By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members have moved closer to spending millions of dollars initially borrowed for a
new City Hall to upgrades at other city facilities, including a public pool and a community
center’s restrooms.
The council during its most recent regular meeting on Dec. 16 voted 6-1 to reallocate $9 million
in proceeds from the 2023A series of certificates of obligation to at least three other projects in
need of funding.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez gave the sole vote opposing the reallocation. Sanchez has repeatedly
said he believes the borrowed money should be returned in an effort to lower the city’s overall
debt burden.
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, City Manager Shawna
Burkhart directed council members’ attention to an official statement included with the 20232A
COs when they were issued.
Burkhart said, “These funds that we have totaling approximately $9 million can only be used for,
number one, the renovation, improvement, equipping existing city buildings and facilities,
including public safety facilities and City Hall; number two, acquire, construct, improve and
equip city parks and recreational facilities that are generally accessible to the public and are part
of the city’s parks and recreation department, including the Paul Poag Theatre; and, number
three, rehabilitation, expansion, reconstruct and/or maintain the existing civic center facilities
and pay for professional services rendered by engineers, attorneys and financial advisors in
connection with the above projects.
“We are asking for your consideration and to bring this back before you in January for action,”
Burkhart added.
The city manager said the $9 million in CO proceeds would be reallocated as follows: $4.5
million for a City Hall, $1.5 million for demolition and reconstruction of Buena Vista Pool,
$200,000 for restrooms in the Joe Ramos Center and $2.8 million in improvements to the Joe
Ramos gym and/or the Del Rio Civic Center.
Mayor Al Arreola had stepped out of the meeting briefly, and when Burkhart finished her brief
presentation, Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus asked if there were any questions or comments.
Sanchez said, “I do have a comment, and I’ve been commenting on this for quite a while. The
original purpose of the $9 million was for a City Hall, and we’re not utilizing it for the new City
Hall.
“That being said, we need to go ahead and give this money back, because we’re going to get
ourselves into a bigger debt, and we need to reduce the city’s debt as much as we possibly can. . .
If we have an opportunity to give this money back, and I feel that we should, and I’ve been
harping on this for quite a while. My feelings have not changed, and I feel the rest of the council
should realize that,” Sanchez finished.
Burkhart commented, “I would just let you know that if we were to repay these funds, (they)
would sit in a state of continuance for eight years, until we have got to the 10-year date where we
can go and look at refunding those, or callable. They’re callable at that time, so we would still
have the debt for at least eight years.”
Sanchez reiterated he would like to see the debt “off the books.”
Arreola, who had returned to the meeting, said he believed the council needed to keep discussing
the issue.
Arreola said, “A lot of the thought is that these buildings are getting older. We can’t wait, like
we’ve waited on our infrastructure and let it deteriorate, and then we go out and borrow some
more money, at a higher rate, and it’s going to cost us more.”
Arreola said upgrades are needed at the Joe Ramos Center, at City Hall and at the Buena Vista
Pool.
Arreola said, “We can wait until it’s broken, and then go out and borrow money. . . We have (the
money in hand), and I think we need to show our citizens that we went out to borrow money to
utilize it for a purpose, and we’re going to expend it, but we’re not just going to do City Hall,
we’re going to do other things with it, and that will be improvements to our community.”
After Sanchez made an additional comment, Burkhart said another “pressing need” has come up
recently.
“We have air conditioner and heating systems that are out of service, all in utility billing, and we
have no funding for it in this year’s budget. Please keep in mind we have some serious issues of
environmental, just climate, in their department, and we need to get that fixed eventually,”
Burkhart said.
DeReus said he understood Sanchez’s perspective, then asked whether or not any of the money
could be used for ongoing renovations at the city’s Paul Poag Theatre.
City Purchasing Agent Luis Menchaca made his way to the podium and the city has no actual bid
yet on the theater renovation work, but noted architects and contractors executing projects for the
city are given a budget and asked to stay in it.
Arreola said he, too, has the same concerns as those voiced by Sanchez.
“But I think we need to step up and do some refurbishing on some of our old buildings,” Arreola
said.
Arreola suggested Burkhart keep refining the numbers and return to council in January with a
detailed plan.
After Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. about funding in this year’s budget for city facility
maintenance, Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez said, “It was not too long ago that we were here
during a city council meeting, and water was coming in during the meeting. . . We cannot
continue to allow any of our facilities to fall into deterioration and disrepair; again allowing
years to pass where we come back to the drawing board, and it’s going to cost us more, so with
that being said, I move to approve the reallocation of the 2023A certificate of obligation
proceeds for the revised purpose, as stated.”
Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez gave the second.
The council then voted 6-1 to approve Gutierrez’s motion, with Sanchez opposed.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
