City Council approves Traffic Study and seeks new Garage Sale Ordinance
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The City of Eagle Pass City Council held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, at City Council Chambers located at 100 South Monroe Street, in Eagle Pass, Texas, addressing various important issues.
One of the agenda items presented was the third and final reading of an Ordinance amending Article VIII, Chapter 19 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, by deleting it in its entirety and adopting new Article VIII and adding new Sections 19-143, 19-144, and 19-145, Article VIII, Chapter 19, to provide for new administrative responsibility for the issuance of garage sales permits; update costs of permit issuance; to provide for cancellation or enforcement and penalty for violations.
During discussion, Legal Counsel Heriberto Morales of Langley and Banack presented the City Council with certain options on the enforcement of the ordinance, broken down into three options of charges, and other details pertaining to each perspective option.
Councilman Rudy Villalpando stated that he felt that the garage sale ordinance needed to be looked into further and not rush into to be able to put together a reasonable ordinance for the better outcome of all parties involved.
Many different concerns were touched on during the discussion including the breakdown of zones in accordance to the city clean up campaigns and a coordination of both to allow residents to conduct garage sales in unison with those campaigns by zone.
After a highly active discussion on the pros and cons of enforcing a charge or exempting charges on certain situations of permits and the options being presented by Legal Counsel, the agenda item was tabled for further research and to a future date, denying temporarily the approval of the current proposed Garage Sale Ordinance which was up for its third and final approval.
Another hotly debated agenda item was the consideration and possible approval of an agreement between the City of Eagle Pass and Freese and Nichols and Addendum for a Traffic Study of Bibb Avenue.
Some of the main argumentative points touched on the issue were presented by Mayor Pro Tem Luis E. Sifuentes who stated that he felt that a study of such a nature was not needed at present time and too expensive at $27.000.
Sifuentes stated that he felt that a study at this point would not help alleviate the problem that had already been created and urged the City to explore other options in finding a solution to the traffic problem in that area.
Mayor Cantu and other Council Members concurred in the idea that a professional study would better assist the city in assessing the situation to conclusively take the appropriate steps to alleviate the problem.
After further heated discussion, the item was tabled and Council opted to move the discussion into Executive Session for further inquiry and possible action once back in open session at the meeting.
After reconvening from Executive Session, the City Council then took action by motioning for approval of work area 1 pertaining to the traffic study being sought for on the agenda item.
Mayor Cantu then called the motion for discussion in which Councilman Sifuentes was steadfast on his comments and beliefs stated earlier during the presentation of the agenda item in the public forum of the meeting that the traffic study was unnecessary and cost prohibitive at $27.000.
Sifuentes then stated that there were different solutions that could be taken to alleviate some of the concerns besides spending $27,000 on a study that would address issues the City could handle on its own.
City Councilwoman Gloria E. Hernandez responded by stating that she wanted to see the City to be proactive and not reactive and therefore the City should engage this company to conduct the study to allow the traffic study experts advise the City on the current status of the traffic congestion problem on Bibb Avenue and recommend specific plans of action that the City may take to alleviate the traffic congestion problems on Bibb Avenue.
Councilman Billy Davis also commented on the situation agreeing that the $27.000 traffic study fee was a sizable amount but that he wanted to make sure that everything necessary was done to assure the safety of the residents.
Sifuentes then rebutted stating that his concern was that at the end, this company doing the traffic study was not going to be able to fix all the problems that have arisen due to the traffic situation and that for that reason the City should explore other options to handle the situation.
After further heated discussion, the City Council approved to hire the traffic study company of Freese and Nichols on a split vote with Mayor Cantu, Councilman Davis, and Councilwoman Hernandez in favor while Mayor Pro-Tem Sifuentes against and Councilman Villalpando abstained from voting on the issue.
Another item discussed in Executive Session was agenda item #11 pursuant to Section 551.071, Chapter 551, Texas Government Code -Consultation with legal counsel regarding donation by the City to the U.S. General Service Administration (GSA) property and construction improvements and services of two inbound commercial lanes on Camino Real International Bridge; authorizing the Mayor to execute all documents related to said donation. The City of Eagle Pass is building two inbound commercial lanes on the Camino Real International Bridge at its expense since it is the owner of the bridge to expedite commercial truck traffic and donate them to the federal GSA for use at the bridge. The City Council unanimously approved this agenda item to donate the two commercial inbound traffic lanes to GSA.
