By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Brush pickup, management of the Paul Poag Theater, striping of the city’s walkway
along the San Felipe Creek, increases in water and sewer rates and the allocation of hotel
occupancy tax monies were among the topics covered during a recent town hall meeting
hosted by Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus.
DeReus’ town hall meeting at the civic center on Wednesday. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Nine citizens attended the meeting, which was held Wednesday in the Cottonwood Room
at the Del Rio Civic Center.
DeReus welcomed those attending, then, as he does in every town hall meeting, began
going around the room, asking each person to share his or her complaints, comments or
suggestions regarding city issues.
The first to speak was Dolores Martinez, who complained about a large pile of branches
and brush at the corner of Reata and Espuela Streets near her home. Martinez said the
brush pile is blocking the view for drivers and called it a safety issue.
DeReus said the city picks up brush by zone, theoretically once a month.
“But depending on how busy they are, they don’t necessarily finish each zone over the
course of a week like they’re supposed to,” he added.
DeReus encouraged everyone present to download the city’s 830GO app and use it to
notify the city of problems they encounter around town. Alternately, he said Martinez
could call the city’s neighborhood services department.
The group discussed brush pickup for several more minutes, with former city
councilwoman Alexandra Falcon Calderon noting that citizens sometimes include
household trash and broken furniture in their brush piles. She also suggested the city
include brush pickup in its next contract with a company for household trash pickup.
Carole Cooper, who has attended most of DeReus’ meetings, asked if the city has moved
the Paul Poag Theatre for the Performing Arts committee under the oversight of the city’s
parks and recreation department.
discussed a variety of topics. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
“I don’t see how the theater fits in with parks and recreation, but that’s where it is, and I
would hope, that when the theater is up and running again, that there would be
professional management company running the theater so it’s a professional, ongoing and
viable entity. That’s the way it’s done with most performing arts centers,” Cooper said.
DeReus, while he agreed that might be the best way to go, wondered aloud how much
such a management company might cost the city.
“If we hire a company to manage it, that’s going to cost a lot more than a city employee,”
he said.
DeReus then spoke about the contract for an interim finance director the city council had
discussed at its meeting on Tuesday.
Martinez asked whether or not the city would ever find a new finance director, and he
said, “We haven’t gotten any good-quality candidates to apply, as far as I know.”
DeReus then spoke again about problems Laughlin Air Force Base has encountered
recruiting persons who want to come to Del Rio.
When he moved on, Rose Roach asked about a missing playground cover at the Buena
Vista Park playground.
DeReus replied he isn’t sure about a timeline for its replacement, but noted it is on the
parks department’s radar.
Ken Herrera asked about licensing and fees for food trucks and noted that on Monday,
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 2844, a bill dealing with food trucks
statewide.
He wondered aloud if the city attorney would have to revisit the ordinance the city had
passed regarding food trucks.
Martinez said she gets many calls about the number of permits required by the city.
DeReus agreed the city “will probably have to come back and change” some ordinances
based on new state laws enacted following the most recent session of the Texas
Legislature.
Del Rioan Debbie Nieto said she would like to see the city re-stripe the creekwalk along
the San Felipe Creek.
DeReus said he is unaware of the striping being part of any current plans for park
improvements, but added he would look into the situation.
Carlos Cardenas Jr. gave DeReus another address along Dr. Fermin Calderon Boulevard
where he said there has been a pile of brush “for several months.”
Bea Vallejo made several comments about curbside recycling, then asked about the city
council’s recent decision to increase sewer rates and noted the seniors should take
advantage of the 5 percent discount the city offers.
Vallejo also spoke about trash rates for senior citizens, noting many of them have
minimal trash and might be offered a discount. She also said she wished the city council
had held a public meeting to allow citizens to comment before raising water and sewer
rates.
Martinez then asked DeReus why water and sewer rates were raised.
DeReus said one of the problems is that the city has not raised its water rates in years.
Also, he said, “In addition to just the normal maintenance and upgrades, we also have the
second well, near the archery range just north of the golf course. We have the East
Springs retaining wall and those types of upgrades that are going on. As far as the sewer,
we have the northside trunk line and other things that are at max or near max capacity
that need to be upgraded.”
DeReus added he is concerned about what the rate increases will do to the city’s income,
as he predicted people will use less water.
He also told those attending the meeting that water rates for Laughlin are “just over
doubling,” adding, “They’ve had a really good deal for a long, long time. Basically, the
city was subsidizing Laughlin water consumption to a large amount.”
But DeReus also said of the new rates, “None of us (on the city council) were happy
about doing it.”
“We’ve been trying to figure out ways to not do this, but there are none,” DeReus said.
After additional discussion about the new water rates, Cardenas asked another question
about the city’s transportation department scheduling, and Martinez asked questions
about how the city allocates hotel occupancy tax (HOT) monies.
DeReus said the city has been “relatively generous, in my mind, for how much we’re
giving for relatively small numbers of people (coming in) from outside.”
Martinez pointed out her organization brings in “150 to 200” persons from out of the city
who stay overnight in hotel rooms, yet gets as much or less than some organizations who
bring in far fewer overnight visitors.
He added the council “has to operate on the information we’re given” and encouraged her
to include that information on her organization’s application for HOT funds. Later, he
said, “The prime criteria (to receive allocations) is, you have to put heads in beds in Del
Rio.”
The group then discussed the city and its HOT fund allocations for some time.
Nieto asked whether or not it was possible for the city to place a traffic signal at North
Bedell and Dodson Avenues.
DeReus said he would research the suggestion.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
