By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
The City of Port Isabel held a special meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
The City is moving along with the cemetery expansion which was originally announced at the Aug. 27 meeting. It was shared that the city cemetery had run out of space and would be installing 205 double-depth lawn crypts. As of Sept. 11, the crypts were completed and awaiting installation. The City plans to begin this construction soon.
The City is working with GLO and Orlando Cruz on the Laguna Heights Drainage Project, however, they are experiencing complications due to utility conflicts. The City hopes to move forward with this project in a cost-effective manner. The City had applied for three grants for this project, and only received one from the State of Texas. As a result, in the future, the City will have to budget additional funds to the project.
Christina Dijkman and Commissioner Kerry Schwartz of South Padre Island requested the City of PI make a proclamation recognizing the importance of animal welfare and the need to address inhumane practices associated with puppy mills.
Commissioner Carmen Rios appointed Nancy Martinez to the Economic Development Corporation Board, to replace Scott Friedman.
Despite the risk of having fewer responses, the City rejected a low bid of $968,000 by Rene Guerra & Sons for the Garcia and North Shore Reconstruction project. Therefore, the City will have to readvertise the project for bidding. G&T Paving was the only other contractor to initially bid on this project, with a high bid of over $1 million.
“We have been trying to encourage more contractors to bid on projects out here. We have a limited number of contractors that usually work in our area, so it does cause us to pay higher prices. So, we have been working very diligently to try and attract additional contractors… I would say if we were to reject it, it would probably lead some people to not want to turn in bids to us,” City Manager Jared Hockema advised prior to the motion.