CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

1110 HOUSTON STREET

LAREDO, TEXAS 78040

5:30 P.M.

M99-R-35 MINUTES DECEMBER 20, 1999

I. Call to roll

With a quorum present Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores called the meeting to order.

II. ROLL CALL

IN ATTENDANCE:

Elizabeth G. Flores, Mayor

Alfredo Agredano, Councilmember, District I

Louis H. Bruni, Councilmember, District II

John C. Galo, Councilmember, District III

Cecilia May Moreno, Councilmember, District IV

Eliseo Valdez, Jr., Councilmember, District V

Joe A. Guerra Councilmember, District VI

Mario G. Alvarado, Councilmember, District VII

Consuelo “Chelo” Montalvo Mayor Pro Tempore, District VIII

Gustavo Guevara, Jr., City Secretary

III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

None

V. COMMUNICATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS

Announcements:

A. Eugenia Guerra announced her resignation as chairperson of the Citizen’s Environmental Advisory Committee. She submitted the following letter:

Mme. Mayor, Members of the City Council, my name is Maria Eugenia Guerra, chairperson of the Citizens Environmental Advisory Committee. I recognize this presentation merits no action by council, nonetheless, effective this evening I am tendering my resignation from the Citizens Environmental Committee.

I am one of several committee members who due to deadlines and schedule constraints did not complete the city's required protocol training. That, however, is not the reason I am resigning.

While I recognize that protocol gives city business credibility and a common language for communication, I believe that the substance of the city's work and the substance of the city's direction should take precedence over protocol. Of what use is protocol if you have no substance? If I believed for a moment that the environment had priority for this city government, I would gladly serve.

If I believed for a moment that clean water and quality of life issues were more than something you addressed when you wish to be elected to office, then I would believe that all of us, committee members and council, could be an effective team to address environmental issues. The environment is not even on your short list. Infrastructure, asphalt, ice hockey arenas. And the concerns of your own districts are on your lists. Your actions, or your inactions, speak louder than your words in the bigger regional picture of how we are to sustain life on the degraded ecosystem of the Rio Grande.

It is the sad history of this city and the committees it appoints that this city council ignores committee recommendations, overrides committee decisions arrived at in earnest, and services developers and others who see city appointed committees as little roadblocks to be circumvented. You can ask members of the City of Laredo Planning and Zoning Commission. You can ask members of the City's Landmark Board, the Tree Advisory Board, and you can ask some of the members of the citizens environmental committee who previously served on the hazardous materials advisory committee.

Often you do not listen to the recommendations of those committees. Often you do exactly the opposite of what they recommend.

The citizens haz mat advisory committee worked for about two years to write an ordinance you have yet to enforce and which you have buried inside the ineptitude of the City of Laredo Fire Department. That ordinance asked the City of Laredo to establish an Environmental Services Division and to accord the environment the attention it needs with personnel, funding, equipment, and enforcement. Under funded and understaffed, working with computer equipment from the dark ages, four men are the first line of defense for environmental hazards in a city filled with trucks filled with chemicals and chemical waste moving in and out of Mexico over the watershed of the Rio Grande.

When I think that my work on this committee, and the valuable work of my fellow committee members might be wasted as were the two years we spent writing the previous ordinance which you have not funded or enforced, I feel it is foolhardy for me to serve a council that does not respect the sincere effort of the committees it appoints.

I would like any one of you to tell me why it is agreeable to live on this shared river of raw sewage, why we as a city do not press the Mexican government or our own state and federal agencies to bring action to the dumping of raw sewage into the river. I would like any one of you to justify why it was expedient to look the other way -- especially those of you in city government who were alerted by environmental engineering staff or by me -- when the City of Laredo abused the laws of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Water Act of the State of Texas during the construction of pilings for the new International bridge.

I would like any one of you in environmental engineering or in city management to tell me why there is no consequence for developers who destroy wetlands, particularly the recently destroyed 15 acres of wetlands on a 278-acre tract in South Laredo? What is the point of writing ordinances you have no intention of enforcing?

What in the world is wrong with enforcing laws and statutes that already exist in federal and state code? Why are you so willing to look the other way when it is an environmental concern that might impede a developer? The question doesn't beg an answer. I think it answers itself.

Thank you for your time.

B. Dr. Jim Earhart appeared before Council to announce his resignation as a member of the Citizens Environmental Committee.

C. Rolando Gallegos, employee of Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, appeared in order to offer his services to the City of Laredo. The services he offered are as follows:

New Help From the TNRCC:

Compliance Assistance Specialists

For

Small Business and Local Governments in Texas

What is a compliance assistance specialist?

A compliance assistance specialist is a new local resource for resolving environmental questions and problems confronting small businesses and local governments. Specialists in each of the 16 regional offices of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRRCC) now offer front-line help with these questions, focusing environmental assistance when and where it’s needed. Local specialists also serve as immediate points of contact and liaisons with regulated communities in their regions.

Who is my compliance assistance specialist?

Rolando Gallegos (956) 721-8457 if the compliance assistance specialist for TNRCC Region 16 – Laredo.

How can my compliance assistance specialist help me?

Your local specialist can provide free and confidential help to answer your questions about environmental issues and resolve them before they turn into problems.

What kinds of issues?

Everything from water, air, and waste questions to pollution prevention, regulatory reporting, recycling, and environmental outreach. Many of the TNRCC’s compliance assistance specialists are seasoned agency veterans and all have undergone extensive training.

What happens if problems do occur?

We work together to correct them! Our job is to provide assistance, not perform inspections, issue citations or leyy penalties. All compliance assistance specialists are part of the TNRCC’s Small Business and Local Government Assistance section, an independent part of the agency that is completely separate – and confidential – from the enforcement division.

What other help can you offer?

Anything that furthers your compliance with state environmental regulations. Additional services offered by the TNRCC’s Small Business and Local Government Assistance section include: