PRESIDIO COUNTY – A 2017 ordinance passed by Presidio County Commissioners is receiving new attention as county and city officials have set up multiple meetings to discuss cleaning up unauthorized dumping, litter and junk vehicles in the county.
The county is first looking at south county, where illegal dumps outside of Presidio’s city limits have grown, since the 2017 ordinance has largely been low priority and unenforced.
Judge Cinderela Guevara convened a special “Keep Presidio Beautiful” meeting to kick off the renewed efforts to clean up the county. Over Zoom on Tuesday April 6, Guevara was eager to have the new constable for south county, Adan Covos, begin speaking with property owners who have unauthorized dumps about removing the waste, or properly fencing it in so that neighbors and visitors to the town do not have to see it from the roadways.
Guevara also said Presidio County and Presidio City Attorney Rod Ponton could work with both entities to properly enforce the ordinance through the municipal court and justices of the peace if individuals refused to get in compliance.
Once the ordinance is enforced, Ponton explained how a violation would progress. Residents would receive a certified letter warning that they are not in compliance. If, after a certain date, they remain out of compliance, they will get a citation and have to appear before the municipal judge in city limits or the justice of the peace outside of city limits.
“They’re going to have to have these statutes very clearly defined for them,” Ponton said. “We have to decide what would be a reasonable fine to fine someone.” But before slapping someone with a certified notice or fine, Ponton urged officials to contact those out of compliance “in a friendly way,” since the ordinance enforcement is still new.
The ordinance itself prohibits all littering, dumps that have not been authorized on public or private property and any discarding of garbage into rivers and water drainages that could wash out into state waters.
The ordinance also discusses county garbage collection, which says the county or its agent will maintain regular collection routes within the county. That is not currently in place, but at the meeting, Guevara discussed an interlocal agreement with the city of Presidio to begin collecting waste in the county and dumping it legally into the city’s landfill. “This is already an important element missing from the puzzle,” she said.
Ponton planned a later meeting with Presidio Mayor John Ferguson, interim City Administrator Brad Newton and Tino Martinez, who oversees the city dump, to follow up on plans to put together trash collection and dumping for those living outside of city limits of Presidio. The city attorney believed the additional revenue from those trash collections could make it a worthwhile effort for the City of Presidio.
Martinez said that Presidio residents are already free to dump up to 2,000 pounds of waste without any cost every month. “After that, it’s about $3.47 for every hundred pounds,” he explained.
The judge discussed seeking special grants that help provide rollaways to collect special kinds of waste, and Carlos Mendoza, the supervisor for Presidio and Terlingua with the Texas Department of Transportation, suggested designating cleanup events that encourage people to dump their trash in a legal way.
Chris Weber, the area engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, spoke to officials at the meeting about opportunities to partner with TxDOT, and Presidio city officials requested signage that reads “Keep Presidio Beautiful,” which means joining a TxDOT project that nearby cities like Alpine already participate in.
Weber told officials that it’s easier to get citizens passionate about the topic than to penalize them into participation. “It’s about getting the community to do this, not because it’s law. If you can get people to actually take pride in their home, you’re going to get a lot more compliance, which means you need less enforcement and there’s momentum to do the right thing,” he said.
“If you’re able to capture that inner spirit folks have of ‘this is my home,’ the same reason they want to sweep their porch or plant flowers in springtime. If they care about where they live, folks want to jump on that train.”
The group plans to convene again in early May to put together ideas for a public relations campaign to let people know what is and isn’t allowed under the county ordinance, but already, enforcement was ready to get started.
“[Code enforcement officer Jesus] Vallez is going to take care of things within the city limits and Covos is going to take care of the extraterritorial jurisdiction and out in the county,” said Newton. “Covos, come by and work it out with Vallez to coordinate,” he requested.
Constable Covos said he was ready to go out to patrol and get addresses that aren’t in compliance. “We can send them their letters and I can go from there,” he said.
“The motto for the Presidio schools is ‘Presidio Pride,’” Attorney Ponton said at the conclusion of the meeting. “We all have pride in Presidio and want to clean up Presidio. If we keep getting that word out, I think we’ll have a better response from the public.”