and work with those key corridors and hubs. They also recommended circulators in some key areas, specifically the entertainment district, maybe the downtown university area, to facilitate movement in those areas where there was maybe higher traffic. And then they looked, they had recommendation for multimodal centers, ideally or specifically in the entertainment district, may be connected to what would be some kind of high speed rail or hyperloop station. But with the idea that it was a center where a lot of different modes could converge and really create not only a transportation amenity there, but also some kind of economic engine. So before I move on to just a quick status update on where we are, I wanted to mention that it was very important to the committee that they create a flexible vision. They recognize that technology is changing so quickly they didn't want to create a vision or a plan that locked them into modes that exist today. So it was very important to them, and they tried to kind of thread it throughout their recommendations that while they are suggesting potential modes, they really are suggesting a type of service and a type of accessibility that provides innovation, cost effectiveness, and as much access as possible to as many people as possible. And then just a quick update on where we are with implementing these strategies on demand response rideshare, our via service. We currently cover 26% of the city with the approval of the FY20 budget. We will bump that up to about 41% coverage when we expand in January. With the recommendations for bus rapid transit or high intensity bus, the Regional Mobility Plan developed by the North Central Texas Council of Governments does have a recommendation for a pilot on I-30. Right now, that's a little bit longer term recommendation. There's no specific funding or specific near term actions associated with that, but it is in the adopted regional plan. High speed rail I mentioned hyperloop has now also been incorporated into that conversation. So that corridor for either high speed rail or hyperloop technology is undergoing the environmental review process. I would also mention that there is an anticipation that Virgin Hyperloop 1, a company out there developing the Hyperloop Technology, will soon be releasing a request for proposals. They're looking for a location to develop a certification facility. So we will be responding to requests from the Council of Governments for any city that is interested in potentially vying for competing for that facility that certification facility will be submitting a proposal to the Council of Governments to kind of put our put our hat in that game and see if that's an opportunity that works for the city of our LinkedIn. Then the lastly the rubber tire shuttle or personal rapid transit, this recommendation is really what fueled our efforts to test autonomous vehicle technologies and continue to fuel that as you're aware we have completed pilot projects for both off-street and on-street autonomous vehicle testing and we continue now to really focus on the smart infrastructure. So the roadside element of that as opposed to the vehicles and that's an ongoing project for the city. And with that I'm happy to take any questions. Any questions, discussion? I'll just say here too the lead-offness may spur on every day there are new inventions coming forward in transportation technology. Our staff is very diligent in looking to find ones that might have some applicability here in Arlington. And so when we try out this new technology we have an opportunity to actually apply it in our conditions and if it works then we have an opportunity if it doesn't then we move on to something else. I really appreciated what you said there because our committee spent a ton of time going through everything and even while they were working, new technology was coming forward. In fact, even if you look at autonomous vehicles, we ran the first version that was totally different now from the latest version than we just ran on our streets, but also even the technology in our traffic signals is very different there from what it was. And then Virgin Hyperloop was a dream there five years ago, and now is being proven viable. And in fact, the federal government has actually created a regulatory agency separate from the federal transportation agency so that they can be able to tackle this new technology because they just didn't have a place before that So it really shows you how different things are and then I've got two things I'd like for you to expand on Miss Winkleback one is they're the Via we mentioned that we're going to be covering 41% of the city, but I think it's worth mentioning, especially the TV audience. That 41% hits our economically disadvantaged and some of our key places, and I'd love for you to talk about what all we're hitting and why we're going south. Sure. So our current service area includes connects to the centerport TRE station Also connects down into our entertainment district Our downtown University of Texas at Arlington our hospital campuses The park's small the Highlands all the way down south goes all the way down to below I-20 with the expansion in January We'll be continuing to go south at the south eastern part of the city all the way down to below I-20 with the expansion in January we'll be continuing to go south the south eastern part of the city all the way down to the southern border to capture more key destinations including the TCC campus, Stern County College campus. Great. Awesome. Real quick question, Ms. Moise. As we expand, are we factoring in the distance, say if you're going from far north Arlington to far south Arlington, are we going to have to factor in some exchange points where someone may have to meet up with a different car and change cars. It's going in the direction they're going. It seems like it might become less and less cost effective as we make longer and longer trips through Arlington. Have we talked about that? We, the VIA model as it stands today and as it's developed is developed for a one-seat ride. And that's part of what makes it an attractive option to riders in addition to that, the cost. $3 per person per ride is hard to beat these days for a transportation ride. But the way the model is set up today, it's really a one-seat ride. They use extremely advanced algorithms in the background and up to the second data. So they're constantly working on who's going where, where the rides are requested, where people need to go, and optimizing the vehicle you get in, the route the vehicle takes, whether or not you pick someone else up and share that ride to create the most time-efficient experience. So what you're saying is you may start your day at North Arlington and end it in South Arlington, the cars aren't, but you're just going to continue to be on a productive route wherever you go. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. This is Mr. Sutton. Hi. Thank you, Mayor. My question is in South East Arlington, which is one of the fastest growing segments of the city itself. You've got four high schools. You've got a college campus and you've got a large population that is population that are commuting out either on 20 or 36 again to work. What does Arlingtonville look like? What would be the capacity to handle the demand if I have a growing population in South of 20 is dual income kids in North of 20 is more fixed income, which I can understand via being utilized on the North side, but there's a demand for mobility, South of Interstate 20. What does that infrastructure look like, darling from via, addressing the demand down South? I think that it looks very much like the via system looks today because VIA is very flexible and demand-driven, we are able to grow and change the system as demand grows and changes. So, excuse me, when we looked out, when we looked at expanding down to South Arlington and we looked at the cost for that, VIA took a lot of time looking at data and projections about potential demand and where the, not only the level of demand, but the type of demand and where those vehicles or where those rides and trips might be coming from and going to do their best, make their best effort at correctly projecting for that. So we hopefully are set up to be able to in January when we expand have a via system that can handle that additional demand and meet the needs for those riders. Is there a certain population, number wise, demand ridership that would exceed capacity on via? In other words, would we get to a certain point where we reach saturation or would have to do seven different? I don't have a number for you. I will tell you that we are daily watching staff here in NVA back in the background are watching what's happening with the system. We watch not only number of rides but we look at how many rides are being shared. Are we maximizing that? How many seats are filled in the Vans? What are the wait times? Are the wait times getting too long? Does that mean we need to add more vehicles into the system? One of the benefits I would mention of our system right now, and as we move into the future, this would be a decision that Council could make. But the way our system set up right now, we have 15 VIA VANS on the roads. We also made the decision to incorporate contractor vehicles when needed. So you may, when you choose to use VIA, you may have a branded VIA VAN come pick you up. You may also have a contractor vehicle, which is a personal vehicle with a VIA magnet on van come pick you up. You may also have a contractor vehicle, which is a personal vehicle with a VIA magnet on it come pick you up. And the ability to use those contractor vehicles, those personal vehicles when we need them creates an extensive amount of flexibility in our system. So we may during our peak in the morning when we have a lot of ride needs, we may have more contractor vehicles on the road in addition to our 15 VIA VANS during the middle of the day when riderships may be a little bit lower, maybe it's primarily VANS on the road. So there's a lot of flexibility there, which is one of the benefits of the VIA system. Okay, Dr. Nignius, thank you for your presentation. I love it, but here's a question on right peak hours. What is the average wait time? Our goal for the service on average is a wait of 12 minutes from when you book your ride to when your van picks you up. Now that's across the service average. So it depends on time of day and where you're being picked up and where you're going. So you could have a wait time of six minutes, seven minutes. You could have a wait time of up to 15, 16, 17 minutes. It really just kind of depends on what else is going on in the system when you request your ride. Dr. Odom Wesley. I just wanted to, first of all, thank you for all the information and that background. I wanted to emphasize the costs. So as we expand, the cost per ride remains at $3, correct? Yes, ma'am. Each way. $3, yes, per person per ride. Okay. And would you discuss where we are with electric vehicles? Sure. Via themselves are very interested in electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles as the technology makes itself available. Via does not develop their own vehicles right now we're using Mercedes Vans so they go through a vehicle provider. So electric vehicle technology is not something via themselves would be would be working on however they are talking to their partners about the ability to bring electric vehicles into the service. We don't have any definitive plans or timeframes right now. I guess when I when I asked to put this on the agenda, there were two concerns. One, of course, is congestion, to relieve congestion on our roads and to look at the quality of our air. The air quality in North Texas has recently been downgraded from moderate to serious. So we really do have to seriously look at getting some of these gasoline vehicles off the road and having public transportation is a way to do that. And the traffic congestion that our citizens are experiencing with just commuting from one side of town to the other side of town sometimes can take longer than it takes to drive from here to Dallas. And I just don't think that that's the quality of life that our citizens are entitled to. Can you talk about a timeline when we might implement more of these recommendations from this transportation council? Sure. I think that while we with council's decision recently with the budget and direction so far, we are on track to continue working towards citywide via rideshare. With the high speed rail and hyperloop, I think that's, that is a much larger regional project. So, slightly out of our hands, but we have been involved throughout the process and we'll continue to do that to make sure we're kind of moving that ball down the field in terms of best rapid transit or high intensity bus or some type of rubber-tired shuttle or personal rapid transit vehicle, which are more kind of our maybe fixed drought options within the city. I think there are a lot of opportunities to look into the different technologies. That's something that we've been trying to do as we test autonomous vehicle technologies. We will continue to work with the Council of Governments to try to get funding available to start with that I-30 pilot project and then move that forward. So I think it's really kind of a matter of coordinating with our partners, making sure that Arlington's vision is well communicated and stays on everyone's radar and then working to identify funding sources when we can. We work really hard to obtain as much federal transit administration funding as we can for our services. We have, we'll have close to a million dollars in FTA funds on our next via contract, which is pretty substantial and a big help for us, but we continue to work with our partners to make sure that we are not only getting as much FTA funding as we can, but that we're using it in the most cost-effective way so that we have opportunities to try other things. I'll just add to that because Dr. Odom Westley, I think you brought up some excellent points there. And I believe one of our best hopes is the Regional Transportation Council has approved doing an elevated autonomous transit for a better word there, because it's never been done in the United States, but basically to take the completed vehicles of General Motors over 360 to the railroad depot and test that technology and then when they're not using it to test it with passengers so that we can get it certified. Because when you mention congestion, the opportunity for us to be able to have an elevated platform with autonomous vehicles on it that would not be on the road that are a fraction of the cost of light rail or buses is extremely exciting and one in which the industry is really looking looking at and I think we have an opportunity to actually find a great solution but it's got to be tested now and certified which if the technology is there the regulations are not so we've got to get there. Any other yes Mitch? What's the typical operating hours for Arlington via and will it be flexible enough to handle I know I mentioned the schools so elementary starts at 820 and then the high school starts at 730 and then the junior high school starts at I believe 855 is there flexibility built in to accommodate the different work schedules in the district down south east yes sir we sir. We've our current B.A. hours, Monday through Friday, our 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. And on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. So that we've really done our best to try to cover the most significant travel time frames with the funding available. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Winkleback. Appreciate yours and your departments, their research and what you're doing. It's groundbreaking and appreciate you elevating us to the level of really being able to be recognized as one of the innovator and transportation. Appreciate it greatly. Thank you. Okay, next we'll move to the 2020 Census Outreach Strategy. I'll call upon Ms. Sarah Stubblefield. Good afternoon mayor and council. Sarah Stubblefield, senior planner for the Office of Strategic Initiatives. I'm excited to share with you guys today our outreach efforts for the 2020 Census and the work of your complete count committee so far. We have a lot to cover today. We've been doing a lot of work for the census. We're going to talk about why the census is important and what is new for us in 2020. The role of the city of Arlington, the historically undercounted populations that we have in our community and the work of the complete count committee that's all led up to this outreach activity strategy which you have a copy of at your places. And we also have some members of our committee here that I will let our chair Rita person introduce later in the presentation. There are four primary reasons that we want a complete count in the 2020 census. The first is that it's required by Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, and it's been completed every 10 years since 1790, so longstanding institution. It was developed to ensure fair representation at the federal level, and now we use it at the state and local levels as well. It's the most reliable data source that we have for research and decision making and it directly impacts the amount of federal funding that a city will receive over an entire decade. When it comes to representation the census is critical. Between 2000 and 2010 Texas added four million residents resulting in four congressional seats added into Congress for a total of 36 seats. It's estimated that since 2010, we've added 3.5 million more Texans to our population. And so we stand to gain an estimated two additional congressional seats if we are able to achieve a complete count in 2020. It's also the most reliable and complete data we have for research, decision-making, and planning, both for public and private sector initiatives. This is not just our local government that uses this data, its universities, hospitals, our social service and nonprofit organizations, and businesses when they're deciding where to locate. When it comes to federal funding, there's a lot of money on the table. $800 billion annually is allocated from the federal government based on census derived data. $59.4 billion of that came to Texas in fiscal year 16, which is about $2,100 per Texas resident. So it's real dollars that we're talking about. Texas is the third largest recipient of federal funding that is received via census data allocated funding. And so we stand to lose more federal funding from an undercount than any other state. As an example, in the 2010 census, they estimated about a 1% undercount, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that resulted in about $3 billion less coming into Texas just for Medicaid reimbursements. If those reasons aren't enough to work with the Census Bureau to ensure a complete count for Arlington, the 2020 Census is one of the most important, so one of the most important that we've had yet because of the changes and challenges that we've never had before. For the first time ever, residents will be asked to respond to the Census via the Internet and they're also able to do it by phone in 13 different languages. They will send out a paper form, but they prefer, and they're really pushing the internet option for the speed of the data and also the safety and security of it going straight into the encrypted system. There are also guidebooks available in 59 other languages to help anyone with the language barrier respond to the census and to alleviate that as a primary barrier for not responding. And there's a greater overall reliance by the Census Bureau using technology that we've never had before. So they're using aerial pictures to identify new addresses and areas of growth. And the Census Bureau and numerators themselves are using tablets instead of big clunky binders as they go around our community to get that complete count. We also have challenges such as a low public trust in government. We know there will be deliberate misinformation campaigns both domestically and foreign that we're trying to get ahead of and that's why we're starting so early with our outreach efforts. And, frankly, there are just fewer federal governments, federal resources available at a local level for marketing materials and outreach efforts. Because of these challenges and changes, the City of Arlington has a critical role in the success of a complete count. We have four main goals. One is to collaborate with the local offices. We have Census Bureau Partnership Specialists that are here working now that we're working with day-to-day, week-to-week I meet with them pretty regularly. We're helping them recruit local residents to be a part of the Census Bureau team on the ground so that when they go out into the community, it's an Arlington to Arlington discussion and not the federal government just coming in and trying to get their information. We're also working with them to establish addresses all of the growth that we've seen over the last ten years. We want to make sure that's captured in our census numbers and that they go to all the new housing units that we've established in the city. But I'd say that our primary goal is to motivate our residents to respond. And the way that we've started doing that is with the appointment of our complete count committee and developing the outreach strategy for the city of Arlington. Motivating everyone to respond in 2020 is important. However, the committee outreach efforts are primarily focused on areas that are least likely to respond to the census on their own. The Census Bureau has two primary phases of enumeration, self-response, and non-response follow-up. Self-response is what we hope everyone does, and non-response follow-up is the phase where the Census Bureau is actually knock on doors and collect responses door to door for the census. In 2010, Tarrant County had a self-response rate of 76% across the county, which means about a quarter of our population needed that door knock to respond to the census. The historically undercounted areas, which are those that are least likely to self-respond, are defined as census tracts where 73% or less will turn in that form on their own without encouragement from the Census Bureau. That's about 20% nationwide of the bottom 20% of the census tracts in their response rates. That's why it's kind of a weird 73 number. In Arlington, we expect about 26% or 26 of our census tracts to be below this threshold. And four of them are actually in the top 10 of the hardest account in Tarant County. And in the map on the left, you can see the red and orange squares are the one those 26 census tracks that will have the threshold of 73% or less that are likely to respond. And then the ones that are in the green outline are those top four hardest to count in Tarrin County. So we have a good idea of where to target our outreach based on this information. We have historically undercounted areas and then we also have historically undercounted communities that are variable that make it less likely for someone to respond to this census. The list is not exhaustive here but these are the most common children under five are often missed on the census, racial and ethnic minorities who may be afraid to respond or those with limited English proficiency, our immigrant communities, our renters and residents who move often, alternate or overcrowded housing units who may not report the full number of people listing, living in their households. Engated communities also provide a challenge both single family and multi-family persons experiencing homelessness young adults especially our college student population who we want to count in Arlington and not mom and dad's house and also single family single parent-headed households where they just don't have time to worry about responding to the census. In addition to census data indicators of low response, we've used a lot of the data from the census, but nonprofit organizations and foundations have conducted a lot of research leading up to the 2020 census to understand the perceptions that historically undercounted populations may have about the census and giving this insight to how do we target our outreach to our undercounted populations may have about the census and giving this insight to how do we target our outreach to our undercounted populations. Many of these research projects have to do with what do these historically counted communities even know about the census? Do they know it's required and not optional? What are the barriers to getting our historically undercounted populations to respond and what would motivate them to do so? So really digging into that data. And what we know is that people in our historically undercounted communities are less likely to even know that the census is something that they should do or that it's required by the Constitution. They're less likely to know the impact to their community for not responding. This has a very real world impact if we don't get our full complete count. They're more likely to be afraid to respond and afraid of what might be done with the data they provide to the government. But we do know that they're most trusting of people close to them. It's a close-knit community and they trust their family, their friends, teachers, and healthcare providers to give that information and that message. In all of this general data is important. Most of it is a nationwide scale, but it doesn't mean a whole lot if we don't make it relevant to the people of Arlington. The Census Bureau has encouraged communities across the country to develop complete count committees. And we did so. You guys appointed a 26th member committee in January of 2019. We also have seven departmental staff that serves as committee members to help maximize city resources with local expertise. And we work closely with the Census Bureau to that attend all of our meetings and make sure we're coordinating and not duplicating efforts. The idea is that our complete count committee with a community grassroots community driven approach gets to use their local knowledge, influence and resources to get the information out about the Census in a meaningful and impactful way. The CCC started working as soon as they were appointed in January of 2019 and we've been meeting monthly since then. We walked them through all of the data that a lot more detail than I was able to give you today about these communities that we're trying to get outreach to and how important it is for them. And they've put together an outreach strategy that's before you that will be working consistently to hit all of those different areas. We're in our implementation phase right now of the outreach strategy and this group will continue to work out in the community from September all the way until the beginning of May and 2020. The committee will be done with most of their work by the end of April beginning of May, but the Census Bureau will continue to be in our community through July doing that non-response follow-up and continuing to make sure we have as complete account possible. Census Day is April 1, 2020, and that's the reference point that we use of where we count people, is wherever you are on April 1. So that's the big day we're all working towards. And so this outreach activity strategy is really the culmination of an understanding of the census data, the research that we have available in our community knowledge and expertise. And it's really truly a grassroots community-based approach to our census outreach. And it's a full of at least 94, and I'm sure it will grow over time as we are invited to more opportunities to talk about the census of independent outreach activities that we'll be doing throughout Arlington over the next six months. There are four primary sections of the outreach activity strategy. The first section talks about basically what I've just presented to you, the importance of the census, the work of the complete count committee, and how the document is structured. We're doing our outreach in two phases, the education and awareness outreach phase, which we're currently in, and the motivation outreach phase. The last section of the outreach activity strategy is a calendar of activities where the committee can go month by month every meeting. We're talking about what we did and what's coming up next, so that we're staying on top of our outreach activities and we complete everything that you see in that document. The education and outreach phase is from September 2019 to February 2020. We have defined 74 distinct outreach activities and the purpose of this phase is to improve the general knowledge about the census, educate the public on the importance of responding and providing accurate information to alleviate any concerns about responding. Our activities primarily, and we were out at a river legacy this, at the Fall Festival, and we've done a couple of other events. But we're going to groups and organizations. We're doing meeting presentations, we are having booze at any event that will have us and we're canvassing the gathering places and business centers for those historically undercounted communities. We're also relying pretty heavily on digital and social media outreach activities so that we can try and capture those populations where they're already at online and so we're working closely with our Office of Communications to do that. The motivation outreach phase begins in March. That's when the first postcards asking for response to the census will be arriving in mailboxes. We have 15 outreach activities for this phase which I realize is a lot less than 74. And there's two primary reasons for that. One is that these activities are longer term sustained activities, rather than individual events in the outreach and awareness phase. And the other reason is that the Census Bureau, because they have limited resources, they're targeting most of their efforts during this time. So they'll be really ramping up their efforts and so we can collaborate with them on many of those. The purpose of this phase is to remind Arlington residents that it's time to respond to the census. We want to educate them, continue to educate them, provide additional resources and opportunities to respond. We're planning to have our public computer banks available and our staff prepared to help people respond to the census. And during the self-response time, the Census Bureau will be reporting real-time data on when and where people are responding at the census tract level. So we wanted to keep this phase very agile to be able to strategically respond to where we wanted to keep this phase very agile to be able to strategically respond to where we need to focus our efforts based on where people are actually responding during the response phase. We're increasing our marketing that is online print and radio during this time and we again are providing public areas for census response assistance during the motivation phase and we will continue to produce video and social media content to keep it at the forefront of our residents' mind and get as complete count as possible. While completing these outreach activities, our committee is not empty-handed and we are able to use this Arlington-specific census marketing to engage residents about the census. We are having about 4,000 promotional items produced to engage residents to talk to us about the census as we go out into the community. We're also having flyers and posters printed in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. We plan to have outdoor signage that is rarely available to people passing through our major corridors and common gathering places. Our Census Complete Count Committee will also have t-shirts that they can wear at these events to identify them as members of the Census Complete Count Committee. For those, everyone else, it's not on the Complete Count Committee. They still have a role in helping us achieve a complete count in 2020. When people ask me what I can do, these are the things that I tell them. First and foremost, respond to the census, please. We're really trying to count everyone once and in the right place. Spread the word and share the message. Tell your friends, family, community, organizations, anyone who will listen. Tell them verbally at events or on social media. We're happy to have you share our content. You don't have to recreate the wheel. As for information, I am happy to speak to any group that will listen to what we have to say about the census and tell them the importance about it. The census bureau is here to do the same. So if you have anywhere where we need to talk about the census, we will be there for the next six months. And we're happy to have volunteers help us learn about the census, become ambassadors for the census, and help us spread that message further. And finally, the Census Bureau is hiring temporary and part-time jobs, and we would love to have that Arlington representation in the Census Bureau to really help us advance the cause, I guess, from the inside. That is the basic information that we have and I'd like to introduce our chair Rita Good afternoon. Mayor Williams and to each of our dedicated council members and to staff, I just wanted to say I'm pleased for this opportunity to be able to serve on this committee. I'm joined by 25 additional citizens who are just committed and hard working. And several of them are here today. We just wanted you to get a chance to see the face of this committee who's been working since January. and the regional citizens who are just committed and hard working. And several of them are here today. We just wanted you to get a chance to see the face of this committee who's been working since January. So if you guys would stand, the ones that are able to be here today. Thank you very much. Staff, Sarah just mentioned basically that we are diligently working and have been working since January. I'm going to say that I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I'm going to be able to do this. I came here as a young bride when my husband was a Vodka graduate from UTA. So I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be able to give back in a way that reaches to a legacy that we're going to be building as a committee. As members of this committee, we've been working since January as I mentioned, and we've taken on a rather daunting task because it's critically important. We want to make sure that people understand what the census is all about. While we know that people may understand that things cost money, but we feel like that many are surprised when they find out that they can have an impact on the amount of money that our city can get. So we are working with laser focus focus and we're trying to reach the entire community and we represent a broad area and as Sarah mentioned people trust people that they know and so all of us are from different parts of our community and we're working with the people we already know who already know us to help get the word out and that's sometimes just something as simple as meeting what our individual pastors, our individual organizations, and making sure that the paperwork, the details, are getting to them to share with people who sometimes may not trust someone else coming into their community. One of the things that I thought was important that Sarah's already mentioned to you is that a count, an undercount is small is 1% impacted over $3 billion on a key federal agency. We don't want to see that happen again. We want to make sure that we count everybody. We don't care. And so we're going from every nook and crony to make sure that no matter how old you are, how young you are, that everyone is counted. Because one thing that was new for me was I didn't realize babies counted. So if you're born by that day, we want to count you. Because guess what? You're going to need some of the services that I said it provides. And so if we don't, and we have 100 people that need services, and we only count 80, we're going to have the dollars to serve 80 people. Well, we're going to have to stretch them to cover 100 people. So that's one of the things that, just basic things that we can share with our neighbors and friends to let them know why this is so important. One other thing that we can do, that you can do to help us help you, is as you're meeting new people in the city and you see their energetic, they have, they want to do something, they don't want to get started. Send them out way because events like the one that Sarah mentioned, you'd be surprised with just having a smiled-in-friendly face, pass out a paper to someone who doesn't know anything about it, what a difference that can make. And as the commercial used to say, you tell one and tell one, and it just grows. And so that's what we're building on, the trust that we already have in the community. And I tell you, this committee is working hard, and we're constantly thinking of new things and new ways we can reach out. And we invite any ideas that you also have. So thank you for giving us this opportunity to serve on the committee, and then to also bring you up today and on where we are. And thank you for committee for coming today. and I'll where we are. And thank you for committee for coming today. Rita, I just want to say again, thank you so much for all your work here. And then it's interesting because I look over at your committee and they have all been at great ambassadors for how important the census is here. And it does make a difference and it will make a difference for our citizens for the next 10 years there and can make such an impact. Thank you so much for Yall's time here in doing this. It was really eye-opening to me to see what an impact it is for every person you find. My goodness. Thank y'all for that really appreciate it. And let me say one other thing. We couldn't have had a better support person. So I just want to know, we love her, and she's working hard. I'm happy to answer any questions you have. But before we do, we have put together our first video. We released it at the end of last month and I hope that you've seen it already but in case anyone hasn't we wanted to make sure we showed it to you today. Next March city households will be invited to respond to the 2020 census and you might be wondering why is the census so important to Arlington? Everyone counts in our community and the city benefits the most when the census counts everyone, no matter your age or nationality. It's also quick, just 10 questions, and for the first time, people will be able to respond anytime, anywhere, online for many device or by mail or phone. When it comes to safety and security, since the Spiro has your protection in mind, they're bound by Title 13 of the United States Code, which keeps both your identity and personal data protected for 72 years. You might also be asking how this information is used to enhance the life of Arlington residents. What's the local impact? The census can be used for federal grants to support Arlington and our quality of life. Funding can go to Arlington Police and Fire Department helping to ensure public safety. The money can also be used for schools, road projects, senior services and hospitals. Businesses use Census Bureau data to decide where to build, create new jobs for our local economy. And for nonprofits, funding can support housing, transportation, after-school programs, health care, education initiatives, and much more. The 2020 Census is important for you and your community and you can help make sure everyone counts in Arlington next spring. To learn more about our local efforts frequently ask questions and local data and maps, please visit ArlingtonTX.gov. This last 2020 Census. That's all. If we have any questions, I'm happy to answer them now. Mr. Sutton. I just want to make sure the census is counting everyone, whether you're here legal or illegal, you're still counted. Correct. Everyone living in Arlington should be counted on the census. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Yes, Dr. Mars. Thank you, Mayor. I just actually wanted to just compliment Sarah and the staff when National League of Cities first asked us to participate in providing information for their planning document. Actually, Arlington was a part of doing that. And since that initiative, watching this committee grow and having the opportunity to actually sit in on many of the meetings and then having a town hall where we had 40 people showed up on the Saturday morning to listen about the census and the neighborhood projects. So it's really heartening to see how much the city is coming together. So I just want to say congratulations to you and to your committee I know that all together will make sure that everyone counts in Arlington. So thank you Thank you Okay, thank you Miss doublefield appreciate it Next we'll move to gas well post-production inspection and I'll call upon Miss. Jessica Youngblood. Good afternoon mayor and council Jessica Youngblood planning and development services gas well coordinator. I am here today to continue discussion on the post-production inspection process as directed by council. So before we get started I just wanted to give a review of how we reach this point with the timeline. So the way that this all came to the forefront is with the redevelopment case that went to planning and zoning, the phase three of the Twin Heels. It was June 5th when it first came to planning and zoning June 19th. It was recommended for approval after the developer came back with some recommended testing as requested by the Planning and Zoning Commission. On August 6th, the case went to City Council and it was continued because Council wanted some more information pertaining to the actual plug-in and abandoning process and one in staff to hire a third party consultant to give more information and recommendations on this process. Staff hired Martin Geo-Science. They came in and did a presentation during the City Council work session and gave their recommendations on how to move forward with this process. And on August 20th, Twin Heels developer actually took the initiative to go ahead and complete the recommendations that Martin Geo-Science put forward. And just to move this along a little bit on September 11th, staff had a meeting with the oil and gas operators in Texas, OGA, about the post-production inspection process. And then also an update on the Twin Hills project. They are now scheduled for first reading again on October 29th of this year. So staff is here to seek council direction on two items. So the first item is the development of the technical guide for the post-production inspection process. So the technical guide will serve as clarification for the section of the ordinance that states the operator shall be responsible for the restoration of the ordinance that states the operator shall be responsible for the restoration of the drill site to its original condition as nearly as practicable. And then also staff is seeking direction from council on the implementation process for this technical guidance, whether the city hires a third party consultant to conduct the post-production inspection process or whether the operator hires one of the third party consultant to conduct the post-production inspection process or whether the operator hires one of the third party consultants that has been pre-qualified by the city to conduct the post-production inspection process. So this is kind of an overview or graphic of what is all how the inspection, post-production inspection process will unfold. So when the operator submits their WA3 form to the railroad commission, at that point in time they will notify staff that that's what they plan to plug in abandoned. And the findings, and then at that point that that will trigger the interim post-production inspection process. And then plugging of the abandoned wells will occur after the interim inspection occurs. And then the operator will submit the W3 form from the railroad commission, which is basically a stamp saying that they have put in the abandoned, they have permission to plug in the band in the wells into what specifications they need to do it. And at that point, all of the infrastructure on the pad site will be removed or has been removed. And then the final post-production inspection process will take place. And then any concerns will be addressed in a final report will be given to staff saying that the site has been properly decommissioned and revert it back to its original state. And so in order to streamline this process based off the recommendations that were given by modern geoscience, staff created a checklist that would accompany, that basically maps out all of the points in the interim in the final post-production inspection. And to accompany that checklist, staff has also created a technical guidance with the recommendations from modern geoscience, which spells out or gives a specific direction on how to conduct both the interim and final post-production processes. So again, we will not open the ordinance. This just serves as technical guidance on how to fulfill the section of the ordinance, which states to revert the site back to its original state. So the implementation, well well before I move on, I would staff would like to ask council, do we have approval for the technical guidance and would we like to move forward with that particular section of this process? Pleasure, Ms. Shepard. Thank you, Mayor. My answer simply put to that is yes. However, it's my understanding that the oil and gas operators have not yet seen this technical guide. So I just, that was conveyed to me in the meeting I had earlier today. I know from your timeline that there was contact perhaps there was some input but not a lot I don't know but would it be possible between now the 29th to share the technical guide with Texoga so that they can provide some input on that at all. So I would like to make a kind of maybe do a clarification on the September 11th meeting. So during this September 11th meeting staff It's preserved a meeting room at the library and invited all of the gas well operators, including Texoga, Texoga joined the operators. During that time, staff created a PowerPoint presentation which mirrors the one that I am presenting today. In addition to giving out a copy, a printed stapled copy to each individual operator of the results of modern geosciences recommendations. So they received a paper copy, they received an in-person presentation, and then they also had a lot of correspondence from staff to give their input before I came before you today. I heard that in our meeting earlier as well and I shared that in my meeting with Texoga today too. My question is that the technical guide that you're talking about. Yes, sir. Has it been prepared? Yes, sir. Okay. Has that actual document been shared with Texoga? It's actually a mirror image of what was shared. We just took what modern geoscience recommended and just used those exact recommendations for our technical guide. There is no difference in the wording or the process that we're suggesting to move for it with. Okay. Well, to be clear, I'm fine with you all moving forward. I just wondered if there was an opportunity for some input. Yes, sir. That's great. That's great. I too met with the various text Olga in the various oil groups this morning. And one of the things that was brought up was and something that I did not understand, are we, first of all, I didn't understand that the state does and requires no testing to cap a well. So this would be a city requirement, not a state requirement. Yes, ma'am. I think what their concern was or what I picked up on this morning is that there's no pre-testing done at a site. So they could be held accountable for something that's been there for years before they were on the site. They also expressed a concern that anything peripheral to their site because they don't control any adjacency. They don't control what happens on adjacent sites. And I'm not sure if our testing requires testing of adjacent sites. But if it doesn't, then I just wanted to be clear on that. But I guess I asked them what kind of chemicals they're actually using. And they said there are MSDS sheets, although I thought it was odd. They're not provided to the city, but they are just like I did in all office buildings. All the chemicals I used in office buildings had to be, I had to have MSDS sheets, janitors had to provide them in janitors closets, same rule applies here. We have to provide them on the well site. So some of them stated that they do provide those MSDS sheets as backup to their application. Others just put them as required by the state at the well site. So they're available to the city. So they list on those what chemicals they're using. They kind of stressed to me and I think I think I believed them that their their chemicals are typically heavily diluted. And if they do have any kind of a chemical spill they have to clean it up immediately. But a lot of the chemicals for water purification like we might use chemicals that could cause more damage in our swimming pools. That's what I'm saying. So I guess what I want to be sure of is that we don't create a burden that is impossible for them to meet. And it goes back to, we don't know what was in that soil when they took over the site. Plus, some of them are on leases. I asked this question too. Are you leasing the site or do you own the site? It was about 50-50. So the leased dictates what happens to return the site to the less ore. When they own the site, typically who are they sell the site to, once they've closed and capped all the wells, the company coming in to buy it, well, no matter what they do, the company coming in to buy it is going to want to do their own phase one, two and threes. And the mayor can probably speak even better to that than I can. But I think we need to be sure that we have considered everything before we sign off on this and make sure that what we're doing fits what we're trying to accomplish is what I'm saying. And not So fits, fits what we're trying to accomplish is what I'm saying. And not getting so burdensome for you and your department that it's not possible to manage it is what I'm saying. So for quick clarification with the background reading, so we don't, the technical guideline is not requiring for them to test any adjacent sites, just the area within the specific use department. And then also to the question of background readings. Unless there was a gas well site on that particular property before they came, gas well constituents and elements are pretty consistent in specific to gas well operations. So it's very hard or it's very rare or for me, for you to go to a piece of property and find elements associated with gas drilling on a piece of property, where gas drilling has never taken place. Okay, yes sir. Mr. Shepherd. Well, and Ms. Mouese, what you brought up that we discussed that in our short meeting as well, the phase one, two, and three. And those while the buyer of the property, the developer of the property subsequent to the capping may in fact do that, those engineering and test results are only for the benefit of the buyer and its lender. It would not be for the benefit of the city. And our ordinance requires the operator to be responsible for the restoration of the site back to its original condition. I think it's incumbent on the city to exercise every effort it can to be certain that the operator is complied with that part of the ordinance. And that, so while I completely agree with you on the testing that would likely occur, should someone buy a former gas flow site? They should do it anyway. I don't, at least based on what I heard, I don't think this requirement is all that onerous but that's why I would like some input from the industry which it sounds like we haven't had yet on these specific for whatever reason on these specific guidelines but it based on what I'm hearing and I've been a big supporter for a long time of gas well activities. But based on what I'm hearing, I don't think this is all that. Well, I'm not saying I don't want to test what I'm saying is I want to be sure that we're prudent and how we structure going forward so that we don't make it marten some for our staff and city to ever get these wells capped and closed. I just want to do add something, Jinsi Thopel Director for Planning and Development Services. So along the same lines that Council Member Shepard was talking about, let's separate the part that the operator does from whatever's happening later on with the redevelopment. This is the part that the operator is required to do for our ordinance. So our ordinance requires whenever plugging an abandonment occurs person to the requirements of the railroad commission, the operator shall be responsible for the restoration of the drill site to its original condition. So all the discussion that we are really having today is only based off of this. How do you do that is what we are talking about. And that's the technical guide that will provide the guidance to our operators how to do it. And we are establishing a standard process so that all operators do the same steps. So that's what that is, and we got a really good presentation from modern geoscience on how those best practice measures were. That's the exact same thing that we're using in the technical guide. What Jessica was just showing here is a checklist that has come exactly from that document that we have pulled together and come up with a checklist that has come exactly from that document that we have pulled together and come up with a checklist. And if you look at the checklist also, these are all surface inspection requirements. Only if you see that there are elevated levels in the surface inspection is where more lap testing and everything will be required. Otherwise, this is all surface inspection requirements. So that's what I wanted to clarify. So operator finishes the post-production inspection process, staff signs off on it, and then it's the close of chapter for that operator on that site. Five years later, ten years later, somebody comes to redevelop. That's a different thing. That landowner, that developer will do their own due diligence to see what redevelop and they are going to bring in. So, Jensi, well, so the operator will pay for this inspection and submit it as part of the final closeout package. Now that's a super bad idea that I'm still asking your decision on. Yes. So do they have a choice of inspectors? Or because it concerns me when we start saying you can only use this inspector. I mean do we have several approved inspectors that we're approving that they can go to that will accept the reports from them. Right. So the first part was the technical guide that sets the standard process for any inspector to come and do the post-production inspection. They are going to process with the follow the same steps that we come up with in that standard process. Now Jessica will continue with this part. This is where your question will be answered. So the implementation process, we're coming to Council for Guidance on two options. So option A is whether the city hires a third party consultant to conduct the post-production inspection process or whether the operator hires one of the third party pre-qualified, pre-qualified by the city consultant to conduct the post-inspection process. And... And the NIS has a question here. Yes, sir. I'm sorry to interrupt this portion of your presentation. But, Jensi, you might want to get back up there for a moment. So, this whole process, this discussion is taking place because for the first time ever, we had a developer come into a planning zoning and then city council to build single family houses on a or near a well site. And nobody in the city knew at all, my gosh, are these kids that are gonna play in the playground, die a cancer in 10 years from exposures to benzene or whatever? We didn't have any process. So if we go through this, am I to understand correctly, I believe that what happened this time shouldn't happen again in the future because the operator will be able to cite us we have completed and done everything that the ordinance that the city has we've done our job, we've done our due diligence so if a developer comes in here later on and the operator did all this planning and zoning shouldn't be able to ask the question again or a council, hey, what about this kind of testing unless technology changes. But you might understand that. That's correct. So this issue should never come up again if we finish this process. That is correct. Thank you. Dr. Nenez, I think that was a great statement there. The only thing I would do when I had we did not approve letting that other one through. And I think they are doing their due diligence now and taking care of that and very much appreciate that. But you are right on and thank you for making that point. Okay. Missha, I'm glad. So, option A, again, as stated, the city hires a third party consultant to conduct both the interim and final PPI. At the conclusion of that, a report will be given to the operator and any issues will be mitigated by the operator. So that's option A. And then option B, the operator hires a third party consultant again to do the post-production inspection process. The third party consultant will be chosen from a list of pre-qualified consultants. And then a complete report will be given to the city addressing mitigation efforts. And then of course the city must approve the report and the plan for mitigation if any is required. And staff is open for any questions and also staff would like direction on which option A or B council would like to move forward with? Mr. Shepherd, can we have option C? The so part of our conversation globally, both with you and with the text I'll get today, involved really who pays for the report. And on who gets the report, I would prefer that the operator engage the consultant from a list of several consultants that the city's already vetted because I'm concerned that if we engage the consultant there's going to be an opportunity for disagreement about the results and your guys to this and your guys to that. So I would like for the operator to engage the consultant. That being said, it is reasonable for them to wonder how about this gas well fee we've been paying? Why can't some of that or why doesn't some of that cover the cost of this consultant? And so I don't know exactly how that works, how they would hire a consultant that the city pays for. So that's why I call it option C. And I'm not saying that's what we should do. I just after meeting with everyone today, trying to blend the two things together. And I don't know what the cost is. Gency and Jessica mentioned some numbers. They didn't seem unreasonable in the context of how many wells they're on a site. And of all the costs that they would incur to shut a well down, this seems to me to be probably the least amount in dollar terms. But I don't know that. So that's why I suggested maybe we think about option C. The engagement part, I think definitely needs to be the operator because the pay part is where I kind of wonder about. So anyway, that's my- So you'd like to see him explore that, the NS part of this too. Yeah, that's just my thought on the subject. It makes a lot of sense. So we, everybody want to go down that route of studying. Well, I'm looking at the attorneys in the room. And if I'm, because I was always taught in my business world that if I pay for something, it puts me in the line of responsibility for it. Is that anything we need to worry about, or is it better if the, because if it is a small amount of money, it seems like the person responsible for the cleanup and the reporting to us should be paying for it. Any comment on that? Comment. Dr. Whistley. Looking at the ordinance, I think it's already clear. It says the operator shall be responsible for the restoration of the drill site to its original condition as nearly as practical. As practical. So I think the operator shall be responsible. That includes procuring the consultant or whoever the company that's going to inspect the land and provide documentation or certification that they did in fact follow the guidelines or in our technical guide, and that the operator is going to pay whoever's gonna do this. That's what it means to me. Just K-PAR. Thank you, Mayor. Jessica, could you tell us what the cost is to do these inspections? Yes, ma'am. So we asked a modern geoscience to give us a write-up. And so the cost estimate for 51 gasful sites in 347 wells was about $450,000 as a group for all 51, which breaks down to about $5,000 for interim and $7,000 for post. So for each gas wall site, you have about $13,000 per gas will site. Okay. $12,000. So the, you know, you know, depending on which hat you're wearing, you would think, you know, maybe the operator should pay. My concern with the operator paying, I really don't want us to do it, but who, who, who, if the operator is paying and they call this inspector, this pre-approved inspector? Who's the inspector's client? The city or the operator? The operator? The operator. Yes, ma'am. That's my concern. Well, but that's my concern, Helen. I had an issue. Okay, here in my ex- Helen. I had a good issue. OK, you're in my zone. That's very difficult. So that's where I kind of get hung up on trying to figure that out. And with regard to any feedback or information going to this entity, Toga, walked me through again, where and if did we reach out to them and did they respond? Yes, tell me what all of that was because I haven't had my meeting with them. Yes, I think other council members have. So I need to, I'm learning as we go here, guys. Yes, ma'am. So I scheduled a meeting with all the Olin gas operators on September 11th in Texoga accompanied them to that particular meeting. During that meeting, I gave a overview of Council's direction in order to give the gas will operators a platform to have their opinions heard pertaining to how they would like to move forward. And if Touga was that discriminating? Yes ma'am. Okay. And if they would like to give an alternative option or even to communicate with council what they already have in place as far as a post-production inspection process. So after that meeting, I sent out a timeline of requesting between September 11th and September 23rd, please submit a collective response to staff from all the gas will operators because during the initial meeting they said, well, we do all of this stuff and I was like, well, send me something collectively that you all do that we can present to council. And I didn't receive a response on the 23rd, but the way the schedule worked was from September 11th through September 23rd. I needed a collective response. I would do a turnaround and produce a third option within a day to make sure that they had time to look at the third option that I was going to present to City Council. And then let them say, yes, I like the wording on this, this completely represents our viewpoint on how we would like to move forward in working with the city. And then I was going to put that particular information in the PowerPoint and have it ready for today's meeting. And then at that point, I received a phone call from Tex Oga over the weekend saying that they were not, they didn't receive that timeline from the operators and that the city should have sent them that timeline. And so I extended the due date for them to present the information to the city. And I said they said they were going to give me something by the close of business on Friday. I didn't receive anything by the close of business on Friday. And then I checked over the weekend before I had to go present the information to the upper management. And I never received anything. So I treat my operators just like I treat my citizens. I try to provide as much customer service as possible and give ample opportunity for everyone's voice to be heard. So just from hearing that, it just sounds like they didn't have their act together in my humble opinion. And so I don't know that we need to continue to delay and wait for them. I've been down this path of them before and they'll do everything they can to delay a decision. And we've been there. So as far as actually doing this, I'm still not comfortable with either option A or B and maybe C is the answer, Mr. Shepherd. I don't know. But I don't know but I I don't know I I need I wish there was a yet another option But I don't know what that would be so Gentsy do you have a better answer for me? I don't have another option that I can tell a little bit more about A and B Okay, so both A and B the Good thing about it you have already established a standard process for whoever the consultant is to follow. And what staff city staff will be doing is, if it is option B and the operator performs the operator hires at the party consultant and performs the inspection, they will be reporting back on all of these reporting items and all those reporting items. City staff will be looking at it and see if they have completed it per the standard process. So at least going forward, you know that everybody is going to follow that same process. It is, I would say, option B is very similar to how we do our third party fire plan reviews. So same setup set, we have pre-qualified, so each fire plan review company will submit to us their qualifications, their certifications, the experience, what kind of reviews they do. We look at all of their credentials and determine if this is a company we want to pre-qualify as a planned review company. And so same process. So come on and process your comments. See you on a set of questions. Same similar to the engineering seal that you see on many of the flood analysis and all that kind of same process is option B. But with this you also have one more guarantee that there is a standard process that all of them are going to follow and cities staff will be looking at that. I can support option B. So can we go down the option B route after that discussion? And okay. So we'll pursue option B here. There's we move forward. Thank you very much. There really appreciate it. Ms. Topel and Ms. Youngblood for all the work. And then Dr. Nunez said it so well and it bears repeating, we are doing this to make sure these sites are cleaned up before anything is built on them. There, that's really key. And it follows the ordinance there to where it would be restored. There, so with that, we'll next move to the update on marking median noses for visibility and I'll call upon Miss Mindy Carmichael. Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Before you as a report in response to some questions that were raised regarding markings for median noses for visibility. The previous program for marking meetings was eliminated in early 2000 because of some funding shortfalls. If council desires to bring the program back, staff recommends a customer request-driven approach for each request staff would evaluate each location and install either markings reflectors or if it's significantly dark we may put up an extra street light So those are some of the things that we could do to make a median noses more visible But let me also add that newly constructed median noses more visible, but let me also add that newly constructed median noses are mountable and tapered so that is a less of an impact should of the vehicle strike those. So at this point I'll seek any questions you may have and whether or not you want to proceed with the program. Thank you Mayor Pro Tem, Shepard. So I certainly wanted to move forward with that and have it kind of be citizen driven. And I think the example I gave last time, I want to put that on a list if you're going to look at that. But it's interesting after we talked about this the last council meeting, I got an email. I thought maybe one of those things where they do an Ask Arlington app kind of thing. And it was going in great detail about, why don't we do something about median noses again? So I don't know. Maybe other people are experiencing the same thing. But how would we let people know that it's, quote, citizen driven if we haven't been doing it now for decades? Well, not that long, but for a long time. How do we let them know? We just advertise it on our website or what? We could put it on the website. We can do some outreach on social media. We can do things like that to bring it to their attention. Because as you say say the newer streets You don't have the problem correct. It's those older streets those older mediums is where you still have a problem and eventually The problem will go away. I guess hopefully Hopefully so Mayor Pro Tem I would like us to implement this back in our plan of action and Many's got the first one on the list. Thank you. Dr. Wesley on. I had the same kind of question. If you're citizens driven, how do we process those requests? And how do you prioritize them? I know we have the POTL team, would it work something like that? And will we have a hotline for people to call? Or could they use the Ask Arlington app to tell you there's a nose that needs to be painted or something. We can work with the group that handles the Ask Arlington app and get something added to that for median nose marking. Again we can put it out on social media as well. We have a maintenance crew that will work on those as they come in and talking to Bill Bateman who was around in early 1999, early 2000s. He doesn't recall there being just overwhelming amount of request. So we think that we possibly could handle those as they come in much like street light request or pothole request that there there probably won't be a huge backlog for those so we expect that we can handle those as they arrive. Dr. Nunez. Thank you, Mayor and Proctane. When I pull the past Garlington and I'll let you guys figure this out. But there's no category for road hazard. And so if there's a bag of cement that falls off the back of a truck in the middle of the road, or if there's a problem with the nose, the marking of the meat of the meaty ends, that might be a category. Of course, you can also be a Pandora's box, but the city can figure out where to put that in and ask Orton, but that might be a good place is Roadhacer. There's no category for that. All right, so everyone okay with staff moving forward with the median nose marking. All right, very good. Thank you, Mindy. That brings up the tree trimming bid update. the new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new new and let me you have an update for us. Yes Mayor Moot, Mayor Procurement, members of City Council. So at the request of council, this item was tabled from the last meeting based on a presentation from one of the companies that was interested in this service. So this will be the third cycle of this approach to tree trimming services. The request or the process was a best value process. We had had some issues earlier with the performance of a contractor related to this specific service. And so we went to the best value method of service delivery to provide a better security of getting good services down the road. And so we went through that process in this report. We detail the evaluation of the two bidders and their particular approaches to the response to the request and certainly be able to answer any questions that you might have or if I can't Will Velasco or Mike Fetley any questions I had one one question. I know parks is usually so good about including the mwb e data and I didn't see it in this staff report Was it in your previous report? Yes, so the formatting is for staff reports associated with action items. This was an informal staff report and so that information is included on your action item but not on the informal staff report. That's in distinction. Either one of these companies, MWBE. No, ma'am. Okay. Any other questions, Dr. Nunez? More of a comment. I want to thank the city for the detailed information that was sent out for Council to look at. And my feeling is that in spite of the fact that the one bid was higher than the other, I'm of the opinion that it's a better value. In terms of the equipment, the way they filled out the application, they played, I shouldn't use that word, they proceeded through the bed process in a correct and accurate and informative manner versus the other company. Also their liability insurance was higher versus the other company, which for me was a major concern. So from my perspective, I think that the original recommended provider from City Staff to City Council is the one that I'm going to vote for. Any other questions or comments? We have enough information then to remove that from the table this evening and vote on it. Or is it this evening? It's on? Yeah. Everybody got enough? Okay. evening and vote on it or I mean is it this evening it's on yeah everybody got enough okay Dr. Nunez will you remove that from the table for us so move well this evening obviously you bet well done well done thank you that brings us to discussion of committee meetings municipal policy naming of facilities Okay, do you think I'll be for a time? Yes, yes, I'm sorry. That's okay. Just was waiting on you Please never wait on me. Okay municipal policy committee met today all members were present We continued our conversation on the naming of facilities in particular the two that are rapidly approaching coming online the East Arlington Recreation Center Library in the southeast Arlington Recreation Center. As the last report the committee had instructed or asked staff to please we recommended the beacon for the southeast and the nexus for East Arlington. We asked staff to then go out city wide through next door Facebook and all departmental email list to solicit other naming options to select from. There were approximately 500 responses collectively. They did go out on next door Facebook and also through all the departmental emails, it was closed on the 29th. For the southeast, the beacon received 6% support, synergy received 13% per support and again, synergy came out of the district. In East Arlington, for the East Arlington Recreation Center and Library, Nexus was the recommendation that came from the Council subcommittee. East Library and Recreation Center was the selection provided through the surveying process. That received 53% support and Nexus received 17% report. At that point in time, the committee had some discussion. There was unanimous consensus around naming the new South East Arlington Recreation Center to be called the beacon. There was quite a bit of, well, I shouldn't say quite a bit, there was more discussion surrounding the East Arlington Recreation Center and Library. We continue as a subcommittee to be deadlocked on whether or not it should be nexus or the East Library and Recreation Center. I asked members of the committee to who had particular positions to speak up during the meeting today so that you can hear the different thoughts and the difference of perspectives from the various members and the difference of perspectives from the various members of the committee. Before I open that up, I will just say that the committee after going through this process has asked staff, I mean, encourage staff to work even more diligently to provide us a draft of a naming policy. Many cities across the nation have naming policies. And so it's not to have to go through this type of exercise again. We thought it would be more efficient and effective use of our time for that to come back to us. So we did request staff to do that as expeditiously as possible. With that, I will open it up to the rest of the committee members who would like to articulate their feelings regarding the East Arlington Recreation Center and Library, the Nexus and the East Library and Recreation Center alternatives. Go, Mr. President. Okay. Yeah, thank you so much,, Councilwoman Victoria, far more. But I was in support of the East Library Recreation Center being that we did a survey and we've got more than 50% support on the survey. And most election that means a win. And this allows people to express and have a ownership of that facility that was concerns about marketing. Most of the facilities that we do have are utilized by local residents. And so we're getting paid for performance, so to speak, in those facilities. With the outcome of the survey being more than 50%, the people have had a say in what it should be named. And I don't know if it was just a certain part of Arlington or it was in, survey was open to the entire city. And so with that being said, I was in support of the East Library and Recreation Center, naming. Count point. the East Library and Recurations Center. Mamey. Councillor Cooke-Poyne. Who's next? Ms. K. Part. Well, I think Councilmember Peale has kind of a modification of both ideas. So, Andrew, what did you? Mr. Peale. What's that Goldilocks here? It's not too hot, too cold. I want to ask you to be a What's it? Goldilocks here It's not too hot too cold, but anyway, I do respect the input received if I recall Direct around off you said that we sent out the the poll to about 200,000 Different sources It was a big number. I just want to be right. Yes, Councilmember Peel through social media we hit about 145,000 and through the city's email list about 45,000. And what we received about 500 responses. That's correct. And that was citywide email lists, right? Yes. And you know, I understand the importance of following the will the people I also that particular survey was not a scientific survey and I'm based on the response rate it shows that there wasn't that much concern about this issue not that the people who did respond aren't important that they are. So to that end I was thinking that my primary concern was when I talk to the vent planners our parks department is self-funded to some extent. And it's our job as council members to maximize the use of our facilities to increase a funding stream for the parks department so it can offer more programs and support for our residents. And in talking with the vent planners about the name, whether or not it would really matter that much, it was explained to me that people won't hold their wedding reception at a place that's called a rec center. Because on the wedding invite, it'll say, come to our wedding reception at the rec center. And it just, it doesn't sound right. And this facility is much more sophisticated in design than just what people just think of when they think of a rec center. It's a really nice facility. So to that end, I wanted to facilitate the marketing of the facility and the revenue production of the facility so that we could further support efforts for Arlington residents and programs. But I also wanted to recognize the area pride of East Arlington. East Arlington has a strong identity, a strong leadership that I respect and admire. And we're also going to recognize that by honoring Sue Phillips in the facility. So I suggested calling it Nexus East Arlington. Are something that gives the community a chance to feel some pride in the designation and recognizes their belief and strength in their neighborhood. But that also provides something for marketing professionals to maximize the return on this investment so that we can bring money in and support programs through the Parks Department for city residents. That's all. So Mayor, we're having a lively discussion about the results of the naming of survey and we're seeking input from the fellow council members on what we should go with the beacon. I think it was overwhelming recommendation of municipal policy. We're now discussing East Starling, East Library and Rec Center versus Nexus. So I don't know Miss K-PART. I think you were next in the queue if you wanted to win. No, and you really don't need, I don't know, this is already plowed ground. So we don't need to go through. We're done. So I think if we can have the Nexus, and the reason I really want us to have a unique name is because this is a very unique building, nothing that we have done in the city before. So whether it's nexus or I mean how many different names we have for this building. So I think I'm kind of all named out. So nexus works for me and I think it's marketable and I think it shows the two facilities becoming one and again we had other ways of recalling it. Nexus is it that's great with me but in deference to people in East Arlington if we need to tack on to that Nexus East like SEAL Team 6 is Mr. Shepherd was saying to me so you know that's fine with me but I think I think at least Nexus it it more adequately describes and what we're really trying to do out there where we've taken two facilities and made them one, which is the first time we've done it in the city. So that's my position. Okay, Dr. Nignis. Thank you. So as the district five representative that this facility is going to be built in, I've had some very repetitive, significant discussions with East Arlington Renewal as well as the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association. And, you know, I harken back into my runoff election where I think we had maybe 2% of the district show up and here I am. And whether or not that was a scientific survey is also for question. But let me relate to you and my fellow council members, what I'm hearing. East Orange and Renewal absolutely despises the name Nexus. And you just need to know that, okay? They despise the name, Mosaic. They made comments to me at one of the East Arlington Renewal meetings, when you're going downtown to the library, do you say you're going to Ethan Hawks? No, you say you're going to the downtown library. And when you go onto our website, here are our libraries, East Arlington, Lake Arlington, Northeast Arlington, Southeast Arlington, Southwest Arlington, and Woodland West Library. Those are the names of the libraries, the official names. What are the name of our rec centers? Doddy Lynn, Hugh Smith, Cliff Nelson, LC Odom, the UNICE Center, and the Senior Rec Center on New York. East Arlington really, really, really wants East Arlington and Recreation Center. I come from a business background, as well as a medical medical background and I absolutely understand the need for marketing facilities because it can bring in more income. Your point Andrew is spot on. But it's not up to me. That's what the process that we talked about earlier. If we had had a process written a policy that said, guess what? City staff and city council will make all decisions on naming. Well, if that's the way it is, and that's how it should be. And if we had a city policy that said, you know what, the neighbors in that area, I should have an input, and we should listen to them. But we don't have that in a written policy But we don't have that in a written policy. We don't have anything in a written policy. Without a written policy, I think it would be wise to listen to the citizens. And so my recommendation is, go with a vote. We told them that's what we were going to do. We said to the citizens, we're going to ask your opinion, we want to know what you want. And now that they've told us what they want, we're going to say no. And that's not something that I think we should do. Thank you. Dr. Whistley. Okay, I've got it. Okay. So the one that the citizens elected is ELRC, correct? The East Library Recreation Center. How about the East, Arlington, recreation and library center. No, then it's the Earl, and I would love to have my wedding reception at the Earl. So we started from there. Okay, I feel like Yogi Barrett. So we started. We should do all over again. Then we've got the revenue produced. I mean, that sounds like a wonderful place to have an event. Of course it did. At the Earl. Mr. Nunez's predecessor, how did that make? The Earl? Yes, because we started with the Earl. Did we not? So we started there. We started with the Earl. Oh, he'd see? Yeah. And that's where he started. And we thought it was cool that his predecessor did not. It's a chef. And for the benefit of the audience, this is renaming a facility that had already been named. Right. Exactly. Well, previously. So alpha. Yeah. So a decision was made at one point to name the facility. Now we're revoking the decision in trying to reach another. But anyway, it's not on our agenda this evening is it? No. No. So I don't think we're there. So at some point we're just going to have to press a button. Don't they need direction by the end of the month for signage? Is that what the deal is? Here? Yes. Dr. Mars. I just want to... I understand we're not there, but I do want to remind everyone that we do need a recommendation for signage. Mr. Randolph, my understanding is by the end of this month, we were supposed to have this because we do need to move forward with signage. So while I understand the angst that people are feeling, we've had this angst since January. So please feel free to answer my question. Thank you. Yes, Madam Committee Chair. So the decision with respect to the name is reaching a critical juncture. We meet weekly with our constructors of the facility and at each meeting, they inquire about the name for the facility because they obviously have to do planning associated with that. So we've told them that by the end of October, we'll get them a name. Obviously, if you can't get there, we can't, but that's what we've suggested to them. They didn't offer any suggestions I hold. They wouldn't touch that one. All right, well, it sounds like committee needs to go back is it it's inside the committee is even issues. I'm going to defer and change my vote to support the the advice from the distinguished gentleman from District 5. I think he's well spoken. So that kind of breaks the deadlock on the committee. That would make a majority on the committee, sir. No, East East East East Library and Recreation Center. That's right. East Arlington library and recreation center. That's right. East or LinkedIn. Library and Recreation Center. No, I'm sorry, you're at East. You're right. Let's wait a minute, let's be clear. It's East Library and Recreation Center. That's exactly right. They dropped out the Arlington part. So they want East Library and Recreation Center. That's the one that got 53% support for putting it forward for us to consider. Now with Mr. Peel's change, we do now have a majority coming out of the committee recommending that name. Other discussion? I don't think we'll have an agenda. That's not it. Once y'all reach consensus we're going. So, okay. So, East. Can I ask one question? How much revenue do we generate with special events and receptions and things at our RIC centers? Is that a frequent occurrence? The centers are a source of revenue, so rentals. I don't have a specific number for you, but for example, we rent even our most modest centers for a number of different activities. It could be birthday parties. They could be receptions, family reunions. There are a number of activities that we rent the centers for in addition to facilities like Bob Duncan. So it is a fairly significant source of revenue for each center. Maybe without a dollar amount, but could you, on an order of magnitude, talk about the cost recovery as it relates to that? Maybe that's another way to answer that question. I would suggest that on average, it's probably in the 20 to 25% of our revenue for each facility is specifically related to rentals. Okay. The marketing studio, if you, any of us, have got the correct information to move to the center. Right. Okay. All right. So, so you send Dr. Myers your committee is East Library. Yeah. I'm saying. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry We have five. Okay. Yes. Yeah. We need the policy. That's what I was about to say. We need the policy written. But let me let me share this with you too. Is that. We as. But let me share this with you too, is that we, as elected representatives, lots of these decisions we have to study and we work on and just going out and asking what you name is not the best way for us to do the facilities. And so I think the point being, but I really did appreciate what Dr. Nunez said. We can't ignore. We went out and asked and we can't necessarily ignore there with it but we need a written policy really badly and then also we have some precedent setting that we need to be looking at historically also there with were that Dr. Myers-Dunne, okay. Already, thank you all. Can I just say yes? On the policy, it's not gonna be a formula that will answer your question. It's gonna provide guardrails to kinda keep you within a certain lane. So these still will be discretionary decisions. It'll just kinda put you down a certain direction. So I wanna make sure that when you all see that policy, it's not going to be a panacea, but it will be a narrowing of options, I think. So we name the next project in place. It's the third one, so that makes sense, right? Right. Right. Yeah. OK, so let's move to community and neighborhood development. All right, and I'll turn to Miss Moise. Thank you. We had a good meeting this morning with all the committee members present. And unlike Dr. Farrah Myers, we didn't have to take votes on anything, but we had really good discussions. So the first thing that was presented to us was a new CDBG micro enterprise technical assistance grant along with the applicants for the grant. It's $101,000 grant and it's actually for business startups and although it says it's for generation of 15 jobs, it's actually for generation we hope of 15 small startups. And so one of the things we looked at is, we got a list of applicants and we actually ended up pairing a couple of the applicants together. The grant is actually going to the Center for Transforming Lives and those of you in town while may know of Center for Transforming Lives. And those of you in town, while may know of Center for Transforming Lives, CTL has been around since 2003. I've met some of their recipients, some of the people they work with. It's a very strong organization. So they will be administering the program, and they will use a group called SCORE. That's the service core of retired executives for a lot of their training. We also talked at links about how do we measure the success of this and Dr. Farrah Myers mentioned several times that it seemed important that we actually have business plans generated. So we talked about how we're gonna measure the participants because we're not interested in people who just want job training. We're interested in people who want to start small companies, and assisting them with the resources, either to get an accounting course if they need it, to meet with some executives of their companies so they can help and learn how to write a business plan. So this is a trial program. We're ramping it up for this year and then we'll keep score through the year and hopefully by next year we'll be ready to take a look at it and have some favorable results and some young small companies start. And we did also decide this morning we're going to make it clear that the program is open not just to females, which are center for transforming lives serves, but for male and female participants. So that's that we talked about. I think that's all set together. We recommended the program. And I don't think there's, I don't know if there's anything. I don't think there's anything we have to vote on on that one. We don't. Okay. We went back to re- Yeah. Yes. So we do vote on it. Okay. Next week. So the next piece we went back to the Black Block Party ordinance because even though we'd agreed to most of the changes to the ordinance. We had some feedback from neighborhoods in the past week, and generally currently require 100% signatures to have a block party closure, a street for a block party. Now we'll be requiring, we've got to make it 75, and with some neighborhood input, we're down to 50%. And part of the reason is we have some large, large neighborhoods who might come to us and getting above 50% is difficult. But more than that, our discussion centered around, we really, really want to encourage block parties, make it doable, and we can always, if we have problems with this 50% of it creates issues, we can always come back and revisit this. But I think I agree with the discussion this morning that we will drop that to 50% of effective properties. So if you're closing a call to sack, the only has eight houses and three people are out of town. Then you don't have to scramble to try to locate one of them. If you have a really large neighborhood like the Forest Hills neighborhood has an event every year at Halloween and they have 225 residents, then they would only need 125 plus one houses to approve the block plan. So that's coming also for the October 29th ordinance. We heard a lot a little while ago from Mindy Cochrane about the housing tax credit policy. And that actually was first approved in 2017. So after this past couple of months where we saw some, we saw that some changes were needed to make it work for us in the future because we saw quite a few, well almost all of our cases required rezoning which created stress in the process because it compressed it too much. So the next cycle actually starts in December. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna add a little more time, we want the process to be smoother, but we also want the developers to feel like it's a little more inclusive. So we're gonna provide developers with more time to meet with council members about their programs and their proposals. So they will be instead of closing that meeting time down at December 1, which is the date they submit to the state. They're going to have until December 8 to meet with us. And that gives them a little more access to us, but it doesn't actually they submit to the state on the 18th. So by the 6th or 7th, they should be through meeting with council. They should have their neighborhood meetings. They should have met with the organizations in town that might be supportive of them. They'll be ready to submit their proposals. And at that point, their meeting maybe was city staff, but they won't need to be meeting with Council. So that change was made. Then we talked about modifying the language relating to construction, which really centered on, we split one item into two parts. One is related to energy efficiency and sustainable building materials. So they all meet the minimum. What we're asking them for is if there's anything extra you're going to do let us know because it might might give you a little more strength in your proposal. The second thing we did was we added a preference for use of materials from the city's fart list because as you know there were some changes in the legislature this year that kind of gave us a big hit on construction materials. So I think making that change is going to give us and maybe a little more exterior of finishes that are more acceptable to us. So they will get extra consideration for materials list. We also added a preference for being close to both jobs and childcare, because that's really critical to most of the housing needs of this group. And we added finally a preference that the project not be 100% affordable. And we had some of both in this last go round, but I think having a mixed income group in affordable housing projects is beneficial to everyone concerned so we were very we talked about that one for a while and we decided that was one we wanted to add that we would really like to give extra consideration if they're bringing it to the market rents for some of the apartments. We decided not to say what percentage just to give them the option of making part of it market rents. From a real estate and development background standpoint, I also think it shows a, well, that you're committed to the project, I guess, is the best way to put it. If you're willing, and that you've got some history with the projects of this type, you've got some money backing you up, you have access to the markets for loans, and that you're, because one of the things we want are season developers, so that we can have a good look at what products they've built in the past and how they're performing. So I think it will give us a little more of a read on the developer's possible quality and of their project. It will not be mandatory, but it will be preferred. So anyway, we have a timeline that runs. Let me share that with you real quickly, because we do have, I do have that. Block party. Well, I'm not finding it. I don't know how I left that. Do you have that handy, anybody? Is Mindy still here? Because I think, you know, it comes up on us really quickly. And I- Ms. Wakeman, you want to share with us the timeline? Oh, very well. Yes. I thought Mindy was here somewhere. I am. I am. So when do we actually start seeing these projects? It's in December, right? Well, some of the council members have already been approached by developers on some projects that they have. I know at least two of you have been approached by developers, so they're already starting. Formerly, the QAP gets signed by the governor, not later than December 1st, which starts a more aggressive approach, because I know exactly what the rules are and the points that they're chasing. So their applications are due to the city on December 18th. Staff will review them between December 19th and January 7th. We'll bring the first round of them, depending on how many there are. To C&D Committee, January 14th and possibly January 28th if needed. We have a built-in at work session to share all the developments at C&D recommends with full council on the 11th and then if there are any resolutions of support or no objection they would come before you on February 25th. Right and we also have a report I think that we have a roughly 90 raw undeveloped multi-family sites in the city. Is that am I correct on that? Is that what we learned this morning? I think we got that from GenC. More than that. But it's a little over 90. But many of them have issues that make them not able to be developed, but they are there. So one of the things we talk about is whether or not it's possible for Gency and her staff to take those sites and maybe define, because I know a lot of the developers when they meet with us, we say, oh, that one works because that one doesn't work. Try to create a spreadsheet maybe so we can give the developers a heads up on where we'd like for them to look because we already have an undeveloped site. Is that is that even possible? That is a lot of work. I don't think we can do all the sites but whatever they have come up with, we can definitely look at it with them and define it. that we can definitely look at it with them and define it. Okay. Yeah, just give them a map of the sites. Okay, well that's it, Mr. Mayor and I think. Okay, any questions? I think we had a good meeting. I have one question about the Black Party van. The ordinance. I know what we want to do is include our, encourage more neighborhoods to use it. And I know that one of the limitations you put in there was twice per year for a neighborhood. And even though we may have some neighborhoods who use it twice a year, there are many neighborhoods who never use it. So could the city have an initiative or we would invite neighborhoods who've never used it to plan a block party? I'm not sure how we do that. I would just like to see it be used everywhere. I think that's possible. Definitely when, because we're allowing two block parties a year plus neighborhood night out. So on perhaps on the form and again, I look to staff when they fill out the form requesting the closure. The question, if it's not on there already, could be added. Do you have an interest in using the block, block party ban? Block Party ban. I might just follow it up that I think after our last conversation we were going to have a future presentation I think next month at one of your work session about neighborhood outreach activities and block trade party trailer information. I think we'll be part of that and we just make it part of the broader outreach efforts so they were constantly saying that it's constantly available there for them as a tool should they choose to elect to deploy it. I know we would like to see that trailer used more that it's being used. Okay, so. Any other questions? All right, Mr. Shepherd. We'll move to economic development. Thank you, Mayor. I know we're running a little bit short on time. All matters were taken up in executive session today today however I do want to make a comment for the benefit of the public that the city and category of influence, Arlington City Center was. It's a very prestigious award. I think it's the third award that the development 101 Center, the library, this little catalytic area down here is one. And I think it's kudos to Trey and his staff and in particular economic development, Jim and Bruce and everybody else. Congratulations on that award. And hopefully we will get a replica of that award at some point in time. Oh, it's tonight. Oh, you've imagined that. So anyway, that's it for me, Mayor. Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Shepherd. Okay, next we'll move to appointments to boards and commissions, Mr. Busskin. Thank you, Mayor. We have three appointments to boards and commissions, Mr. Buskin. Thank you, Mayor. We have three appointments to boards and commissions. Okay, evening agenda items. I will mention Mayor, council member Nunez, volunteered to remove item 12.2 from the table this evening. That's the tree trimming contract. So, okay, he's our man. Okay. All right. Issues relative to city and textile projects. Okay. Discussion of flooding and erosion. I have a request for some guidance. I would like some clarification from city attorney on if a flooding project, I mean if a development project or a plan development meets the city's criteria for drainage and flooding that's in the criteria manual, what kind of discretion if any, the city Council has to deny that development on the basis of concerns about flooding not on the parcel. I just need some legal guidance. I've had some people make conflicting representations to me and I believe the lawyer. We can look into this and get back with that. Okay, thank you. Okay. How about future agenda items? Okay. With that we'll stand a journey and we'll come back together at 5.30 p.m. Sure.