Award-winning Keep Harlingen Beautiful program back after pandemic

After the pandemic’s outbreak, rising costs led the city’s past administration to place the award-winning program Keep Harlingen Beautiful on hold while shutting down the Harlingen Recycling Center, a key funding source.

Now, city leaders are jump-starting the beautification program, with a new board of directors planning to tap a grant coming from a 2020 Governor’s Community Achievement Award to help fund a project aimed at sprucing up the juncture at North 77 Sunshine Strip and Morgan Boulevard.

For years, City Commissioner Ford Kinsley, the program’s past president, spearheaded many of the organization’s beautification projects.

“I’m very excited,” he said Tuesday, referring to Keep Harlingen Beautiful’s return. “It was a huge tool. We did a lot of great projects here in the city. It’s very important to beautify. People want the city to look nice.”

While officials are planning to continue running Keep Harlingen Beautiful on an annual $150,000 budget, the organization will be operating without a program administrator.

For years, the recycling center’s revenue helped fund the executive director’s salary.

But the revived program will run without an executive director, with Melissa Boykin, who had served in that position, taking a seat on the organization’s board of directors.

During Monday’s meeting, Nick Consiglio, chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, resumed his role as the board’s president.

“KHB has significantly impacted the community,” he said Monday in a statement. “We’ve planted thousands of plants, hundreds of trees, painted over numerous graffiti-covered walls, recycled tons of plastic, cardboard and other recyclables, and initiated neighborhood clean-ups and litter pick-ups around Harlingen. With a strong board, we anticipate continuing KHB’s award-winning legacy in 2024 and beyond.”

Since the city’s past administration placed Keep Harlingen Beautiful on hold in 2020, officials have continued setting aside $150,000 a year to fund the program.

“The pandemic altered our operations but the city of Harlingen remained dedicated to our mission, establishing a funding source for enhancing our public spaces and educating the public about taking pride in keeping Harlingen beautiful,” Consiglio said. “This commitment ensures that the citizens of Harlingen can expect ongoing efforts to beautify the city and enhance the quality of life. These efforts are in sync with economic development activities, promoting Harlingen as an ideal place to work and live.”

During Monday’s meeting, board members agreed to tap the program’s $250,000 grant coming with the 2020’s Governor’s Community Achievement Award to help fund a makeover at the juncture at North 77 Sunshine Strip and Morgan Boulevard.

Now, board members are planning to use two other grants to help fund the project while reviewing three options ranging from $500,000 to $870,000, Consiglio said.

“We reviewed some plans from TxDOT, provided feedback and contributed additional funds to enhance those medians, creating a more beautiful space for our community,” Consiglio said, adding the governor’s grant stipulated the city earmark the money to upgrade a city right-of-way.

Across the city, Keep Harlingen Beautiful helped bring the community together.

To help run the program’s projects, officials worked with students from Texas State Technical College, the Marine Military Academy and the Harlingen school district.

“It brings a sense of community service to people,” Kinsley said.

While officials continued funding Keep Harlingen Beautiful, high operational costs have held them back from re-opening the recycling center.

“It became a cost issue,” Kinsley said, noting recyclable material such as cardboard stopped paying off. “The money for cardboard had dropped terribly and finding people who would take the stuff was difficult.”

After high operational costs led officials to shut down the recycling center in 2020, the city began paying less than $10,000 to transport residents’ recyclable materials to McAllen’s plant, while the city was paying $3,000 for the service.

Following their decision to shut down the recycling center here, officials set up long steel bins at the site, allowing residents to drop off recyclable materials which trucks transported to McAllen’s plant.