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City Managers Office
Spring Break Planning:
City Manager Susan Guthrie continues to work with staff and businesses to identify needs related to upcoming events for Spring Break 2017. A public workshop is being planned for January to address possible ordinance revisions related to this subject.
Venue Tax Planning:
Planning related to implementation of the venue tax is underway as well as preparing for the next steps related to projects funded through this revenue stream. A public workshop to further explore projects that were listed on the ballot will be held in late January.
Active Plan:
Mayor Barry Patel, City Manager Susan Guthrie, Assistant City Manager Darla Jones along with Transit Director Jesse Arriaga met with representatives from the City of Brownsville regarding the Active Plan and potential linkage with the national Rails to Trails program.
ISO PPC Rating:
Interim Fire Chief Albert Perez has announced that the Insurance Service Office (ISO) Public Protection Classification (PPC) Number rating for the South Padre Island Fire Department has been ungraded from a level 5 to 4! PPC ratings range from a score of 10-1, with one being the best possible rating. Most major insurance companies base their rates upon a city's ISO PPC rating, meaning that when the rating improves the premiums insurers change will decrease.
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South Padre Island Convention & Visitors Bureau
Merry Martini Holiday Mixer:
The organizers of the Merry Martini Holiday Mixer were very excited to celebrate their 20th year of generously contributing to the United States Marine Corp Reserve Toys For Tots Program and the Rio Grande Valley Food Bank. Their efforts provide hundreds of toys for children of all ages and enough food items to fill many pantries. This event makes the holidays so much brighter for many Rio Grande Valley families.
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Fire Department
Large Animal Rescue Class:
Fire Inspector/EMC Robert Garcia is currently attending a Large Animal Rescue Class.
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Police Department
Basic SWAT Training:
Officers Joe Cisneros and Carlos Gonzalez were part of Basic SWAT Training that was hosted by San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez.
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K9 Training:
Officer Albert Pelayo and K9 Breta were in training for the week by Brownsville K9 Police Officer Marco Huerta.
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Crime Prevention Course:
This week Officer Joseph Gonzalez attended a Crime Prevention course at the UTRGV Police Department in Brownsville.
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Public Works
Gulf Phase IV:
Foremost Paving continues to work at a fast pace. Cement stabilization has been completed and the asphalt has been milled from East Acapulco up to East Marlin in preparation for asphalt overlay next week.
Curb & Gutter sections have been finalized from East Mesquite Street to East Sheepshead Street and continue forming southward.
The contractor has placed concrete for parking bays and driveways from East Tarpon to East Pike.
Brick pavers for crossings are being laid on East Lantana Street and concrete has been poured on Mesquite Street.
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W. Polaris Drive and E. Swordfish Street Widening:
This week the project construction has begun by contractor G&T Paving. The project is moving fairly quickly, this week the geogrid and base has been placed on W. Polaris and the curb and gutter section has been poured on West Polaris. The contractor has commenced saw cutting and preparing subgrade on East Swordfish.
Routine Maintenance:
The Public Works crews have been working on picking up palm fronds, regular trash pickup and repairing/replacing Christmas lights.
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Environmental Health Services
Recycling:
Approximately 570 pounds of recyclable material was collected from SPI Residents! Thank you to everyone for doing their part in keeping South Padre Island beautiful!
Mosquito Minimization:
Due to the national attention of the Zika Virus, EHS staff have been aggressive in the fight to minimize the mosquito population. Staff conducted both larvaciding and pesticide spraying throughout the entire island. Staff will diligently monitor both weather conditions and mosquito activity to target areas of need.
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Shoreline Department
Meeting with the TxGLO:
City Manager Susan Guthrie, Assistant City Manager Darla Jones and Shoreline Management Director Brandon Hill met with the Texas General Land Office to discuss the management of South Padre Island's coastal resources. The meeting was followed by a site visit of the public access points, bay ending and beach.
Causeway Boardwalk:
The city put the Causeway Boardwalk repairs out to bid this week. The city hopes to identify professional and highly qualified contractors in order to perform the repairs. The City of South Padre Island will be offering a pre-bid meeting December 14th on site at the Causeway landing on South Padre Island. Staff and engineering representatives will be on site from 10:00 am until 11:00 am. This meeting is designed to make the engineers and staff available to the potential contractors.
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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
To learn how to comply with the new City Ordinance, please view the pre-recorded webinar by
clicking here
.
We will also be available by phone to answer any questions you may have. Call Georgina Ramos at (956) 761-8382 or contact by email at
HotTax@SoPadre.com.
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
spiedc@aol.com
; or Dr. Sungman Kim, City of South Padre Island Development Director, at (956) 761-8113 or
SKim@MySPI.org
.
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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
Carlos@SoPadre.com
. 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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| Dec. 14 |
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The Quarterdeck Lounge
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7:00 PM
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Dec. 15-17
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SPI Birding & Nature Center
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9:30 AM
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| Dec. 15-17 |
Bird Tour |
Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge
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8:30 AM
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Dec. 15
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Open Clay Classes |
Art Space
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1:00 PM
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| Dec. 15-17 |
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Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge
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2:00 PM
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| Dec. 16-18 |
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Dec. 17
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Art Space
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10:00 AM
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| Dec. 17-18 |
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SPI Birding & Nature Center
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1:00 PM
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| Dec. 17-19 |
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SPI Convention Centre
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6:30 PM
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Dec. 18
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NAMAR Event Center
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11:00 AM
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| Dec. 18 |
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6:00 PM
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South Padre Island Christmas Celebrations 2016
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19th Annual Polar Bear Dip
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The 22nd Annual Winter Outdoor & Wildlife Expo
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