[1:59] Mhm.
[3:54] » Mhm.
[5:33] » We're going to call this meeting to
order. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to
[5:36] the special meeting today, being August
the 20th of 2026, the time being
[5:42] 10:03.
We're going to proceed Uh
[5:46] uh
with the invocation. Commissioner, if
[5:49] you might be
>> Yes, no, of course.
[5:54] Dear Lord, we thank you for allowing us
to gather here today. We ask you to
[5:57] bless every mind and heart that fills
the presence of this room.
[6:00] We ask for wisdom and discernment as we
make decisions that affect our city.
[6:05] Special prayer to all those that are
working outside, especially in these
[6:08] very hot days. Please watch over them
and protect all everyone in our
[6:11] community. We ask these things in thy
name. Amen.
[6:14] » Amen.
>> And now, pledge of allegiance, please.
[6:18] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the
[6:22] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[6:27] justice for all.
>> And now, the Texas flag, please.
[6:31] » Honor the Texas flag, I pledge
allegiance to thee, Texas, one state
[6:36] under God, one and indivisible.
>> Thank you.
[6:43] At this time, I'm going to move to item
1B, which is a roll call. Commissioner
[6:47] Ben De Leon is uh absent. Commissioner
Adela Barera, present. Mayor, present.
[6:51] Commissioner Olivarez,
>> Present.
[6:53] » Commissioner Barera,
is he connected to the
[6:58] » Uh no, he's not.
>> Okay, fine.
[7:03] Having uh
two commissioners and myself, at this
[7:07] time, I'm going to find that that we do
have quorum to proceed forward with
[7:09] today's meeting.
Uh ma'am, do we have anybody signed up
[7:13] for public forum?
>> No, sir.
[7:15] » Okay.
We shall move to item 2A, discussion
[7:18] possible action to ratify the approved
contract with Real Delta Engineering for
[7:22] engineering services related to the
International Drive project, AFA ID
[7:27] number Z uh 00009113.
[7:33] Do we have a presentation on that?
[7:36] Anybody or
[7:40] » Um
Mr. Ivan Garcia will
[7:43] um give an update on the
>> There what?
[7:46] » Yes.
>> Good morning, sir.
[7:48] » Good morning, uh, commissioners, mayor.
Um,
[7:51] buddy, Ivan Garcia with Rio Delta
Engineering.
[7:54] Uh, was we are basically, uh, ready to
roll with the project, uh, right now.
[7:59] After the contract gets, uh, executed,
the next step is to set up a kick off
[8:03] meeting with TxDOT. Uh, we talked about
it at the last meeting that we had with
[8:07] them. So, they're basically just
expecting for today to happen,
[8:11] basically, so they can schedule that
meeting. At that meeting, we're going to
[8:13] go over
details on deliverables, milestones, uh,
[8:18] and different things that they're going
to be requiring throughout their
[8:20] process, so that we can be on the same
page. Uh, the other thing is that, uh,
[8:25] we will be setting up, uh,
bi-weekly coordination meetings with,
[8:30] uh, Ms. Landers and Ms. Melinda and the
staff to make sure that, uh, I guess the
[8:34] city is aware of everything that's going
on and we can distribute action items as
[8:38] as we need to and responsibilities and
everything to push the project forward
[8:42] and make sure that,
uh, we're not, uh,
[8:45] uh, basically extending any timelines or
anything, uh, unnecessarily, right? Uh,
[8:51] the other thing is that we have our
sub-consultants basically on standby, so
[8:55] that as soon as, uh, we have the kick
off meeting and they give us some
[8:58] guidelines for some deliverables for
them, they can start working on traffic
[9:01] studies, completing environmental, uh,
assessments and everything else. So, uh,
[9:06] we understand this is, uh, and we know
this is a uh, priority for the city, uh,
[9:11] so it's a it is a priority for us as
well and we'll try to meet the project
[9:15] deadlines, uh, as best as we can. Yes.
Thank you.
[9:18] » Do we have a motion on this?
>> I move
[9:21] to approve
item number two, the contracts and
[9:24] agreement that is, uh,
as presented.
[9:27] » I second.
>> Motion has been seconded.
[9:30] Uh,
it's on the floor. Does anybody have any
[9:32] questions or concerns now that we have a
representative from Rio Delta?
[9:36] » I do, mayor. And uh, like I
mentioned to you, Mr. Garcia, on last
[9:42] night's meeting with the EDC, which was
also part of these
[9:48] uh great project,
we expect nothing but the execution and
[9:54] fast execution of these project. And
this is just to uh I want to inform the
[10:00] community that this is a project that
had been in the oven
[10:06] for 8 years.
So, the baby, it's 8 years old. He's
[10:11] walking, running, he's riding a bike.
And after a very
[10:19] difficult
uh you can say process to make it
[10:23] happen, uh thanks to the mayor's
involvement, the commission,
[10:29] city manager, assistant city manager,
our projects department director, our
[10:35] CFO, the private investors, and uh
TexDOT,
[10:41] and many others that got involved on
these,
[10:45] like we always say,
rest assured that this city, under this
[10:50] administration, will not have any single
project in a delayed mode or on standby.
[10:58] And I said it
many times, if
[11:03] being a neglected elected official was a
crime,
[11:08] some of the previous commissioners and
mayors should be in jail for a long time
[11:14] because this is unacceptable. What
happened with this project is
[11:19] unacceptable, and it's not because of
you, of course. You just uh you're a a
[11:23] vendor, right? But the way it was
handled from the city, it was just
[11:28] neglected. So, I I thank the mayor and
again, for getting
[11:33] things into uh urgency the way they're
supposed to be, and for everybody who
[11:38] participated, the EDC as well, uh you
know, putting these special meetings
[11:43] just so that we can be in compliance
with TxDOT, and that these $4 million
[11:48] that were secured for this city to help
with traffic and with the growth that we
[11:54] are experiencing, that were on standby,
and again,
[11:59] this is this was unacceptable, but I'm
glad that finally we are coming with
[12:04] solutions, and this project will be made
in a very short period of time.
[12:11] So, again, thank you for for everybody
to everybody who participated.
[12:17] » Yes, sir.
All I want to say is I want to thank uh
[12:20] staff, uh our leadership, um
Mr. Belant, thank you so much for
[12:25] working on this project. Miss Sarah
Hernandez, thank you uh for putting up
[12:29] with me. I know
we've been dealing with with this
[12:32] project, and obviously this is uh
we got an urgent matter
[12:38] in our hands, and and we've been
addressing uh and last but not least, I
[12:42] want to thank personnel from Rio Delta
for for
[12:46] taking our phone calls, for addressing
our needs, and for being there when we
[12:49] needed you guys.
Uh
[12:51] we sincerely appreciate that. Obviously,
you know that this is an important
[12:54] project. We don't want to lose the
grant. Uh we're trying to do our very
[12:58] best
to be successful in this project, and uh
[13:03] I just want to say thank you to
everybody that's participating in making
[13:07] this thing a reality.
>> You're welcome, mayor, and I'd like to
[13:10] also thank our assistant city manager
and our finance director for their, you
[13:15] know, efforts, you know, that they put
in this bring this project back into
[13:19] operation, and definitely,
uh without them it'd be impossible to
[13:23] move some of these things forward.
>> Thank you.
[13:27] Anybody else? Any other questions?
Okay.
[13:32] Having no further questions, this item
is up for approval and vote. Before I
[13:36] move on, Ms. Garcia,
I'm assuming that you reviewed the
[13:39] contract. Everything good with the
contract?
[13:41] » Yes, sir.
>> Okay, very well.
[13:43] Having no further discussion on this
matter,
[13:46] the item is right for a vote.
All of those in favor in favor for
[13:49] approval of the ratification of the
contract, say aye.
[13:52] » Aye.
>> Aye.
[13:53] » Aye.
>> Motion carries.
[13:55] » Mayor, before you continue
>> Yes, sir.
[13:57] » Can you explain what these process what
these project is about because maybe the
[14:01] community doesn't know. This is going to
be the International Drive and what
[14:06] what's going to I mean, can you explain
it perfectly in a few words?
[14:09] » um
This is a project that had been in the
[14:12] works and what's going to happen is we
have a small loop that's coming in from
[14:19] the port of entry.
And what's significant about this is
[14:24] that it's going to be targeting the
commercial traffic. So, commercial
[14:27] traffic
is going to be rerouted directly to 755.
[14:32] Obviously,
our 755 now is here in the corner of
[14:36] Walmart and the idea is that with this
with this loop, we're going to be able
[14:40] to reroute the heavy traffic which is
going to be mainly the 18-wheelers or
[14:44] commercial vehicles that they are going
to be rerouted around Walmart and
[14:48] they're going to have a straight shot at
755. Obviously, the idea is that the
[14:54] heavy traffic is not roaming around
within
[14:57] within the community, right? Those are
heavy truck Those are heavy trucks.
[15:01] They're
In my opinion, they're fairly dangerous.
[15:05] So, we want to try to keep them away
from our community and obviously
[15:11] they also affect tremendously our
traffic the traffic that we have. So,
[15:15] being able to reroute
the commercial traffic up to 755, that's
[15:20] going to obviously complement 755, but
that's going to ease the traffic problem
[15:24] that we have.
Uh further north as the majority of the
[15:28] community knows, there's there's that
Loop 195 that's being
[15:33] constructed right now by TxDOT.
This Loop is also going to complement
[15:38] that in that from there, rerouting
traffic, right? The heavy traffic is
[15:43] going to be able to decide whether
they're going to go north, east or west
[15:47] from there without having to interfere
with our local
[15:50] traffic here.
Uh this project had been pending for
[15:54] some time. There's a lot of of of delays
that we had on the project. Um
[16:00] Yeah, obviously it's a complicated
project,
[16:03] but it got to the point where we needed
to really take action. Otherwise, we
[16:07] were going to lose the grant, and that's
what we're doing here today. We're
[16:10] making sure that
that the project
[16:14] is a successful project and that we
finalize the project so that we can
[16:18] continue to improve
um
[16:20] our traffic and our road system that we
have here in our community. Thank you.
[16:24] » The grant is for how much?
>> The grant was for $4 million, correct?
[16:31] » Yeah. $4 million, and then the city and
EDC will participate.
[16:35] » Yeah, the city and EDC is going to
participate with a share of the funds.
[16:40] Uh
Obviously, right now we have some
[16:44] projections.
We believe that it's going to be
[16:47] anywhere from half a million to a
million dollars, but the EDC and the
[16:51] city should be able to cover this, but
it's it's a
[16:54] it's an 80/20 grant, I think. Something
like that.
[16:57] » Okay.
>> But it's $4 million that we have on the
[16:59] table, $4 million that we need to put to
good use.
[17:02] » Okay.
>> Uh and we have a small match that we
[17:04] have to do there, but the city and the
EDC are
[17:08] are able to to come up with those funds
to to make sure that
[17:11] » lose this close
>> This close
[17:15] to lose
>> those $4 million just so the community
[17:19] can understand
why it was so important. It's an urgent
[17:22] matter.
The baby was going to be a doctor. Yeah,
[17:27] I mean it would have been in middle
school, imagine,
[17:30] with no money. So, yeah, somebody else
was already asking for that money. Some
[17:35] other cities, some other communities,
right?
[17:37] Rightfully so because if we don't use
it, I mean, it's just sitting there
[17:41] where it could be of some use for
somebody else that's ready and willing.
[17:45] But we are ready and willing to take
those funds and put them to good use.
[17:49] So,
thank you for everybody for
[17:51] participating.
[17:54] We had a vote on that.
The the motion was approved, so the
[17:58] contract is approved.
Do we have anything for executive
[18:03] session?
>> No, ma'am.
[18:04] » No.
>> Okay, I believe that concludes the
[18:08] business that we have
today.
[18:11] And the time is 10:16, so at this time
we stand adjourned.
[19:40] » Mhm.