Del Rio council bids farewell to District 2 member Jim DeReus

Jim DeReus left the Del Rio City Council with a formal sendoff Tuesday, ending a District 2 tenure that began when voters first elected him on June 23, 2018. The farewell was more than a routine personnel note. It marked the exit of a council member who had become part of the city’s recent political and administrative structure and who could not seek the seat again because of term limits.

Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez led the recognition and lightly noted that he had brought flowers for Ernestina “Tina” Martinez two weeks earlier, but not for DeReus. The moment reflected the close-knit way Del Rio handles leadership changes, especially on a council where public service, personal history and local memory often overlap.

DeReus brought a military résumé to City Hall. His city biography says he was born in Iowa, graduated from West Iron County High School in Iron River, Michigan, earned a biology degree from the United States Air Force Academy in 1994 and completed pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base in 1995. He stayed on as a T-37 instructor pilot and now works as a simulator instructor at Laughlin, a tie that made him a familiar figure in a city shaped by the base and its workforce. He was elected mayor pro tem in 2024, adding another layer to a council career that reached beyond a single district vote.

His exit also lands in the middle of a broader reset on the dais. The May 2 city election sent Al Arreola and former county judge and mayor Efrain V. Valdez into a runoff after Valdez finished with 792 votes and DeReus with 775. The same election produced winners in other council contests, including LeRoy Briones, Elsa Reyes and Leno Hernandez Jr., who took office May 26. That means DeReus’s departure does not just close one seat. It removes a veteran vote as the council’s balance shifts around new members and a pending mayoral decision.

The turnover matters in a home-rule city incorporated in 1905 that lists 48,879 residents and meets on the second and fourth Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Del Rio’s regular business may continue on schedule, but the personnel changes are substantial. Two weeks before DeReus’s sendoff, the city also said goodbye to Martinez and Jesus Lopez Jr., underscoring how quickly the council’s makeup changed after the election.

DeReus’s departure ends a six-year run that connected District 2 to the city’s military identity and its civic leadership. With a runoff still deciding the next mayor and new council members already in place, the next phase of city government will be shaped by who fills the remaining gaps and how the new lineup uses its votes.