By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio City Council members, city administrators and staff bid farewell to two-term District 2 Councilman Jim DeReus during a special meeting Tuesday.
DeReus, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who works as a simulator instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base, had reached the term limit in the District 2 council seat. He ran an unsuccessful campaign to be elected mayor of Del Rio. DeReus was also serving as mayor pro-tem of the council at the time of the election.
After the opening ceremonies for the special meeting, Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez began his presentation to recognize DeReus for his service on the city council by joking that he hadn’t gotten DeReus flowers as he’d provided for the farewell ceremony for outgoing Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez two weeks ago.
Chavez went on, “We do want to recognize James DeReus for his years of service as a city council member, eight years, and during that time, we learned quite a bit. We value any input regarding the budget reserves and transfers, that’s something that we’re going to continue to work with, and we do appreciate all the input provided by Councilman DeReus.
“Again, we do want to recognize the councilman as he’s going. We have the official nameplate that he used during his tenure and a little gift from the city with the city logo on it,” Chavez said.
The interim city manager also presented DeReus with a plaque, which read, “In recognition of dedicated service, presented to Councilman James DeReus, in grateful appreciation for eight years of outstanding service as a member of the city of Del Rio. Your leadership, commitment and contributions have made a lasting impact on our community. With sincere thanks and best wishes for the future.”
Chavez, Mayor Al Arreola and the council members then posed for a photo.
DeReus told the council, city staff and audience, “I just want to thank a couple groups of people. First, the people of Del Rio. It’s been an honor and a privilege. I hope I haven’t screwed up too bad.
“I would like to thank the city employees. A lot of times we don’t talk about the amazing work and dedication that you exhibit on a day-to-day basis, because we always tend to focus on whatever crisis is going on, or the bad stuff, so thank you very much.
“I’d also like to thank all the current and former council members. I’m not going to try and list ’em, because I would forget some names, but it’s been a great experience getting to know you, learning a lot, and I would like to think that I’ve become a lot better person.
“And finally – she wasn’t able to make it – but I need to thank my wife. She hasn’t always been happy about the various meetings, but she has been amazingly supportive and, when people ask what am I going to do with my free time after this meeting tonight, I always say, ‘I don’t know; my wife hasn’t told me yet’,” DeReus finished.
The next item on the agenda of the special meeting was the swearing-in of DeReus’ successor to the District 2 seat, Leno Hernandez Jr. (See separate story.)
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
