City ready to move council meetings into former bank; building restored with hotel tax revenues

Cotulla city councilors agreed at their mid-September meeting to change an ordinance that will allow them to meet at an earlier time and in a new location.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the city council has held all of its meetings in the AB Alexander Convention Center, beginning in the main hall and later, when distancing requirements were lifted, in the facility’s upstairs conference room.

At the same time, the city of Cotulla vacated its former home at 117 North Front Street and moved into its new offices in a converted garage, a historic Main Street building whose extensive reconstruction was paid for with revenues from the municipal Hotel Occupancy Tax.

The former City Hall on Front Street has since been refurbished and leased by the La Salle County government as the headquarters of its county elections department.

Having also bought the former Stockmens Bank building on Front Street from Laredo businessman John Keck, the city of Cotulla has preserved the structure, restored many of its architectural features and repurposed the building as a City Hall annex and public events space. The four-year undertaking was likewise paid with hotel tax revenues.

Councilors agreed unanimously in September to move their meetings into the ground-floor space at the former bank as their new permanent home. They also approved changing the meeting times to 6:30 p.m.

City Administrator David Wright said on Sept. 12 that he believes the building will be ready for occupancy by November.

“We have held our meetings here until the Stockmens building is ready,” Wright said. “We are going to get it back into the town center. People could literally walk to it.”

“We are also setting this up for municipal court,” Mayor Sandra Luna said of the multipurpose space available in the restored bank.

“That’s how it’s done in every city I know,” City Attorney Steve Pena said in support of the council’s occupancy of the building.

City Hall has announced that it plans to decorate the building with reproductions of old photographs of downtown Cotulla, specifically Stockmens Bank and Front Street. Area residents are being invited to bring photos to City Hall for copying and consideration for the permanent display.

The change in the council ordinance to begin holding meetings at Stockmens at 6:30 p.m. was approved on a motion by Councilor Mary Koraleski, seconded by Councilor Gilbert Ayala.