Category: Top News Stories

Residents will happy to know The City of Devine received 3 generators delivered this past July 18. Two will be at the site of the Edward’s wells, while 1 will be at the wastewater plant.
It’s been a long time since the historic February 2021 snowfall in which the area received 6-9 inches over a period of a couple days. The historic snowfall and below freezing temps in Texas led to ERCOT’s “rolling blackouts”, lasting 30 hours for some unlucky homeowners in our area. But if you re-call, Devine residents were hit extra hard. Without electricity, or back up generators, the City of Devine was not able to pump water up into the water tower, leaving residents without running water for days on top of the blackouts.

In the months following the “Snowpocalyse” as some called it, city leaders in office at that time vowed to secure back up generators to prevent this from happening again, but complications and issues led to a delay.
Under the leadership of Mayor Butch Cook and new City Administrator David Jordan, who came on board this past November, this issue is a priority. Jordan added that the generators will be brought on-line sometime this week.
“This will greatly reduce the chances of the city going without water during extreme weather and electricity outages,” said City Administrator David Jordan.

By Anton Riecher
A proposed cafeteria and gymnasium space for the elementary school has fallen victim to the cost cutting axe as the Devine school board struggle to keep district wide renovations within the voter approved $11.255 million price tag.
On a motion by trustee Carl Brown, seconded by Chris Davis, the board voted unanimously to approve the schematic plans for the project as presented with the combination cafeteria/gymnasium space eliminated.
“With regret,” said board president Nancy Pepper.
Originally, the district sought $32 million in a bond issue for the district improvements, district superintendent Todd Grandjean explained. When that proposed bond issue was rejected by voters, the board was faced with reevaluating the district’s needs, reducing the proposed renovations and improvements to a $11.255 million bond package that won voter approval.

Unfortunately, when the list of safety and security requirements salvaged from the $32 million bond project was submitted to the contractors the eventual cost was $5 million more than the reduced bond package would cover, he said.
“So we have to figure out what do we have to take away from our wish list to be able to get into the price tag that we’re able to afford,” Grandjean said.
The obvious choice for the cut was the $3.8 million cafeteria/gymnasium space, he said. Also on the chopping block were renovations on the upper floors of the high school building.
Losing the cafeteria/gymnasium means major changes to affecting safety and security at the elementary, Grandjean said. Plans call for moving the current administration building to the opposite side of the campus leaving a gap between the first grade wing and the Kinder wing.
“Now we have to figure out how to connect the Kinder wing to that section that’s the main hall,” Grandjean said.
Losing the gymnasium/cafeteria may be reconsidered in November once the new schematic designs are completed and costs reevaluated.
In other security matters discussed at the Monday night board meeting, Grandjean reported that in addition to state required intruder detection audits the Texas Education Agency will also conduct district vulnerability assessments.
“This is when TEA will come to our campus for approximately three to four days and go top to bottom over every single piece of the safety plan,” he said.
The assessment includes adjustments and recommendations to eliminate any deficiencies found in the plan.
Also under the heading of security, Grandjean reported on the completion of eight-foot-high fencing at the elementary and intermediate campuses. That fencing includes one-inch thick fabric covering effectively making the fence “unscaleable,” he said.
Grandjean announced that the district had been awarded $150,000 under the TEA’s Safety and Facilities Enhancement (SAFE) Cycle 2 program, intended to help schools that have already met required safety standards met other statutory school safety requirements and allowable expenses.
The district was previously awarded $1.1 million under the first cycle of the SAFE program. Grandjean said he had hoped the district would match that amount under second cycle funding.
“We didn’t quite get there but this will still be valuable funds that we can use and not have to take money out of our operating budget,” he said.

By Anton Riecher
Action to consider re-negotiation of the contract governing management of the Devine golf course was approved by a 4-1 vote of the Devine City Council at its July 16 regular session.
Urging the re-negotiation, Mayor Butch Cook said that under the current management of the Devine Golf Group (DGG) the course had reached a positive turning point with the recent completion of improvements to the golf course clubhouse, including a new air conditioning system.
“This golf course is a viable operation, especially now that the clubhouse has been completed,” Cook said.
The motion in favor of considering re-negotiation was made by District 3 council member Jeff Miller and seconded by District 2 council member Michael Hernandez. District 5 council member Debbie Randall was alone in opposing the measure.
DGG Rep Ron Richards questioned why their own District 5 representative doesn’t support them. Randall noted that she does at times.
No preliminary figures on the new contract were introduced during the meeting.

“My intent this evening is not for us to sit here and talk about the numbers, going back and forth,” Cook said. “I just want a consensus of the council if we want to proceed in this direction, to sit down and talk about negotiations.”
Cook said he did not believe the existing contract was good for either the city nor DGG. It covers a 10-year period with an additional 10-year option. In addition to an annual lease payment of $1 a year, the DGG pays the city $1 per paid green fee and $2 per membership every quarter. After five years the DGG payment per paid member increases to $5 each quarter.
“In my mind it should be a short contract that we can negotiate at the end of each term,” Cook said.
In the two years since DGG took over management of the course the city has not paid DGG a dime directly, compared to the previous management contract that cost the city $32,500 a month, he said.
The golf course itself is the property of the city and its maintenance remains the city responsibility, Cook said.
“I’ve said it for a year now since I was elected,” he said. “That property is the property of the City of Devine. It is our job to maintain that infrastructure.”
DGG “inherited some things that were really in bad shape,” Cook said.
“They’ve already paid $17,000 for their half of the wells and pumps which is in the current contract,” he said. “They have gone by the contract explicitly and followed everything in it.”
Cook said he did not want the golf course project to fail for lack of capital expenditure.
“We want these guys to succeed,” he said. “They all have local ties. They’re vested in the golf course. They care about it deeply.”
The council approved payment of more than $5,500 in invoices submitted by DGG to reimburse them for electrical work and other repairs involving water pumps. However, the council rejected two invoices totaling more than $700 in plumbing and another $465 related to fire inspection, citing contract language making DGG responsible for payment.
Council voted to table one of two executive sessions scheduled after it was determined that the items to get discussed – requests for quotes for technology services and city engineer, city attorney and city auditor services – could only be legally discussed in open session.
The items were listed on the agenda under the heading of personnel.
No action was taken after an executive session held to discuss litigation with City Attorney Thomas Cate.
The council voted 3-2 against a request from the Devine Housing Authority asking the city to waive this year’s $4,000 check as payment in lieu of property taxes. Mayor Cook explained that the authority cited the expense of recent improvements to local federal housing.
District 1 council member Ray Gonzales, District 2 council member Michael Hernandez and District 3 council member Jeff Miller voted against granting the waiver.
In another vote against the council majority, council woman Randall voted against an amendment to the airport mowing contract issued to contractor Joe Munoz. Mayor Cook explained that the new contract will be paid monthly as is standard with most service contracts.
Prior to Cook taking charge, the whole contract had been paid up front. Last May since the city was already a month into the contract he agreed to half up front. He was told the mowing contract was ‘usually’ paid in advance to cover the cost of equipment and supplies, he said. “We are not doing ‘business as usual’, we are doing it the right way now. Monthly like the contract says” Cook stated.
In response to a quarterly investment report, council members expressed concern over the low rate of return on more than $2 million in funds waiting to be used in the construction of the city’s new ground storage tank.

Make sure to grab your community guide magazines, available for free at many local businesses, chamber offices, and city offices. This year’s Devine Community Guide, Lytle Community Guide, and the Natalia Community are out and about!

Venezuelan murder suspect found hiding
in a hole after 6+ hour manhunt

K9 officer picks up the scent

After a 6+ hour ordeal, a wanted man considered armed and dangerous was found hiding in a hole in a large field south of Devine. The 25-year old suspect Naudy Hernandez Perez, of Venezuela, was wanted for a Dallas murder, and police believe he was trying to flee the country to Mexico that night when deputies intercepted him on I-35 South this past Thursday night, July 11.
After a massive manhunt he was captured around midnight.
“He had dug a little hole and covered himself up in the tree line,” Sheriff Randy Brown said. “A DPS K9 unit picked up the suspect’s scent and led his handler right to him.”
It all began with a traffic stop as deputies identified the wanted man’s vehicle on I-35 South near MM 119.
Local authorities soon issued a warning notice as the murder suspect fled and went into hiding. Police believed he may have been carrying a 9mm pistol, which was later found inside the vehicle he abandoned.

“My guys were set up on I-35 looking for the vehicle that evening. Around 7 pm, we attempted to stop him, and he fled and jumped out of the vehicle. There was a train on the tracks, and he went either underneath or between the train cars as he fled. So he made it across the thicket of the Black Jacks, and we set up a perimeter,” Sheriff Brown said.
Police, deputies, troopers, border patrol, K9 units, and air support combed the area in the extensive search. BORTAC, a tactical unit of the US Border Patrol, also helped secure the area. The Special Ops group is well-versed in foot chases, and with a murder suspect on the loose in our community, help came from all directions, Sheriff Brown said.
Perez was transported to the Medina County Jail to be charged with the Active Murder Warrant to include new criminal charges. He will be transported back to the county where the Murder charges were filed.
The Medina County Sheriff’s Office would like to give a special thanks to all the agencies involved who assisted with the successful apprehension of this individual: MEDINA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, HONDO POLICE DEPT, TEXAS DPS, FRIO COUNTY, BORDER PATROL, DEVINE POLICE DEPT, SAPD EAGLE.
It is unknown how long the suspect has been in the U.S. and if he was here legally.
“Border Patrol and ICE are looking into that,” Sheriff Brown said.

Hero…

It was a long night for many in the area who locked their doors Thursday night, with helicopters circling overhead and law enforcment combing the area, knowing there was a wanted murder suspect on the loose, believed to be armed and dangerous.
We are all grateful to the many brave men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to capture this dangerous criminal and many others every day.
It’s our pleasure to introduce you to Officer Bona, the K9 that led law enforcement right to the suspect, tracking the suspect for about 2 miles and finding him in about an hour and a half after she deployed! She is a Belgian Malinois from Poland.

By Kayleen Holder
It was inaccurately stated to us that most cities had agreed at least verbally to join the Medina County Regional Water Alliance in previous weeks. We wanted to note that the City of Devine, Lytle, LaCoste, nor Natalia had joined as of last week. Devine and LaCoste was set to discuss it again at their next meeting. Natalia has no plans to join at this time.
City of Devine Administrator David Jordan has attended several meetings so far in order to bring as much information as possible back to council.
“The idea is there’s strength in numbers, but there are still a whole lot of unknowns,” Administrator Jordan said. “We want to get a better understanding of it before making a commitment. We don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We need to know what we are committing to financially as well. We have been told that the City of Devine would be responsible for something like 6.9% of whatever the total cost is, but they haven’t been able to give me a number.”
Scooter Mangold from Yancey Water was set to come to the Devine City Council meeting tonight Tuesday, July 16 (which was press night for us) to answer questions council has.

Other cities are discussing the matter as well.
If you recall, utility companies including East Medina Water, Yancey Water, and Atascosa Rural Water Supply Corp. have joined together forming the Medina County Regional Water Alliance, and hope to join forces with local cities as well.
Medina County is growing by leaps and bounds, and water security is a concern.
In a previous interview, East Medina Special Utility District Superintendent Bruce Alexander who is helping spearhead the Alliance, talked about Medina County’s pressing need for water rights. In fact, local water districts like East Medina have already found themselves needing to acquire more water rights.
“The district leased an additional 300 acre-feet of unrestricted water rights in 2023 to meet system demands. In 2024, we estimate the need to lease up to 600 acre-feet of water rights to meet the increased system demands,” Alexander said in an interview this July.
The Medina County Commissioner’s Court agreed to kick in $92,000 to support the alliance’s initial budget at a meeting July 16.
“Often times the larger utilities have the advantage as smaller systems lack the financial resources to act fast when water rights become available for purchase,” Alexander said.
The projected benefits of the MCRWA will not appear overnight, he adds. Alexander estimates it could take several years to fully fund and construct the infrastructure needed to get the proposed ASR system up and running.
“In hindsight, we probably should have started this years ago,” Alexander said.
He plans to go after state funding available to alliances like the newly created one in Medina County.
Action was taken during the last legislative session to seek voter approval to set aside $1 billion to fund water projects with $250 million, specifically for new water resources like an ASR he explained.
“The current funding opportunity through the Texas Water Development Board combined with our increased growth rates has pushed this issue to the front of the line for East Medina County SUD and Yancey WSC as we work to secure an alternative water source for the current and future residents of Medina County.”
“Each member of the MCRWA would continue to manage the ownership of their individual water rights,” Alexander said. “One vision for the MCRWA is for it to be in a position to gather together any surplus water rights from member systems for storage and future use and to collectively purchase additional water rights that can then be leased to member systems as needed to meet their system demands during critical period reductions of withdrawals from the Edwards Aquifer.
 “Twenty years ago I stressed the need for each water system to own or have direct access to a minimum of 25% more water rights than your anticipated annual demand to be able to meet critical period reductions. Today my recommendation is to have up to 40% more than is needed to ensure that all public water system demands are met during increased critical period reductions based on the level of the aquifer and increasing system demands as a result of development and commercial growth in Medina County,” Alexander adds.
 East Medina has already taken some measures to protect the water supply from the surge of incoming developments.
“The district requires all subdivisions and commercial developments subject to our rules for service to provide transferable Edwards Aquifer unrestricted water rights to the district to meet the demands of the development. Our rules currently require the developer to provide ½ acre feet of water rights for each lot or additional water rights based on their estimated water demands for commercial accounts. In 2023 the district modified this policy to require transferable water rights for any development of four (4) or more lots as a condition of getting water service from the district. Rural water systems are not required to provide service to a development that does not meet the requirements for service as long as the system publishes a notice using specific language and informs developers of the their rules for service,” Alexander said.
Several systems have had this requirement in place for many years.