By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The owner of a local business where used tires have been dumped illegally has asked city council members to fund additional staff for the city’s code enforcement division.
Sandra Fuentes, the owner of a small local business, has often spoken to the Del Rio City Council in her role as co-chair of The Border Organization, an activist group. During Tuesday’s city council meeting, however, Fuentes addressed the council as a private citizen and business owner.
Fuentes spoke during the citizen comments portion of the meeting.
Fuentes told the council, “I am here to talk about tires. You have a very good ordinance on the books already. In fact, I think you have very good ordinances, period.
“The problem is enforcement, so that what you have on the tire ordinance, is A, ‘a customer may not retain a scrap (tire) removed from the customer’s vehicle during the purchase of a tire from a retailer,’ meaning that if I go to a tire retailer and buy a new tire, I cannot take my old tire back with me. It needs to stay (with the retailer).
“That’s not happening, and where are these old tires being disposed of? The creek, the parks, out in the bays of our self-serve car washes. (City employees) Mr. (Scot) Carcasi and Mr. (John) Atnipp were very good and worked with us a few days ago. The city went and picked up close to 30 tires that people had left in our car wash bays.
“There’s no need for that. You have an ordinance in place. My understanding is you are going into discussions for the budget. They – this department – cannot enforce this ordinance when you do not give them the proper amount of staff. They’re short-handed.
“I believe they are going to be asking for six more people for this department. Please give it to them. It’s not just about tires, it’s about a lot of ordinances that they can’t keep up with because they don’t have the necessary staff. When working on the budget, please consider this,” Fuentes finished.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
