SPI City Council hands out awards

By KREIG KOHL
Special to the PRESS

Dec. 7 saw the South Padre Island City Council hold its regularly scheduled meeting. Beginning with the administration of oaths to the newly elected officials, the first being with re-elected council member place one, Kenneth Medders Jr. The swearing-in was performed by Judge Bennie Ochoa the IV.
Before starting, Ochoa made a comment saying, “People ask me how I’ve been, and I tell them, another day in paradise. I can’t complain. We are very fortunate to live where people vacation, and it’s because of the council here that keeps it beautiful.”
Before public comments were made, Mayor Patrick McNulty took a few moments to apologize for the delay in the meeting, as he had a meeting in Weslaco, with Speaker Felin and some local mayors regarding infrastructure projects in the Rio Grande Valley.
“We had a good discussion regarding that [the second causeway]. So, everybody write your local representative to encourage us to have the second causeway placed on the next TXDot funding route,” said McNulty.
Council Member Eva Jean Dalton asked that everyone take a minute to remember that Dec. 7 was Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. She asked all veterans to stand to be recognized.
She then continued on to say, “I am bombarded by calls about Laguna Boulevard. We’ve got to do something about it.”
She mentioned problems with drainage being reported about the section that was recently finished, though, did say it could have something to do with the weather.
One of the public comments made at the meeting was from Shoreline Direct Kristina Boburka, letting the council know that the city received funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for dune restoration.
The next public comment was from a developer in the region who was wanting to develop on the north part of the Island. He mentioned that the setbacks needed to build would take up most of the land between the road and the ocean, leaving only 70 Ft. for building. His suggestion was for the city to annex the county land and estimated the city could make close to three million in property taxes if the right buildings were built on the land.
Following this was Barry Sullivan, a property owner, who felt that the City of South Padre Island was in need of recognition for everything it has done.
Sullivan told the council, “We’re getting back to the family resort, instead of being an entertainment center…We’re getting back to what the Island was always meant for, which is family. The recognition the city gets is very little.”
With the end of public comments, the city recognized Desiree Vidaurri for her heroic acts. These heroic acts were her quick implementation of the Heimlich Maneuver to save another person’s life.
Next the Texas Environmental Health Association presented the Young Professional of the Year Award. This award is only given out to one person throughout the entire state every year.
Of the award winner TEHA President Kasey Roman said, “The city of South Padre Island should be honored at the caliber of the employees they have here. They are helpful, kind and have a passion for environmental health that is hard to find, and I applaud them for that.”
The award was presented to Noe Guerrero.
Another award given was to the National Environmental Health Association Affiliate of Merit. This award has over 6,000 nominations from across the country and only 18 were given out this year. The TEHA can only nominate a single person from the state of Texas. The winner of this prestigious award was Victor Baldovinos.
The city awarded the group Forever Beautiful South Padre Island for its efforts with the 2022 Beach Cleanups. The only documented time the group did not have beach cleanup was during the Covid pandemic. They assist the city with the adopt-a-beach cleanup, which sees close to 150 people volunteer.
The final awards given out were the winners for the 33rd Annual South Padre Island Christmas Parade. In Specialty Units, the Port Isabel Junior High Silver Stars Dance Team tied for first place with Port Isabel High School Silver Bells. In the floats division, first place went to the South Padre Island Birding Center and Alligator Sanctuary, with second going to Upper Deck Merrymakers, and third going to SPI Handyman, with the honorable mention going to Sea Turtle Inc.
The next step on the agenda was City Manager Nikki Soto letting the council know that starting Dec. 9 they are accepting applications for city boards, committees and task forces. Each position is appointed by the council and the position is held for two years. Deadline for applications is Dec. 28.
Moving onto their regular agenda the council began by looking into appointing a Mayor Pro-Tem, to which they appointed Kerry Schwartz to the position with only one vote against. The second item was the approval of budget line items from Project Grant Agreement RPT2103 which was approved in the value of 244,811 dollars. The third agenda item was awarding the contract for the Island Metro Transit Bus Shelter for 150,408 dollars and was approved by the council.