Public will be able to voice opinions on single-member maps

HARLINGEN - A public hearing today will solicit public comments on four proposed districting options to create five single-member City Commission districts.

Residents will be able to express their preferences for and objections to the four proposed maps prepared by consultant Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado, Acosta LLP of Austin.

Residents will also be able to submit their own maps.

The districts must be drawn and approved in time for the May 9 municipal election when city commissioners will be elected to represent specific geographic areas.

City Manager Craig Lonon submitted the proposed maps for public consideration last week.

"The plans submitted may not be perfect," Lonon stated at the time. "We could tweak the plans for another six months and still not find a prefect plan."

Tony Gutierrez, one of the organizers of Citizens for a New Harlingen, which pushed for the city charter amendment for five single-member districts, said his group will present a map to the commission.

"We're going to have a map - the perfect map- it's a very good map," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said a San Antonio-based consultant prepared the map, but he did not immediately have the name of the firm.

"We tried to put current commissioners in their own district - those that have implied that they will run (for office) again," Gutierrez said.
The recreation areas and areas of high-job demand are about evenly divided, Gutierrez said.

The four maps are available on the city's Web site, www.myharlingen.us, and are also on display at City Hall, 118 E. Tyler Ave.

Prospective city commission candidates can file at City Hall from Feb. 7 through March 9.

Also at today's meeting the commission will consider returning a 1-acre tract of land to the South Texas Emergency Care Foundation.
STEC donated the land, at 1705 Vermont Ave., where EMS is located now, several years ago for construction of a fire station.

However, the city decided to build a new Fire Station No. 4 on Glasscock Avenue, on a 3-acre tract of land, to provide better service and coverage, Assistant City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said Tuesday.

Gonzalez said the Vermont Avenue land overlapped into San Benito.

STEC requested that the land be returned to the foundation.