- Premont residents organization a Townhall meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
- Over a dozen people gathered at the meeting but the city officials were not in attendance.
- Mayor Priscilla Vargas said city officials were unable to attend due to prior commitments and short notice.
A scheduled town hall meeting in Premont had everything, but city officials.
Citizens of the small town organized a town hall meeting where they expected to address some concerns with the city. However, no city officials attended the meeting.
Just over a dozen Premont neighbors showed up to the town hall meeting organized by lifelong resident Sylvia Johnson.
Johnson, who serves as the Jim Wells County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, said she wanted to hold the town hall meeting as a concerned citizen because they don’t always know what’s happening.
“Our town is not the same anymore. And we’ve lost a lot of our people. We have new people that have moved to Premont. And maybe some of these people don’t care. We used to care to keep our town clean and fixed up the way it used to be,” Johnson said.
Even without city officials, the neighbors expressed concerns like potholes, alley cleanups, brush and trash pickup, and Hidalgo Park.
Premont Mayor Priscilla Vargas said city officials and herself were unable to attend with short notice and prior commitments.
“We did have a town hall meeting about three weeks ago. We had the department heads there as well as myself to answering and all questions that any of the residents had. In my understanding - as far as some of the issues that were brought up at yesterday’s town hall meeting they were the same ones that were answered at the previous one that the city had put together,” Vargas said.
Vargas said she and the council have an open-door policy.
Law enforcement officer Frank Davila said that, as a resident, he’d like more communication between city officials and residents.
He said that he didn’t attend the city’s town hall meeting because he was out of town and he hasn’t been to a council meeting because council chambers are limited on space and seating.
Vargas said it’s been some time since they’ve had a packaged house at the council chambers. She said recently the council has seen one or two people at their meetings.
Davila and others at the meeting also expressed their desire to have the meetings live on social media or through other channels.
Vargas said in previous years residents who attended the meeting were the ones who would go live on their own social media platforms. However, they are trying to find ways to get the meetings' messages to the public.
“We need to communicate. We need to have them present with us here so they can answer some of these questions that we have. Right now I’m kind of embarrassed of these we see. Let’s work together people. No personal reasons, work together,” Davila said.
Premont Mayor Vargas said any concerns her neighbors have can be addressed with her or the city council at any time. The next city council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 1. The city is hoping to have another town hall meeting in January.
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