20 Oct Del Rio Council Falls Short on $941,000 Pool Contract With Mayor Pro Tem’s Company

A $941,000 contract to rehabilitate the Buena Vista Pool, awarded to a company owned by Mayor Pro Tem Randy Quinones, failed to pass the Del Rio City Council on Oct. 13, according to the 830 Times. It got three yes votes, but the city charter requires four.

The company is Connected Home Solutions, which does business as Stella’s Pools. Voting yes were Councilmen Leno Hernandez, J.P. Sanchez and LeRoy Briones. Mayor Al Arreola and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez voted no. Councilwoman Elsa Reyes was absent. Quinones, who represents District 3, recused himself and left the chambers before discussion began.

Arreola first announced the item had passed. Afterward, City Secretary Mari Acosta pointed out the four-vote requirement, and City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith confirmed the contract did not pass but can be brought back at the next meeting.

Situations like this do come up in small cities, and they’re allowed when the official follows the rules. Texas law doesn’t bar a council member’s company from city work. It requires an official with a substantial financial interest in a business, which includes owning 10% or more of its voting stock, to file an affidavit disclosing it and abstain from discussion and votes on the matter. Smith told the council a conflict of interest does exist here, but it was disclosed, and the waivers and affidavit were filed. She said Quinones consulted the city secretary at each step, and that his recusal went beyond what’s required. She added that members have filed such affidavits before without winning the work.

On the bidding, Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez and Purchasing Agent Luis Menchaca said the city advertised the job twice, six weeks each time. Nobody responded the first time, and the second round brought in two bids, one of them local. Menchaca said staff also emailed 15 pool vendors, including three or four he believed were local, and that the city started putting notices on its Facebook page this year. The other bidder, he said, gave a longer timeline, and staff picked Stella’s as the better fit. Bid paperwork doesn’t normally show a company’s owners, he said.

Sanchez said the bid came in nearly $600,000 under budget and, as he understood it, the other company’s price started at $1.5 million. That figure wasn’t confirmed in the discussion. He also argued that hiring locally keeps the money in Del Rio.

Arreola said he has no problem with Quinones, his company or the price, but several vendors told him they never saw the bid, and he had never seen a sitting council member win a contract this size. He asked whether the council would hold Quinones to a higher standard, since the city manager overseeing his work answers to the council. He also noted the project refurbishes the pool and doesn’t build a new one.

Gutierrez raised the same supervision problem and asked how disputes or change orders would be handled.

Hernandez, who made the motion, said the city did its due diligence and that conflicts are bound to come up in a city of about 50,000 where few firms offer specialty work. He suggested requiring a foreman, not the owner, to handle project decisions and keeping Quinones out of project conversations. Smith said the council itself is the safeguard if it believes a member is overstepping.