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Edinburg City Council emphasizes the importance of Fine Arts and prepares Municipal Pool redesign finalization

Mayor Richard Molina opened Tuesday’s City Council meeting with an update on the number of citizens who have gotten the chance to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
“2,000 people have received their shot this week alone,” said Mayor Molina, mentioning that the total of citizens vaccinated is now over 12,000.
The city of Edinburg continues to work with its community partners like Doctors Hospital at Renaissance to get everyone in the community who wants to be vaccinated the opportunity to get immunized.
“There are many more of these events coming in the future,” said Mayor Molina before moving on to public comments.
There were two public comments: the first was about the use of masks and variance, the second was concerned with allegations that resulted in a termination of a director of the Hidalgo County Golf Course.

Mayor Molina acknowledged the first of the two proclamations, as requested by ECISD Fine Arts Director Nelly Villareal and Arts Coordinator Elizabeth Fuentes, which recognized March 2021 as Youth Art Month.
Youth Art Month is an annual celebration to emphasize the value of art education for youth art programs. The Youth Art Month has been hosted for the past five years by the Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial Library in partnership with the district’s Fine Arts program. Art education teaches a deeper understanding of multicultural values and beliefs, student mastery in art production, art criticism, and art history.
“The city of Edinburg joins in national efforts to spotlight the importance of youth art programs and the arts in general and supports art teachers as they promote art education in the schools and their communities,” said Mayor Molina.
The second recognition was also about the Performing Arts and recognizing March as Theatre In Our Schools Month. Gonzalo Delgado, a sophomore from Robert Vela High School, approached the stand.
“I could not be more thankful to the city of Edinburg for advocating for the arts in ways we all need during these tough times,” said Delgado, who requested for his school’s administration to recognize the importance of Theatre Arts.
Robert Vela Principal Michelle Pena then spoke.
“One of the first emails I received from a student was from this young man right here,” said Pena. “We’re extremely proud of this young leader.”

Theatre in Our Schools Month raises awareness about the value of theatre education. The American Allegiance For Theatre and Education, the Educational Theatre Association, and the International Thespian Society have partnered together to spread this information among schools.

There was a variance request from Rio Delta Engineering to the City’s Unified Development Code.
The Planning & Zoning Commission recommended disapproval of this item by a vote of 5-0 during a previous meeting held on February 9, 2021.
“This is a rural type of subdivision, half of it is acres. The density is a lot less,” said Ivan Garza.
There was a motion to reapprove, and the motion carried, 4-0.
The rest of the agenda items were approved, alongside approval for the rejection of bid No. 2021-17.
According to Councilman White, the only reason for rejection of this item because it only received one bid.
There was one qualifying bid; however, the council recommends rejection due to lack of competition.
There was no further discussion, and the remaining bids continued.
The final bid comes from Capable Kids Foundation Inc.
The point of the agenda item is to negotiate an architectural contract to redevelop the Municipal Pool. The bathhouse will be demolished and rebuilt and will incorporate an inclusive sensory pool area called the Capable Kids Cove.
The new bathhouse and sensory pool area were approved and will be completed by July 2022.
“We’re also working on the park as well,” said Mayor Molina. “This is action.”
The council then moved on to resolutions. The first involved authorizing a temporary waiver of permit fees associated with mobile food vendor permit application and inspection for a period of 6 months commencing March 16, 2021, to September 16, 2021. The second one was a resolution authorizing the City Manager to submit a grant application to the Office of the Governor under the Fiscal Year 2022 Local Border Security Program (LBSP-22) and to execute all grant documents.
Both were approved before Mayor Molina called on a closed Executive Session before adjourning.
Mayor Pro-Tem Gilbert Enriquez was not present at this meeting.

1 Comment

  1. Jose tapia on March 22, 2021 at 7:05 am

    in edinburg tx. we need to tell the people that have abandoned homes especially if they are falling apart. to tear them down. they are nuance, infestation with rats and cats.all kind of bugs. They need to be fined.city looks bad.

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