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El Paso VAC debates 'City Veteran of the Year' plan and approves subcommittee replacements
Summary
The Veterans Advisory Committee discussed a proposed City 'Veteran of the Year' recognition, disagreed on creating a new subcommittee to run it, voted on the measure with several members recorded as opposed, and approved replacements for several subcommittees.
Members of the El Paso Veterans Advisory Committee debated a proposal for a City 'Veteran of the Year' recognition and whether the VAC should create or administer a new subcommittee to manage it.
The idea was raised that city council and the mayor had expressed interest and might form a small working group. Some members, citing bylaws, said the VAC could not unilaterally create a new subcommittee and suggested an existing subcommittee could take on the task or that council create the subcommittee by resolution.
"If that's something that the VAC would like to do, I am more than willing to share how we do our process," said a county liaison (speaker 13), describing the nomination window, a closed special session to review nominations, and a county policy that named the current veteran of the year as the ambassador the following year.
Several members raised objections about workload and duplication: one member said a county 'veteran of the year' already exists and that creating a city legacy award risks reinventing the wheel. Concerns included volunteer time commitments and the need for clear criteria.
The committee voted on a motion "to approve the city veteran of the year." The motion was recorded as made by Don Brown and seconded by George. During roll-call voting around the table several district members stated their positions: Don Brown (District 6) said, "I oppose"; District 5 opposed; District 4 opposed; District 1 opposed; District 8 opposed; District 3 said they were for it; and District 2 was recorded as opposed during the roll-call sequence. The transcript records these individual positions as the committee went member by member.
Independently, the VAC approved several subcommittee replacements (Ron Baker, Gina Lewis and others). Gina Lewis volunteered to assist on mental health and employment; the motion to approve the named replacements was moved, seconded and approved with ayes recorded.
Next steps: The committee agreed to carry further discussion about the veteran-of-the-year proposal to the next meeting and recommended preparing criteria and a formal recommendation should council seek VAC involvement. The VAC did not finalize a city award policy during the meeting.
