McAllen City Commission, streetlights, drainage utility fee, roadway projects, District 5 election
Arnoldo Mata
McAllen, TX - McAllen city officials reviewed progress on streetlight installations, drainage utility fee projects and several regular agenda items during City Commission workshop and regular meetings.
During the workshop, Traffic Operations Director Marlen Garza presented an update on the streetlights by district project, which is intended to add lighting to existing neighborhoods in its first phase and high-volume arterials in its second phase.
“The goal of this project is to add additional lighting to existing neighborhoods, which is phase one, and also to high-volume arterials, which is phase two,” Garza said.
Garza said the project is being handled in-house by the traffic department in coordination with AEP and Magic Valley.
“This is an in-house project,” Garza said. “Everything that has been done for this project has been solely done with or by the traffic department in coordination with Magic Valley and AEP.”
Garza said 89 streetlights have been installed this year as part of the project. She said the city has been able to make more progress in areas served by AEP.
District 4 was described as the pilot project and has reached 100% completion. Garza said District 4 was already mapped when she joined the traffic department in 2020.
“District 4 is completed because it was the first district,” Garza said. “It was a pilot project.”
Districts 5 and 6 have been submitted to AEP, but officials said those areas are pending while earlier districts are completed. Garza said AEP has said it wants to work district by district.
City officials also discussed delays involving Magic Valley.
“I have not reached out yet,” city manager Isaac Tawil said. “This presentation is the first I’ve heard we’re not having responses, but believe me, Magic Valley will hear from me in the morning.”
Garza said the department conducts a quarterly streetlight survey to identify lights that are out.
“We, as a traffic staff, go out there and drive all of the streets in McAllen and we tag all the lights that are out,” Garza said.
Drainage Utility Fee Update
City engineer Roel Cruz presented the eighth annual drainage utility fee update, saying the fee was adopted in March 2018 and is paid through utility bills.
Cruz said the city has collected more than $9.5 million over eight years through the fee.
“We think it’s a really good program that was passed by the city commission,” Cruz said. “We want to show, one, the money we’ve collected and how we’ve used that money.”
Cruz said completed projects total about $3 million. Additional projects are under construction or awaiting potential funding, including the Balboa Acres stormwater infrastructure pump station, the Harvey stormwater pump station and the McAllen lateral project.
Cruz said the drainage utility fee has helped move projects into design and construction.
“This utility fee has been put to use,” Cruz said. “We’re taking citizens’ money. We’re making sure that we’re putting it either to construction or design and getting them ready for improvement out in the city.”
Commissioners also discussed how the drainage fee appears on utility bills after a concern was raised that it appeared as a miscellaneous fee.
“We certainly want to be transparent,” Cruz said.
Officials said they would review the billing label.
Regular Meeting Actions
During the regular meeting, commissioners approved several rezoning and conditional use permit items.
A conditional use permit for Young’s Snow, 1905 N. 23rd St., was approved for five years. Officials said the business has operated at the location for many years.
Commissioners also approved a contract for dumpster floors and a contract for the 29th Street roadway widening project from FM 1925 to 107.
Officials said the 29th Street project includes design for about three miles of a four-lane urban roadway, stormwater management, pedestrian pathways and bridge crossings over existing drainage canals.
An additional services contract amendment for the Second Street and Wisconsin Avenue roundabout intersection improvement project was approved in the amount of $16,250, bringing the revised contract amount to $266,250.
Commissioners also approved variance requests tied to the Treehouse apartment subdivision at 801 S. Clay Road and the proposed Rancho Lot 45 subdivision at 5408 S. 27th St.
Other discussion
City officials said early voting for the District 5 special election continues Tuesday, with Election Day set for Saturday at McAllen High School.
The city manager said the next regular meeting will be May 11, with an election canvass scheduled for May 12. The next regular City Commission meeting after that is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26, because Monday, May 25th, is a holiday.