Carmen Gutierrez

Carmen Gutierrez for City Council At-Large Place A
​ ‘If you are not part of the solution…’

​By Ruben Cantu for the Texas Times

​A staple of the community, a lifelong public servant and an advocate of all kinds of community causes is now running for office, hoping to make a difference and to address a few shortcomings in the community of Del Rio. Carmen Gutierrez, who retired from the Texas Department of Transportation and from working as a field representative for Congressman Will Hurd, is seeking the City Council At-Large Place A.
At the early age of 49 Gutierrez retired from the TxDOT, where she became the first and only female equipment shops superintendent in the state of Texas, managing fleet issues and personnel in the eight-county Laredo district. Even though this is her first time running for office, Gutierrez is not new to politics, she was district representative for Congressman Will Hurd for five years.
“I was involved with the daily politics of several issues at the federal level, having worked with the Texas Department of Transportation I was very involved with issues at the local and state level,” she said.
Hurd, Gutierrez recalls, had a saying that impacted the way she interacts with the community:
“If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
Gutierrez is also part of a host of community organizations, including the Community Health Improvement Coalition (CHIC), Los Amigos del Cementerio de la Loma de la Cruz, the International Good Neighbor Council, Falcon Art Center Foundation, Val Verde County Republican Woman, and she is also the chairwoman of the board for the Border Federal Credit Union.
“Every single one of these organizations have issues, that they try to help with in the community, so I was exposed to on a day-to-day basis, on a one-to-one basis with the residents of this community,” she said.
That volunteer work brought Gutierrez into contact and gave her the opportunity to try to do something to help. She became proficient at grant writing and now utilizes her skills to apply for resources for the community.
“We recently received a grant for CHIC from Friends of Val Verde, for mental health, we need to provide resources and let people know that we have resources available free of charge,” she said.
Her work with the International Good Neighbor Council has also paid dividends, having more than three-fold the number of entries to the Fiestas de Amistad parade over the last few years, since she became co-chair along with Councilwoman Tina Martinez.
“From 30 entries a few years ago we had more than 100 in the last parade,” she said.
Gutierrez also said that all this work with the IGNC benefits the Del Rio community, by giving out close to $20,000 in scholarships to local students.
“We give scholarships to the IGNC art contest participants, to the Miss Del Rio Pageant contestants,” she said.
The IGNC raises funds through their annual wine and cheese fundraiser, which is the brainchild of IGNC president Andrew Scarbo. Gutierrez has become an advocate for local causes, including recently representing a group of citizens who wanted to see the city council meetings reinstated on Facebook Livestream.
“They did away with the comments but at least we still have the opportunity to view the meetings, because not everyone has Spectrum, but almost everyone has access to the internet and to Facebook,” she said.
She also advocated for ADA accessible parking for handicapped individuals at the Rotary Park and at Brown Plaza.
“In a community like ours we have veterans with limited mobility, it is imperative that future master plans include ADA facilities, not only because it is the law, but because it is the right thing for our citizens,” she said.
Having safety and resources as her main goals, Gutierrez said her priorities as a member of the city council will be to secure the water and having accessible facilities to all members of the community.
“The number one priority is to make sure that our water is protected, the water supply, the water infrastructure, by the money that we pay, with the utilities they are supposed to set aside what it is called enterprise funds, and I know for a fact that they’ve been using enterprise funds for other things,” she said.
“The next item I have is physical safety, making sure that all the city facilities have ADA parking, access, the restrooms, the grab bars, keeping our residents safe,” she emphasized.
Gutierrez finished by reminding local voters that regardless of party affiliation they can vote for her in the upcoming city election.

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