By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. has abruptly withdrawn his support for the city’s
proposed second international bridge, saying he believes the city must first sort out its
critical water and wastewater infrastructure needs.
Owens sharply criticized the city during Wednesday’s county commissioners court
meeting, when he responded publicly to a letter emailed to him by City Manager Shawna
Burkhart.
In the letter, Burkhart proposed the county assist the city financially in paying for $21
million in “urgent and important” projects for the city’s water department. In the letter,
Burkhart also addressed similarly “urgent and important” upgrades and expansions
needed in the city’s wastewater system.
Owens spent some time during Wednesday’s meeting responding to Burkhart’s letter,
saying the county could not and should not help the city pay for its water projects.
Later in the day, Owens doubled down on his response to the city manager’s letter in a
video he posted to his personal Facebook page. Watch Owens’ video here:
In the video, Owens again spoke about the letter he had received from the city manager
and the amount of money estimated to fund the city’s “urgent and important” water and
wastewater projects.
He reiterated he had visited with the county’s attorneys about the city’s request for funds
and said the attorneys informed him it would be illegal for the county to contribute funds
for the projects. Owens added, “I don’t understand why the county would want to partner
with them on something we’ve never made a dime off of at all.”
He also pointed out the city has transferred $1.3 million from its water fund into its
general fund and about $600,000 to $800,000 into the general fund from its wastewater
fund.
Owens said although the county has and will continue to apply for grants to pay for the
laying of water lines outside the city limits, “it’s a revenue source for the (the city), and
we don’t make a dime off it.”
“They keep saying that they’re broke, but . . . the city, in my opinion, is not broke. They
have plenty of money,” the county judge said.
Owens then shifted his attention to another bone of contention between the two
governing bodies – the city’s plans for a second international bridge.
He noted the previous commissioners court and the current court have both voted on the
city’s plans for a second international bridge.
“This letter that I received from Ms. Burkhart is very concerning. We’ve taken two votes.
One of them was a 4-to-1 vote, and I was the only member of the court who voted against
the motion, which was to not support any route (to the proposed bridge) other than one
south (of the existing bridge). . . I believed that a bridge is necessary, and the city and county have both spent so much money and there was an overpass put in, I still think the
bridge is necessary,” Owens said.
He said in January, the court took another vote on the proposed international bridge, and
that vote was 3-2.
“Myself and a commissioner voted against the motion, which was to not support any
bridge other than one south of the bridge we have now, but in looking at all this, I was
asked if my opinion has changed, (and) in my opinion, how do you go out and build a
second bridge that you don’t know what it’s going to cost, $200 million, $260 million,
but we can’t take care of our infrastructure, our water and sewer?” Owens said.
He went on, “We have at least four pieces of property today that I know are going to be
sold, commercial properties, so are you going to tell them that you’re going to do a
(development) moratorium? The reason for this video, just to cut to the chase, is, I don’t
believe I personally can support a second international bridge. I don’t care if it’s on the
south side, the north side, don’t care.
“We have to have priorities, and I think the court that I’ve been a part of, and even the
courts before I was here, you have to have priorities. You have to have structure. If
you’re not able to take care of your water and wastewater, and we know some people
have known about (the city’s water and wastewater problems) since at least 2010 or
before because they borrowed money and set aside money and nothing has been done
about it.” Owens said.
“I’m doing this video so you all will know where I stand,” Owens added.
The county judge also spoke about an advocacy trip being planned to Washington, D.C.,
by local officials. He said he would not be going, but three of the county commissioners
will be.
He said he would like to give the commissioners a letter to hand-deliver to the county’s
federal elected representatives, saying that the county does not support any plans for an
international bridge “until we can take care of our infrastructure.”
“I believe if we’re going to support growth, you have to have infrastructure in place to do
it. Running around and crying, ‘The barn’s on fire’ ain’t going to help,” Owens said,
adding he believes the city needs to use the excess money it has on hand “before you go
out and ask the taxpayers.”
Owens also spoke about the need for Southwest Texas College in Del Rio to become a
four-year college.
Reach the writer at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
