CITY COUNCIL 051523 MEETING

The City of Laredo City Council meeting was held May 15, 2023. The principal procurement-related discussion concerned a proposed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) river-road project, funded with approximately $39 million in federal funds, on city and other property. After public comment and staff review of the draft license agreement, the council approved a motion allowing the city manager to negotiate the agreement, with a final agreement to return to the council for approval rather than being executed immediately. Discussion focused on public access, construction and environmental protections, city oversight, and language that could allow CBP to exclude the public from the road; staff recommended removing or revising that provision. No project award to a vendor was made at this meeting, and the funds were described as federal, not city funds.

The council also approved acceptance of $2,974,657.56 in federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program humanitarian-relief funding to support people and families released from Department of Homeland Security custody. A separate motion approved a partnership with the Rio Grande International Study Center and a city commitment letter for a USDA urban forestry grant application addressing urban heat; the program has a one-to-one matching requirement. The meeting also included discussion of extending the migrant-response emergency declaration and delays in subdivision street-light activation related to transformer availability, but no street-light purchasing decision was recorded.