El Paso City Council directs study of airport revenue guarantee and a citywide naming policy, delays any renaming

The El Paso City Council on May 27 unanimously directed the city manager to study a "minimum revenue guarantee" program to support flight development at El Paso International Airport and asked staff to draft a comprehensive citywide naming policy, while voting to delay any facility renaming tied to a revenue guarantee until such policies are in place.

Miss Prine opened the session and recorded that "Mayor Johnson is present and presiding in council chambers," and confirmed a quorum before routine items and motions were taken. Mayor Pro Tem Chavez moved to delete one executive-session item at legal staff's request; the council approved that deletion unanimously.

Mayor Pro Tem Chavez then read the three-part directive that the council adopted. Quoting the motion, Chavez said the city manager, in consultation with the city attorney, "directs city staff to study and provide plans for the establishment of a minimum revenue guarantee program to be administered by the city of El Paso for the purpose of flight development to the El Paso International Airport and to take all steps necessary including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this authority." Chavez also moved that staff "study and provide plans for the establishment of a comprehensive citywide naming policy for the naming of city facilities" and that the city "declines to undertake any renaming of a city facility which involves a minimum revenue guarantee program until such time as city policies and programs related to both actions are established and approved by city council." (Text read into the record by Mayor Pro Tem Chavez.)

Council members voted on the motion and it passed unanimously, as recorded by Miss Prine. The public record lists the ayes during the earlier vote to delete the executive item as Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Maldonado (spelled inconsistently in the record), Representative Limon, and Representative Mino; the record shows similar unanimous support for the EX3 directives.

The session included an executive‑session period during which the council discussed: (1) an application by El Paso Electric Company to the Public Utility Commission (referenced as PUC Docket No. 59720) relating to an energy efficiency cost‑recovery factor, and (2) economic development negotiations in Central El Paso; those matters were taken under the attorney‑consultation and economic‑development provisions cited to the El Paso City Charter and the Texas Government Code (chapter 551). The council recorded that no action was taken on executive item 2. The work session adjourned at 10:06 a.m., and the record notes a brief administrative pause (IT requested about five minutes) before a special meeting.

What happens next: the council directed staff to study the two policy areas and return plans to the council for consideration. The record does not specify timelines, staffing plans, or funding sources for the studies; those details were not provided in the work session record.