Weslaco credits new drainage work for reduced flood damage, approves $4.5 million Kansas and Los Doritos project

Mayor Adrian Gonzalez and the Weslaco City Commission on April 2 approved a $4,504,898.30 contract with Morewill LLC to start the first phase of the Kansas and Los Doritos drainage improvements, a project officials say will addcapacity to carry stormwater from Sinclair to the city’s retained detention facility at Mayor Pablo Peña Park.

The action came as city emergency-management officials reported that a March 27 storm produced ‘‘historic’’ rainfall across Weslaco and prompted a large operational response. The city’s emergency-management chief told the commission the city identified about 94 homes with water intrusion after the event, a sharp reduction from the more than 2,000 homes affected in the 2018 flood, and said the lower count shows steps taken since 2018 have increased system capacity.

“The systems are working,” the emergency-management chief said, reporting the city handled roughly 80 water rescues in the most recent event compared with more than 1,000 in 2018. The chief said the city opened a shelter at First Baptist Church, staged pumps at strategic locations and worked with county drainage partners to keep water moving downstream.

Omar (Engineering Department) told commissioners Half & Associates evaluated six bids and recommended Morewill LLC, of Mission, Texas, as the lowest responsive bidder. Christina Liao and Leslie Acosta of Half & Associates were present to answer technical questions. Commissioners discussed the sizable gap between the low bid and other proposals and stressed the need for contract language limiting unreasonable change orders; staff said the contractor has agreed to negotiate reasonable change-order limits and recommended the city manager be authorized to finalize that language.

Commissioner Letty Lopez moved to award the contract to Morewill LLC with the change-order protections recommended by the city attorney; Commissioner Rodriguez seconded. The commission voted in favor and approved the award.

City staff and officials also described multiple recently completed and in-progress retention and RDF (retention/detention facility) projects that officials credit with reducing impacts, including the Las Brisas Chapa RDF, a collector RDF adjacent to a school on Sugarcane, and a nearly 30-acre Pleasant View RDF. City management said continued inlet and ditch cleaning, scheduled pump placement and public outreach are part of a year-round maintenance effort tied to the drainage program.

Mayor Gonzalez said staff will present visuals and public workshops to explain how the drainage projects operate and the commission directed staff to negotiate the final contract terms with the protections discussed. The emergency-management chief said the mayor and commission approved an extension of the city’s disaster declaration for 30 days to preserve operational flexibility and to pursue state support and reimbursement where appropriate.

The commission approved the drainage contract the same meeting it reviewed the storm response and recovery efforts, and officials said they will return periodically with status updates and any requests for contract amendment if conditions change.