CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Despite a heated public meeting back in September — where Nueces County commissioners and Judge Connie Scott were not in support of the rebuild of Mikel Mays as a part of the new Bob Hall Pier — Pct. 4 Commissioner Brent Chesney did not giving up on the idea of bringing an eatery to the pier and presented a new proposal in Wednesday's meeting.
Chesney's proposal was successful receiving approval in a vote 5-0.
"When you get outvoted you have to come up with different ways, so I have been working with the county judge," Chesney said. "She's been great to work with on this to come up with some sort of approach she can live with, something the rest of the court can as well."
He said that's where two of the items on Wednesday's agenda stemmed from. The first part of the motion is to move his ARPA funding of $1 million that has been set aside for the pier over to creating a third-party concession space.
"There will be no delays on the pier whatsoever," Chesney said.
He said the second part of the motion will allow him to seek additional funding for the project.
"I will have the ability to go out and ask on behalf of the county for additional funding from outside entities to fund the other $1 million I will need to make up the $2 million for the pier," he said.
This move could be a big win for the island community especially for May Mirada Mendoza, who owned and operated Mikel Mays before it was destroyed by Hurricane Hanna.
"I'm glad they are finally, hopefully, going to do the right thing," Mendoza said. "Our community has missed out on not having a restaurant up on Bob Hall Pier that's been there for years."
Mendoza said she lost her contract with the county once they voted against the restaurant being part of the new rebuild.
She said if commissioners vote to bring back the option, she is throwing her hat in the ring.
"I want to do something for them that is better than before," Mendoza said "I will definitely be in the running, but I would hope they would do the right thing and honor my contract, which is the fair thing to do."
Now that the items are approved, Chesney says the Coastal Parks board will open the floor for potential businesses to bid on the space at a fair market value.
"It doesn't matter to me who the vendor is, what matters to me is that we have the ability to have a vendor, that we have the building in place," Chesney said.
He said the third-party concession might lag behind the pier as far as building goes while he works to secure the funding.
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