Case File 26-0695

Context: Directive issued June 23, 2026 sets a 45-day return date for the draft CBA on the Meta Platforms Northeast El Paso data center.

Recommended: Council directed the City Manager and City Attorney to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement covering water/electric infrastructure and ratepayer protection, with a draft due back by roughly August 7, 2026. Request the draft agreement as soon as it's filed to check whether ratepayer protection language is enforceable or merely aspirational.

Context: All three projects were previously postponed from June 9, 2026 and only cleared funding approval on June 23, 2026.

Recommended: Three State Infrastructure Bank loans totaling $10.55 million were just approved for Railroad Drive, Sun Valley Street, and the Traffic Management Center after being postponed from the June 9 meeting — check with the City's procurement office now for the construction bid timeline since funding was the last hold-up.

Context: Items 43 through 52 were presented and voted together as a block (8-0), the same meeting that launched the Meta negotiation directive with no public term sheet yet.

Recommended: The City Manager and City Attorney, not Council, were handed sole authority to negotiate the Community Benefits Agreement terms with Meta before any public draft exists; ask whether the draft will get a public hearing or come back as a consent-item vote like the seven zoning ordinances bundled into items 43-52 tonight.

Context: Council's June 23, 2026 directive explicitly cites ratepayer protection as a required element of the not-yet-drafted Community Benefits Agreement.

Recommended: The Meta data center's water and electric demand triggered a city directive to negotiate ratepayer protections before the project moves forward — residents in Northeast El Paso should request the draft agreement's rate-impact terms once filed rather than assume protections are already locked in.