jim ever really got distant. if anything, i think their, you know, relationship just grew stronger and stronger. >> reporter: it's a foggy night in houston in 2012. and sandra melgar is feeling pretty good on this night, so she and her husband jim decide to go out for a celebratory dinner. it's their 32nd anniversary. >> what she's told me was that they were gonna go out to dinner. they were going to their favorite mexican place that they go almost every weekend. and they stopped by a local cvs just to grab some drink mixers on their way back home. they got home. they started getting drinks ready. they got into the jacuzzi in their bathroom. they spent a few hours in there. just this and that, chit-chat. >> suddenly, the melgars' four dogs started barking in the backyard. so jim got out of the tub to bring the pups inside. sandy continued to soak. the jets roaring, as the water massaged her, for about 5 to 15 minutes. >> i think he took a few minutes, so she decided to get out of the jacuzzi. she went to her closet, sat on her chair that she has in her closet, and started putting lotion on. >> reporter: that's the last thing that sandy says she remembers that nigh

melgar: thank you. next speaker, please. >> hi. my name is jim. and i'd like to thank her for bringing up the point of collaboration with dbi. that is an aggressive point of view that i think will be very helpful in our next director. you know, i'm normally here talking about the architectural quality, esthetics, impacts on transit, the public amenities, the amount of inclusive housing that is involved in new projects, but today i'm really here to talk about what i think is a pressing need for our next executive director to stand up for preservation as well. the preservation element has been around for a really long time, i believe since 2007. some say it's lingering, some say it's languishing. it really has to become a priority. if that were the only thing, that would be one thing has to be worked on, but when we look at the lax effort on funding city-wide surveys, that is a big miss. if we don't know what we have, we can't know how to protect it. and a third thing that sort of indicates there is a problem here, when our chief preservation office