By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
There were only five area residents who attended Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus’ town hall
meeting on Thursday, but those five had plenty of questions, complaints and comments
about city issues.
DeReus’ town hall meeting was held in a meeting room at the Del Rio Civic Center.
governments in Texas at the start of his town hall meeting at the civic center on
Thursday. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
DeReus began his meeting with a brief dissertation on the differences between city and
county government, something he said he is asked about frequently. (See previous story here.) DeReus then asked each person attending the meeting to speak in turn, allowing each to
ask questions and make comments or suggestions.
Del Rio resident Carole Cooper asked about the city council’s ongoing discussions to adopt a
code of ethics for city public officials, and she and DeReus spent some time talking about
the proposed ethics code.
Cooper also asked if the city was still in Stage 2 drought restrictions for water usage. (Water restriction update here .)
“I sure have seen a lot of really green yards and water running down the street,” Cooper
commented.
DeReus said he, too, has seen water “running down the streets” during his early morning
bike rides.
Alexandra Falcon Calderon said she believed the city was still under Stage 2 restrictions.
“As far as I know (we are), but I haven’t seen a social media post recently reminding
people,” DeReus said.
Cooper said, “This goes back to the whole compliance thing. Are people going to be
slapped on the hand or fined if this continues, because the drought map that came out
today showed it (the drought) is getting worse, not better.”
DeReus replied that he believes enforcement and accountability are key in teaching
residents to adhere to the Stage 2 restrictions, but added he would like for the city’s code
compliance staffers “to have a conversation” with violators rather than immediately issue
citations and fines.
Paul Poag update
Cooper also noted she requested the full, 85-page report from the architects working on
the Paul Poag Theatre renovation and said it had been sent to her.
“It’s an interesting report, very thorough. I hope that the city will go back and review and
think about doing some of the things, after this first phase (of opening the theater),”
Cooper said.
DeReus said the council still needs to give the city manager some formal direction on the
project.
Cooper said she understands there are some “minimums” that must be done to reopen the
theater, but added she hopes the city will work on some of the other suggestions made by
the architects as well.
Striping the streets
She also thanked DeReus for “the striping on the streets.”
“I would love to take credit for that and after the (last town hall) meeting I brought that
up and mentioned that in my list of things for the city manager. . . She got back to me and said the striping would be done in the next week, so I’d like to take credit, but I’m glad
they saw the need and got it done,” DeReus said.
Del Rio resident Bea Vallejo said she is concerned about the directors/department heads for the
city not being present at job sites to direct city crews.
“I went out to the Field of Our Dreams, and there is a crew there that spends the whole
day there. . . Is that whole crew assigned to that park? Only that park? And how much
can they do during the winter?” she asked.
Vallejo asked about the use of city vehicles. She said she would like to know whether or
not the vehicles’ mileage was checked, as well as about gas usage and insurance costs for
city vehicles.
“I have a problem with our waste, and I don’t understand how that can be controlled,”
Vallejo said.
Vallejo also had questions and complaints about city buildings, a topic she has spoken
about previously.
“On Friday, I drove by the building that we bought for City Hall (at 801 S. Main St.).
There’s a window that’s wide open. . . and I drove by there right now, and it’s still
(open). We need to take care of our stuff,” Vallejo said.
She reiterated a statement she had made at a previous town hall meeting and at previous
city council meetings: That money the city receives from building rentals needs to go
back into maintaining and improving those buildings.
Another issue Vallejo raised at a previous town hall meeting was the inoperative
restrooms at the city’s Joe Ramos Center.
“How long are we going to wait for the Joe Ramos restrooms to be fixed? Sometime this
summer? How long is this going to take?” Vallejo asked.
She also said there are electrical problems in one of the kitchen areas in the civic center.
Too much free stuff for non-profits
Then Vallejo charged that some local non-profit organizations “are getting stuff for free”
from the city.
“Does every non-profit need to get something for free from us? Can’t we just charge
them a minimal fee? Some of them are making money, and we don’t charge them for
using our buildings. We should charge something,” she said.
When DeReus asked her for specific examples, she replied, “The pageants. They’re
making money. It doesn’t matter how much they make, but they’re still making money
off of us, and we’re not charging them anything.”
But when DeReus asked, “They’re not paying anything at all?” Vallejo said, “Not that I
know of; I don’t know.”
“They should be,” DeReus said.
He added there are different rates for non-profit and for-profit groups to lease the civic
center and other buildings.
“But non-profit groups should not be getting it for free,” he said.
Vallejo also said she would like to see line items on each city budget expenditure.
“I want to see where all this money is going,” Vallejo said.
She added she also wants to see more information about the city’s debts.
DeReus said, “I have been concerned about finances ever since I got on council, and I
don’t know how many meetings and hours I’ve spent with the finance people and various
city managers saying, ‘This doesn’t make sense,’ so I understand.”
In talking about city finances, DeReus also questioned the fact that the city charges
Laughlin Air Force Base less for water than it does its regular water system customers.
Calderon said city administrators need to verify that organizations are actually not-for-
profit groups with the appropriate designations and paperwork before giving those groups
a non-profit rate.
Calderon also spoke about the downtown historical district the city had created. She said
Ori Fernandez, the city’s former economic development director, had created a “historic
district review committee” whose terms have since expired. She said she has mentioned
this to the city’s Main Street manager, adding the committee is crucial to grants the city
receives for the downtown area.
“That all needs to be looked at,” Calderon said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
