By ARABELLA SERRATA
Special to the PRESS
The South Padre Island [SPI] City Council held a regular meeting on Dec. 4. The meeting began with the official installation of Joe Ricco as Council member, place three.
The board approved items on the consent agenda, including a budget amendment to allocate funds for the Keep Texas Beautiful “Our Texas Our Future” grant, a payment plan request for Hotel Occupancy Tax, additional budget amendments to roll over funding in FY 2024-2025 for outstanding balances on current projects and contracts, amendments to the city of SPI Employee Handbook, resolution to declare various assets as surplus property and allow the city manager to dispose of that property accordingly as well as invoices for payment, and the Nov. 20 City Council meeting minutes.
The board also approved the city manager to negotiate a contract renewal with Dekard Technologies for short-term rental registration and monitoring, and an excused absence for Joe Ricco from the Nov. 20 regular meeting.
The board discussed merging the Development Standards Review Task Force with the Planning and Zoning Commission due to quorum issues and unsteady meeting schedules. Barbara Hays, who currently serves on the Task Force, spoke of the ongoing problem of miscommunication between the Task Force and the City Council. Hays alleges that the issue occurs when the Task Force rejects a project, and the City Council later approves it. She asked the council to consider having a member of the new Task Force be on the agenda when their topics are presented at City Council meetings to argue why the project was rejected. She also expressed remorse for losing the Task Force as it currently is. The merging was approved.
The board discussed the proposed Venue Tax projects by the Special Projects AdHoc Community. An aquarium, deepwater marina, causeway lighting and SpaceX viewing area were discussed, as was the potential financing for these projects.
The aquarium is said to be a potential addition to the existing birding center, and a new butterfly enclosure would be installed after the aquarium. The plans also include a restaurant that leads into the lobby of the birding center. The board approved support of these projects for further discussion with the appropriate parties. The meeting adjourned.
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