Much covered in Clouse's last turn

Mayor Mickey Clouse's last regular City Council meeting Monday evening covered a lot of ground.

The council discussed a wide variety of topics, including airline service for the Big Bend, support for the growing Theatre of the Big Bend summer repertory program, lack of evaluation procedures and registered sex offender ordinances.

In its final act of the evening, the council declined to go into executive session, as requested by the mayor, to discuss the job performance of Chuy Garcia, city manager, and Rod Ponton, city attorney.

A presentation by Richard King of King Airways drew the most discussion, both from the council and from audience members.

King was assisted in his presentation by Gil Bartee, who works with the Sierra La Rana development south of Alpine.

King said he's embarked on a survey to determine whether scheduled and on-demand service can be sustained in the Big Bend. King is convinced the concept has merit, if done with the proper business model.

His key points for success include:

€ King Airways will use 7- to 10-passenger planes rather than the larger 19-passenger planes that Lone Star Airways tried to fly in here in the 1990s. Lone Star was never able to fill those larger planes.

€ King Airways will operate both scheduled flights and on-demand flights.

€ King Airways is doing actual market research.

€ King Airways has an office, has purchased two planes and already has a management team (chief pilot, director of maintenance, director of operations, etc.)

King is in the research stage at this point. His purpose Monday night was to explain his vision to the council and to obtain their initial support.

He plans to work closely with the city's Airport Board over the next few months as research is accumulated and decisions are made.

King and Bartee both told the council that initial reception from community and business leaders has been beyond expectations.

"What would you expect from the City Council in terms of resources?" Councilman Avinash Rangra asked King.

"We need terminal space, hangars, ramp space, inexpensive fuel, a fuel truck," he said. "Much of what we need is already there.

"We want to explore the idea of managing the Alpine Airport," he added. "We want to see if there's a synergy."

Rangra followed up by asking, "Would you expect any subsidies?"

"Yes and no," King said, smiling. "We will be applying for subsidies with various granting authorities. Grants will need matching funds: from me, from the city, maybe even from local hotels and motels." Matching funds can mean actual money; it can also mean "in-kind" contributions.

Eagle Pass used a similar model for financing and grant accumulation, King said, and the venture was profitable within four months.

So, "how much should the city be contributing," Rangra asked.

"I don't know that yet," King said. "First, we need to capture demand and then we can quantify."

King and Bartee both noted that the concept involves service for the entire Big Bend, focused at Alpine's airport. Similar methods have been used in New Mexico at Carlsbad and Roswell.

City Attorney Ponton interjected, saying that Texas Department of Transportation officials had indicated substantial state money was available to pay for terminal improvements or a new terminal. In an aside, Ponton also said Alpine's airport is the oldest in Texas.

The current terminal is a one-room affair with a couch, a water cooler and a TV at one end and the radio communication set-up at the other end.

An airport board member in the audience, asked to give his opinion, said, "I like what they're doing. It's very encouraging. They are starting on a smaller scale [than previous local incarnations]. I'm behind it."

Councilman Gerald Raun followed up Monday night on questions he had in an earlier meeting about the sale of bulk water to nonresidents.

At present, bulk water sales -- to local customers or nonresident businesses -- are pegged at $3 per thousand gallons. Raun wants to raise the rate for nonresidents to $4.50 per thousand gallons. He asked the city staff to draw up an ordinance to do just that.

When asked what other cities do, City Manager Garcia said most cities that he was in contact with charged nonresidents 25 cents per barrel, which is 50 to 55 gallons, which computes to $4.50 to $5 perthousand gallons.

Dona Roman and Liz Castillo from Sul Ross's Theatre of the Big Bend made an impressive presentation about the 2008 summer season and the repertory company's economic impact on Alpine and the Big Bend area.

Roman asked the council for $20,000 in hotel/motel tax money to be used for advertising the event throughout West Texas and beyond.

Theatre of the Big Bend is a seven-weekend production and drew 40 percent of its audience from outside the immediate area, which translates to money spent at Alpine hotels, restaurants and other businesses.

"Our conservative estimate this year is that 5,000 will attend our performances," Roman said.

Roman is the guiding force behind a vision that could take the Theatre of the Big Bend to the front rank of summer theater in the region, even the nation.

This year alone, Theatre of the Big Bend is bringing new jobs to Alpine: 12 paid interns will be employed and four paid professionals will work in all facets of production.

Roman and Castillo are also enthusiastic about spinning off a significant bilingual theater festival by the year 2010, to be held in a refurbished Kokernot Park amphitheater.

Castillo caught the council's and the audience's attention with a short presentation on the opportunities offered by a bilingual theater festival that focuses on "bicultural heritage."

Our cultural heritage in the Big Bend is unique, Castillo said, adding, "I don't want to export out talent elsewhere."

There is a burgeoning talent pool of bilingual artists, writers, actors, etc., she and Roman said. Today, much of that talent heads to California or the University of Arizona. Sul Ross and Alpine, given the foundation already built, are poised to bring that talent to the Big Bend.

"We can become a mecca for multicultural works," Castillo said.

The council unanimously approved awarding the $20,000 to Theatre of the Big Bend.

Councilman Rangra asked the council to consider the evaluation process -- more specifically, the lack of such a process -- for city employees hired by the council.

His questions were in reaction to an agenda item requesting an executive session to evaluate City Manager Garcia and City Attorney Ponton.

"My problem," Rangra said, "is that we don't really have a mechanism for evaluation."

The mayor then said, "We put evaluation forms in all [council members' mail boxes]. Didn't you get it?"

"But has the council approved the evaluation form, procedure?" Rangra said. "We need to establish criteria and forms to use."

When asked his opinion, Ponton said, "If you don't have pre-approved standards" and you fire an employee, then that employee might have grounds for a lawsuit. "In personnel matters, you should evaluate on a set of advance-approved criteria."

A motion was made to postpone discussion of evaluations until specific procedures can be discussed and implemented.

Ponton said Police Chief Russell Scown told him that feedback concerning a proposed convicted sex-offender ordinance has convinced him that the wording of the ordinance needs to be changed.

Convicted sex offenders are categorized as high, medium and low risks to society. Scown wants to amend the language of the ordinance to make the restrictions less onerous on low-level risks.

"I would recommend that we postpone action on the ordinance while I address new language," Ponton said. The council approved his recommendation.

In other action:

€ Ponton told the council he had met with Ramada Inn ownership and had reached an agreement that delinquent motel/hotel taxes would be paid over the next year -- and the Ramada would stay current with new taxes. There was some discussion about whether late fees could or should be required. No action was taken.

€ Garcia said the city's water project is on schedule.

€ Garcia said repairs on the swimming pool are progressing. He's hopeful the pool will open on time this summer.

Much covered in Clouse's last turn

Mayor Mickey Clouse's last regular City Council meeting Monday evening covered a lot of ground.

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