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By Anton Riecher
By a 4-0 vote, the Lytle City Council amended the drought fee utility rate schedule originally passed in August to discourage high usage during periods of mandatory water restrictions.
City Administrator Zachary Meadows told the council at its Jan. 12 meeting that the city staff grew concerned that the amounts charged in the lowest tiers of the drought fee schedule might have an adverse effect on customers.
“It really wasn’t fair across the board when you really look at the numbers,” Meadows said. “What I really think the main objective tonight should be is coming up with a more equitable charge across the board.”
A drought fee is an additional fee imposed by a city-owned water utility on customers during severe water shortages, designed to discourage high water usage and enforce conservation. Under Stage 4 restrictions, the fee for between 3,001-to10,000 gallons is $25, rising by tiers to $250 for over 100,000 gallons.
Under the amended structure proposed by Meadows the drought fee for 3,001-to-10,000 gallons of water used would drop from $25 to $5. From 10,001-to-25,000 gallons the fee will drop from $30 to $10. However, the additional charge for 25,000-to-50,000 would increase from $40 to $50 with further increases in the next four ascending tiers in the schedule.
Meadows said the drought fees are the result of mandatory pumping restrictions invoked on municipalities by the Edwards Aquifer Authority due to ongoing drought conditions.
“We are told we can’t use as much water and if residents and businesses continue to use more water we are going to go over (the restrictions) and we have to…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

Tuesday, 01/13/26, The Current Events Club had their monthly meeting hosted by Sarah McAlpin, Judy Eaddy, Cathy Mechler, Miriam Lopez, Debbie Randall and Sessie Franceschini. The program for the day was an overview of events held by the Driscoll Public Library given by Stacy Pyron. Many events are open to the public and some are held for age specific. They have crafting after hours, Lego club, planner club, story time for children, and sit & stitch.
The meeting attendees also held discussion how Wreaths Across America went in December. The wreaths were removed on January 10th.
The next meeting will be February 10, 2026, if you are interested in attending, please contact Linda Kreinhop 713-562-7504.

Kathleen Calame
Publisher, The Devine News
Crews for AEP Texas have been busy working around Devine the past few months upgrading infrastructure by replacing aging electric poles and wires, doing enhanced vegetation control by aggressive tree trimming and cleaning along power line right of ways, as well as adding new technologies. All to improve overall grid reliability for South and West Texas customers, aimed to shorten outages due to extreme weather, and reduce wildfire risks. They also aim to strengthen the grid for faster power restoration and greater resilience.
In Devine they are upgrading poles and the feeder wire between the substations. Devine is part of a very important corridor with large transmission lines to Pearsall which feeds a lot of power to West Texas and Laredo. Work can be seen on Colonial Parkway, Brown, and main streets Hwy 132 (Teel Drive), and West Hondo Ave (Hwy 173), to name a few.
The area has experienced a lot of population growth, and the $318 million dollar 3-year resiliency plan should help address that and as well as help crews bounce back quickly after a storm with the hardened infrastructure and new technology. The following press releases give additional details:
AEP Texas Advances Resiliency Plan for Stronger Electric Grid
September 22, 2025 AEP Texas continues to make progress on its three-year resiliency plan to strengthen the electric grid and improve its resiliency and reliability for customers across South and West Texas. Contractors have successfully replaced 765 poles and restrung miles of wire in the last few months, and continue focusing on vegetation management.
With engineering efforts nearing 90 percent completion for this year’s projects, the number of active crews will expand to 55 by the end of the year. This ramp-up supports AEP Texas’s 2025 goal of replacing 3,700 poles and 76 miles of wire to meet resiliency standards.
Another area of the resiliency plan focuses on vegetation management. AEP Texas continues its focus clearing vegetation in its rights-of-way to reduce outages caused by tree contact. “Over the next three years, more than…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!

By Anton Riecher
With a full quorum of five commissioners seated for the first time in many months, the Medina County Emergency Services District No. 4 board of commissioners conferred on establishing goals for the coming year during its Jan. 14 meeting.
In the new board’s first major action, Brenda Butler, named as the new board secretary, was asked by board president Steve Smith to develop recommendations for an overall plan for better outreach to the public to communicate ESD4 activities.
“Each time, good or bad, something comes in from the field, we need to be able to get that out and communicate it right away and make sure (the public) understands what is going on,” Smith said. “If we screw something up, then we say ‘Hey, we messed this up, here is where we are at.’”
Butler, appointed to fill a temporary term last year, was named by the county commissioners to a full two-year term on the board. Joining her as new board members are Patrick Bourcier, a previous board member, and Debbie Randall, a former member of the Devine City Council.
Each board member was polled on what position they felt best suited to fill. Smith said he would like to continue for another term as board president.
“There are some things I’d like to get done over the next year that I don’t think I can do in another role,” Smith said.
In the end, each board member won appointment to the position they listed as their first choice. Bourcier said he felt he could contribute best in the vice president position.
“I’ve been involved in the ESD side of this since pretty much the beginning,” he said. “After reviewing the financial report I’ve got to tell you I was excited and happy. I’ve never seen a better set of financial reports.”
A financial report presented by board treasurer Patrick DuBose showed the ESD holding $1.027 million in funds, including $372,744 in money market accounts, $236,223 in operating funds, $126,280 in savings and $340,000 earned from property tax.
Sales tax…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!