By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Citizens who attended Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus’ town hall meeting discussed a variety
of topics, from the city’s recent water and wastewater rate snafus to a request for
additional stop signs to the poor condition of the golf course.
DeReus welcomed about 20 area residents to the event, which was held from 6 p.m. to 8
p.m. Thursday in the Cottonwood Room at the Del Rio Civic Center.
George Solis, one of the Del Rio residents attending the town hall meeting, asked DeReus
if he could offer a prayer to start the meeting, and DeReus acquiesced.
After the short prayer, DeReus said, “We have a couple of new faces here, and I normally
don’t start with any commentary, because I’m here to find out what’s going on and what
you guys want to talk about.”
DeReus called first on Mike Perez, a retired federal law enforcement officer and former
member of the city’s golf course commission.
Perez said he has lived in Del Rio for 45 years and runs a team of golfers at the golf
course.
Perez said the city has changed the rules for membership at the golf course, “so now, if
you want to be a member, you have to sign up for a year.”
Perez added “there is no way out” of the one-year membership, which could be an issue
for military members who have to move from Del Rio on short notice.
DeReus agreed the city has to develop a way out for golfers who have to move away or
who can’t use the full year membership for other reasons.
Perez also commented about the condition of the course itself.
“The golf course is in horrible condition, absolutely horrible. We haven’t had nine holes
in five years now. . . The greens are horrible. The tee boxes are unlevel. . . Now the
bridge is out so you’ve got to drive a mile around. We seem to be getting the feeling that
Del Rio is pushing the seniors out,” Perez said.
He also said he has a “frozen tax exemption” the city offers for residents 65 years of age
and older, but noted that increases in the water and wastewater rates will eat up any
savings that exemption might give him.
“I realize cities like Austin do that to run people out, but nobody’s waiting in line to
move to Del Rio. I don’t want to be disparaging here, but I think the city council’s just
lost their perspective of who their constituents are. You should be helping us stay here,”
Perez said.
Perez also said it was his understanding that the city’s water and wastewater rates would
go up again on Jan. 1, and DeReus said he had heard that comment as well, but added, “I
don’t know. I’ve talked to one other councilmember, and we right now are having trust
issues with what we’re being told.”
“As you know, you can only act based off of what you’re told, and I no longer know if
what we were told was actually accurate, so I don’t know what I’m going to do in
December when (we vote on the rates again). . . Saying it’s a cluster is being generous
right now,” DeReus added.
The mayor pro-tem also said he has not talked to city staff about the rates issues “because
right now I’m too mad, and I’m trying to calm down a little bit.”
Perez and DeReus then discussed use of transfers from the city’s enterprise funds to the
city’s general fund.
DeReus next called on Jake Carsten, who attended the event with his mother, May
Carsten.
Carsten said he is curious why the city’s water bill does not indicate whether or not a
customer lives inside or outside the city limits, the size of their water meter and what the
rates per unit a customer is charged.
DeReus then continued discussing the water and wastewater rate situation with several
other members of the audience, including Ronda Hargrove, a local resident who often
attends city and county meetings to comment on issues of the moment.
DeReus called on Ray Meza, president of the local public school district’s board of
trustees. He told DeReus he lived on Far Hills Drive on the city’s north side and
applauded the efforts of the city and the district working together to place stop signs at
Agarita Drive . . . in anticipation of increased traffic due to the new elementary school in
the area.
“But what they didn’t do was to go back and see the actual traffic flow. In the last two
months, I’ve had three near-wrecks coming in Agarita. . . It would be an easy fix to move
(the stop sign) from Quail Creek to Canyon Creek,” Meza said.
Next, DeReus recognized Lee Weathersbee, a Del Rio resident who served more than a
decade on the city council and who has also served on numerous city boards and
commissions.
Before addressing his specific concerns, Weathersbee told the group, “This meeting
would not be necessary if we could go before the city council and have a dialogue with
them.”
He said in the past, council members invited comments and questions from persons
attending council meetings.
Weathersbee handed out copies of information he pulled from the city’s budget, specifically information about the transfers the city makes each year from its enterprise
funds to its general fund. He spent some time going over the amounts of money the city
will collect this year from property taxes and detailing the amounts the city had budgeted
to transfer from its enterprise funds into its general fund.
Weathersbee interspersed his commentary on transfers with short history lessons about
actions the city council took in the past.
When Hargrove suggested Weathersbee go talk to the city manager, he replied he doesn’t
want to talk to the city manager “because she doesn’t work for me.”
“I didn’t vote for her. I voted for the city council. . . I want to know what my people, that
I voted for, that work for us, that represent us, that you and I voted to put up there, I want
to know what they’re going to do. That’s the people I want to hear from,” Weathersbee
said.
Hargrove then asked if the city council members could go over the budget in the same
detail Weathersbee did, “or are you being fed only the information that she would like
you to know?”
“Because that’s how it looks to us,” Hargrove said.
“To be honest, I’m guessing there’s a little bit of both. She’s presenting what she thinks is
the best way to go,” DeReus said.
Weathersbee decried the transfers as “taxation without representation.”
DeReus and some of the attendees also spoke about the challenges of restoring
commercial air service to Del Rio’s airport.
Del Rioan Bea Vallejo, who is a regular attendee at city council meetings and at DeReus’
town halls, voiced her concern about the studies the city conducts for many of its
projects.
“My question is, why do we continue to waste our money with studies?” Vallejo asked,
She said she also had issues with how the city attorney and the city’s contracted attorneys
are working with city council.
“We should have never gone through all this mess (with the water rates) if the legal
advisors had taken care of it,” Vallejo said.
The group further discussed water rates for Laughlin Air Force Base, which led to
Weathersbee making observations about going through a Base Realignment and Closure
event.
This prompted DeReus to say that he believes one of the biggest challenges facing
Laughlin is the lack of ability to find persons to work there.
A number of those attending the meeting, including Del Rioan Debbie Nieto, thanked
DeReus for being willing to meet with constituents and hear their questions head-on.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
