Alice City Council voted to join a regional interlocal agreement with the cities of Corpus Christi, Beeville and Mathis to collaborate on water and wastewater projects, including access to engineering support, well design input and emergency testing services.

City staff described the agreement as a practical mechanism to allow smaller cities to use Corpus Christi’s engineering department and testing capacity for tasks such as well design and emergency water testing. Staff said the arrangement could speed project delivery and reduce outsourced costs: "For us, we're looking at utilizing the engineering department Corpus Christi for, right now they're looking at well designs," staff said, adding that Corpus Christi has testing capacity available after hours.

Representatives from Beeville emphasized regional cooperation. Eric Anaska and Mr. McNinch of Beeville praised the collaboration; McNinch said, "When Beeville is successful, we're happy. When Alice is successful... we are fans of it." Benny Puente Jr. (Mayor Pro Tem of Beeville, as identified in the transcript) and Corpus Christi's city manager (identified in the record) were present for the discussion.

The city attorney raised a governance point about project implementation: the interlocal allows individual cities to develop additional projects documented through separate letter agreements between respective city managers or designees, which could permit manager‑level commitments within the city manager’s spending authority. The attorney noted that a city manager can obligate funds up to $50,000 and that projects above that threshold should come back to council for approval.

Council approved the interlocal by voice vote. Staff and regional partners said next steps include finalizing the agreement in the other cities (Beeville was expected to consider it the following week and Mathis the week after) and using the agreement to support future well projects, reuse/recycling ideas and emergency testing coordination.

The vote authorizes the city manager to sign interlocal documents and directs staff to return to council for project approvals where required by the city's spending thresholds.