Inaugural Board Meeting of City of Eagle Pass Metropolitan Planning Organization Held July 22, 2024.
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2024
The City of Eagle Pass Metropolitan Planning Organization (EPMPO) inaugural Board of Directors meeting was held on Monday, July 22, 2024 at the Eagle Pass International Center for Trade in Eagle Pass, Texas.
The newly created Eagle Pass Metropolitan Planning Organization was initiated by the State of Texas in recognition of the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County having a population of over 50,000 people.
The mission of the Eagle Pass Metropolitan Planning Organization is “to set transportation-related policy, identify existing and future local transportation needs in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and propose and recommend projects for all modes of transportation including mass transit and active transportation, with special attention to freight.”
The purpose of the EPMPO is to identify and request state and federal highway funding for transportation projects such as highways and bridges for Eagle Pass and Maverick County through the Texas Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration.
The initial EPMPO Board of Directors is composed of Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr. as Chairman, Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantu as Vice-Chairman, Eagle Pass City Councilman Elias Diaz, Maverick County Commissioner Olga M. Ramos, Texas Department of Transportation Laredo District Engineer Epigemio Gonzalez, Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Chairman Estavio Elizondo, Jr., and Southwest Area Regional Transit District General Manager Sarah Hidalgo Cook.
The Board of Directors shall serve a term of two years and may be reappointed without any limitation of term limits. The Board Chairmanship shall be alternated every two years between the Eagle Pass Mayor and Maverick County Judge. The new EPMPO fiscal year calendar year will be the same as the federal government from October 1 through September 30 of each year.
City of Eagle Pass Community Planning Director Placido Madera together with state and federal partners developed the new EPMPO bylaws and operating policies and procedures which were adopted at the July 22nd by the newly-appointed Board of Directors.
The new governmental entity shall hold its public meetings on the second Wednesday of each month at 12 Noon subject to being changed as necessary.
The EPMPO will allow Eagle Pass and Maverick County transportation projects funding be considered and approved by the TxDOT 10 Year Funding Program. The TxDOT Board of Directors are scheduled to meet on August 6. 2024 to approve Texas’ new 10 year annual transportation program funding, which has earmarked to spend $27.7 million and another $4 million for local transportation projects in Eagle Pass and Maverick County.
Also attending the historic inaugural EPMPO Board of Directors were Tito Gonzalez of TxDOT, Phillip Tindall of TxDOT, Sara Garza of TxDOT, Bob Farber of Federal Highway Administration, Bob Hazlett of Texas A & M Transportation Institute, Antonio Garza and Gonzalo Garcia of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas Economic Development Committee, Eagle Pass City Attorney Ana Sophia Berain-Garcia, Eagle Pass Deputy City Secretary Ita B. Cortinas, Eagle Pass City Manager Homero Balderas, Eagle Pass Assistant City Manager Ivan Morua, Eagle Pass International Bridge System General Manager Ronnie Rivera, and other local dignitaries and stakeholders.
