By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio resident has urged county commissioners to spend more on fire protection and public safety, but one official countered the county has done that and more.
Del Rio resident Bea Vallejo made her comments during the Oct. 3 meeting of Val Verde County Commissioners Court. She began by criticizing the court’s spending on a target range project.
“In reviewing some of your projects, I am amazed to see that you all are moving forward with the target range project. Although this is a great project and a great opportunity for individual county residents to practice their skills, I still believe that money set aside for the target range project could have gone to better use,” Vallejo told the court.
“Many Val Verde County residents do not have any kind of fire substation and no sheriff’s substation. I do not really know where you house your fire department. But you should have fire substations in each major area of the county, along Highway 90, Highway 277 and Loop 79 and somewhere in the Cienegas area. The lives of Val Verde County residents are at risk. Family homes and businesses are at risk,” she added.
“You will be expanding the community center and Precinct 4 building. Why not purchase supplies and equipment that will diminish the wait times for county equipment to arrive at a fire or emergency? Judge Owens and commissioners, Val Verde County residents need more security and safety emergency services,” Vallejo said.
“When will you begin to prioritize the immediate needs of Val Verde County residents? If you are just expanding county buildings for the sake of using money available, you need to stop and reconsider the purpose. Please let us worry more about safety and security issues, like proper lighting in common areas where most of the populace goes, like the mail boxes, the parks and maybe even every street corner. Something, like cameras, or someone, like a patrol deputy, that will provide at the very least, peace of mind, that school-age children are protected while they are at bus stops or even protecting residents who walk, run or bike in these areas,” Vallejo added.
Vallejo also spoke about county parks and the I-27 project.
“You have a two beautiful parks, out in the Lake Ridge area and behind the Precinct 4 Community Center, but the grass needs watering, the portable potties are took far out from the main area. More seating is needed. If people want to go out and make use of either of the parks, their lives are actually in danger. Even if they were to call out for help, no one would probably hear them. There should be something or somewhere where people can go for safety or to seek help,” Vallejo said.
“The issue of I-27 may bring more revenue, more growth and more expansion of traffic to many areas of Val Verde County. It also brings with it a different type of criminal element. As businesses begin to open around Highways 90 and 277 and Loop 79, more crime and more safety issues will arise. Please do not wait until the problem is here. Start planning. Start implementing safety and security places for people to go should they need immediate assistance.
“I-27 was a plan that started back in 1968. The project started constructing highways in 1976 from Raton, New Mexico, to Lubbock. In 1998, I-27 was considered a priority corridor from Lubbock to Midland/Odessa to San Angelo in 2015-2019. And now, it actually continued adding more miles of highway toward the Mexican border, and although it will bypass the city of Del Rio between five and 10 miles, down Highway 277 en route to Eagle Pass and finally to Laredo, crime will not bypass us,” Vallejo said.
“Val Verde County residents will become major targets. Trucking traffic ensures increases to the gross domestic product by more than $55 million, with much economic growth for our county, but it also ensures different types of criminal growth. Once these criminals find out we are not a secured county, we will have our fair share of criminal activity.
“We need to stop and prioritize now, not when TxDOT begins laying the asphalt for I-27 in our county. We have a small window of opportunity to plan and prepare for what is to come. Please start looking for grants that will ensure we have the proper personnel and equipment needed for this new type of growth. We need to begin to think about the security and safety of our county residents,” Vallejo finished.
Several other citizens also addressed the court, most of them urging the court to change its meeting times from the morning to the late afternoon.
After they finished, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said he wanted to respond to some of the statements made by citizens.
“I’ve asked the county attorney if I could address some of these issues right now, versus trying to put them on the agenda later on. We can’t have a conversation, but there are issues that have been brought up and if you all don’t mind, I’d like to comment on each one of them,” Owens said.
County Attorney David Martinez interjected, “Judge, point of order, just to be clear, this will be under ‘judge’s comments’.”
“Ms. Vallejo, this court, and, I was trying to figure out right now, in the last five or six years, this court has spent a little over $800,000 on equipment for the fire department, between a new big brush truck, two small brush trucks and an emergency vehicle for accidents,” Owens said.
He pointed out the county fire department is located behind the community center off Cienegas Road, adding there are buildings in other locations in the county that were once used as fire department substations, but the lack of volunteers to man them has led the county to move that fire equipment back to the main station.
“You mentioned mailboxes, and I think all of the commissioners have put lights near mailboxes and then in the last four years, I think all the commissioners, but I know for sure in Precinct 2, have actually thrown concrete in order to move mailboxes off the highway to get them to where they were safe for individuals, on 277, on 90, on 377, where they could actually check their mail off of the road,” Owens said.
“You also mentioned different parks. The commissioners have all tried to do more with what they have when it comes to parks because it is part of our quality of life. If the grass ain’t as green as what some people think it should be, I can tell you the commissioners are concerned; they’re planting trees. I think both (Precinct 3 and 4 commissioners) just spent money on trees, trying to make their parks look more presentable,” the county judge added.
Owens said all of the commissioners are working on restrooms in the parks, but added that those restrooms are often vandalized and fixtures stolen if the restrooms are left open in the evenings.
Owens finished his reply to Vallejo by saying, “So I do think this court, just like every other court, is working hard to meet the needs of the citizens.”
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