[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:06] Yes, sir. Mayor Alvaro Ariola, Mayor Pro Tem Stephen T. Webb, Councilman James Jaruz, Councilman J. P. Sanchez, Councilwoman Alexandra Falcón-Caldorón, Councilwoman Ernestina Martinez, Councilman Jesus Lopez, Jr., Mayor, you do have a quorum.
[0:37] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
[0:43] which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[0:50] On honor of the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one
[0:58] Good
[1:02] afternoon.
[1:03] I would like you to sit down, please.
[1:06] Sit down.
[1:06] Yes, please.
[1:08] My name is Manuel Figuera.
[1:10] My name is Manuel Figuera.
[1:12] I'm a pastor of the Oasis Church.
[1:14] And it's a pleasure to be here with you guys.
[1:18] And thank you for inviting us to pray.
[1:21] I believe we believe more than the prayer this year
[1:24] because we all see what happened in the 3rd of January
[1:28] area this year with the young man when we are praying for him, you know, that we need
[1:35] a miracle and we see the miracle. He's alive. So let us pray right now.
[1:41] Un consejo que les quiero dar, David lideró de tres maneras. David lideró matando un gigante
[1:51] con una piedra y fue una de sus grandes victorias.
[1:56] La segunda manera de David liderar fue con su espada, aprendí a pelear, pero la tercera
[2:03] manera es la que yo creo que Dios les ha dado a ustedes es liderar con el cerebro, con la
[2:09] mente, con las decisiones y con la experiencia.
[2:13] Son mi oraciones para que Dios nos guie y tomemos las mejores decisiones en este lugar
[2:18] que serán para el beneficio de nuestra ciudad.
[2:22] Can you stand up and let us pray?
[2:27] Heavenly Father, we ask you to be here with us.
[2:31] We ask for your presence.
[2:34] We ask for your guidance.
[2:36] And we give you thanks, Father, for everything you're going to do here.
[2:41] And the name of Jesus, we pray, Father.
[2:44] Amen.
[2:49] Thank you, Pastor.
[2:52] This time we'll go out with item number five.
[2:55] Item number five is Citizens Comments on Agenda.
[2:58] Citizens Comments will be heard as posted on the agenda.
[3:00] Citizens Comments, providing items not posted on the agenda,
[3:04] shall be heard at the end of the agenda items prior to entering executive session.
[3:08] Please limit remarks to three minutes.
[3:10] Topics of operational concerns shall be directed to the city manager.
[3:14] Comments should not personally attack other speakers.
[3:19] We have four of them signed up.
[3:21] I believe those are all for the public hearing, which is coming up next.
[3:25] Well, I got one since airline and concerns.
[3:30] Do
[3:33] you want to?
[3:35] We can go on. So once we get to the agenda item, if that particular person is here to speak, she or he will speak to the item.
[3:44] And you're concerned with the item on
[3:48] conductor hearing for the request on the zoning, or do you have something else, Ms.
[3:52] Aguilar?
[3:57] It's on that?
[3:58] No.
[3:59] No?
[4:02] Do you want to go ahead and step up to the mic, ma'am?
[4:04] We'll take care of that under Item 14.
[4:07] You want to come back on Item 14?
[4:09] Item 14 would be Citizens' Conference.
[4:13] And the same thing with Carlos Cardenas, right?
[4:17] Okay.
[4:18] All right.
[4:19] Go ahead and go with item 6.
[4:22] Just the public hearing.
[4:27] Conduct the public hearing considering request 2302.
[4:30] Is that the one we're looking at?
[4:31] Yes, sir.
[4:32] So if you'd like to open the public hearing and then I'll read the item.
[4:39] It is a zoning change for Javier Curry.
[4:44] A lot eight, block 11, Ranch 3, South Texas.
[4:47] The request changed for the commercial first,
[4:50] high district, C2A, commercial second height, and it's 635 and we're going to go ahead and
[4:59] open this public hearing. Do we have the first speaker?
[5:05] Yes, sir.
[5:06] Your name?
[5:07] Maria Martinez. I'm the owner of the Learning Express right next to the Cantina. If I
[5:13] May I pass these out for just pictures?
[5:16] Yeah.
[5:49] I'm here in opposition of the cantona
[5:53] opening next to our daycare.
[5:56] And just want to briefly explain some of the reasons why.
[6:04] First of all, if you can see,
[6:08] by opening if we allow this cantona to open
[6:11] next to our daycare,
[6:13] we've been there for almost 30 years now.
[6:15] A little bit more than 30 years
[6:16] And we've ranged from 40 to 80 kids at times.
[6:23] We have 40 something families that we provide a service to.
[6:26] And if you can see on the pictures, the Cantina has been working at that building for a while now.
[6:35] They have set fires where they burn stuff.
[6:39] You have one of the pictures there.
[6:45] They've been working, as far as I know, from a member of the city.
[6:49] He has not required gotten permits for any of the jobs that he's done, that he's been doing now.
[6:56] He's built a fence without any permits.
[6:59] He's put up the sign without any permits.
[7:02] And just to briefly explain a little bit about what my parents are concerned about is that
[7:08] But if this container does open next to the daycare and opens during work hours,
[7:14] there's going to be drunk people there.
[7:16] They can throw bottles, cans, drugs, syringes.
[7:22] Who knows what can happen?
[7:25] Drunk driving, going through the fence.
[7:27] The only thing that divides us is a four-link fence.
[7:33] That's the only thing that divides us.
[7:34] There's no, not one foot, there's just the fence that's there.
[7:43] And we did, just let me briefly read this because I'm not too good at talking without reading.
[7:53] Our center houses more than 40 families to 76 children ranging from four to 13 years old.
[8:01] We're more than a daycare center.
[8:03] We are the second home to these children.
[8:05] At the Learning Express Center, everyone is treated as a family.
[8:09] Our parents drop off their children every morning, going out to make a living.
[8:14] They leave them with a kiss and a see you later and go on to work with no worries, knowing they are in good hands.
[8:20] With a place selling liquor next door, no parents feel safe dropping off their children.
[8:25] Knowing that men and women intoxicated may come near our playground due to both buildings being only less than a chain link fence from each other.
[8:34] with simply a tiny four foot fence dividing the property.
[8:38] Easily anyone leaving his premises may throw bottles, drugs,
[8:43] expose themselves to our children.
[8:46] We will be risking sex offenders, violent customers,
[8:49] fights breaking out around our children.
[8:52] And let's not forget him not having the parking.
[8:55] Mayor, the three minutes has expired.
[9:00] The three minutes are over?
[9:02] Yes, sir.
[9:02] Okay, thank you.
[9:04] Thank you.
[9:04] Thank you for your time.
[9:11] Next person, Aaron Rodriguez.
[9:15] Mr. Mayor, may I approach the next floor quick?
[9:17] Sure.
[9:18] Unfortunately, I didn't come very prepared
[9:20] to give everybody a copy, but I would
[9:22] like to present one to the city attorney
[9:25] and to our city secretary, Mr. Borsla.
[9:28] So they're going to be put into the record.
[9:33] My name's Aaron Rodriguez, and although I'm not
[9:35] an immediate neighbor of the learning express,
[9:40] I am a parent of a student of a child of the Learning Express.
[9:47] And what I presented to the city attorney and the city secretary today is references to alcohol beverage code chapter 11.
[9:59] And if I may present that this part of the law states that a general denial can be held and I refer to you to the sections that I highlighted in here.
[10:08] Under 11.46 Section 8, the place or manner in which the applicant may conduct the applicant's business
[10:14] warrants a denial of the application for a permit based on the general welfare, health, peace,
[10:21] morals and safety of the people and on the public sense of decency. As you know this is right
[10:27] next to a daycare.
[10:32] Section 12, the applicant does not provide an adequate building available
[10:35] board that address for which the permit is sought before conducting any activity
[10:39] authorized by his permit. As you all may have seen or driven by this home, it is
[10:47] not an adequate place to have what they want to conduct.
[10:53] If we move on to a
[10:54] section 11.431, and this actually applies to larger municipalities, over
[11:01] one million, but I feel like this applies to our city as well, to our
[11:06] community. Any point to the property line of the premise is less than 300 feet from the
[11:12] nearest point on a property line of a residence, church, school, hospital, daycare facility
[11:21] or social service facility as measured in a straight line. If I may counsel, this is
[11:27] right next to a daycare center. The only division is a chain link fence.
[11:36] I ask if
[11:37] If you had children there or grandchildren, would you feel that this is acceptable?
[11:44] Thank you for your time.
[11:47] Thank you, Mr. Leis.
[11:50] I think those are the only two that signed up.
[11:55] We'll go ahead and close at 642,
[11:59] and we'll go ahead and close this public hearing.
[12:04] And we'll proceed with item,
[12:09] is it I?
[12:10] Item 6-1.
[12:11] I'm sorry, 681, ordinance 2023-005 in ordinance in accordance with the Del Rio City Charter
[12:20] and State Law providing for the rezoning of 1009 South Main, Law 8, Block 11, Range 3,
[12:28] South Del Rio from Commercial First Heights District C-2-8 to Commercial Second Heights
[12:33] District C-2-V within the city of Del Rio, Texas.
[12:39] Do I have a motion on the console, on the dais?
[12:51] Mr. Mayor, I actually have two questions.
[12:54] Not sure if Ms. Poe-Crant would be the appropriate person.
[12:57] But, one, this has come before us before.
[13:01] It should be a simple yes or no.
[13:04] Has anything changed from the previous time when we disapproved this?
[13:09] Yes. Good evening, Janice Poe-Crant, City Planner.
[13:12] There is nothing that we're presenting to you today that has changed.
[13:14] Okay. Thank you. And then the second question related to the work that has been done, have any permit requests been pulled for the work that has been done?
[13:25] And I'm not sure who would.
[13:27] Well, I have Mr. Kinsey here if you have any other questions, but no, there's not any permits that have been pulled for the work.
[13:32] Okay. Thank you.
[13:36] Well, not having a motion, I think this dies. So we'll go ahead and move forward with item 7.
[13:45] So item 7a is regarding travel, so I'm going to read each item, and then one motion will take care of all these items.
[13:56] So 7a is authorized and approved, Councilman James Theroux to attend the Texas Municipal League
[14:02] mid-year conference March 2nd through the 3rd of 2023 in San Antonio, Texas.
[14:07] Texas. Item 7B is Authorized and Approved Councilman Stephen T. Webb and Jesus Lopez, Jr., to attend
[14:15] the legislative wrap-up work session June 14th through the 15th in Georgetown, Texas.
[14:20] Item 7C, Authorized and Approved Councilperson Irnestina Martinez to attend the Texas Municipal
[14:25] League Meteor Conference March 2nd through the 3rd, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas.
[14:31] Item 7D, Authorized and Approved Councilperson Stephen T. Webb and Councilperson Jesus
[14:36] to attend the Texas Municipal League Mid-Year Conference March 2nd through the 3rd 2023 in San Antonio, Texas.
[14:44] Item 7E, authorize and approve Mayor Al Ariola to attend the Texas Municipal League Mid-Year Conference March 2nd through the 3rd 2023 in San Antonio, Texas.
[14:54] Do I have a motion and a dice to approve all travel for council?
[14:58] I'll make a motion.
[15:00] I have a second. Second. Second for Mr. Sunch. Councilman Sunches. Any questions? Concerns? All in favor?
[15:09] Aye.
[15:12] Go to item E.
[15:14] Can I make the item as item F?
[15:21] Go ahead.
[15:21] Okay. So item 7F is discussed in possible action on city council office at the transportation building. Councilman Jesus Lopez.
[15:33] Well, yes. I brought this item up for the simple reason that I've experienced this firsthand
[15:43] with McCud, with my sister-in-law and my nephew. When I see a transportation building that
[15:49] the city made for transportation, that means trains, buses, taxis, whatever kind of means
[15:58] transportation we have for our constituents. When I saw that there's
[16:02] no no waiting waiting room no more for any of those services especially the
[16:09] train the train that still goes through Del Rio and I was there I mean it was
[16:16] weather it was windy raining the train came people getting wet getting their
[16:22] feet wet nowhere to protect them nowhere to wait from the car run
[16:27] straight to the conductors, wherever they're loading and unloading.
[16:31] So I saw where they're loading and unloading.
[16:34] And as I came aware, being counsel and being aware of the areas, well, I noticed that there
[16:40] was a constituent office there at the Transportation Office.
[16:45] And that office is right there in the double doors where they depart and arrive.
[16:53] So I saw no issues or concerns, possibly maybe, to give those passengers an area of waiting,
[17:02] you know, by the train arrives and departs.
[17:05] And it's a convenience to the citizens.
[17:08] It's a convenience to those that come to Doreal on a train.
[17:11] I'm pretty sure people like to take trains instead of buses or planes, or travel in vehicles.
[17:17] But I experienced firsthand.
[17:19] And I'm not saying open that area 24 hours.
[17:23] I'm just saying open it only at the time of arrival and departure with the trains.
[17:29] And have somebody there to open and close that area or that part of the building
[17:34] only for the train at that particular time.
[17:37] We can still have it as a constituent office during the day.
[17:41] The train only comes, I think, twice a week, but it comes in mid mornings.
[17:46] It's not during the day.
[17:47] is very rare. So I think if we had an area where we can work from the train
[17:54] passengers to wait and arrive because even if the train is delayed when I went
[18:00] back that day they were still there the train was delayed almost five hours and
[18:05] when I went back to check on them there was a girl sitting outside in the
[18:08] fence sitting in the suitcase and she's been sitting there since mid
[18:13] morning, waiting for the train, nowhere to go. So when I went and opened up that particular
[18:19] part of the office to check on my cousin, my sister-in-law, right away there were some other
[18:26] people, sir do you have a restroom? People were just waiting there but they had nowhere
[18:31] to go to restrooms. And I'm pretty sure they didn't want to leave and then come
[18:35] back and find out that the train's already gone because they went to the restroom
[18:37] somewhere else. So I saw no inconvenience in just opening it up at the time and
[18:42] departures of the train and maybe assist or give authorization maybe to the city manager
[18:51] to ask Amtrak to see if they're willing to pay for a person just to open that area for
[18:58] one hour or whatever it takes for the train to arrive and depart, only on those particular
[19:03] days and hours.
[19:05] And that was my little concern because I experienced it first.
[19:09] And I think if we protect them while they're waiting on their train, give them services
[19:14] for them to do the restroom because they're drinking water or the train's delayed and nobody
[19:19] wants to leave.
[19:20] Because I'm pretty sure it's very inconvenient to just wait in the car for hours or just
[19:25] wait in there and see if hopefully the train will come or not.
[19:28] You know unless they can leave them there and then they can go home and go to bed
[19:32] and be in contact with them by phone.
[19:35] trains here, trains gone or whatever. But that's all because I feel that they're
[19:40] working on the train right now, they're working right now on the
[19:44] transportation of the train for Amtrak. They're building a sidewalk where
[19:48] they're improving the area for Amtrak. And I think we can help them out a
[19:53] little bit in improving ourselves and give them a little service of
[19:56] protection and awaiting area. And if they're doing that maybe we can
[20:01] convenience of them in a little bit and having something for them to weigh in.
[20:07] That's all I wanted to see.
[20:09] Do you want to give, I guess, the directives to John to look into the process and everything?
[20:17] Well, the other thing that comes to my concern is I know that some council members use it
[20:22] and I know there's some electrical equipment in there,
[20:26] But I don't see why to talk to a citizen, you would have to take them there.
[20:32] When we don't need a printer, we don't need computers.
[20:35] You got a laptop, you got whatever you want to talk to them about.
[20:39] But the thing is, I'm not concerned about the electronics in there.
[20:44] There's a person responsible waiting there for them to come in and go out
[20:47] and we're going to lock it in and open it.
[20:49] So nobody's going to mess around with anything.
[20:52] You mean the console they use it?
[20:54] The council uses it for whatever reasons.
[20:58] My thing is, if you want to talk to a constituent to me,
[21:02] I would say, OK, where do you want to meet?
[21:04] Your house?
[21:06] River City, somewhere, you know?
[21:09] But because when I ran and asked for their vote,
[21:13] I didn't tell them there's a constituent office come see me.
[21:16] I went to their house at their time, their convenience.
[21:19] you know, but it's a convenience, but to some people it's an inconvenience that
[21:26] there's no place to be protected out of the weather and using restroom at least.
[21:32] I think Councilman Webb wants to interject some things here, sir.
[21:36] First off, that is not a transportation building. That is a city building.
[21:42] The bus station and everybody pulled out of that building years ago.
[21:47] I don't know why the city took it over right now it has media on one end we
[21:54] have local transportation on the other end we're fixing to open the incubator
[21:59] and we have council's office I have found over the time that we finally got
[22:07] the office available to us I have met with many constituents in that office
[22:13] office to discuss things. They call me, ask to meet. I tell them I have the office. They
[22:18] said, great. They meet me there because I like the privacy. They like someplace they can
[22:23] go that they feel safe to talk and discuss what they want to talk about. The other
[22:27] thing is that building is not secure all the way through.
[22:33] The end has media. They
[22:35] lock there in but the rest of the building from the new incubator office
[22:42] all the way through the doors don't lock so by opening that building even for a
[22:50] short time you've got to have people wandering around and we'll have
[22:54] availability from the local transportation in all the way through
[22:58] the incubator and there'll be no telling what goes in there because if it's
[23:04] open. We have transients. We have people that sleep around the train station at
[23:08] night. It's not our responsibility to provide for the railroad. The railroad
[23:15] needs to be approached to put up lights or awnings or whatever it is for the
[23:20] people that ride the train. It's not the cities.
[23:26] So I use the office. Ms.
[23:28] Calderona's use the office. Raul Ojeda, when he was on board, he used the
[23:33] office. Some people said they didn't even know we had one, which I'd be more than willing
[23:41] to show it to you. Get your key for whatever if we decide to keep it. But we can't open
[23:46] that building to the public. Who's going to pay the overtime for the guy to come down
[23:50] and open up the building? And if the train's five hours late, that's five hours of overtime.
[23:55] You pay somebody to come in there and open a building, and he can't watch anybody
[24:00] everybody, what direction they're going to go in. It's not safe. It's not warranted.
[24:05] It's been going on for years the way it's been going on and it's worked, like I say,
[24:10] the railroad is who has to be convinced to do something for the people. They took over
[24:14] the property outside and started construction. I don't know what the construction is. I
[24:18] don't think they're just building a sidewalk. The platform looks too big. Are they building
[24:23] building and overhang? Are they putting benches? I don't know. But the railroad has taken over
[24:30] part of it. It's their responsibility. It's not ours.
[24:37] And the answer?
[24:38] No.
[24:39] Anybody else?
[24:41] I'm not talking about the whole building. There's only the constituents, the hallway
[24:45] and the bathroom. And those doors can be added. You can add a lock to it. There's
[24:50] no such thing as inconvenience. I mean, I'm secure.
[24:53] Are you going to pay $500 per lock?
[24:55] Are you sure they're $500?
[24:56] I'm not going to approve $500 per lot.
[24:59] Right now it is secure.
[25:01] Right now, we don't have to worry about opening it up
[25:03] at night and allowing anyone in that building.
[25:07] We know it's secure when we leave at 5 o'clock or 6 or whatever.
[25:11] I've been down there at 9 o'clock.
[25:13] I know it's secure when I walk out the door.
[25:17] Well, I'm not your friend.
[25:19] Just say restrooms.
[25:20] The restrooms, one side is for employees,
[25:24] employees, and the other side used to be for when they used to have a bus station there,
[25:30] that's what it was for. But that's not what it's for today, it's for the other employees.
[25:36] It's not open to the public.
[25:40] And like I say, if that building can't be secured at $500
[25:43] a lock, and I know of four doors right now that would require locks right there in
[25:52] that hallway to be secured and we're going to have computers and everything else in the
[25:57] Incubation Office. Oh, I need to go to the bathroom. You go in there, you can open the
[26:01] door and go right into that incubator.
[26:05] Now, that's not, that's not good business.
[26:10] I just want to add we haven't mentioned liability here. Yeah. That is also have to consider
[26:18] that liability, because it will fall under the city. Now in the
[26:23] rubble, that's a thought tool to y'all's decision.
[26:32] So liability, you're talking about liability. There's no, to me, there's
[26:36] no liability in putting people in a safe area while waiting inside.
[26:41] And I'm not talking about the whole building. I'm talking about three areas,
[26:45] and it's very, so we ought to change that transportation.
[26:48] Liability can fall under too many things, too many things.
[26:51] We don't know, but we have to have that in mind.
[26:55] We always do.
[26:56] Everybody does.
[26:58] The library goes with anything we make and build.
[27:01] Everything goes with liability.
[27:03] That's all for me.
[27:05] Thank you.
[27:05] Councilman Lopez, I guess I'm trying to listen,
[27:12] but I think it would be wise for John to,
[27:16] like Councilman Webb mentioned,
[27:18] and their platforms that they're building are pretty wide.
[27:22] There could be some structures that they're going to put
[27:24] together for the purposes that you're saying.
[27:28] It's something that John can investigate and find out for us
[27:31] and bring it back to us.
[27:35] And there's pros and cons on this because obviously there's
[27:39] only Amtrak that right now goes through Del Rio.
[27:43] We don't have a bus depot.
[27:44] We don't have anything else.
[27:45] but that's for the future to see where we're going.
[27:49] I think right now would be, like I said,
[27:51] I'll go back and re-estate, have John investigate
[27:54] what Amtrak is doing, and then he can bring it back
[27:57] to us and inform us, and if there's anything else.
[28:02] I understand that that is a historical marker also,
[28:06] and we have to be very careful
[28:07] of what we put around the building itself.
[28:10] right so there's there's something to look at and I think we'll just proceed on
[28:17] keeping the information or the communication going with Amtrak and
[28:21] yes sir I have a question for Mr. Sheedy it's okay Mr. Sheedy how many times does
[28:30] Amtrak actually stop in the real is it once a day once a week twice a week do
[28:37] we have a schedule? Do we know? Yes sir we do know at least the last I think it's
[28:43] the sunset route I'd ask for some information I believe it's a it's
[28:47] scheduled for three times a week. Three times a week. Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.
[28:54] And the arrival time shows to be 1.02 a.m. in Del Rio that's that's the
[29:01] scheduled arrival time.
[29:04] I don't know.
[29:06] Councilman Lofton, you said there was some in the mid-morning?
[29:09] Yeah, sometimes departure at 4.30 in the morning.
[29:12] Arrivals at a certain time and departures
[29:14] another with another train.
[29:16] They arrive here at 2 and they leave at 4.
[29:19] I think so.
[29:20] Yeah.
[29:22] Yes, sir.
[29:23] Mr. Sheedy, how many citizens utilize this Amtrak?
[29:30] that's one thing councilman we it's hard for us we tried to work with Amtrak to
[29:34] see if we could kind of get ticket counts or something we really don't have a
[29:37] good number on I'd like I'd like to know that number because if I'm gonna
[29:42] approve investing in somebody like that I wanted I wanted to go for the
[29:47] betterment of more citizen and not just a small group of people I've been
[29:51] here for over 60 years and I've never used Amtrak that's not putting
[29:56] than anybody else down, you know.
[30:00] You've got to get someplace and you've got to get someplace right now, you'll take a vehicle or a plane or something like that.
[30:06] But when these are for Mr. Sheehy, please.
[30:11] When you get back with the other information, if you could include something like that, I would appreciate it very much.
[30:18] It would help me make my decision.
[30:20] Okay, we tried. We made an effort to get that information abstract, but we'll have a little more time. Councilman, we'll get that for you.
[30:25] Thank you, Mr. Sheehy.
[30:26] Councilwoman Martinez.
[30:29] Yes, I think that you should contact Amtrak also, find out, maybe they can provide some kind of services because they're the ones that are doing the traveling and benefit from that.
[30:44] And I do know of some people that travel almost every year on Amtrak.
[30:48] And of course, like you mentioned, sometimes they're not on time, but we do need to provide something for the citizens.
[30:57] But at the same time, talk to them, maybe you can come to some kind of an agreement where they can provide some kind of shelter or something while they're waiting for the train to come in.
[31:10] So I think that would be the best thing to do.
[31:13] talk to them and find out what their views are on that and what they can do.
[31:18] Maybe they're willing to do something. I don't know.
[31:20] No, absolutely, ma'am. That's great. I think we'll do that.
[31:22] Thank you.
[31:24] No more.
[31:26] Jim, kind of quiet today.
[31:28] Okay.
[31:29] Jesse, is that it?
[31:30] That's it, sir.
[31:31] Okay.
[31:31] Any other comments?
[31:33] No?
[31:34] Okay.
[31:35] At this time, I would love to move the executive session up forward because
[31:41] is we have somebody waiting in the console chamber.
[31:45] Is there any way we can, would anybody object
[31:47] to moving the executive session up forward?
[31:52] No?
[31:53] Any objections on moving the executive session?
[31:57] Marty, we're gonna go into executive session,
[31:59] so it'll be A, B, and I think C.
[32:03] All right, so executive session,
[32:06] item 15A, attorney consultation pursuant
[32:09] to section 551.071.
[32:11] 1, Texas government code to receive legal advice and counsel on connection with city
[32:17] rights, duties, privileges, obligations under Chapter 143 and 142 of the Texas local government
[32:23] code as related to contract negotiations between the City of Del Rio Fire Professional Firefighters
[32:28] Association, Item 15B pursuant to Texas government code Section 551.072, Deliberation
[32:36] on Matters Concerning Real Property to Deliberate the Purchased Exchange Lease or
[32:40] value of real property in deliberation. If deliberation in open meeting would have a detrimental
[32:46] effect on the position of the government body in negotiations with a third person for city
[32:52] projects. And item 15c, the city council for the city of Del Rio will meet an executive
[32:57] session pursuant to Texas government code section 551.071, consultation with the
[33:02] attorney to deliberate and discuss pending litigation related to just contracting LLC
[33:09] versus City of Del Rio in the 83rd Judicial District Court, Valverde County, Texas.
[33:16] It's 7.03 and this council will go into executive session
[33:25] and there was no action taken.
[33:27] At this time we'll go ahead and proceed with item 9, the finances.
[33:34] I think we have number 8, City Manager Informational Update.
[33:38] City Manager Informational Update?
[33:40] Quick and easy.
[33:41] Thank you, Mayor and Council. Yes. We just want to really quickly on the airline.
[33:44] We have submitted our letter for signatures.
[33:50] We're collecting a lot of signatures right now.
[33:52] That effort's going really good.
[33:54] So we're going to pull those back and put them all into one letter.
[33:58] We're continuing our communications.
[34:00] We're working with our representatives in our lobbyists in D.C. and Austin.
[34:04] We've been supplying a lot of data, both as far as passenger counts
[34:09] and financial impact on the region.
[34:12] Mr. Ramon has been getting a lot of information for us on the impact in Mexico and other parts
[34:18] of our region.
[34:19] We're looking at our Routes America conference that's scheduled to be March 21st and 22nd
[34:24] in Chicago.
[34:25] We're really excited about that because all the regional and national carriers are going
[34:29] to be there.
[34:30] It's a perfect opportunity for us to take.
[34:32] We're going to set up a tent, have our city staff there.
[34:35] Mr. Onofre, Mr.
[34:39] Ramon, and Ms. Mariner will be attending.
[34:43] And then we're going to set up all of our promotional.
[34:45] Our lobbyist tells us that this is an excellent opportunity
[34:47] for us to really see all the airlines,
[34:50] to have a chance to meet and visit with all of them.
[34:56] One thing we're kind of excited today,
[34:58] the mayor and I and Mr. Ramon and Mr. Onofre
[35:00] went to a meeting at the fort.
[35:01] work, and we've come across some new opportunity for hopefully to greatly maximize our cargo
[35:11] that we have coming into our airport. We're really excited. It looks like we're going to
[35:15] be able to work to try and make Del Rio International a cargo destination as well. We've completed
[35:23] our tentative itinerary for our Del Rio Valverde legislative days, which is the
[35:27] same day as the conference in Chicago, March 21st and 22nd.
[35:31] And we'll be sending that out to the entities tomorrow so that
[35:35] we can start getting counts from all the entities of who they
[35:37] want to attend.
[35:39] What's important for us right now is just to get counts of
[35:41] attendees so we can finalize the schedule with our DC
[35:46] lobbyists.
[35:48] Meetings are being set up with the agencies and the
[35:50] responsibilities for all the agencies with the
[35:53] responsibilities based on the entity's priorities.
[35:57] So we just want Council to think about that,
[35:59] who may want to attend and just think about it a little bit.
[36:04] We'll be reaching out to all of our Council.
[36:06] On the Second International Bridge is really quick.
[36:09] SMB is meeting with, they're still meeting with a couple of
[36:12] the large landowners and we're just kind of...
[38:21] 19 loans that the city currently has outstanding.
[38:25] Again, the par amount of all those loans is $80,460,000.
[38:32] And we do have that broken out by funding source.
[38:37] We also have a show there, the call dates.
[38:41] What we try to do periodically is review the outstanding portfolio
[38:46] and try to identify it
[38:57] and we find ourselves in a higher interest rate environment
[39:02] So while we do recognize that there are some outstanding series that are eligible to be
[39:09] called away, we kind of looked at those who can't really see what it makes economic sense
[39:14] to recommend that the city of this point step forward with a group connection transaction.
[39:20] That doesn't mean that you still won't monitor that as late as kind of movement.
[39:25] Our hope is that maybe by mid-year, we start to see some better summaries that we will get a head around in quite possibly by the end of the year that maybe starts moving in the opposite direction.
[39:46] One item at the top, city's bond rating, again, just as a reminder, the city carries a AA rating by all three rating agencies.
[39:56] AA3 by Moody's, S&P is rating an A- and Pitch and a AA rating.
[40:03] A very strong investment grant rating.
[40:05] What does that mean with the next year?
[40:07] It means that the city can go out of bond and capital markets.
[40:10] And in those cases, we don't have to pursue a paid-for private bond insurance.
[40:16] Because there's just a lot of
[40:28] slide four that follows outlines the utility for water and sewer.
[40:35] And we put that in there because part of this large-duration agreement we're going to show here in a minute
[40:41] includes about 5 million that would be self-support on water and wastewater system.
[40:47] And so, as you can see there, we have about 18 of the 19 of those that were shown previously
[40:56] have some poisonous blue paint from water and soar.
[41:00] So the rest of those are not for you.
[41:02] But really the take away here is the green.
[41:05] The red line represents the revenues available to service the debt
[41:11] And kind of the gray and no shade of colors represent the data that's expanded and supported by the system.
[41:21] So in a nutshell, revenues are quite substantial and more than covered.
[41:32] As we move along, we kind of addressed the parts of the presentation that we're giving to the planet right now.
[41:38] And I'm now working at slide six, where with this proposed issuance of general address default projects
[41:46] improvements to the animal care facility, drain into the utility improvements, street sidewalk improvements, park projects, and of course some water system improvements.
[41:57] All of those were total $27 million. And so with this issue, it will raise $27 million. Now slide 7 kind of shows us how we raise that money and what we do with it.
[42:11] So essentially the par amount of bonds that will issue is $26 million, or what we're proposing is $26 million, $150,000.
[42:23] We anticipate being able to generate approximately $1.3 million worth of premium for a total sources of funds of $27.4 million.
[42:33] Now, of that, we'll take $27 million, put that into a project fund to address the pre-identified project.
[42:42] The remainder will go towards expenses and additions of underwriters' discounts and things like that.
[42:49] They're paid for, respectively, through transaction such as loans.
[42:54] and essentially that the project balances out and raises the money at that time to show how this runs on the space.
[43:02] And the slide that follows, slide eight, we're going to show you a spreadsheet and some of you may be familiar with viewing this,
[43:11] but this essentially is a tax rate impact sheet prior to issuing any debt.
[43:16] And I'll kind of move through this from left to right.
[43:20] And that is the second column from the left, we show the net assessed valuation of the city.
[43:27] If we move over two more columns to the right, we show the current existing debt of the city.
[43:33] And this is debt service.
[43:34] So this is, you might say, well, why is it different from what I saw in slide two?
[43:38] It's because this is principal and interest, the central interest of principal.
[43:41] So total debt service is in that fourth column from the left.
[43:45] If we move over a little bit to the column that reads less existing self-supporting,
[43:51] we essentially take your total debt, we subtract out what's supported from enterprise phones,
[43:57] and we arrive at total net debt service requirements.
[44:01] And that column I'm reading is, let's see, four from the right.
[44:07] And so the column that is third from the right, total required, and that's tax rate,
[44:11] That essentially tells me what tax rate do we need to log into service in our annual debt payment.
[44:17] And again, this is prior to any issue.
[44:20] So if we flip the pet slide and go into slide nine, we see that we've now present the proposed structure of the 26.1 million CA.
[44:34] And so we see that that first green column represents the principal amount, which is $26,150,000.
[44:43] The interest associated with that is immediately next to it, and that totals to $15,461,598.
[44:51] So total debt service is that third green column, and total debt service comes out to the $41,576,590.
[44:59] No, it's...
[45:01] Columns to the right. Again, total debt service plus what's existing. We subtract the
[45:09] debt service that's supported from enterprise funds, and we arrive at the total net debt
[45:14] service requirement of the session. The debt service that's going to be supported by the
[45:18] INS. Now the total required tax rate, again, is there. And so as we see when this, we
[45:27] start paying for this debt in fiscal 24, we show that effectively we would need the same
[45:34] amount of money. So another way of saying that is that we can issue this debt without really
[45:40] changing the tax rate at all or certainly not increasing the same amount of tax money
[45:46] that's being assessed this year can support the payment next year.
[45:52] So there will be no effective increase needed to protect.
[46:04] Slide 10 shows us, again, kind of as a recap on the effect of the summary, that portfolio.
[46:12] So that first gray shaded column is, again, where we are in 2022, similar to what we showed you on slide 2.
[46:19] The column immediately to the right of that shows that what would happen if the city chose not to issue any debt this year.
[46:30] You would see how the balances kind of change in each funding column.
[46:36] And the last column there on the right effectively shows where we'll be post-issue after issuing the COs.
[46:44] So, you can see we're, you know, a little bit north of where we ended up in 29 to anticipate the totals here that to be there just at 98.949.
[46:59] And again, that's the value of tax rate increase to be able to do all of this.
[47:07] And the slide that follows, slide 11, we just show you the times timeline.
[47:12] This is, you know, not unlike other times that we've done COs.
[47:16] We usually can start to finish this process.
[47:18] We'll take it up about 90 days.
[47:21] Council decides to move forward with this.
[47:24] We'll begin working with city staff and Mr. Bottas to work on an offering document.
[47:31] We'll also schedule appointments to visit via phone call with bringing agencies.
[47:37] and would work to price the obligations in late March, and after a successful pricing
[47:46] would then work to close out the transaction, which we would anticipate being around mid-April
[47:52] on identifying the 2019 as a potential date to close, so all in we could have money to
[48:01] And
[48:05] finally, on slide 12, again, we just showed finance and team participants with the city of Del Rio
[48:13] being an issue or in the certificates.
[48:15] The Stratick and the HUSA call partners to important serving as bond counsel and financial advisor
[48:21] and bond counsel respectively be okay for them to serve as a place manager as they have served the city
[48:28] in such capacity on previous issues.
[48:31] with it on underwriters and their counsel.
[48:34] You know, we would certainly work with city staff
[48:36] to identify some capable firms to participate
[48:41] in these underwriters and on-fights.
[48:46] The slides that follow are a mark it up bank.
[48:49] And welcome to move through that.
[48:52] You know, if there's one real take away for me,
[48:56] it's on slide 14.
[48:58] And what we show you there in the lower left is a,
[49:01] What we refer to as the MMD or the municipal market here,
[49:05] it's essentially the curve that we pay attention to in the municipal bond sector.
[49:10] And so what's noticeable is, you know, in January of 23, which is the green line,
[49:16] we're a little below where we were last month,
[49:19] but we're noticeably above where we were in January of a year.
[49:25] You know, that's about really kind of January,
[49:28] January or early February is when we really started to kind of see this graph or a little
[49:32] crazy.
[49:34] And I find phenomenal that last year around January, if I was looking for a mortgage,
[49:42] I'm still probably going to block your pretty good rate.
[49:45] Now I'm looking at a rate that
[49:56] our anticipated bottom cost is a little bit to that.
[50:01] And I think our 4.49 percent, yeah, 4.49 is where our current markets rates are and we're
[50:10] adding a current basis point to our 4% on top of that.
[50:15] That's just kind of conservative and modern.
[50:17] So as we move through this action, if rates kind of move, we're not surprised.
[50:21] We're, of course, going to work real hard to get under that rate or to get a rate
[50:26] lower than that, secure something lower than 4.49.
[50:29] And then I think it's doable, you know,
[50:31] the city does have a strong credit rating.
[50:33] So I think that speaks a lot and obviously it has a reputation
[50:37] like being in
[50:42] some city with stable, good fiscal year.
[50:47] It's
[50:54] going to be our jobs to get it out of the water.
[51:00] In fact, that completes my part of the presentation.
[51:04] I think any questions from the council?
[51:07] Thank
[51:22] you.
[51:23] Thank you.
[51:25] Item 9B, Resolution 2023-002,
[51:29] The resolution authorizing, posting, and publication of notice of intention
[51:35] to issue City of Dury of Texas combination tax and revenue certificates
[51:39] of obligation in a maximum aggregated principal amount,
[51:42] not to exceed 27 million, and providing an effective date.
[51:46] Do I have a motion on the diaries?
[51:48] Do
[51:54] I have a second?
[51:55] Do I have a second?
[51:56] Do I have a second?
[51:58] Any questions?
[51:59] Any questions
[52:04] about where the $5 million for the waterfront comes from
[52:08] because when I looked at the agenda on Sunday afternoon,
[52:13] that was the first time that I ever heard about $27 million.
[52:15] We've been talking about $22 million all last summer.
[52:18] You know, page 145 of the budget book doesn't mention anything related
[52:23] to water until the 25, yeah, the 2025-2026 budget.
[52:29] And then all of a sudden, we go from 22 to 27, and we have it.
[52:34] There's nothing really in the agenda about water rates, how we're paying for it, you know.
[52:41] Yes, thank you.
[52:43] So yes, to answer, we've been talking about the $22 million for a while.
[52:48] Of course, the funding for that would be spent differently than what we originally budgeted based on those costs.
[52:56] And you're right, we hadn't talked about the $5 million for the water project.
[53:00] This came about and felt like it was a good opportunity to include it with this issue,
[53:06] so we didn't have any additional costs for doing another issue in the near future.
[53:14] And so my thought was for the five million, we have a couple of projects that are on the horizon.
[53:19] One is the AMI automatic meter reading infrastructure that we had a presentation on.
[53:25] So for the water portion, that was about $5.3 million.
[53:30] So we had that coming.
[53:33] And my thought was to use a portion of this funding for that using our excess fund balance for another portion of it.
[53:43] And more hopefully we can apply with the Texas Water Development Board in March for a low interest rate loan.
[53:51] And they look at those type of projects, such as that.
[53:55] And so they have an interest in funding those kind of projects.
[53:59] But I didn't want to forego this opportunity in case we didn't get that funding.
[54:05] We could then go ahead and get started with bringing a contract back to start the automatic meter reading and AMI project
[54:13] and then still have the money to get started.
[54:16] We'll still have to use some of our fund balance, but this would get us started.
[54:21] The other portion is with the 2019 B. Texas Water Development Board.
[54:28] We have borrowed money there, and also the 2021 B. through the Texas Water Development Board
[54:35] for the Waterline Replacement Project.
[54:38] And that's a major project.
[54:42] Those two fundings aren't going to cover all of it,
[54:44] but there is a need for us to go back and start pretty soon with the next day.
[54:50] So we look at that with the Texas Water Development Board also.
[54:54] So that was my plan with this 5 million.
[54:56] Yes, we had really talked about it in prior discussions.
[55:00] But again, I just felt like it would save us money to include this with the issue.
[55:06] It would be paid through the revenues, the rates that we currently have through our utility fund, our water system.
[55:14] So based on that and based on the operations of the fund,
[55:18] I don't foresee we have to raise the rate when we keep it as it is and still fund
[55:25] that principal interest payments with our assistance.
[55:31] No plan to raise rates at this
[55:36] point.
[55:36] That particular project, hold on, Debbie, comes up in the rules of difference.
[55:41] So you're saying that we're going to use the excess fund balance,
[55:45] which I've been told before that we can't use?
[55:51] Yeah, yeah.
[55:52] So last time when a few months ago we had water pumps for about $480,000 and I said,
[56:01] hey, why finance can pay $80,000 in interest fees, use the excess fund balance and I was
[56:07] told we couldn't use that money because that would provide a red flag to the credit rating
[56:13] agencies.
[56:15] Because that particular fund that we were talking about was not the water fund.
[56:19] It was the fixed asset fund and they didn't actually have a fund balance.
[56:23] But those pumps were for the water system. They were for the water treatment plan.
[56:29] So how is that not usable from the water fund?
[56:34] That could be yes, but that wasn't the discussion.
[56:38] I was told we could not use it, not because it should come out of the fixed asset fund,
[56:43] but because we can't use the excess money above our four-month or five-month fund balance
[56:49] because that would provide a red flag to the credit rating agencies.
[56:52] That's what I was told and honestly it was in your office and in your office where we've
[56:57] had this discussion.
[56:58] So now all of a sudden we are using it because that is exactly why I wanted to lower the
[57:03] rates because these fund balances have been so high.
[57:07] Right, and even through the budget discussions, we have the long-range plan to lower that
[57:12] excess fund balance.
[57:13] And that's why we've made some of the changes we've done is to reduce that somewhat.
[57:19] I mean, it doesn't happen overnight, but it is scheduled to begin reducing that.
[57:23] Okay.
[57:24] But last meeting, and this is what I didn't discuss last meeting, we raised the natural
[57:33] gas rates by 5%.
[57:34] Which over the course of the year if we didn't do it would be approximately 185 thousand dollars
[57:38] Which would leave the excess above the four-month fund balance requirement that we have in in student locally at a balance of
[57:46] 830 thousand dollars, but we raised rates anyway
[57:50] I mean what you know if if the plan is to
[57:55] You know lower that fund balance why not do it now, right?
[57:58] I mean yeah, maybe it's only five or ten bucks a month in each of the funds for various people
[58:04] But a lot of people, an extra 40, 50 bucks a month,
[58:08] that could be a big deal right now with the way that inflation is.
[58:13] So, I'm done.
[58:15] This comes from Sanchez.
[58:18] You know, the water meter project, wasn't that like $70 million?
[58:24] Yes.
[58:25] So you're looking ahead right now to try to get some money set up for that $70 million.
[58:31] And then use a portion from the utility fund and with the gas, again,
[58:38] to reduce the extra
[58:48] cost.
[58:50] No, ma'am.
[58:51] I was just going to add to Councilman DeRue and absolutely, I remember we discussed that
[58:55] Councilman, again, it's kind of, you know, it is, it's difficult, it's, you know, but
[59:00] we posed that question.
[59:02] I know we had talked about setting the meeting up with you, so we've been trying
[59:05] to explain the debt service, so we've been utilizing that to try and answer those
[59:09] questions.
[59:10] We had had our financial order come in and talked to us about that, and we posed that question to them, you know,
[59:18] and looking at that exact same sentence.
[59:26] Is that my understanding?
[59:27] They confirmed that the way we were doing it, as opposed to paying off the whole $780,000,
[59:36] that's what I understood, but it made more sense.
[59:40] But I think maybe 20,000, I would work a bit
[59:45] and have them come back and we can go through that again and talk about that.
[1:00:03] Any other questions, concerns,
[1:00:08] motion, second, all in favor,
[1:00:13] against, abstain,
[1:00:19] adjourned.
[1:00:21] Item 9C, Ordinance 2023-006, an ordinance to direct city manager to approve a contract with AG3,
[1:00:29] group in the amount of $65,000 for engineering services for the south San Felipe Dreaming Study.
[1:01:05] This would be the first contact we have with them. They were part of our the request for
[1:01:09] qualifications that we did a couple of months ago so that we could hire on-call engineering
[1:01:14] services. And they were one of the 10 firms that we went ahead and selected. So even though
[1:01:21] it is not, we have not hired them in the past, we are familiar with them because we reviewed
[1:01:27] their statements of qualifications.
[1:01:32] This is for the south company grade drainage study. Has it been in the past any of that study?
[1:01:41] I would have to ask Mr. Quintanilla to answer that question.
[1:01:45] Oh, we haven't had any other. We haven't had a study.
[1:01:46] I think we know the tour site.
[1:01:48] I'll look at the public works director.
[1:01:50] This hasn't been part of the study in the past.
[1:01:52] This is an area that wasn't in part of the FEMA studies or anything else,
[1:01:55] but is a part that we've noticed that there's flooding issues.
[1:01:58] As we want to address it,
[1:01:59] And the study would be for re-grading some of the roadways
[1:02:02] so we can get the water to flow down our streets better
[1:02:04] and then for a location for potential detention
[1:02:06] fund just north of Dr. Ferdinand-Linon
[1:02:09] to catch some of that water before it crosses
[1:02:11] and start flooding for the downstream.
[1:02:14] North only?
[1:02:16] Thank you.
[1:02:16] All north of Ferdinand-Linon between Railway Avenue
[1:02:19] and Ferdinand-Linon for now in this portion of it.
[1:02:22] But we want to continue on for the downstream.
[1:02:23] This is the address at first portion of it.
[1:02:28] And when would it be the rest?
[1:02:31] The rest is, as soon as we get this portion done, once we figure
[1:02:34] out the balance of the cost, we can start figuring out how
[1:02:36] to do the next phase.
[1:02:37] We'll continue on downstream on that.
[1:02:40] John, based on the, going back to this issue there,
[1:02:45] as far as the drainage after all this time that, you know,
[1:02:48] how bad it's been, did you all take consideration
[1:02:52] the most areas of streets, or is just, like,
[1:02:58] We had a whole lot of problems in a certain area.
[1:03:03] And it's all that area.
[1:03:04] Like I mentioned earlier, I came to council.
[1:03:07] I told the advice council that we were going to pause after Nicholson was installed on this project.
[1:03:12] I had gone out there myself.
[1:03:14] I've seen that for years that it was flooding.
[1:03:16] I'm sure we will.
[1:03:17] We have people that have had their homes flooded several times.
[1:03:21] That's by us.
[1:03:22] But yes, we did look at all that.
[1:03:23] So it's all that area where there were the,
[1:03:25] but if we have other areas in our town
[1:03:27] which are set aside in the Valley,
[1:03:29] we're going to get through to that place.
[1:03:31] But yes, this is an area that I don't think
[1:03:34] there's ever been any during these studies.
[1:03:38] It has never been studied,
[1:03:39] but it is a blood hazard.
[1:03:41] There's areas that we have.
[1:03:42] And it's called basically low hanging fruit.
[1:03:45] So when we can attack quickly
[1:03:46] and make some improvements to help a lot of the residents
[1:03:49] in that area, and then we'll continue
[1:03:51] on moving forward in other parts of town because we have other studies and everything else but
[1:03:55] one project alone we repair one piece of King's Way, raise the roadway, put the culverts across
[1:04:00] there and we get that whole nine million dollar balance. This is where we're looking at maybe
[1:04:03] spreading that nine million dollars and picking more residents and just looking at one solid
[1:04:08] location and trying to spread the wealth to improve range throughout the city better.
[1:04:12] And we have Councilman, we have looked at like retention plans and barriers are already
[1:04:18] So as a public work director study, we're going to go to those areas where it's the most, you know, it's the easiest and the most problematic one to find that category.
[1:04:28] So we can get the biggest bang on the money from that.
[1:04:32] That's the cover-up. I'm sorry.
[1:04:33] I'm okay. What is the time frame on the study?
[1:04:38] I'll show you in three months, please.
[1:04:40] Three months. And then from there on?
[1:04:42] And there they'll give us the studying or else then we need to start scheduling how we do the work.
[1:04:46] Because we're trying to see if we can do the street work.
[1:04:48] In this location we want to do is rebate the streets.
[1:04:50] Instead of having a normal crown where the center point of the street is the highest, we want to do an inverting crown.
[1:04:55] So actually you're funneling all the water down the middle of the street.
[1:04:58] We're starting to get...
[1:05:00] If we can finish the study in three months,
[1:05:02] then we're going to see if we can start scheduling our equipment and start doing that work as well on the streets.
[1:05:06] At the same time we're going to see about looking where that detention pond and the detention pond.
[1:05:10] We have to acquire that property still and then start looking at the calculation for the size of that detention park.
[1:05:18] We want to get started with at least three workers in three months.
[1:05:20] Yeah, because this is, I mean, already giving people that live in that area hope because they've been desperate on this for so many years.
[1:05:30] And, you know, we do want rain but there's some homes that we've seen these people have gone through so much.
[1:05:40] So, that's why I ask all this because it's got the town hall meetings that I have that's been every month.
[1:05:49] And you know that, John.
[1:05:50] Oh, absolutely.
[1:05:51] So, now, they have some focus.
[1:05:56] I'm very proud of it.
[1:05:59] This
[1:06:02] is the beginning of a lot more of
[1:06:06] the conversation through WALA through this.
[1:06:09] And up here by 5th Street, 6th Street right behind you.
[1:06:13] So, I think John was only working on some strategy.
[1:06:16] I think we're looking at retention points on Darkfield.
[1:06:19] We've got one down on Darkfield where
[1:06:23] there's a park where we
[1:06:27] strategize.
[1:06:34] We're talking.
[1:06:35] Have we reached out to them?
[1:06:39] We're all finding out what they're going to do with the hill.
[1:06:42] What they're bringing?
[1:06:44] Because they're the ones that created it.
[1:06:46] We had a private number that we couldn't get rid of.
[1:06:55] We are going to reach out to them, it takes time to get the study results and everything else to figure out what improvements are needed, because the location we're looking at, the robo needs to do some improvements, the textile has some improvements, basically maintenance that need to be on their structure as well, and then combine that with the work that we do.
[1:07:27] That's
[1:07:32] all I had for you, Mr. Winkie. Thank you. Any other comments?
[1:07:37] All in favor?
[1:07:44] Item 9D, Resolution 2023-003, a resolution authorizing and directing the city manager
[1:07:50] to reject all proposals for the design production and installation of wayfinding signs for the
[1:07:56] city of Delaware.
[1:07:57] Do I have a motion in the dice?
[1:07:58] Motion.
[1:08:04] Any questions?
[1:08:07] No questions.
[1:08:08] Sure.
[1:08:09] Use of wayfinding signs.
[1:08:11] Do we have sufficient signs that put in certain areas or just don't need them?
[1:08:19] No, Councilman, what we're, what we're,
[1:08:21] as a matter of fact, I requested that we do this
[1:08:23] because so what we're trying to do is we're trying
[1:08:25] to get more signs.
[1:08:26] You know, we're trying to come up with a design,
[1:08:28] a
[1:08:30] stand-tec that's designed by comprehensive plan
[1:08:33] and working with them and another design
[1:08:36] that we're trying to come up with in your style.
[1:08:38] We're trying to come up with a unique design,
[1:08:41] that'll be used for signs of all of our parts,
[1:08:43] all of our systems.
[1:08:53] We're trying to think ahead as far as what our
[1:08:56] comprehensive master plan has some design that I'm going to do.
[1:08:58] So we're trying to take a couple of those design elements
[1:09:01] and then utilize those on all of our wayfinding signs
[1:09:04] and signs screwed up.
[1:09:07] So we'll be replacing those out of time.
[1:09:14] Any questions?
[1:09:15] Are you favorite?
[1:09:16] No.
[1:09:17] I'm
[1:09:20] funny on this one.
[1:09:22] I would like to make a motion to actually get a motion
[1:09:24] to postpone it for the next week.
[1:09:28] Resolution 2020-2024.
[1:09:32] Can I get a motion to postpone it for the next month?
[1:10:01] Yes, during the implementation process we've been having meetings today we had one at 2 p.m.
[1:10:06] So, today at 2 p.m. is whenever we found out that the cost for the additional item that we needed was going to be changing the totals on the agenda item.
[1:10:15] So, we wouldn't be able to move forward with it because it's still going to have to change.
[1:10:21] Any other questions?
[1:10:23] No, that's fine.
[1:10:24] All in favor?
[1:10:40] All right.
[1:10:41] for the City of Jorio Police Department.
[1:10:44] Do I have a motion to die?
[1:10:46] Any motion?
[1:10:49] Any second?
[1:10:51] Any questions?
[1:10:53] All in favor?
[1:10:54] I am 10,
[1:10:58] Assistant City Manager.
[1:10:59] 10A, discussion regarding the original project timeline
[1:11:03] and delays related to the change order
[1:11:05] for the Brown Plaza Renovation Project.
[1:11:08] This is for Councilman Jesus Lopez.
[1:11:11] Councilman Lopez?
[1:11:13] Yes.
[1:11:13] Yes. Well, let's talk to my attention about this timeline.
[1:11:19] This timeline I didn't even know existed.
[1:11:22] The timeline was given to me a few weeks ago.
[1:11:25] So, you know, based on the timeline,
[1:11:29] wherever it is right now in charge,
[1:11:32] we're overseeing this project in the timeline.
[1:11:35] And we have a progress report.
[1:11:37] We have a new transparency where we're at on this timeline.
[1:11:44] Yes, we do receive daily emails right now, the last email that I received would have been on the 19th and we are right on schedule.
[1:11:54] Okay, but like from the 20th to the 25th timeline, it's supposed to be a 5 inch slab over the 4th.
[1:12:02] There's no slab, there's no bar, just a fence.
[1:12:08] I know they're saying delays with weather, basically today is one of those, but this one is for a little while.
[1:12:14] But there's nothing really on the timeline that I saw that they're keeping with the timeline.
[1:12:19] Well, up to the 19th they would be up to the timeline, right?
[1:12:24] I do have, it does show here where we receive it.
[1:12:28] I can forward it to you if you would like.
[1:12:31] So up to the 19th we are up to date, right?
[1:12:34] Of course, this week has been a little bit difficult because of the weather.
[1:12:39] They have been expecting rain.
[1:12:41] So that's probably why there was delays.
[1:12:43] Today would be the first delay that we've seen since we started on the project in December.
[1:12:50] Also, how many people in this contractor just hire have working on the project?
[1:12:56] I wouldn't have that information off the top of my head.
[1:12:59] I mean, does he have, like, one group doing wine, one group doing semen, one group doing
[1:13:04] that, or just one group doing one thing at a time?
[1:13:06] No, they do have several subcontractors that some are working on the foundation, some are
[1:13:11] working on electrical, some are working on the plumbing.
[1:13:15] Yeah, for example, on Friday they did have JD plumbing out there, so they would have
[1:13:19] only been working on the plumbing portion.
[1:13:21] And then, of course, the LMC Superintend intended.
[1:13:24] That's what the report shows on Friday.
[1:13:26] Does anybody oversee physical?
[1:13:28] Yes, we do have Mr. Quintanilla who visits their constant lead, Greg,
[1:13:33] and then Luis Midel is our project manager.
[1:13:36] Any
[1:13:39] other questions?
[1:13:42] When you said that we're on timeline, you mean the revised timeline?
[1:13:47] Yes, so based on being on that revised timeline,
[1:13:52] what would you estimate the chances of having it open
[1:13:56] by the St. Claude Mausoleum.
[1:14:00] Well, the timeline does show that it's going to be May 25th.
[1:14:02] We are trying to get them to do it before then, right?
[1:14:06] But right now, the timeline does show May 25th.
[1:14:09] So, unlike them?
[1:14:10] If we base ourselves on the timeline.
[1:14:14] Basically, what you're saying is that we're going to do it right.
[1:14:16] We've got to follow the timeline that's out there for May 25th.
[1:14:22] I would just say that if we don't want to have a rest project,
[1:14:25] then we would shift all that.
[1:14:28] I'd rather take our time doing it right than having to go back in and dig up something that we did wrong.
[1:14:35] So, you know, I'm sorry, you can't always think of the mile to that location.
[1:14:39] But it's not a feasibility at this time. It's dangerous.
[1:14:43] There's a construction site. You can't have people over there from the closet.
[1:14:47] What happens if the little kid gets by that net and falls in the ditch? Who's lying?
[1:14:52] Clear.
[1:14:53] So it's better to do the project right.
[1:15:00] We've got to let the contractor follow the flow of what he's doing.
[1:15:05] There could be something that we could see in the time frame, but we can't predict the weather.
[1:15:13] We can't predict the elements that the term is working with.
[1:15:18] Sometimes the client is not there all the time, so we've just got to proceed on it and follow the poll calls there.
[1:15:25] Yeah, we're not rushing it.
[1:15:27] No shortcut.
[1:15:28] I mean, we don't want to end up in some other things
[1:15:33] that we already in there.
[1:15:35] We're going to follow everything.
[1:15:37] At the same time, I think I will speak for Councilman Lopez.
[1:15:42] I think his concern is the deadlines?
[1:15:45] Well, the deadline is one, but if they have a bigger crew,
[1:15:49] there's just two people.
[1:15:50] Well, one of the things that, I mean, I'm going to tell you
[1:15:52] as counsel, as mayor, we cannot tell the contractor
[1:15:59] if they want to do the thing that they're going to work with.
[1:16:02] It's up to the contractor to do that.
[1:16:05] I think our idea is we give the contractor to whoever's out there
[1:16:10] and they have to do the thing that they're going to do
[1:16:13] trying to put everybody to work with.
[1:16:15] We have no say so.
[1:16:16] I don't think Mr. Machaka and Mr. Sheedy have that right
[1:16:20] go to a contractor and you're going to bring in $10,000 and you're going to bring in $20,000.
[1:16:24] It is not up to us, it's up to the contractor to do it.
[1:16:27] Because remember, if they don't finish on time, there are things they're going to have to pay back.
[1:16:33] Because we have to demand that our attorney here next to us will put that into play.
[1:16:37] If they don't finish by a certain time, then they have to pay in late.
[1:16:42] Yes.
[1:16:43] So I just wanted to be just going to follow through on the protocol and the calendar process.
[1:16:48] Is this time like it was a given to you or somebody created it?
[1:16:52] That was issued by the contractor, yes.
[1:16:56] Okay.
[1:16:57] One little transparency and a little accountability to say, you know, people ask, what's going on?
[1:17:03] I don't know.
[1:17:04] So they know maybe they can relax.
[1:17:07] Yes.
[1:17:07] I have a question for Mr. Lopez.
[1:17:12] When did you get that?
[1:17:14] Mr. Sheedy.
[1:17:15] When?
[1:17:16] Two weeks ago.
[1:17:18] Okay, well he does include that in our weekly report, we've had that, so.
[1:17:25] This weekly report?
[1:17:26] Oh, yes?
[1:17:27] Yes, every time.
[1:17:29] And he does a review update during the meetings as well.
[1:17:34] We received several things.
[1:17:37] I'll have them all here.
[1:17:39] You know, when it was approved, the company, the amount,
[1:17:45] We then, when the CDFW took over medicine and operation for the Bromplasa, it was back
[1:17:51] to transparency, we talked about transparency, September 28th of 2021, here it is, the amount.
[1:17:59] And then they brought back in November 29th also another additional because of what the company
[1:18:11] and that is what they found.
[1:18:15] So there was another additional amount, and so, you know, all that is here.
[1:18:22] There are a little here.
[1:18:22] Yeah, so talking about conspiracy is all here.
[1:18:25] One thing being on paper, another scene of this, you know, we see it and we see it.
[1:18:31] It's on website.
[1:18:32] No, no, no.
[1:18:33] I'm not talking about this.
[1:18:35] This I got to do with that.
[1:18:37] But if they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, you know,
[1:18:41] it's questionable what's going on.
[1:18:43] Yeah, but this is not an in-house project.
[1:18:45] This is a company that was a contractor that was hired.
[1:18:49] I see your point, and all this falls
[1:18:52] under your concern, mostly, is Cinco de Mayo.
[1:18:57] And this has nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo.
[1:18:59] The item came in to re-run an update.
[1:19:04] Well, sometimes, things just don't go.
[1:19:07] And Mr. Sanchez can say that.
[1:19:08] Sometimes you go with this, this timeline, you know.
[1:19:13] I understand.
[1:19:14] Well, I just thought that was kind of upsetting.
[1:19:21] It's just getting for me more...
[1:19:23] No, no, for me it was kind of upsetting because, I mean, everything's been given.
[1:19:29] I mean, I don't see why, but I understand.
[1:19:31] I understand.
[1:19:32] I do.
[1:19:33] But everything's been given.
[1:19:35] Well, we just have something to say to our constituents
[1:19:38] when they asked me.
[1:19:39] And basically, I don't try to get into that area.
[1:19:43] Because I'm just looking to see what's going on.
[1:19:46] So you don't try to get into the program?
[1:19:48] Well, I have an idea.
[1:19:50] I did?
[1:19:51] I have to.
[1:19:51] OK, let's bring it back.
[1:19:52] Let's bring it back.
[1:19:54] I think we already kind of see it as a factor.
[1:19:57] And I think she did also.
[1:19:59] I think it's something that will continue to make sure
[1:20:08] I think it's something that the contractors out there have to do their job, get it done,
[1:20:16] and not as fast as we want it, but as long as they follow the actual process.
[1:20:24] We'd be happy to, like, we give it a short job and we can do the idea of the update that we could see that we would, and that we could see what it would all look like and what it would fall behind in the way.
[1:20:39] Definitely.
[1:20:40] And there's always a solution to our problems.
[1:20:42] So whatever problems occur, we could find a solution as a team.
[1:20:45] I just want, I just want to proceed that to be, I mean, too many years, you know, too many years at 84.
[1:20:54] that the city did not have now the operation management to do something with it.
[1:21:02] Now that we have it, I know that the entire city of the real is everybody goes out there, you know, to be done right.
[1:21:12] And it's going to be a major uplift. It's not just one item. It's a major uplift.
[1:21:17] So after, you know, some people might say we don't need this, we don't need that.
[1:21:20] Well, I mean, at the end of it all, everybody's going to know.
[1:21:25] Because it is for the community.
[1:21:26] It's not for only who live on the Pacific Island.
[1:21:29] It's for the entire city of Doreal.
[1:21:31] And if it was donated from a family to the city of Doreal,
[1:21:38] we have to continue the wishes.
[1:21:42] So that's all I have to say on that.
[1:21:44] It's going to be done right.
[1:21:47] Whatever time it takes is going to be done right.
[1:21:49] We started this project after September because we wanted the Brown-Pilots Association to have their new face at the end.
[1:22:01] We waited all those months. John can say different if I'm saying something that's not it.
[1:22:07] So we started after now just to wait.
[1:22:11] Well, you know, and go back, you know, I was going to kind of stop you
[1:22:15] because this is only phase one of the capital improvements that we're going to do.
[1:22:20] So this is a phase that we want to make sure we take our time and do it right.
[1:22:24] Because the next phase is coming up.
[1:22:27] We're also going to be approved by this council.
[1:22:30] And we're going to bring it forward soon.
[1:22:32] So there is still more to be done.
[1:22:34] And I thank you, Mr. Montraca and Mr. Lopez.
[1:22:38] Do you have any other questions so we can go ahead and field this?
[1:22:41] Any other questions for Council?
[1:22:43] Let's go on with the next item.
[1:22:45] Thank you.
[1:22:46] Thank you, Mr. President.
[1:22:47] Thank you, Mr. Machaka.
[1:22:48] Thank you.
[1:22:49] Item 11, Economic Development.
[1:22:51] Item 11A, Resolution 2023-006.
[1:22:55] A resolution appointing the new members to the type B,
[1:22:58] W Economic Development Corporation,
[1:23:00] Board of Directors,
[1:23:01] Place 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
[1:23:05] Do I have a motion in the diaries?
[1:23:06] Motion.
[1:23:08] Thank you.
[1:23:19] Thank you for the hard work at the Type B transition board during all these months of authorizing
[1:23:33] a lot of different documents, resolutions, and thank you to the council as well for also authorizing.
[1:23:40] We did present all the documents to the state of Texas where it's official, a type B board,
[1:23:46] and we're now coming through you to a point, places one through seven,
[1:23:53] and we would like to do a process by selecting, we have a container, a glass container,
[1:23:58] to each one of the council members to select the first three names.
[1:24:10] So the first three names will be for one year term
[1:24:14] and the next four names will be a two year term.
[1:24:19] So if you want me to.
[1:24:19] Mr. Ramon, sorry, you brought that up.
[1:24:22] So I know that the discussion would pass itself.
[1:24:27] It says three places on a one-year term and four places at a two-year term, but on the actual resolution that is about ready to be signed and names allocated, it says three people have their term expires in 24, December of 24, and four people December of 25.
[1:24:48] That would basically be two years and three years, not one year and two years.
[1:24:52] Twenty-three to twenty-four.
[1:24:55] But that's not what the discussion says, and then I just want to confirm that after that it will be a two-year term.
[1:25:04] So initially we'll have four people on a three-year term and three people on basically a two-year term.
[1:25:10] They can go for another two years.
[1:25:12] Okay.
[1:25:12] Exactly, yes sir.
[1:25:13] Correct.
[1:25:15] And if they...
[1:25:16] You just want to confirm that was intentional.
[1:25:17] And once they're appointed, they could go and also appoint
[1:25:22] them as the president, vice president, and select
[1:25:31] the first team.
[1:25:32] Oh, I go first?
[1:25:33] Oh.
[1:25:34] All right.
[1:25:37] Sergio Diaz, one year, a person.
[1:25:41] Yes, place one, thank you.
[1:25:42] Yes, sir, yes, sir.
[1:25:43] OK.
[1:25:43] Santiago, Red Regions.
[1:25:50] Javier Calderón.
[1:25:52] Javier Calderón.
[1:25:53] Yes.
[1:25:58] Cristina Berrera.
[1:26:03] Yes, sir.
[1:26:04] Mr. Webb.
[1:26:07] Go, Jorge
[1:26:12] Sudeik.
[1:26:29] Very well.
[1:27:09] Item number 12, community services, Resolution 2023-007, a resolution of the City of Georgia,
[1:27:16] Texas Authorizing and Directing City Manager to submit the fiscal year 23 recreational
[1:27:23] trails grant application to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
[1:27:27] Before we make the motion, I just wanted to point out that on the resolution itself,
[1:27:33] On the fourth, we're asked, there's been a couple of edits made of the work paid is going to be deleted.
[1:27:42] And the dollar amounts are, so I'll read that glass, we're asked.
[1:27:48] This is, we're asked, the city of Jail Reel will request $300,000 to construct a shared use trail along the San Felipe Creek adjacent to Gladron Street,
[1:27:57] all the way to Magnolia Street and must provide a cost match of $269,492.79 for a total estimated
[1:28:07] project cost of $569,492.79. The new cost match is $165,515 and the new projected cost is $465,515.
[1:28:24] Where did you get that number from?
[1:28:26] Because that's not the number in this document that was handed to us.
[1:28:33] So the attachment that you did is different than what's in the agenda,
[1:28:37] which is different than the email that you put on it.
[1:28:39] Okay.
[1:28:40] Is this the action?
[1:28:42] Yes, sir.
[1:28:43] Good evening, Councilor City Manager, Michael Garcia,
[1:28:47] Assistant to City Manager and Greenfighter.
[1:28:49] So the initially, so the change that we made, we had additional communication with Texas Parks and Wildlife also with the Land for Community Services.
[1:29:00] So we're changing from an 8-foot wide concrete trail into a 10-foot wide natural surface trail.
[1:29:07] So the construction cost actually decreased as well as the mobilization contingency.
[1:29:13] The only reason why the total cost on the e-mail is not the same as on the attachment is because
[1:29:21] we included the $42,300 that LIFE or Community Services will be charging for the grant administration
[1:29:30] and to submit the grant application internally as staff members.
[1:29:35] We had meetings regarding to identify the route of also the materials and also we
[1:29:40] we were able to get the estimated cost from Sandpick.
[1:29:45] So that is the reason why the cost does not match on the email and on the construction.
[1:30:00] So I have a motion.
[1:30:04] I know everyone's going to be shocked that I'm going to be pessimistic
[1:30:09] related to money. So we've, you know, in my four and a half years on the council, we've
[1:30:15] had a couple of projects like this come before us. And it's, oh, yeah, we're going to get
[1:30:20] a grant for this, grant for this, grant for this. And so this is all that the city
[1:30:23] needs to put up. And then none of it happened. And now we're scrambled. So what is the
[1:30:29] plan, knock on wood when we don't get the $300,000. Are we going to scrap the plan
[1:30:35] or are we going to find the money somewhere?
[1:30:40] We have it included in the adopted capital
[1:30:44] improvement budget. The whole 465? No, we have the 265. Exactly. So, when we don't
[1:30:51] get the $300,000 from Texas Parks and Wildlife, are we going to scrap the plan or where
[1:30:57] going to get to $300,000? Well, I guess closer to $200,000 that we would need to do the plan
[1:31:04] based on this revised process. So again, if we were not to get the funding, if Council
[1:31:09] proceed or decided they would like to continue and proceed with the project, then we would
[1:31:15] take the additional money that's in the effort to improve the fund, unbalance to
[1:31:24] So, we have extra money that's, I guess, allocated in our capital improvement budget.
[1:31:34] Why don't we have all of that since almost all of that is borrowed?
[1:31:40] Why don't we have that allocated against projects?
[1:31:43] Well, it's a combination of borrowed and transferred in for operating funds.
[1:31:47] And so some of the savings comes from projects that come in less than what we buy from under completion
[1:31:58] or sometimes they get postponed to labor.
[1:32:04] Again, if that's the way council decides they want to go, we have an improvement plan to come back.
[1:32:17] Any other questions from today?
[1:32:20] All in favor?
[1:32:22] Right here.
[1:32:24] and 13 consent agenda 13 a quarterly unaudited financial statements as of
[1:32:31] September 30th 2022 and 13 be approval of January 10th 2023 regular
[1:32:38] Do I have a motion to die?
[1:32:40] I'll make a motion to approve.
[1:32:42] In the rules, you have a second.
[1:32:44] Open the web.
[1:32:45] Any questions?
[1:32:46] Is everybody reviewed?
[1:32:48] Are they all in favor?
[1:32:50] I have a vote.
[1:32:53] I have a vote of 14.
[1:32:54] Citizens comments?
[1:32:58] I think we've got two.
[1:33:01] P. Vallejo, concerns.
[1:33:04] Would you like to step up to the map?
[1:33:10] You've got three minutes.
[1:33:14] The average person does not have the time to come and sit and listen and wait to be heard.
[1:33:21] After you have all been through most of the agenda and have made decisions that affect the citizens and the taxpayers.
[1:33:28] I'm here to share my concerns or complaints, whatever you want to call them.
[1:33:32] You make decisions, and many times you have not received or read all the facts that are presented.
[1:33:41] Ultimately, you are our voice, our vote and our representative in all the endeavors that
[1:33:48] affect us in Del Rio and in how the taxpayers' money is used.
[1:33:53] Whether you like it or not, we the citizens and taxpayers have the right to ask questions
[1:34:00] of each one of you and we expect answers.
[1:34:03] Some city of Del Rio employees are taking it upon themselves to do things, maybe even
[1:34:09] policy that does not exist and make a policy as they please.
[1:34:13] You are not overlooking these matters.
[1:34:15] Example, there's a city-wide problem with stray animals, cats and dogs, and wildlife.
[1:34:20] The council may determine what approves, but approves the policy that is to be followed
[1:34:25] when people report or when city employees have to deal with animal issues.
[1:34:30] If there is a policy in place whereby prohibiting the feeding of stray animals,
[1:34:36] please make it known to us.
[1:34:38] This is a city problem. You should not be placing the responsibility or the burden on the citizens to buy traps and to trap such animals.
[1:34:46] Many times it is easier for an elderly person to feed the stray and have the animals move on to another house.
[1:34:54] We have another issue with the water, the sewer and the gas rates.
[1:34:59] People that are living in Del Rio 65 and older are unable to pay a lot of the rates and there is no breaking down during the year because you stick to the rates and you stick to whatever you've decided you're going to charge.
[1:35:15] Payment plans are set up, but most of the time these people don't really have the money, so they're going to have to do without your services.
[1:35:24] One other thing. When I ask questions of some of you, I am directed to go and speak with some other employee of the city because you don't know and they know more than you. That should not be the case. You should be up to date with the information and you should have a specific answer for us.
[1:35:40] The airline issue is of utmost importance, but after two weeks, we finally got an update.
[1:35:48] That is unacceptable.
[1:35:51] And nothing was posted on the agenda.
[1:35:53] It was just brought up.
[1:35:55] When you approve a project to be done, you approve the funds and you approve who will complete the project and how long it will take.
[1:36:02] If there are any changes in any set agreement, then you need to place the item on the agenda and deal with it.
[1:36:09] A prime example is brown plaza.
[1:36:12] For months, we've been asking why construction has stopped and why it will resume.
[1:36:17] And the only thing I can tell you is that it is a safety issue.
[1:36:22] The plastic that you have around that plaza causes liabilities.
[1:36:26] There are ditches.
[1:36:29] There are holes.
[1:36:30] There are things.
[1:36:31] And the fencing is still down.
[1:36:33] Today, the fencing was still down.
[1:36:35] And they only worked for two days, yesterday and today.
[1:36:41] Well, this is ridiculous. This is really ridiculous, because if you're going to give us three minutes to talk, when do we ever get a voice?
[1:36:49] You can always.
[1:36:50] Yeah, you can always come back next week.
[1:36:52] No, no, no. You can always meet with me, man. Your door is always open.
[1:36:55] No. The thing is, is that we need to let you all know what's going on, and you need to let us know what's going on.
[1:37:00] Appreciate that. Next, Carla?
[1:37:14] I'm here speaking for my cousin Denise Curley.
[1:37:19] She uses the airline three to four times a year.
[1:37:23] She lives in Oakland, New Jersey, and in Delaware.
[1:37:27] She's been basically trying to see what she can do
[1:37:31] and what we can do to get it going.
[1:37:33] This is something she wrote that I'm going to read now.
[1:37:38] What I did, basically, regarding the airport is to get in touch with radio stations,
[1:37:44] TV stations like Fox, PBS, and local radio.
[1:37:49] I got in touch with, or tried to get in touch with, Senator Gonzales,
[1:37:53] but he refuses to take my calls.
[1:37:57] Local levels, well, there's been no response from main representatives.
[1:38:01] That's what I've done regarding the airport.
[1:38:03] and government people at the airport like Border Patrol and Del Rio Police said they'd be more willing to sign any petitions to keep airport open.
[1:38:13] When I spoke to the airline staff that were flying in from Del Rio, they said that there is no issue in staffing.
[1:38:21] The airlines, there's plenty of people who fly, its majority of what they believe happened is that there is a profit margin
[1:38:28] and that's missing for the CFO and the CEO of the airlines.
[1:38:33] And we lost our grant for federal funding, and that's the real issue.
[1:38:39] This has nothing to do with the pilot charges. There is no pilot charges.
[1:38:44] Like I said, she flies in three or four times a year, of course, flies in, flies out.
[1:38:50] And when there was an airline here, she would have to rent a car to come down.
[1:38:56] And she has a vehicle here but you know that's like extra money also that's all I have for that
[1:39:01] but also as far as a liability people waiting outside the train station should have a place to go in.
[1:39:08] What if they get hurt or they get held up, sitting out to a 3 o'clock in the morning
[1:39:13] so we should consider doing something with that building.
[1:39:17] Thank you customer locals for bringing that up.
[1:39:19] I appreciate it. Thank you.
[1:39:21] That's all I have.
[1:39:27] So, we have executive session items to exit the session at number 15, an attorney consultation.
[1:39:37] Oh, I'm sorry, I've already read this before.
[1:39:39] So, you just need no action on any of them.
[1:39:41] No.
[1:39:41] Okay.
[1:39:44] 9.23 and the speed was a turn.