February 4th City Council Meeting
Items include a tourism update, possible changes to agenda timelines, and a final reading of an ordinance updating park rules. 👏
Below are important items for the council meeting on Tuesday, February 4th at 5:30 PM. The full agenda can be found here. My opinions are in italic. Any errors are my own and not that of the city.
Note: I’ll be out of town at an ed-tech conference so I won’t be able to attend.
City Council Meeting at 5:30 PM
Tourism update by Director of Tourism, Chris Ruggia. [M. Antrim]. Chris Ruggia will go over data from Zartico that covers Alpine hotel and tourism visits. Interesting facts from his presentation are below:
A total of $776,835.63 in HOT funds was brought in for FY 2023-2024.
Odessa-Midland was the top visitor market in both 2023 and 2024.
San Angelo visitors spent the most per credit card holder, at $348 per user.
Visitors account for 62% of spending at Alpine restaurants, or $86 per average user, and 59% of spending at retail in Alpine, or $138 per average user.
Discuss the current timeline for creating city council meeting agendas [R. Stephens]. Council will discuss amending the deadline for items to be added to upcoming agendas. Items typically must be added by the day after a council meeting. Extending the deadline gives city leaders and council persons more time to add items, but limits the time for the city secretary to prepare council packets and for council persons to prepare for meetings by having access to agenda packets.
More information can be found in Sec. 23-9 of Chapter 23 in Municode.Approve Ordinance 2025-01-02, an ordinance amending Chapter 74 - Parks and Recreation [M. Antrim]. Council will discuss the second and final reading of an ordinance updating general park rules. The Big Bend Sentinel wrote an article going over changes, which include laying a foundation for event permitting at the parks, standardizing rules across all parks, updating open hours, and clarifying rules on alcohol and tobacco.
Quick Notes on this Agenda
Council will discuss establishing an Airport Committee [R. Stone].
Council will reauthorize the Alpine Environment Services department to participate in the Keep Texas Beautiful and Governor’s Community Achievement Award programs [M. Antrim]. Shout out to Adelina Beall who leads the Environmental Services department. That department won FIRST prize, for a city of our size, in the last Governor’s Community Achievement program. The prize is a $100,000 project to beautify Alpine - more details to come.
Three special use permits are being requested for Wine and Malt Beverage permits; two for off-premise sales and one for on-premise sales.
The Triangle Gas Station - Off-premise Permit
Amigos off 11th Street - Off-Premise Permit
Harry’s Tinaja - On-Premise Permit