El Paso City Council again questioning economic relationships with neighboring small towns

El Paso city representatives once again are talking about whether the city can afford to help, or is capable, of helping small neighboring towns with public health and environmental services.

These small towns pay the city for such services and have done so for years. But now, some representatives are asking city staff to take a closer look at how much it costs El Paso, and city taxpayers, to provide the help.

Five of those agreements were on the agenda today for the cities of Clint, Anthony and Horizon City. But council voted not to approve all five and instead instructed staff to come back with more information on the true cost of each contract.

At a special El Paso City Council meeting on Monday, Rep. Michiel Noe said he felt stabbed in the back by the mayors of smaller Borderland towns who voted to reduce the city’s representation on a powerful Metropolitan Planning Organization, (MPO), board.

Sparks flew last week after a major change in the makeup of the MPO’s Transportation Policy Board slashed the city’s members from eight to one.

“I believe the people of El Paso should feel exactly like that. All the help we have given the municipalities surrounding us, and then they do this to us. Not the people of the cities, they are good people. Why the leadership of the cities, their mayors decided to do this, I have no idea,” Noe said.

Noe called the move a power grab that is unnecessary because there has been no abuse of power.

City Council is fighting back against the controversial vote and demanding all efforts to change the makeup of the MPO board cease immediately. The city is using an open records request to gather records going back 60 days before the vote. Officials want to learn more about the decision-making process behind the the move to restructure the board.

Rep. Noe said he and other city officials suspect the move was clearly set up ahead of time.

“I think every member of the city believes that for sure. We can’t imagine how it went so quickly , so smoothly without there being some kind of deals made. What those deals were, I don’t know,” Noe said.

During the special City Council meeting, representatives approved a resolution to authorize staff to submit comments on behalf of the city of El Paso opposing the MPO changes.

Mayor Oscar Leeser said the city’s actions effectively put the board changes on hold for now.

The MPO is tasked by federal law to plan for transportation development in the Borderland region and designed to move communities forward.

Every year, El Paso’s MPO handles millions of dollars in transportation projects. One example is the Go10 project.

Members of the MPO’s Transportation Policy Board include mayors of all local municipalities, county representatives, state representatives and representatives from Sun Metro and the airport.

A recent 14-11 vote would slash the once 30-member board down to 15, once it is ratified. The county of El Paso has three representatives, but that number would drop to one.

The change led to Monday’s special city council and a letter of protest from El Paso County Commissioner Vince Perez.

MPO board chairwoman and Vinton Mayor Madeleine Praino said the bylaws were changed so each governmental group in the MPO would have only a single vote – ensuring equal representation.

Praino said she selected a seven person ad-hoc committee to review the bylaws and make a recommendation about reducing board membership.

“I entrusted these people with the review or the bylaws and I felt confident that they would make the right decision,” Praino said.

But the city of El Paso is not taking the loss of seven voting members lying down.

During the special City Council meeting, representatives approved a resolution to authorize staff to submit comments on behalf of the city of El Paso opposing the MPO changes.

Council also authorized the mayor to notify Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of the city’s opposition and ask that the MPO’s actions not be ratified.

Rep. Noe was quick to say the council’s actions today are not a form of retaliation after the MPO vote. Rather, he said the City Council simply wants staff to take a close look at the true cost of providing services to surrounding small towns.