By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A discussion between a city council member and a Brown Plaza Association representative grew heated during the city council’s most recent meeting April 11.
The discussion centered on a request to the city from the Brown Plaza Association for $8,000 to help the association pay for its annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, which this year will be held on South Main Street due to ongoing construction work at the Brown Plaza, the traditional site of the event.
The Brown Plaza Association receives the annual monies from the city’s hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds.
After the agenda item was announced, Mayor Al Arreola called for a motion, and Councilwoman Ernestina “Tina” Martinez made the motion to approve the ordinance.
As soon as Martinez made her motion, Councilwoman Alexandra Falcon Calderon asked, “Can I say something?”
Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. gave the second.
“You have a question?” Arreola asked Calderon.
“Well, actually, I wanted to see if we could postpone this item because the application is blank. It’s not completed. There’s nothing. It was turned in blank. The only thing that shows is the post-event report of the year 2022, so there’s no application,” Calderon said, referring to the application included as part of the council packet on the agenda item.
Arreola asked Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez to address the issue.
“It’s in our package, but it’s blank,” Calderon added.
“The application was submitted. This is a blank form, so the wrong one was attached to the agenda,” Chavez told the council.
“But there was an application?” Arreola asked.
“Yes, they did submit the application,” Chavez replied.
“So it’s our fault that we didn’t put everything out there,” Arreola said.
“That’s still not right,” Calderon said, adding she wanted to make another motion.
Arreola pointed out there was already a motion and second on the floor.
Calderon then said she wanted to make a motion to postpone action on the item.
“We already have a motion on the table,” Arreola repeated.
“But she can make another motion,” Councilman Jim DeReus said.
“I already did,” Calderon interjected, and when the mayor called for a second on Calderon’s motion, Councilman J.P. Sanchez gave a second.
“I agree with her. We don’t have it here; we need to see it in order to make a correct decision on it,” he said.
Arreola asked Chavez if he had a copy of the application, and Chavez said he did.
Arreola asked Chavez if he could bring the council a copy, and Calderon said, “We cannot allow this. No. It has to be the proper way.”
City Attorney Jack Stern seemed to agree, saying the matter had to be posted.
“We’ve been giving a lot of passes on others. It’s not fair. Do it right or don’t do it at all,” Calderon said.
Arreola called for the vote on Calderon’s motion, and Calderon, Sanchez, DeReus and Mayor Pro-tem Steve Webb voted in favor, with Arreola, Martinez and Lopez abstaining.
After the vote, Calderon said, “It’s nothing against the organization. We’ve got to make that clear. It’s just what was presented; it’s not accurate.”
City Manager John Sheedy said, “Mayor and council, we apologize for that. We looked at this several times, and I didn’t notice it wasn’t completed. I know we had. . .”
As Sheedy spoke, Calderon interrupted, speaking to Brown Plaza Association board member in charge of the event Dolores Martinez, who was in the audience.
“Do you want to address something? Because you’re upset, but it’s not our fault, Dolores,” she said.
Martinez walked to the podium and told the council, “We turned in our application. I just verified with the individual who was in charge of turning it in, making sure that she turned it in. She said that she turned it in. I assure you we turned it in.
“This money that we use, we’re (taking) out of our pockets right now, which is part of the event that we’re putting on. We turned in our part. This is not our fault. . . I mean, we’re already being moved, from Brown Plaza to Main Street. We’re doing extra expenses on that, okay? . . .
“You all ask us for amounts. We got them. You asked us for surveys. We got them. You ask us for receipts. We got them. You ask us for everything, and we get it, and we always get the bad part, you know? I mean, c’mon, what’s the problem here? Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, it’s Brown Plaza, the Brown Plaza Association.’ C’mon. We have our paperwork,” Martinez said.
“This is what makes us look bad. We go out there for advertising for people to help us and they come up with, ‘Oh, you all never turn anything in.’ No, it’s not us. We turned in our paperwork. . . We’re doing our job, and I know I’m upset, but you know what? It’s always us. When we try to have everything by the book. You know why? Because we don’t want to have anybody throwing it at our faces. And this is what the city of Del Rio gives back to us?” Martinez said.
Calderon then asked Martinez what her position was with the association, and Martinez replied she was in charge of the Cinco de Mayo event and the treasurer for the association.
Calderon said she believes a member of the association could have looked at the council agenda and caught the fact that the application included was blank and reiterated the council has to make decisions following proper procedures.
Martinez replied she understood, but added, “We’re just telling you how we feel. I’m telling you on behalf of the whole organization, not just myself. . .” She said members of the community blamed the association for moving the event from Brown Plaza.
Calderon again interjected, telling Martinez, “I want to make it clear, because you just said we told you to take (the event) to Main Street. No. You were given suggestions. You chose Main Street.”
“Yes,” Martinez concurred.
“But we did not tell you to go to Main Street,” Calderon said.
Arreola stepped in, saying, “From our side over here, the administration, we apologize for the inconvenience it’s causing you because I know you have expenses to meet.”
Arreola suggested the council could have a special meeting to reconsider the item.
Martinez said as long as her group did not receive the funds until after the event, she could live with the delay, and Arreola again apologized on behalf of himself and the city manager.
“The city will come through, and it has been a tradition that we support the Brown Plaza,” Arreola told her.
Martinez said her organization chose Main Street as its alternate site for the event because it was closer to the Brown Plaza and for the shade it could offer. She noted owners of Main Street businesses with whom she has spoken were happy the event would be moved there.
Arreola again assured Martinez “the money is going to be there for you.”
Martinez thanked the council and singled out Councilwoman Martinez and Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr., saying Martinez had reached out to the association to ask what they needed since they were being moved from the Brown Plaza.
“We didn’t want to move, but it had to,” Martinez said.
“Dolores, Dolores, Dolores, you continue to say that we moved you. We did not move you. That needs to stop. You continue to say that,” Calderon said.
“You did move us. We had to move because the plaza’s not done,” Martinez replied.
“No, we did not move you. It’s a construction zone,” Calderon continued.
“This is getting a little out of hand,” Arreola called out.
He added having the event downtown could start a new tradition for the Cinco de Mayo event.
Councilwoman Martinez also made a comment, noting the members of the Brown Plaza Association are all unpaid volunteers, adding she had been involved in the association for 20 years.
“Nowadays, you don’t find too many people that want to volunteer without getting paid, and I want to thank the Brown Plaza Association for continuing with all this work, because it is a lot of work,” she said.
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Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
