Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Commissioners Court members are eyeing changes to the court’s meeting schedule.
The court is considering the change after persistent requests by The Border Organization, a watchdog and activist group whose leaders, including Del Rio businesswoman Sandra Fuentes, are fixtures at the meetings of local governmental entities.
The county commissioners court’s regular sessions currently begin at 9 a.m. every other Tuesday and are held in the old county court-at-law courtroom at 207B E. Losoya St. on the historic courthouse square in downtown Del Rio.
Fuentes most recently asked the court in February to change its daytime meetings to evening meetings and was told by Assistant County Attorney John Clemmer that state law allows the court to change its schedule only during the last meeting of its fiscal year. At the time, Fuentes vowed to return and repeat her request, and she did, addressing the court during the citizen comments portion of Tuesday’s meeting.
“More people would be here if these meetings were in the evening. Please, please vote to change that meeting time,” Fuentes said.
At the start of the court’s discussion, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said, “We’ve had a lot of people ask to move (our meetings) to the afternoon.”
He said after discussions with the county attorney and county auditor, he believes the court could change its meetings to 6 p.m. on alternate Wednesdays.
“I’ll make a motion that we set our commissioners court meetings twice a month on Wednesday; one (meeting) at 6 p.m. and one (meeting) at 9 a.m. The first one of the month at 6 p.m. and the second one at 9 a.m.,” Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said when Owens finished speaking.
Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez gave the second.
Fuentes called out from her seat in the audience, “It would be better if both meetings were moved.”
She returned to the podium and told the court, “My fear is one, people might get confused, and number two, how do we make sure that important issues are done in the evening?”
Vazquez said he also would like the option to review the change in six months or a year “if hardly any people show up in the evenings.”
Fuentes again returned to the podium and said, “You can take this to the bank: because you change it to 6 o’clock doesn’t mean you’re going to have standing room only. The purpose of this is to give people an option. That’s all. I can tell you that you’re not going to have standing room only.”
Owens said he had to close the discussion at 9:15 a.m. so the court could open a posted public hearing on the proposed county tax rate for the coming year.
Nettleton then withdrew his motion.
After the public hearing, Owens resumed the discussion of the meeting time change.
Almost immediately, Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said he wanted to make a motion to keep the meetings at 9 a.m. on alternate Tuesdays “like we’ve been doing for years.”
“If anybody’s got a concern concerning an item on the agenda, they would make time to show up to these meetings. We’ve had (meetings) in the afternoons, and the only ones who show up are The Border Organization. Nobody else,” Flores added.
Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw gave the second.
Owens then recognized county resident Lori Reyes, who told the court, “There are many people who would be here in the evening who cannot attend in the morning. They have full-time jobs. They cannot get off last-minute when they see something on the agenda, which isn’t published until Friday (before a Tuesday meeting). They can’t just take off at the last minute. . . You need to know that yes, it may not be a packed house every time at 6 o’clock, but there will be people here.”
Flores asked Reyes if she resided in the Lake Ridge area, adding Reyes was attending the meetings now over concerns about the city’s plans for a second international bridge site near Lake Ridge.
“That is why I started attending but I’ve seen things that I’m questioning, and I want to see what’s going on. . . I’m trying to understand the community I live in and what’s going on. It’s important to me and many people I know, not just because of the second international bridge,” Reyes replied.
Jordan Ediger, an outspoken critic of the second international bridge site, also spoke to the court. He said evening meetings are more convenient to most people, especially those with daytime jobs.
Flores said evening meetings could create a safety issue.
“If the meetings last three or four hours, we won’t get out of here until the middle of the night,” Flores said.
Owens again recognized Fuentes, who said, “I’m glad you clarified that the reason you don’t want to change it is because of the safety issue, but prior to that you had said ‘because we’ve always had 9 o’clock meetings.’ That’s perhaps true, we’ve always had 9 o’clock meetings for, well, ever since I’ve been coming for 30 years, but there was a time that women couldn’t vote. That’s changed. There was a time when we had slavery. That’s changed. There was a time when a Hispanic man could not be sitting back there. So things have to change.”
Escondido Estates resident Nancy Scott also told the court she favored evening meetings.
Owens called for a vote on Flores’ motion to leave the time and day of the meetings unchanged.
The vote failed, 2-3, with Flores and Wardlaw voting in favor, and Vazquez, Nettleton and Owens voting against.
Nettleton made a motion to set the meetings for every other Wednesday, with the first meeting of the month at 6 p.m. and the rest of the meetings in the month at 9 a.m. Vazquez gave the second.
Owens reiterated he believed the court should change all of its meetings to 6 p.m.
Flores asked to be recognized and said, “I have a comment before we vote. Obviously, you have the votes, so do it at 6 p.m., all of them. That’s what you’re getting to.”
Nettleton and Vazquez voted in favor of the motion, and Flores and Wardlaw voted against it.
Owens, the swing vote, said, “I was going to vote no, but. . .”
Nettleton interjected, saying if Owens wanted all the meetings at 6 p.m., he should vote against the motion and the court could “look at it again.”
Owens voted against the motion, which failed.
Then Owens made a motion that the first regular meeting next month would be scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, and all other regular meetings would also be at 6 p.m.
None of the commissioners gave a second, and Owens’ motion died.
“We’re just going to keep trying until we get something right,” Owens said.
Flores suggested the item be tabled until after the court’s executive session later in the meeting and made a motion to do so, with Vazquez giving the second.
Flores, Vazquez, Wardlaw and Owens voted in favor of the motion.
Nettleton voted against, adding, “I don’t think it’s an executive session item.”
“I agree. It can be tabled until the next meeting,” County Attorney David Martinez told the court.
Flores rescinded his initial motion, then made a motion to table the item until the court’s next meeting. Vazquez gave the second.
The motion passed, 3-2, with Flores, Vazquez and Wardlaw voting in favor, and Owens and Nettleton voting against it.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
