Progreso voters approve charter amendments

PROGRESO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Voters in Progreso made several major changes to the city charter on Saturday.

During a special election on Saturday, voters approved Proposition A, which allows members of the City Council to serve four-year terms and moves elections to even-numbered years.

“Now everybody will know if we’re going to have an election,” said City Councilwoman Sandra V. Estrada, because Progreso will hold elections whenever the governor or the president appears on the ballot.

Voters also backed Proposition B, which expands the City Council from six to seven members.

“The reason for that is to avoid ties,” Estrada said.

About 53% of voters supported the charter amendments, according to preliminary results published by the Hidalgo County Elections Department.

Voters approved the city charter in May 2010, when Progreso became a home-rule city.

The charter, however, contained several unusual provisions.

Under the charter, Progreso is governed by a mayor and a five-member City Council.

Most towns with an even number of elected officials don’t allow the mayor to vote unless they need to break a tie.

In Progreso, though, the mayor is always allowed to vote.

That allowed the City Council to split 3-3, which occasionally prevented Progreso from making important decisions.

The charter also defined a quorum — the number of members required to conduct business — as three.

In theory, that would allow three members to hold a meeting in one location while three other members held another meeting in another location.

Proposition B attempts to fix both problems by adding a seventh City Council member and changing the definition of a quorum to four members.

Some voters questioned why Progreso, a city with about 5,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, needs a seven-member City Council.

Pharr is the only other city in Hidalgo County with seven at-large elected officials.

“I really don’t see the need for it,” said former Progreso City Councilman Raul Martinez.

If the City Council is really concerned about ties, Progreso could reduce the number of elected officials from six to five, Martinez said.

“I think we’re such a small community that we don’t need too many council members,” Martinez said.

Proposition A, meanwhile, extended City Council terms from three years to four years and moved elections to even-numbered years.

Three-year terms created confusion, Estrada said, and voters didn’t always know when Progreso would hold an election.

It wasn’t just voters.

In 2020, the City Council called a mayoral election.

When nobody challenged Mayor Gerardo “Jerry” Alanis, the election was canceled — and Alanis was declared elected.

In 2022, the City Council called another mayoral election, even though Alanis was supposed to serve a three-year term.

Nobody challenged Alanis and Progreso declared him re-elected.

Other members of the City Council, meanwhile, served for more than four years without running for re-election at all.

Estrada and Mayor Hugo Gamboa, who both joined the City Council in 2024, attempted to fix the problem by supporting Proposition A.

“We actually want the people in town to know what years the city will be having an election,” Estrada said.