News-Community Issues
May 6, 2023 Charter Election Results
05/06/23.
The Community First Coalition was proud to help get out the vote and educate our allies on the May 6th Charter Amendments. These amendments to our charter come at least every two years and heavily affect the way our city runs.
CITY CHARTER ELECTION CFC RECOMMENDATIONS & RESULTS
A: Authorizes City Reps to hire their own staff YES -Failed
B: Authorizes City Council to lease property for 40 years or less by resolution or ordinance No -FAILED
(developer interests seek less transparency and deletes language that appears to give up right of ownership over improvements at the end of leases).
C: Rescheduling meetings for Holidays YES- PASSED
D: Authorizes Mayor to cancel a meeting due to emergency YES-PASSED
E: Eliminates obsolete provisions & aligns w/ state law YES-PASSED
F: Removes the requirement for second petition in citizens’ initiative process. YES- FAILED
G: Civil Service Commission to reflect diversity of community and city workforce. YES-FAILED
H: Streamlines process giving more authority to HR dept. NO-FAILED (less restrictions may not improve hiring and promotion decisions).
I: Eliminates Police/Fire Depts Pension Cap. NO-PASSED (PD already has large percentage of budget, cap protects other dept budgets).
J: City Auditor to report to City Council instead of City Manager. YES-PASSED (City Manager cannot be held accountable by voters.)
K: Climate Charter is sound and necessary strategy to address climate change. YES-FAILED
CFC’s take on the 11 ballot propositions on the May 2023 ballot.
4/24/23.
CFC makes the following recommendations. Please vote!
A: Authorizes City Reps to hire their own staff YES
B: Authorizes City Council to lease property for 40 years or less by resolution or ordinance NO (developer interests seek less transparency and deletes language that appears to give up right of ownership over improvements at the end of leases).
C: Rescheduling meetings for Holidays YES
D: Authorizes Mayor to cancel meeting due to emergency YES
E: Eliminates obsolete provisions & aligns w/ state law YES
F: Removes requirement for second petition in citizens’ initiative process. YES!
G: Civil Service Commission to reflect diversity of community and city workforce. YES
H: Streamlines process giving more authority to HR dept. NO (less restrictions may not improve hiring and promotion decisions).
I: Eliminates Police/Fire Depts Pension Cap. NO (PD already has large percentage of budget, cap protects other dept budgets).
J: City Auditor to report to City Council instead of City Manager. YES (City Manager cannot be held accountable by voters.)
K: Climate Charter is sound and necessary strategy to address climate change. YES!
These are the ballot props heading to you on May 6th!
2/11/23.
Change the reporting structure of the chief internal auditor to be appointed and removed by, and report to, the City Council rather than the city manager; operational oversight over the internal audit function is overseen by the chair of Financial Audit and Oversight Committee; city manager implements any audit recommendations for changes to city administrative procedures and operations as requested by the council.
Allow city representatives to appoint and remove their district office staff
Authorize City Council to authorize leases of city-owned property for 40 years or less by council resolution or ordinance
Allow Civil Service Commission appointees to be residents of El Paso; limit how many former city employees can serve on the commission to three; prohibit from serving on the board anyone related to city employees, Public Service Board members or any entity that operates or manages city facilities or department
Allow the city to establish more flexible policies in hiring employees and eliminate the exam requirement
Establish the city’s contribution to the Police and Fire Pension Fund to no less than 18% of the wages of the participants and remove the limit on the city’s contribution
Remove the requirement for a second petition in citizen-led initiatives and provide a procedure for citizens to initiate city ordinances
Allow City Council to reschedule meetings by resolution to allow for city holidays, but hold no less than two regular meetings per month
Allow the mayor to cancel a meeting if necessary due to a federal, state or local declared emergency
Remove obsolete references in the City Charter and align with requirements of state law
City Council sends proposal to make Citizen Initiatives to the Voters this May.
2/07/23.
CITY COUNCIL SIDES WITH CITIZENS AGAIN when they agreed to propose changes to the City Charter that will make it easier to propose and pass Citizen Initiatives. The Council heard from numerous activists at a prior meeting who have used Sec. 3.11 of the charter to implement various initiatives like preserving Lost Dog Trail, preserving Duranguito, City Election reforms and the Climate Charter Amendment. VERÓNICA CARBAJAL along with Rick Bonart and Carmen Rodriguez submitted wording which was then proposed by Rep. Alexsandra Annello. The motion passed with Reps Rivera and Hernandez dissenting. Congratulations to all El Pasoans who have worked hard to collect signatures and all those who supported by signing petitions!!!! Lost Dog Trailhead, Justicia Fronteriza PAC,Sunrise El Paso. BNHR.
The tide continues to turn in the people’s favor!
City Ethics Commission dismisses Ethics Complaint against City Rep Brian Kennedy.
2/01/23.
The City of El Paso Ethics Commission unanimously voted to dismiss all ethics complaints against City Rep Brian Kennedy lodged by Dora Oxaca.
Community voices come together to denounce Gov Abbott!
1/17/23.
BORDER NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, CFC, others join in denouncing Gov. Abbott’s latest political scheme, which seeks to outlaw NGOs providing humanitarian support to migrants at the border. Furthermore, the border communities will also launch a community petition demanding Gov. Abbott to withdraw the Texas National Guard immediately, stop violating federal law by eliminating Operation Lone Star, and remove the shipping containers currently used as a makeshift border wall.
City Rep Chris Canales explains vote to kill arena project
1/03/23.
At last Tuesday's marathon City Council meeting, I spoke about the reasons why I voted to reallocate the portion of the 2012 Quality of Life Bond funds dedicated to a "Multipurpose Performing Arts and Entertainment Facility in Downtown El Paso" to renovate or upgrade existing City facilities instead of the previous plan of constructing a new arena in Duranguito.
This from our new Rep Chris Canales:
My comments are a bit long, but I encourage you to watch and listen if you didn't catch them live during the tenth hour of the meeting. I firmly believe this decision was the right thing to do. In next steps, the City Manager and his staff will report back to the Council with options for how to use the remaining funds to improve qualifying City facilities at another location.
Durangito Stands - Arena falls!
1/03/23.
The NEW City Council voted to approve Reps Anelllo and Molinar’s motion to abandon the multipurpose performing arts center project and to use the remaining funds to improve existing buildings. (Paraphrase —not the exact language). After more than 80 commenters and more than 3 hours in executive session the council voted as follows Anello, Molinar, Fierro and Canales in favor; Hernandez, Rivera and Salcido against. Kennedy abstained.
Thank you to all who spoke in favor—the testimonies were awesome and Toñita and Romelia spoke eloquently about their long struggle and beloved neighborhood. Finally a victory for the people!
Carmen Rodriguez’s remarks to Council regarding the Arena
1/03/23.
Dear Mayor & Council:
Congratulations to the new council members and good luck to all as you begin your work in this administration.
Please consider that the main reason for the controversy and delay in implementing the MPC Bond project is the fact that as time has passed more and more people have become aware of the City's lack of transparency in its implementation of the bond, including the deceptive bond language, the decision to prevent voters from choosing among 3 projects, and the 4 -year delay in formally selecting and announcing the Duranguito location. Voters have learned about and remember that the City denied the neighborhood’s historical and cultural value for several years and callously disregarded residents’ interests displacing many families from the neighborhood.
The number of El Pasoans who are well aware of the City’s failings has now reached a critical mass and voters will no longer tolerate the use of undemocratic and high pressure tactics to develop projects which misuse taxpayer funds.
Many have said that the litigation is the cause for the project’s lack of progress but the litigation has actually helped to uncover the city’s heavy-handed and murky actions. The discovery process in the litigation and the hard work of investigative reporters in filing open records requests and disclosing the information are the reason the voters have taken action to elect this Council and to defeat an arena or a massive new building project in Duranguito. Please rectify this situation.
Thank you for your time and your service to the people of El Paso.