Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s Lt. Thomas Romanelli Memorial Park has been added to a list of city parks that may be rented by individuals, organizations and businesses for events, city council members decided.
The council voted 6-1 to add the park to the list following a discussion during its Feb. 28 meeting and a presentation by Community Services Director Esme Meza.
Meza described Romanelli Park as “a beautiful, lush park with very nice, thick, green grass and lots of trees, lots of shade.” The park is sited along the bank of the San Felipe Creek downstream of the Dr. Fermin Calderon Boulevard/U.S. Highway 277 South overpass.
“Currently Romanelli Park is not on the (rental) fee schedule. Last year we did have some events at Romanelli Park for the Fourth of July. The parks advisory board for the city of Del Rio made a recommendation not to add Romanelli Park to the (city’s) fee schedule. They wanted to keep it only for city of Del Rio events and as a memorial park,” Meza told the council.
She said the parks currently available for rent include the pavilions at UCO, Rotary Park, the GI Forum Park and at Buena Vista, as well as Greenwood Park, Brown Plaza, Moore Park Pool and Buena Vista Pool, the Moore Park grills and the San Felipe Springs Golf Course.
Councilwoman Alexandra Falcon Calderon asked Meza to review with the council a list of pros and cons for adding Romanelli Park to the rental schedule.
“Some of the pros for adding Romanelli Park to the fee schedule would be revenue for the city, being that more people have expressed interests in having events there. It’s a shaded park with electricity available. We can expand opportunities to offer more quality-of-life events out there. San Felipe Creek borders the park and is used by the community on a regular basis. We do have a large parking area across the creek (from the park), next to the Joe Ramos gym,” Meza said.
But adding the park to the fee schedule has its down sides, which Meza also reviewed.
“The city is applying for a Dark Sky designation, and so (the parks advisory board) identified this as a ‘con’ for adding the park to the fee schedule. They also said birds are disturbed by the loud music, and there is birding along the creek and in areas of the park. (The parks board) also pointed out that it is a memorial park,” Meza said.
“Some cons that were identified by staff include the park’s low water table, and that the grass and the trees can be impacted if people drive through the park. One thing that we did discuss was that if you have a designated parking area, then that could be remedied,” she said.
Meza then reviewed “next steps” with the council.
“Of course, staff can’t move without direction from the city manager, so I’m coming to you guys today to see what next steps would you like for staff to do in regards to Romanelli Park?” Meza asked.
Mayor Al Arreola asked the council members if they had any questions for Meza.
Before hearing from council members, Arreola commented, “All of these parks are for the quality of life for our citizens.”
He also asked about the rental rate being used for the park, noting city staff recommended a $75 fee for renting Carranza Park, the South Main pocket park and Star Park for four-hour events.
“That’s only if they’re using electricity, and so the recommendation is only if they’re using electricity to charge some kind of rate,” Meza said.
Arreola also asked about proposed increases in deposits being recommended for all park rentals and asked if city staff cleaned the parks after scheduled events.
“Whoever rents the park is supposed to do that, but the parks department has had to have people come in after the event and do some cleanup, so we felt better if the deposit is higher, then they’re more inclined to leave it cleaner. They’ll leave it the way they found it,” Meza replied.
“I’m going to interrupt here really quick before we continue. The item was presented as ‘discuss and possible action of the Romanelli Park’ only, not the rates and the schedule fees. I believe that should be brought later on its own. Right now it’s more of the conversation of Romanelli Park,” Calderon said.
Meza said she and staff included fee structure recommendations for other city parks as a proactive measure.
“My understanding is that we were mostly going to look at Romanelli because we had that (discussion) last year, and it’s coming up again, so we wanted to have council to have an opportunity primarily to discuss what we were going to do with Romanelli,” City Manager John Sheedy said.
Councilman Jim DeReus asked if there was a reservation process for other parks not currently on the city’s parks fee schedule.
“For any park, they notify the parks department. They call, and if it’s a park not on the fee schedule, they take note of it, to let staff know, so they can go and make sure the park is clean, but since it’s not on our reservation packet, there’s not anything that they fill out,” Meza said.
Calderon continued with her questions.
She said she had asked the parks department for a list of city parks and had been given an out-of-date brochure depicting and describing the city’s parks. She asked that the parks department be given the current parks list to distribute.
Arreola asked if there was currently a rate for persons wishing to rent Romanelli Park.
“We’ve never had one, because up until recently we never had events there,” Meza said.
“We started having some of our Fourth of July events there, and then other organizations, companies, businesses, have had events there as well, and so it was a discussion at the parks advisory board meeting that there were events going on at some of our parks that didn’t have a fee schedule,” she added.
After Meza finished, Calderon made a motion.
“I want to make a motion, after reading the presentation and seeing all the cons, I believe Romanelli Park be kept off this fee schedule and only host city events at that location. I’m basing it on the cons. There were more cons than pros, so that is my motion,” Calderon said.
No other council member gave a second, so Calderon’s motion died.
After her motion died, Calderon said she had made the motion based on the parks advisory board’s recommendation and the list of ‘cons’ from the parks board and staff.
“I’m going by what was presented, more cons than pros. She (Meza) started off her presentation with ‘nice park, beautiful grass, nice trees,’ all of that. After an event that we had in the past, that was destroyed, so I’m going by my experience and what they presented here,” Calderon said.
Mayor Pro-tem Steve Webb asked how many private individuals have tried to rent Romanelli Park.
“We’ve had some people who wanted to have birthday parties there and set up a bounce castle, so we let them know that they could have their party there, but we couldn’t let them use the electricity there. There’s been people having birthday parties there, little picnics, which they do at various parks, and KDLK radio station had an event there last year just before the Fourth of July, and they did also plan some other events. This year, there is one for Memorial Day weekend and another for the Fourth of July,” Meza said.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez asked about the recommended fees for rental of Romanelli Park.
Meza noted staff recommended a rate of $400 for a six-hour event, with a $400 deposit, and a $600 rate for a 12-hour event, with a $600 deposit.
“And if there’s any other damage other than normal wear and tear, are they responsible for those damages also?” Sanchez asked.
“They do have a lease agreement that they sign,” Meza said.
She added whoever leases the park would need to provide their own security, portable restrooms and temporary fencing approved by city staff and designate a parking area to make sure no trees or grass are damaged.
After some additional discussion, Sanchez made a motion “to accept the rates (for Romanelli Park) proposed by Ms. Meza and the city staff.”
Webb gave the second, and all of the council voted in favor, with only Calderon voting against the motion.
Meza said she would bring back an ordinance delineating the changes to the next council meeting, as well as an ordinance proposing changes in the other park rental rates.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
