By Anton Riecher
In a major move and interesting turn of events, the Devine city council voted 5-0 to authorize obtaining an appraisal of the property and discussed the possibility of selling the airport.
On a motion by District 4 council member Josh Ritchey, seconded by District 5 council member Debbie Randall, the council voted unanimously at a Jan. 23 special meeting to move ahead with the appraisal. In addition, Ritchey asked if the Federal Aviation Administration could be contacted to determine if any grant money awarded to support the airport can be forgiven.
“I don’t know if it’s reasonable that we can get enough out of it but at least we can make an educated decision and see if we can recoup any money (and) apply it to a water tower or a street or salary of any number of holes we have in our budget,” Ritchey said.
Randall said her agreement with frequent opponent Ritchey might risk triggering a local earthquake. Still, if the appraisal comes close to covering the nearly $1.9 million the city owes on airport projects the sale would be worth it.
“At this point my opinion is the airport is never going to be self-sufficient, no matter what we do,” Randall said. “It seems like it is just draining us.”
Mayor Butch Cook joined Randall in her support of the proposed sale. Without a large injection of capital, the airport becoming profitable is “a long shot.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” he told Randall. “The airport is a really tough issue. If it’s feasible at all to sell it, well, yeah, I would be very much in favor of it personally.”
The council’s action marks a major turning point on the issue. Randall said that in her years on the council there had never been more than a passing reference to any possible sale.
Bring the issue to a head was action by the council last year to take possession of three hangars via eminent domain.
“Before those hangars were purchased it was fairly close to paying for itself,” Cook said. “Then we go and buy a million dollars’ worth of hangars and there lies the problem.”
(Note: Mayor Cook, nor Council members Pyron, Hernandez, or Ritchey were on council when the purchase of the airport hangars was approved by the city council in 2022. In fact, at that time, as a citizen Ritchey spoke up against the idea of spending that million on the airport, prior to being a councilman.
The only council members who were part of that decision to purchase hangars in 2022, and are still currently serving are Randall and Vega. At that time, it was stated that TxDot/ FAA was threatening to take back airport grants, so the council acted quickly to purchase the hangars to get the situation under control. Yet, still to this day, no proof has ever been produced of those supposed TxDot or FAA threats.)
District 2 council member Michael Hernandez referred to the purchase as an example of how actions by the council alone have wide ranging effects on the city and its population.
“I think that it was a bad decision when we bought those (hangars),” he said. “Look at where we stand now.”
In other action concerning the airport, City Administrator David Jordan reported that at least three interested parties have contacted his office about Hangar 10 since the council authorized him to negotiate possible rental of the airport hangars.
The best offer for the airport’s largest hangar was $2,000 a month from a party interested in making improvements to the property, Jordan said. Randall noted that the council turned down a similar offer nearly a year ago.
Another city project on the agenda was plans to build a new ground storage tank near Warhorse Stadium. On a motion by Randall, seconded by District 1 council member Ruffino Vega, the council voted unanimously to begin spending money on the project with the funds to be reimbursed in April when a $2.5 million certificate of obligation is deposited with the city’s bank.
City Administrator David Jordan said the procedure allows the city to start the planning process now instead of waiting until the funds reach the bank.
“We can simply use the funds we have right now to start the pre-planning process,” Jordan said.
In another financial decision, the council voted unanimously to transfer $92,000 from the city’s general fund to the water and sewer fund to help make bond payments. City Accountant Denise Duffy said that the water and sewer fund does not have adequate money to cover the debt service payment.
At the request of Mayor Cook, council members drafted a preliminary list of street priorities for repair during the remainder of the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The list included Zig Zag Ave., Windy Knoll, West Malone Drive, Coker Ave., Mcannelly Ave., Devine Drive and Webb Street.
Cook said that Precinct 4 Commissioner Danny Lawler had requested the list to obtain approval from the Medina County Commissioners Court with regard to upcoming road repair and improvement projects in Devine.
The council voted unanimously to order a general election for May 4 for city council seats in districts 1, 3 and 4.