By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court members took no action on a request by one commissioner to demolish a burned house in south Del Rio after hearing advice from one of the county’s attorneys.
Members of the court took no formal action during their meeting
court during their meeting on Wednesday. Clemmer told the court the county currently
does not have the authority to demolish a burned house in south Del Rio. (Photo by
Karen Gleason)
Wednesday on an agenda item requested by County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw titled “discussion and possible action to tear down a house due to a health hazard on 411 Maximo Street that caught fire.”
Fire destroyed the small house on Nov. 18. City and county firefighters extinguished the blaze, and although the structure’s four walls and roof remain, it is a burned-out shell.
After County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. read the heading of the agenda item on Wednesday, Wardlaw asked Assistant County Attorney John Clemmer to speak to the court.
Clemmer told the court, “I had an opportunity to touch base with Commissioner Wardlaw on this item. There’s a couple of issues that we’ll run into, and the first issue is that the property looks like it falls within the city limits, so without an MOU (memorandum of understanding) between us and the city, we really have no business even being out there.
“The second issue is we need to have an adopted abatement procedure that the county follows. I talked with Commissioner Wardlaw, and we’re going to look into it and see if it’s something that we can bring back, but at this moment, I don’t think we have the authority (to demolish the house),” Clemmer added.
Owens said, “And on the MOU, because I know that some of the commissioners also wanted to help clean within the city limits, and we’d sent out an MOU to (City Attorney) Ana Markowski Smith, and I think we’re working on that right now also, with the land swap, and we got an email back this morning on three different pieces of property that we’ll have to address. On the land swap, it looks like it’s closer to getting done now than it’s ever been.”
“After how many years, judge?” Wardlaw asked.
Owens, laughing, said, “I’m not going to say. We’re working together.”
The county judge told Clemmer, “But the MOU was part of that email also, so hopefully. . .”
Wardlaw interjected, “So the county people to help clean would be in that MOU?”
Owens replied, “There’s an MOU that we sent out back and forth, and that is the reason we can talk about it on this item was because it’s part of what (the assistant county attorney) just brought up. If we get an MOU put together, then the county could help the city clean some of the properties and the alleyways, if the county commissioners deem it necessary.”
“Correct,” Clemmer said.
Owens said there were several other items in email he needed to address before it is sent back to the city.
“I’ll get with (County Engineer) Carlos (Velarde) and John (Clemmer) to get those addressed,” Owens added, then said, “No action needed on the item (to demolish the house).”
Following the meeting, Owens told The 830 Times the land swap he referenced during the meeting deals with ongoing negotiations between city and county officials to trade a piece of land the county owns near the Bank and Trust baseball field for a piece of land the city owns off Brodbent Avenue, where a county commissioner built a park.
Owens said there are several other pieces of property the county and city may exchange.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
