The Edinburg City Council announced last Tuesday the municipal general election will be held Nov. 5.
Assistant City Manager Thomas D. Reyna was appointed elections clerk in a meeting held Sept. 23.
The positions up for election are Councilmember Place 3, Councilmember Place 4 and municipal court judge. Juan “Johnny” Garcia, Carlos Jasso, Marc Roque and Deanna “Coach” Dominguez are running for the Place 3 post, according to the city’s website. For Place 4, former Edinburg Police Chief David White is running against incumbent David Torres. Toribio “Terry” Palacios and Alma Garza are running for municipal court judge.
Two UTRGV students attended their first city council meeting for their political science class.
“I think everyone should vote but as someone that’s not from here I don’t think my vote would be an accurate representation of what the people here would want,” said Marek Nelson, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and Dallas native.
Evony Nelson, a finance junior, told The Rider she recently moved down here as well, but with no prior knowledge on candidates, she will not vote.
“If I was to, between now and then, get more educated on the elections then, yeah, why not,” she said.
The Rider asked Councilmember Gilbert Enriquez what his thoughts were about the upcoming elections.
“The people are going to vote for whoever they want,” Enriquez replied. “It’s up to the public. I just hope everything is done the way it should be. Transparency is key.”
Early voting will take place between Oct. 21 and Nov. 1 at the Hidalgo County Elections Annex building in Edinburg and the UTRGV Student Union.
The city council approved the purchase of 44 outdoor Christmas decorations from the Sign Depot through the Texas local government purchasing contract in the amount of $95,390.
“The decorations are not cheap; they’re very expensive,” Mayor Richard Molina told The Rider. “People run into me all the time, they kind of mention that our stuff was outdated and old.”
It has been 12 years since the City of Edinburg has invested in Christmas decorations, Molina and other officials said.
“It is a lot of money, but they brought up a good point that the last time they had it replaced was 12 years ago,” Marek said. “So, if the Christmas decorations are really that bad, then it probably isn’t a bad idea to put some money into it.”
