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Meetings & Discussions
Mayor Barry Patel, City Manager Bill DiLibero,
and Assistant City Manager Darla Jones met
with Clayton's Beach Bar owner Clayton
Brashear and Sea Turtle, Inc. Executive Director
Jeff George to discuss a traffic signal at the
north end of Padre Boulevard.
City Manager Bill DiLibero, and Assistant City Manager Darla Jones met with a Kimley-Horn
representative and utility companies representatives to discuss potential utility conflicts with the
sidewalks.
City Manager Bill DiLibero and Development Director Dr. Sungman Kim participated in two
conference calls with Peter A. Ravella Consulting to discuss economic benefits related to the
RESTORE Act grant proposals.
Assistant City Manager Darla Jones attended the Texas City Management Association - Region 10
meeting in Pharr to discuss and plan for the upcoming annual conference that will be held on South
Padre Island in June.
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Grant Applications
Transit Director Jesse Arriaga attended a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) meeting in Brownsville to review and discuss the City of
Brownsville's application for TIGER funding this year. The theme for the submission is Connecting
Communities and the application will include the construction of a bike/pedestrian lane for the Queen Isabella
Causeway.
Transit Program Administrator Debbie Carpenter attended a meeting for the Federal Transit Administration's
Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities in Pharr. The purpose of this
meeting was to discuss funding availability and funding requests. Carpenter gave a brief presentation on
Island Metro's transit system and funding request.
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TVSA Site Visit
Natacha Wagner and JJ Lara from the Texas Victims Services Association
visited several venues across South Padre Island this Thursday and Friday.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau Sales Team welcomed the TVSA team for a 2-day site visit of local
restaurants, full-service properties and outdoor activity venues. TVSA has
made South Padre Island their new, permanent host city for all even-numbered years!
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Fire Department
The South Padre Island Fire Department hosted an incident command for hazardous materials
course. The course overviewed different types of hazards and how they relate to each city. Students
were placed in tabletop exercises filling in the roles as Incident Commanders. The course was free of
charge and was provided by Texas Department of Emergency Management. After completion of the
course, commanders walked away with certification pertaining to hazardous material incident
response.
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Police Department
On Monday, the license plate reader captured and
sent out an alert of a stolen vehicle. SPI-PD
Officers located the
vehicle and made a felony
traffic stop right outside of the police station.
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South Padre Island
Police Officer Juan
Hernandez has been
called to active duty for
a period of one year. We
wish him a safe return.
We would also like to wish a happy retirement to Officer Jaime Gonzalez!
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City Park
The concrete foundations were poured last
Monday and the contractor is
currently grading and setting the forms
for the sidewalks.
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Gulf Boulevard Water Line Project
The Laguna Madre Water District (LMWD) hired a contractor to
install a new 8" water line from
Gardenia Street to Hass Street along Gulf Boulevard
in anticipation of the Phase 4
Street Improvement Project. The
contractor finished saw-cutting
the pavement and driveways last
week and began installing the
new water line this week.
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Mosquito Minimization
Due to recent rains, EHS staff has been aggressive in the fight to minimize mosquitoes. Staff
continues to conduct pesticide spraying and larviciding throughout the Island to increase public
safety. Staff will diligently monitor both weather conditions and mosquito activity to continue
pesticide spraying and larvaciding.
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Phone Book Recycling
The Environmental Health Services Department (EHSD)
encourages everyone to recycle old phone books. You can
drop them off during regular Saturday recycling hours
from 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. at 4501 Padre Boulevard. If
you require special assistance, please make arrangements
with EHSD by calling 761-8123, and we will gladly assist
you with your recycling needs.
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HOT Tax Permit Registration
Final compliance date was July 1, 2015!
Notices of Violation have been, and continue to be sent to several property owners on the island.
The City of South Padre Island has passed Ordinance 15-03 requiring all property owners who advertise their property for short term rental to register their residential rental unit (s (house, condo, apartment or bedroom) with the City, AND to comply with all applicable laws including the collection and remittance of hotel tax. Register today online at
www.myspi.org/hottax
, the final compliance date is July 1st 2015.
To learn how to comply with the new City Ordinance please view the pre-recorded webinar.
We will also be available by phone to answer any questions you may have. Call Georgina Ramos: (956) 761-8382 or Email:
[email protected].
If you have a Rental Property Manager on the island they may be handling the registration process for you.
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Brush Time
The Environmental Health Services Department would like to remind you to please place your brush and bulky items on the right-of way from the 25th to the last day of the month for pick up on the first three workdays of the month. Thank you for doing your part in keeping South Padre Island beautiful!
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Water Conservation
At South Padre Island we're no strangers to water, but we're also no strangers to harsh Texas droughts; which is why we need to remember to conserve water. Please don't leave sprinkler systems or water hoses running unattended for long periods of time and only water your yards and wash your vehicles when necessary. This is just one small step we can take to help reduce waste.
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GOING GREEN
Texas Commission of Environmental Quality reminds you - Resolve to Make a Difference in 2016:
Reduce Junk Mail
Resolve to save time, conserve energy, and preserve trees by opting out of junk mail! Households
and businesses receive over 80 billion pieces of junk mail each year; most of this ends up in
our landfills.
You can easily opt out of offers of credit and insurance on the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry
website at www.optoutprescreen.com. Visit the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference
Service at www.dmachoice.org to stop receiving commercial mail from many national
companies. Important: Both secured sites will ask for personal information, such as your address.
Replace Older Toilets
This resolution is a little more difficult and a bit more costly. However, it makes a big difference in
water conservation. Toilets use the most water in the home. By replacing one older toilet with the
most water-efficient type, you can save up to 13,000 gallons of water and over $100 each year. If
just one in four families in Texas replaced one older toilet with a 1.28-gallon-per-flush toilet, it
would save more than 28 billion gallons of water every year. (takecareoftexas.org)
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Recycling
Recyclable items can be taken to Old City Hall every Saturday from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
Items that can be recycled are:
- Newspaper
- Cardboard
- Office Paper
- Aluminum
- Tin
- Plastic
To offer a better recycling service please:
- Compact, crush or break down plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, aluminum cans or any other items that may be reduced in size. This helps us use the most amount of space in the bins.
- Remove any food, liquid, metal fasteners, adhesive materials or other items that may contaminate the whole load.
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Animal Control
Friends of Animal Rescue operates the South Padre Island Recovery Center and Animal Shelter. The shelter is licensed by the State of Texas as an animal shelter and quarantine facility.
The shelter is located at 4908 Padre Blvd and open to the public Tuesday-Sunday from 10 AM to 4:30 PM. We do make arrangements to meet owners after hours if necessary in order to reunite pets with their families. Friends of Animal Rescue can be reached on their 24 hour hotline at 956-772-1171. Animals that are not claimed within 7-10 days are vetted (including Spay/Neuter) and adopted out to loving homes.
Friends of Animal Rescue is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. To see the latest animals found or furry friends up for adoption please check out the Friends of Animal Rescue
Facebook
page.
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Incentive Policy
The South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation and the City of South Padre Island have approved an incentive policy in order to assist qualified new and existing businesses and to benefit the economic climate on the Island. Businesses can apply for property tax abatements as well as sales tax abatements for improvements that will contribute to the economy of South Padre Island. The City and the EDC will evaluate the applications to determine if they meet the established criteria for the programs. You can find a link to the policy, guidelines, and applications on both the City web page (
www.myspi.org) and the South Padre Island EDC web page (
www.southpadreislandedc.com)
For more information, contact Darla Lapeyre, South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation Executive Director, at (956) 761-6805 or
[email protected]
; or Dr. Sungman Kim, City of South Padre Island Development Director, at (956) 761-8113 or
[email protected]
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FREE Business Listing
Calling all South Padre Island businesses! Please be sure to update your FREE business listing on the Convention & Visitors Bureau website (
www.sopadre.com
). If you haven't been provided with your login credentials, please contact Carlos Centeno by phone at (956) 761-8390, or email at
[email protected]
. By using your FREE business listing you have the ability to upload images, coupons, business description, and much more. Take advantage of this FREE marketing tool provided by the Convention & Visitors website.
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EVENTS
Looking for even more events? We've added and a new 'EVENTS' tab at the top of this newsletter! Just click that link and you can view our full calendar of events.
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Date
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Event
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Location
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Time
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| Apr 5-10 |
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The Quarterdeck Lounge |
9:00 PM
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| Apr 6 |
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SPI Golf Course
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| Apr 6 |
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The Quarterdeck Lounge
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7:00 PM
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| Apr 6-7 |
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The Garden Grille & Bar
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6:00 PM
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| Apr 7 |
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The Hilton Garden Inn
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6:00 PM
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| Apr 8-9 |
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Clayton's Beach Bar & Grill
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9:15 PM
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| Apr 10 |
South Padre Island Farmers Market
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NAMAR Event Center
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11:00 AM
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| Apr 11 |
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The Quarterdeck Lounge
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9:00 PM
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