By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Citizens peppered Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus with questions on a wide range of topics
during his most recent town hall meeting on Thursday, from a new gas station being built
near a busy intersection to dogs chained outside homes and more.
About 16 Del Rio residents attended the meeting, held in the Cottonwood Room at the Del Rio Civic Center.
As he does with all of his town hall meetings, DeReus asked each person in turn to speak about his or her concerns or ask questions.
Food vendors
DeReus started with Bea Vallejo. Vallejo frequently weighs in on various city topics, speaking out at council meetings and
on social media, but on Thursday she renewed her call for the city to set a public hearing
on permits for food and arts and crafts vendors who sell their wares from private
residences or at public venues.
questions and complaining about issues from vendors operating in the city without the
required permits to the lack of progress on a four-lane highway between Del Rio and
Uvalde. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
“I’ve complained about the lady that brings the chicharrones from Eagle Pass to Del Rio.
She was using our park, Moore Park, and I (asked), ‘Why is the city allowing her to use
the parking lot?’ So then eventually, somebody (from the city) went there and she moved
to the corner of De La Rosa and Dr. Fermin Calderon, in front of the old B-29 (Lounge),”
Vallejo said.
She also complained about tamale vendors and said tamales containing meat have to be
kept at a certain temperature, and no one is making sure that is being done.
DeReus said any vendors, whether they sell on public or private property, must be
registered with the city.
Vallejo discussed several other issues related to permits issued by the city, and DeReus
said he would have to look into the issue further.
Hospital concerns
Del Rio resident Sandy Isbell asked more about the recruitment of medical specialists by the
Val Verde Regional Medical Center, a topic DeReus had discussed at length during his
last town hall meeting.
Isbell also said she believes the elected members of the hospital board “need to be more
accessible to the public and more transparent.”
Gas station
Del Rio resident Ronda Hargrove said she wanted to know more about the gas station
being built off North Bedell Avenue and Second Street.
DeReus said he missed two council meetings last year, and the gas station was discussed
issues during a town hall meeting hosted by Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus on Thursday.
Hargrove asked about several issues, including a gas station to be built off North Bedell
Avenue, fixing a series of sinkholes near the Amistad Dam and dogs chained in local
yards. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
and voted on at those meetings. He noted the city’s planning and zoning commission met
in the summer of 2024 and discussed the plans for the gas station.
“Anyone who drives down Bedell. . . knows that anyone trying to turn left on Bedell just
backs up traffic, and it’s just going to get worse with a big gas station there. They (the
planning and zoning members) were asking the questions, and the city employee who is
no longer a city employee told them, ‘That’s not something for you to be concerned
about’,” DeReus said.
He noted the planning and zoning commission voted unanimously not to recommend
approval of the gas station plans.
DeReus added although he wasn’t present for the council meetings when the gas
station was discussed, he reviewed the videos of the meetings, “and I was shocked and
horrified, because not only did it just sail through, but there wasn’t a single question by
the city council on why the planning and zoning recommended it not be approved.”
“We put these people on these boards to make recommendations to us; we should at least
ask, ‘Hey, to me this makes sense, but you don’t think it does. Why did you recommend
that?’ And there wasn’t anything,” DeReus said.
He added he “is not a proponent” of placing the gas station at that location because of its
proximity to the creek.
Hargrove asked, “Is it, then, an absolute done deal? It can’t be fought at this point?”
“It’s pretty much a done deal,” DeReus replied.
Hargrove said she and members of The Border Organization and the Southwest Water
Coalition met with City Manager Shawna Burkhart and Public Works Director Greg
Velazquez last week to talk about the Hamilton Well and added she brought up the issue
of the gas station at the end of their discussion.
“It’s insanity. . . We have all of these huge problems in our community, and we just think
it’s a great idea to bring in more. I’m floored,” Hargrove said.
DeReus and several other members of the audience further discussed the gas station
issue.
Hargrove also said she believed Del Rioans need to elect a mayor and council members
“to change it.”
She said the current members of the council “are running Del Rio backwards, right into
the ground.”
IBWC concern
Hargrove also said she “has heard” that the International Boundary and Water
Commission is no longer planning to fix the sinkholes near Amistad Dam, and DeReus
said he has not heard anything about that, adding the latest information he has is that the
IBWC plans to move ahead with its sinkhole mitigation project.
Noise ordinance
Ken Herrera asked DeReus to give his thoughts on the city’s proposed changes
to its noise ordinance.
DeReus said he believes the ordinance, like other city ordinances, will require “education
and enforcement.”
Code of Ethics
Herrera also asked about “the latest on the investigation results involving Councilman
Del Rio resident Ken Herrera speaks about the city council’s work to adopt a code of
ethics for council members and other city officials during a town hall meeting on
Thursday. Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus hosted the meeting. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Jesus Lopez Jr.” He then asked about the council’s progress on adopting a code of ethics
for council members and other city officials.
DeReus said he “may or may not” comment about the situation during the council’s next
meeting on Tuesday.
Herrera made further comments about the proposed code of ethics.
DeReus said several council members have told him they will not vote for the code of
ethics, but he pledged to “force a vote” on the issue so citizens will know where all of the
council members stand.
4-lane highway
Carole Cooper asked if there has been any progress on the development of a
four-lane divided highway between Del Rio and Uvalde, and DeReus said he is unaware
of the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans for such an improvement, adding later,
“We have been advocating for that.”
DeReus also spoke about the city’s ongoing efforts to attract another commercial air
service to Del Rio International Airport (See separate story.)
Water restrictions
Cooper also asked whether or not the city will enforce Stage 2 water restrictions currently
in place and said a woman she knows recently told her, “I’ve spent too much time and
effort in my yard to lose it, and I’m going to keep watering.”
Hargrove also commented, saying, “As long as the city is going to keep watering
properties that have nobody using them, water your yard. I would. Or sue the city because
they won’t allow you to keep your trees and your grass alive.”
DeReus said if the city goes to Stage 3 restrictions, commercial car washes will be
allowed to remain open, but citizens won’t be allowed to wash cars at their residences.
“I do hope there is enforcement, but at the same time I don’t want to become ‘Big
Brother’,” DeReus said.
Del Rio resident Rose Roach spoke about problems with sidewalk issues at Buena Vista
Park, and DeReus said he would mention the problem to the city manager. Roach also
said the canopy at the Buena Vista playground is missing.
San Antonio resident Daniel Diaz, who formerly worked for a company hired to write the
city’s water master plan, said the new water master plan is available on the city’s web site
and urged those attending the meeting to read it.
Diaz also suggested the city work with the H-E-B grocery company to renovate the company’s store downtown, which is the second-oldest H-E-B in Texas.
Dogs on chains
Hargrove spoke again, saying “it is a federal felony” to chain dogs outside and telling
DeReus she has told the city manager she would personally take her to residences where dogs are chained. She urged the city to “start writing citations and taking the dogs away.”
“Why the hell are we not enforcing that law?” she asked.
“I have no answer,” DeReus replied.
“Then who does? Because I have screamed at the top of my lungs. I’ve been fighting city council and the county for 15 years about this,” Hargrove said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
