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Weslaco approves design and contract steps for Boys and Girls Club expansion; city, county and nonprofit fundraising cited
Summary
Commission approved moving the Boys and Girls Club expansion through design milestones, established owner budget caps and authorized added scope to address Utah Avenue and park parking; commissioners and staff emphasized fundraising and phased approvals tied to funding.
The Weslaco City Commission on Feb. 4 approved a series of steps to advance the Boys and Girls Club of Weslaco expansion at Mayor Paulo Pena City Park, authorizing design milestones, an owner’s budget cap for construction, and added scope to redesign a park street and parking.
City staff and the Boys and Girls Club described a program for a new building and an estimated architect’s construction estimate of $2,652,862. The commission approved an owner’s budget not to exceed $2,000,652.62 for the cost of the work and set architect compensation at 7.5 percent of the owner’s budget, with the current contract phase to proceed through design milestones (30%, 75%, 100%) and fundraising checks at each milestone before proceeding to the next phase.
Omar (city staff) said the Boys and Girls Club has a $1.7 million congressional grant already committed and is pursuing additional private and public funding; the city manager has proposed up to $250,000 in city support and Hidalgo County Precinct 1 has committed $150,000 toward the project, but the full funding package must be in place at milestone checkpoints before construction proceeds.
Commissioners emphasized keeping the project ‘shovel‑ready’ so club leaders can pursue additional grant and legislative funding, and asked staff to identify work that city crews could perform in‑house to lower construction costs. The commission approved the program development and authorized the architect’s next phase of work, with the architect’s fee for the immediate authorization about $149,233 (the phased portion of the total design fee).
Staff also asked the commission to authorize Heffner Design to add Utah Avenue (First Street to Airport Drive) and parking area design at Mayor Paulo Pena City Park to the architect’s scope, with an estimated project budget of $750,000 and a $60,000 design fee to address roadway, parking, drainage to the RDF and bus/drop‑off circulation tied to the club and park functions. Commissioners approved that scope.
Mary, a representative of the Boys and Girls Club of Weslaco, spoke about the organization’s need for expanded teen programming, ongoing grant work and prior funding history including reduced United Way allocations in past years; she said the board is pursuing grant and donor fundraising and that the design deliverables will help the nonprofit solicit more funds.
The commission’s approvals require the Boys and Girls Club to present fundraising progress at the benchmarks spelled out in the agreement; staff will bring milestone estimates to the commission for review and approval before advancing to construction.
