By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
City council members on Tuesday ratified the sale of a city property on East 14th Street.
Council members discussed a resolution to ratify the sale of the property, located at 309 E. 14 St., which includes ratifying the execution of all documents necessary to complete the sale.
Councilman J.P. Sanchez made the motion to approve the resolution, and Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus gave the second.
In an informational handout on the resolution included in the council packet and prepared by Assistant City Manager Manuel Chavez, the city of Del Rio authorized the listing of the property for sale in February 2022. In December 2023, the buyer, identified as Monica Carzoli, purchased the property for the amount of $84,000.
In his informational handout, Chavez wrote, “Although the city council approved the sale of the property, no resolutions were executed for the listing, sale or payment of commissions. This resolution seeks to ratify the actions by (former) City Manager John Sheedy pursuant to the council approval and intent.”
Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez asked into which fund the $84,000 received from the sale of the property had been deposited. Assistant City Finance Director Roxy Soto answered Gutierrez’s question, saying the money went into the city’s general fund.
Councilman Jesus Lopez asked, “Why did it take 11 months to approve the sale?”
City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith answered Lopez’s question by explaining the sale was completed in 2023 without an approved resolution.
“The paperwork was completed, and the sale took place in 2023 with no resolution. The way we found out about it was when the city crew went to clean the property and at that point, they were informed it was a privately-owned property,” Smith said.
“We looked into it and found out the city indeed sold the property in December 2023, but there were no resolutions that came back to council. So now we are ratifying that transaction,” the city attorney added.
DeReus asked, “How did it stay on our property list for so long if we actually sold it?”
Smith answered DeReus’ question by confirming the city crew had an outdated property list, adding there was no formal action taken within the city communication lines to allow the issue to be brought back as a resolution.
Mayor Al Arreola assured his colleagues the council had approved the sale in December, and Smith confirmed his statement while explaining more details of what had happened.
“When you approved the sale, you approved the sale of the property. You didn’t specify the amount. You didn’t actually identify the property. We were able to go back and figure out what happened by looking at the minutes with the help of Mari Acosta (city secretary) and Manuel Chavez (assistant city manager). We had to do everything in order to get the resolution in the books,” Smith said.
Arreola asked if Tuesday’s resolution is to approve the actions of the sale with the correct legal documents, and Smith confirmed his comment.
Arreola asked if there were any more questions. There were none, and the council unanimously approved the resolution.
