10-28-2014 MinutesMINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
October 28, 2014
A Regular Meeting was held by the Schertz City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas, on
October 28, 2014, at 6:00 p.m., in the Hal Baldwin Municipal Complex Council Chambers, 1400
Schertz Parkway, Building #4, Schertz, Texas. The following members present to -wit:
Mayor Michael Carpenter
Councilmember Jim Fowler
Councilmember Cedric Edwards
Staff Present:
Deputy City Manager John Bierschwale
Chief of Staff Bob Cantu
City Secretary Brenda Dennis
Call to Order
Mayor Pro -Tem Daryl John
Councilmember David Scagliola
Councilmember Matthew Duke
City Manager John Kessel
Executive Director Brian James
City Attorney Charles Zech
Mayor Carpenter called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
Invocation and Pledges of Allegiance to the Flags of the United States and the State of
Texas (Mr. Ken Ratcliff, Schertz Church of Christ)
Mr. Ken Ratcliff provided the invocation followed by the Pledges of Allegiance to the Flags of
the United States and the State of Texas.
City Events and Announcements
• Announcements of upcoming City Events (J. BierschwaleB. James)
Mayor Carpenter recognized Executive Director of Development Brian James who
provided the following announcements:
• Early Voting continues through Friday, October 31St
• Wednesday, October 29, SSLGC Administrative Building Dedication, 108 W.
Mountain St., Seguin, TX, 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, October 30, Community Volunteer Banquet & Steve Simonson
Award, Schertz Civic Center- Bldg#5, 6:30 -9 p.m.
• Friday, October 31, Trunk -Or- Treat, Pickrell Park, 6:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 1, Junior Achievement 5K Run, Pickrell Park, 7:00 a.m.
• Sunday, November 2, Daylight Savings Time changes; set clocks back 1 hour.
• Tuesday, November 4, Election Day
• Friday, November 7, Hal Baldwin Scholarship Golf Tournament, Olympia Hills
Golf Course, starts at 8:00 a.m.
• Friday, November 11, Veterans Memorial Plaza, 512 Schertz Parkway, 10: a.m.
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Mr. James also stated that one of our staff members whom you see here often, Chuck
McCollough, just had a birthday yesterday so make sure you give him a belated
Happy Birthday wish when you see him. Mayor Carpenter wished Mr. McCollough a
belated Happy Birthday.
• Announcements and recognitions by City Manager (J. Kessel)
Mayor Carpenter recognized City Manager John Kessel who stated we just fmished
up this year's merit program which is a massive undertaking that involves 325 full -
time employees. It all comes down to a lot of work in the Finance Department to get
all that information organized and properly updated in our system. A lot of the
information is hand entered data and he wanted to recognize Elizabeth Wiley who is
in the Finance department* who did all that work and made certain everything was
correct. Mr. Kessel stated we are appreciative of everything she did with the city's
merit payroll changes and she had to also keep up with her other normal duties
simultaneously. She did an amazing job and if you see her, tell her how much she is
appreciated.
Hearing of Residents
This time is set aside for any person who wishes to address the City Council. Each person should
fill out the speaker's register prior to the meeting. Presentations should be limited to no more
than 3 minutes.
All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body, and not to any individual member
thereof. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks while addressing
the Council may be requested to leave the meeting.
Discussion by the Council of any item not on the agenda shall be limited to statements of specific
factual information given in response to any inquiry, a recitation of existing policy in response to
an inquiry, and/or a proposal to place the item on a future agenda. The presiding officer, during
the Hearing of Residents portion of the agenda, will call on those persons who have signed up to
speak in the order they have registered.
Mayor Carpenter recognized the following who spoke:
• Ms. Pamela Britt, 5205 Cabana Drive, who spoke regarding the flooding issues in
the area around Lowes. They have been fighting this issue since 2008. She
provided some hardcopy information to Council. Lowes has claimed
responsibility for the flooding problems three times. They have built a retaining
wall; however, the PSI pressure that comes to her home is unbelievable. She said
the grates are not the only problem; it is also the PSI pressure. Beginning in 2009
is when it became worse. The flooding has at times taken her home skirting,
insulation and wood. Her home has been in the family 35 years and she doesn't
have her husband/handyman any more to help make repairs. She is stuck here. In
talking with Lowes, they say the City should be taking care of her. For four years
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sandbags have been laid up behind the retaining wall. When the rain in May
came, it did not protect her property. She is asking for the City to speak with the
people at Lowes again to get this corrected.
• Ms. Rosemary Grayson, 5213 Cabana Drive, who also spoke regarding the
flooding problems from Lowes. She has had engineers look at this area and she
has taken some classes in urban geography including information about rainfall.
In the past, she has taken pictures regarding the depth of water after a rainfall. She
has compared her rainfall data with several local weather stations and the
information matches. Now, she is concerned about two things. First, we haven't
had a big flooding rainfall that is even a quarter of what the engineers said the
culvert is good for, so what will happen when we do. The second thing is the
vacant lot beside Lowes; she was assured that any water from that property would
not go into the pipe that was aimed at the Britt's house but would go to the pipe in
the middle of the ditch. Mr. Britt crawled through that ditch and found out the
pipe had been sealed. Her concern is that when the new development is made, she
wants to be sure that they don't cut into that pipe but go to the one more towards
Interstate Highway 35. She hopes the City can give her assurances that when new
development occurs there will not be additional fast water added to the situation.
Mayor Carpenter stated that since the last time he spoke with her there has been
some action that has been taken by the City and she needs to have those updates.
He requested she work with Executive Director of Development Services Brian
James on getting this information.
Mr. Henry Gutierrez, Bexar Waste, who spoke regarding the recently concluded
the fall cleanup. Bexar Waste had over 2,500 residents who signed in over a 16
day period. He said they may need some traffic enforcement assistance on the
weekends the next time we hold this event. They help out a lot elderly or
handicapped people during this time. Overall, he said they helped a lot of people
and it just keeps getting bigger each time. He wondered if Council had any
comments on this. Mayor Carpenter stated that they could not comment on it now
but he would say something at the end of the agenda since he availed himself of
the service. Mr. Gutierrez also wanted to say that three (3) weeks ago they lost an
employee, Paul Kalinec. Mr. Gutierrez stated he was his right hand man in regard
to sales and customer service and he worked closely with the Marshal's Office
and other city staff. He wanted to introduce his new employee, Selena Roach who
will be working with city staff in the future.
Discussion and Action Items
1. Minutes — Approve the minutes of the regular meeting of October 21, 2014. (J. Kessel/B.
Dennis)
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Edwards who moved, seconded by
Councilmember Duke to approve the meeting minutes of October 21, 2014. The vote
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was unanimous with Mayor Pro -Tem John, Councilmembers Fowler, Scagliola and
Edwards and Duke voting yes and no one voting no. Motion passed.
2. Cancellation of the November 4, 2014 City Council Meeting and holding a Special
meeting on November 12, 2014 — Consideration and/or action cancelling the November
4, 2014 City Council meeting, and holding a Special Meeting on November 12, 2014. (J.
Kessel/Mayor /Council)
Mayor Carpenter asked City Secretary Brenda Dennis to elaborate on the reason for the
special meeting request of November 12, 2014. Ms. Dennis stated that November 10 and
11 were approved last year as official city holidays. Therefore, we need to hold a special
meeting the next day (Wednesday) so she can canvass the election results which she will
be receiving at noon on that day. The final numbers will be ready to present at council
that evening. She also stated that November 12a' is the earliest date we can canvass the
election.
Mayor Carpenter recognized .Councilmember Edwards who moved, seconded by
Councilmember Duke to approve the cancellation of the November 4, 2014 City Council
meeting and hold a Special meeting on November 12, 2014. The vote was unanimous
with Mayor Pro -Tem John, Councilmembers Fowler, Scagliola and Edwards and
Duke voting yes and no one voting no. Motion passed.
3. Ordinance No. 14 -M -46— Consideration and/or action approving an Ordinance authorizing
and amending the City Council Rules of Conduct and Procedure; repealing all Ordinances
or parts of ordinances in conflict with the Ordinance. First Reading (Mayor /Council)
ORDINANCE NO. 14-M-46
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY OF SCHERTZ AUTHORIZING
AMENDED CITY COUNCIL RULES OF CONDUCT AND PROCEDURE;
REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN
CONFLICT WITH THIS ORDINANCE; AND PROVIDING AN
EFFECTIVE DATE
Mayor Carpenter stated that he had requested this item as a result of what happened when
council was approving the tax rate and budget a few months ago. He stated
Councihnember Duke was correct in pointing out a matter of procedure that we had on
the books, a motion to reconsider. However, the request for reconsideration had to come
from someone who was in the prevailing party. After reading that section, he realized
while the intent was there, it did not say that specifically. It just said that anyone could
make a motion to reconsider. Without a limitation on that we could actually have a
motion to reconsider item after item. Roberts Rules of Order actually is the one that
specifies that such a motion must come from the prevailing vote. Since we have some
alternatives here before us he asked the City Attorney Charles Zech to walk us through
those first before discussion begins.
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City Manager John Kessel spoke first to explain the two alternatives stating that the first
alternative is the standard Roberts Rules of Order. The reason to select this one primarily
would be that you wouldn't want to have something continue to come back over and over
again. The second alternative addresses the situation that we had occur which was how
you would allow a minority opinion to reconsider in unusual circumstances that most
folks would consider reasonable. So we have a provision that says we can only have two
motions for reconsideration that would address the kind of badgering situation where
someone is just doing that to disrupt the proceedings but does allow a minority opinion to
have the motion reconsidered. This is a benefit in that we are a public organization that
has a number of different constituents and ideas. Council has often said if there is a need
for transparency and open discussion on an item we should err on the side of more
transparency and more discussion rather than less. This is to address the one
consideration of not having it occur over and over again but provide the opportunity for
anyone on the dais to ask for it to be reconsidered . There is not a right or wrong answer.
Ultimately a motion has to have a second and an affirmative vote by a majority. With that
said, he leaves it to the Council for discussion.
Mayor Carpenter stated since he brought this item up, he thinks a good option is to allow
any member of Council to put forth a motion to reconsider whether they be in the
majority prevailing or in the group that does not prevail. Many times in the past he has
seen that something has come up that would be a salient point on something that had
already been discussed and voted on. Therefore, he prefers a provision that allows
anybody to bring forth a motion to reconsider, but also have a limit on that so we would
not have 50 motions to reconsider.
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Fowler who stated he agreed there could be
unusual circumstances where someone who voted in the affirmative might want to relook
at it as well as someone who lost. He agrees that we should limit it; two reconsiderations,
seems to be reasonable. His question is: When does the motion for reconsideration have
to occur, right after the vote is taken? Mayor Carpenter responded that the intent is at any
time before the meeting adjourns.
Mayor Carpenter recognized City Attorney Charles Zech who expanded on this by
saying another possible outcome could be that someone makes a motion to reconsider, it
gets a second, and you vote on the motion to reconsider; you now have a motion to
reconsider the item. Then you could make another motion to place it on the next agenda
to be further discussed and voted on during the next meeting. It should be noted that the
motion to reconsider is a separate motion that has nothing to do with the substance of the
original agenda item. As the Mayor explained earlier, if someone makes a motion to
reconsider and it gets a second, you must dispose of the motion to reconsider at that
meeting before adjournment. If you affirmatively agree to reconsider the item
immediately afterwards, then the agenda item is back before the body at that point in time
and City Council may act on it immediately. A second option is that Council could say,
we want to discuss and reconsider the item at the next meeting.
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Mayor Carpenter summarized all this by saying 1) anyone can bring an item up for
reconsideration, 2) it can happen more than once, and 3) it leaves the door open for
reconsideration at a subsequent council meeting. Mr. Zech further clarified that if an
item for reconsideration is affirmatively voted to be placed on the next meeting agenda; it
may be reconsidered two more times at that second meeting. The ordinance that is
currently written limits the motions for reconsideration per meeting, not `in total'.
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Edwards who suggested a change to the
currently written ordinance stating he preferred the wording `any councilmember' rather
than `prevailing side'.
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Edwards who moved, seconded by
Councilmember Scagliola to approve Resolution No. 14 -M -46 with the change of
allowing any councilmember to make a motion to re- consider an item, and limiting that
request to two. The vote was unanimous with Mayor Pro -Tern John,
Councilmembers Fowler, Scagliola, Edwards and Duke voting yes and no one voting
no. Motion passed.
Roll Call Vote Confirmation
Mayor Carpenter recognized City Secretary Brenda Dennis who recapped the votes of items 1
through 3.
Requests and Announcements
4. Announcements by City Manager
o Citizen Kudos
o Recognition of City employee actions
o New Departmental initiatives
No further announcements were made.
5. Requests by Mayor and Councilmembers that items be placed on a future City Council
agenda.
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Scagliola who stated he would like a
discussion of the use of personal electronic devices during council meetings. Mayor
Carpenter requested it be put on the November 18th agenda. He requested a discussion
of council rules of procedure, code of conduct and proposed ethics ordinance.
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Fowler who requested that in the next 30
days he would like Council to begin to explore what the City can do to help minimize
blighted areas in our neighborhoods. This is in regard to code enforcement, where
citizens may not be able to afford the cleanup request. If this is the case, how can the city
help in these situations? City Manager John Kessel suggested a work session discussion
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format where staff can outline all these different areas for council. Councilmember
Fowler agreed that was fine.
6. Announcements by Mayor and Councilmembers
• City and community events attended and to be attended
• City Council Committee and Liaison Assignments (see assignments below)
• Continuing education events attended and to be attended
• Recognition of actions by City employees
• Recognition of actions by community volunteers
• Upcoming City Council agenda items
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Fowler who stated he just wanted to make a
report on his observations at the local polling place during this early election period. So
far it looks like we are having close to three (3) thousand folks voting. We are
maintaining a pace of about 300 -400 people per day which could bring us to around six
(6) to seven (7) thousand people at the end of Election Day, November 4 . So far it
looks like a good turnout. Go Schertz and vote!
Mayor Carpenter recognized Councilmember Scagliola who stated he just wanted to say
thank you to Ms. Maggie Titterington, President of the Schertz Chamber of Commerce
for hosting and acting as the moderator of the `Meet the Candidates' event last Thursday
evening.
Mayor Carpenter stated he did avail himself of the fall cleanup that Bexar Waste had for
us earlier this month. It was fantastic and is an important part of what we do each year to
give our citizens an opportunity to clean up on their residential lots. He thanked business
owner Henry Gutierrez for this service.
Mayor Carpenter also stated that another tradition within the city is that at the meeting
before an election we wish all the candidates good luck; those that are running for re-
election and those who are running to be elected. He wished everyone good luck in their
campaign efforts.
Adi ournment
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:48p.m,__
Michael R. Carpenter, Mayor
rA'I'TE�T: �
Brenda Dennis, City Secretary
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