NEWS — Citizens share opinions on water, sewer rate increases during public hearing

By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times

Del Rioans voiced their opposition to a city proposal to increase water and wastewater rates
during a public hearing on Friday.

The public hearing was one of two items on the agenda of a special meeting of the Del Rio City
Council and was held at the civic center.

Before opening the public hearing, Mayor Al Arreola told the five city council members, city

administrators and staff and about 35 citizens attending the meeting, “I think this is the time to
give our citizens time to come up and make comments.”

Arreola announced each speaker could take up to 10 minutes to address the council and city staff.

He added. “Any questions as we proceed will be assigned to our city manager, and she will
respond to them.”

Arreola opened the public hearing at 6:12 p.m. and called on the first speaker, George Solis.

Solis said, “With everything that’s going on with the water and stuff, I just wanted to thank the
city manager for trying her best to right the ship. It seems like she’s the only one that’s had the
courage to make the tough decisions. . . Some of you need to get on board and help her to finish
this, get the projects done and help her do the best she can.”

Solis commended Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus and Burkhart “for taking ownership” of the water
issues facing the city and urged the rest of the council to do the same.

Solis said the council needs to do a better job of prioritizing proposed city projects. He wondered
aloud how the city could even consider taking on a massive project like a second international
bridge and called on the city to better promote “some simple conservation strategies” like
xeriscaping and rainfall capture.

Former Del Rio City Councilman Lee Weathersbee spoke next.

Weathersbee also began by thanking the city manager for hosting recent meetings on the
proposed rate increases.

He said, “To say that you’ve got a decision to make is an understatement. I don’t think there’s
any question in the world that we’re faced with some critical issues. Water is the most important
thing we have in our lives. It affects every citizen in this community, and the decision that you’re
going to make is going to affect – in my 82 years living in Del Rio; 12 years on the (city) council, multiple years on other commissions – I’ve never seen an issue come up before this
council that’s going to affect people’s lives like this one because we have to have water.”

Weathersbee questioned the city’s annual transfers from its enterprise funds, like the water fund
and the wastewater fund, to the city’s general fund and asked council members and staff to at
least consider alternative proposals to rate increases.

Weathersbee said, “I’m against this increase. I know you’ve got to have the money, but I’m
against it because of the way you’re financing it. You’re putting all the burden on the water fund
people, those who are paying water and wastewater bills, an undue burden on them alone, with
this (increase). There are other sources of revenue out there. You can go up on taxes, you can cut
employment. There’s other ways to get that done, and in the next two days, you’re going to make
a decision on how you do that, and how you do it is going to affect us all.”

Arreola next recognized Patricio Garza, a leader with The Border Organization (TBO).

Garza said, “The Border Organization wants to make crystal clear that we agree and support the
need for water and sewer infrastructure improvements for our current and future needs. However,
where we are in disagreement with the city administration is a rate proposal that has been put
forth to finance the projects, and secondly, we question the some of the projects.”

Garza once again laid out the framework of an alternate proposal his organization has offered the
city, which rests on a flat increase on water meters, and warned the council against rushing its
decision on the proposed rate increases.

He pointed out the city in the past has made plans and obtained financing for projects it didn’t
complete.

“What guarantee do the citizens have that this will not occur in the future as there is no real
continuity, has not been continuity, with the council members and even with city administration.
It is very easy to blame the past position holders, but in the end, the community ends up paying
the price for these mistakes,” Garza said.

Garza and City Manager Shawna Burkhart went back and forth on some questions about water
infrastructure projects.

At the end of his time at the podium, Garza said, “That’s it. Please reconsider. We ask that you
don’t rush into something that we’ll end being sorry to have made a rush decision.”
Ronda Hargrove spoke next.

Hargrove, also a leader with TBO, said, “All of you on this council

were elected by the
constituents with trust that you would do the best for them and for the city. Yet decisions being
made presently and for the past several years would lead one to believe that the trust was
massively displaced. The current situation that we find ourselves in is not due to regular
maintenance needs. It’s not a situation that requires the city to burden its citizens with grossly unaffordable utilities and exorbitant loans. We are in this situation due to negligence,
mismanagements, complacency and an overall incompetence.”

Hargrove asked whether or not the city has tried to apply for grants to fund the water and sewer
projects and whether or not it is legal for the city to transfer revenues from enterprise funds to the
city’s general fund.

Hargrove again prodded the city about developing the Hamilton well, a well the city drilled on
property north of the city limits years ago. The problem: Although the city paid for the land on
which the well is sited, it failed to obtain the property’s water rights.

“I do believe you should look at that Hamilton well, and I think that it should be put up to a vote
to the citizens that paid for that well to be installed out there, whether or not they want to try and
make a deal with the landowner or they want to be burdened with more tax to drill more wells. I
think that needs to be looked into. I don’t think anybody in our community knows that well is
sitting there. It is hooked up, and it is ready to roll. It just never has been tested accurately,”
Hargrove finished.

Arreola next recognized Joe Salas, another TBO leader.

Salas spoke on behalf of residents in colonias, neighborhoods outside the city limits on the city’s
water system, reminding the council that colonia residents already pay 15 percent more for water
and wastewater than city residents. He also called on city staff to review TBO’s alternative to
increasing water and sewer rates.

The next to speak was Santos Limon, a resident of San Antonio who has filed an application
seeking election to the U.S. House of Representatives next year.

Limon said he was speaking as a Del Rio taxpayer, adding he has been helping the Del Rio
community for the past 25 years, “advocating for Del Rio all the way to D.C.” and pledged his
continued support.
Tim Byrne was the last speaker in the public hearing.

Byrne, who said he moved to Del Rio about eight years ago, told council members and staff he
liked TBO’s alternative proposal.

Byrne added, “You look at the school administration building (on Griner Street downtown), they
got the best yard in Del Rio, so my thought process is, this is going to be the browning of Del
Rio. My kids are not going to be able to play on grass. That’s fine, but you’ve got to cut them
(the school district) off, too. You’ve got to cut everything off. If this is what we’re proposing, this
is the browning of Del Rio. . . I really love this community, so this is really going to affect a lot
of people.”

After recognizing everyone who had signed up to speak before the meeting, Arreola opened the floor for any other speakers who wished to address the council and city staff. When he heard no takers, he thanked everyone who attended and said, “Your voices, your concerns, we are taking
to heart, and we will keep reviewing and studying until we get to the final stages.”

Arreola closed the public hearing at 6:43 p.m., 32 minutes after he had opened it, and asked
Burkhart to give her presentation. (See separate story.)

The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com