By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members on Tuesday heard updates on city projects from Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez and joined Chavez in honoring long-time city employees.
Chavez began his update by speaking about the newly-renovated pro shop at the San Felipe Springs Golf Course.
Chavez told the council, “We did have a ribbon-cutting event this morning, to reopen the pro shop at the golf course, which had been previously housed at the MPF (multi-purpose facility) and thanks to council, we did get the support and approval of this particular project to renovate the previous pro shop that is located near Hole number one, and I want to thank the city staff, particularly the staff from facility maintenance, who did a great job. I invite everybody to go out there and see it.
“If you remember the old pro shop compared to now, it’s night and day, so again, thank you to mayor and council and facility maintenance for making this come to fruition. Thank you,” Chavez added.
The interim city manager also reminded council city staff is continuing to lay the groundwork for next year’s city budget.
“As we continue our proposed budget, we’re continuing to obtain and gather information, from the city council, from citizens of Del Rio and our department and division heads. I wanted to make everyone aware that we do have the budget survey that is now available for anybody in the community to take part in so that they can also join in and provide the staff with information as to where they want to see certain funding for the upcoming year. The survey is now available through the city’s social media sites, and we’ll probably leave it up there for about two months, and again, we ask the citizens to take part and be part of this process,” he said.
Chavez also spoke to the council about the soon-to-be-released movie, “The Long Game,” based on the book, “The Mustang Miracle,” about a group of four San Felipe High School students who became state champion golfers in the 1950s.
Chavez next spoke about work city staff is doing on health and code enforcement.
“We welcome any feedback information from the public. Most recently we’ve been receiving feedback regarding health and code enforcement. I did want to make the council aware and the citizens that that’s been heard loud and clear. We’ll be working with city council, reviewing all information reviewing our current ordinances, and we should be coming back to council with recommendations to make any changes, but the one thing I did want to make everyone aware of is that it is something at the top of our priorities and we will continue to review, and again, we welcome any feedback the citizens may have,” Chavez said.
“The last update I have, as I mentioned before, I do want to recognize any city employee that has 20-plus years of working with the city, and we do have quite a few this evening,” Chavez said.
He said he wanted to present each of the city employees to be honored with a certificate and a city of Del Rio pin.
“I want to thank each one of these employees for their commitment and their continued service to the city of Del Rio,” the interim city manager said.
Chavez and Mayor Al Arreola then presented certificates of appreciation and city pins to the following employees:
- Martha Genera, assistant to the director of the Women Infants and Children (WIC) program, 20 years;
- Jose Rivera, assistant international bridge superintendent, 20 years;
- Robert Guzman, Del Rio Police Department captain, 20 years;
- Cecilia Zapata, accounts payable specialist, 21 years;
- Hubert Smith, Del Rio Police Department captain, 24 years;
- Miguel Rodriguez, utility billing crew leader, 25 years;
- Clint Hutchinson, Del Rio Police Department lieutenant, 25 years;
- Leno Hernandez, event centers manager, 26 years;
- Doralinda Garcia, accounts specialist, 27 years;
- Joshua Rodriguez, Del Rio Fire Department engineer, 27 years;
- Rudy Delgado Jr., assistant water distribution superintendent, 29 years;
- Rogelio Montelongo, Del Rio Police Department sergeant, 33 years; and
- Velma Quiroz, Clerk IV water distribution, 34 years.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
