By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
City council members recently approved advertising for a professional consultant to oversee the city’s building and land development projects and programs.
A resolution to “authorize and direct the city manager to advertise and give notice for a request
for qualifications for professional consultant services for the Planning and Zoning Department”
was part of the council’s agenda during its Dec. 17 regular meeting.
Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus made the motion to approve the resolution, and Ernestina “Tina”
Martinez gave the second.
As mentioned in a memo provided to the council as part of its informational packet, the city’s planning and zoning department “guides the (city’s) building development process with the goal of ensuring quality land development for Del Rio and also preserving its historic areas and unique environmental features.”
The memo also noted Del Rio does not currently have a chief building official or plan reviewer to oversee the services of the planning and zoning department.
A committee consisting of city staff members will receive applications from firms or individual professionals and review the applications based on the criteria the city requested. Once a selection is made, a resolution will be brought back to the council to be approved.
City Purchasing Agent Luis Menchaca spoke with The 830 Times, and he said Del Rio, under the State and Local Government Procurement Act of Texas, is required to do a sealed procurement process for bids over $50,000.
During the Dec. 17 meeting, Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez asked for more details about the
resolution. City Manager Shawna Burkhart said the city has been making use of on-call services since Oct. 1 from Aoka Engineering, a company based in Fort Worth, Texas. She said the city’s budget to pay for Aoka’s services was under $50,000, adding that services over $50,000 require the city to send out a request for qualifications.
“We need to have someone on board, and this allows anybody that is out there that can provide those services (to submit a proposal). I believe there are at least two (firms) in the region who provide those services, so we hope to get both bids back and to try and get a feasible and financial option,” Burkhart said.
Gutierrez asked if the city has a city engineer on staff to provide review process services.
Burkhart confirmed the city does not have an engineer on staff who can provide those services.
“Currently Aoka (is performing the services), but all we can do is up through that $50,000 – one dollar under if you will. We simply have to go out for the (request for qualifications),” Burkhart said.
Burkhart spoke with The 830 Times after the meeting and said, (The resolution) is to seek a firm to assist (the city) with planning and zoning.”
She added the firm selected could be a new firm or Aoka Engineering, as long as the firm meets the qualifications specified.
