Candidates seeking a seat on the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court participated in an online forum Wednesday.
The forum, hosted by Futuro RGV, gave candidates vying for the Hidalgo County Precinct 2 and Precinct 4 seats an opportunity to share their platforms.
Facing off for the Precinct 2 seat were incumbent Eduardo “Eddie” Cantu and Pablo Soto Jr. Incumbent Ellie Torres faced off against Homero Jasso Jr. for the Precinct 4 post.
The county’s infrastructure, particularly the drainage system, was universally emphasized as a top priority by all four candidates when asked for their top three priorities.
Jasso, who has worked in law enforcement and served on the Edinburg City Council, said that the county jail and the money being spent housing inmates at other facilities outside of the county was an issue at the top of his list of priorities, as well as taking a closer look at the current tax rate.
Soto, a licensed engineer and a registered land surveyor, mentioned illegal dumping as a high priority issue when asked.
Steve Taylor of the Rio Grande Guardian, who served as moderator for the forum, asked candidates about their thoughts regarding the distribution of funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to municipalities throughout the county.
Jasso said he believed the process of getting the funding to the cities was too slow. Torres disagreed.
“Anytime you get a federal grant, there’s going to be a whole lot of compliance and paper trails that you’re going to have to provide in order to meet the compliance requirements and the reimbursement requirements that any federal money comes with,” Torres said. “We do have oversight from an auditor, and that is the auditor’s process — to ensure that we have that federal compliance.”
When asked about what steps the county’s drainage board should take to reduce flooding, Cantu referred to the county’s response to the rain in 2018.
“We quickly put a plan together,” Cantu said. “We quickly went to the voters and got $190 million passed by like 70% of the voters. People wanted a change, and we executed that change. We’re in the process of completing that project. We asked the taxpayers for 3 cents, and by the time we’re finished it’s only going to cost us 2 cents for those $190 million.”
He added that the county will be able to get an additional $190 million in a few years without having to raise taxes.
“We have a plan. We’re executing that plan. And I want to continue to make sure that we make a difference,” he continued. “We don’t want a single person flooding. We want drainage issues to be the greatest asset we have in the county.”
Cantu’s opponent said the county needs to address all areas where drainage is an issue while widening the main drain that flows into Willacy County. He added that the county also needs to work with Willacy County and their drainage system since Hidalgo’s leads there.
“The main thing is to improve all areas of the county with drainage ditches,” Soto said. “That’s what we need to do, and we’ll take it one drain at a time.”
When asked the same question, Torres said the county needs to work with neighboring counties to try to bring more money to the region.
“Quite honestly what I’d like to see us do more is the continuation of drawing down monies, working collaboratively with our neighboring counties — together with Willacy County and Cameron County — because at the end of the day, we drain into Willacy County all the way out through Cameron County,” Torres said.
“All of us together as regional partners is going to bring down more monies like we did — $50 million that was brought to our drainage for improvements,” she continued.
Torres, like Soto, said the county’s main drain needs to be expanded.
Jasso reiterated that drainage is his number one priority going into the election.
“We have to first understand that we’ve been using the same drainage canals for the last 50 years,” Jasso said. “Our county has grown. Our cities have grown so much, and we’re still putting that rainwater back through those same canals, and they’re overflowing.”
Jasso suggested a new master drainage plan in collaboration with the cities, as well as being proactive when it comes to preventing more flooding to the area.
The entire forum is available for viewing on the Futuro RGV Facebook page.
