ccreg 06-05-01
REGULAR SESSION OF THE SCHERTZ CITY COUNCIL
JUNE 5, 200t
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session on Tuesday, June 5, 2001 at 7;00
p.m. in the Municipal Complex Council Chambers, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz,
Texas. Those present were as follows: Mayor Hal Baldwin, presiding; Councilmembers
Norma Head, Reginna Agee, Tim Swinney and Ken Greenwald. Those absent were:
Councilmember Joe Potempa. Staff present were Dewey Cashwell, City Manager; Vijay
Jain, Comptroller; Johnny Bierschwale, Public Works Director; Leonard Truitt,
Inspection Official and Dolores Butler, Deputy City Secretary.
Mayor Baldwin asked everyone to rise and join him in the Pledge of Allegiance to the
Flag.
#1
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Regular Session - April 17 , 2001
Mr. Greenwald moved the City Council approve the minutes of the Regular Session of
April 17, 2001 as presented. Ms. Agee seconded the motion. The vote was as follows:
AYES: Councilmembers Head, Agee and Greenwald
ABSTENTIONS; Councilmember Swinney
#2 HEARING OF RESIDENTS:
Mr. George Mower greeted the City Council and citizens and asked that this august body
not use your position as a bully pulpit to castigate myself in particular or anybody in
general when we have something to say. There are three ways you can answer or the
fourth is not to answer. That of course, is with a statement of fact, a statement of existing
City policy or discussion regarding when the matter can be placed on the Council's
agenda for consideration at a later meeting. That is all that is allowed by law. Maybe we
can get over some ofthe unpleasantness that has been cast upon the citizenry in the past.
Mayor Baldwin asked if someone got ugly in his absence and Mr. Mower replied,
"meaning you."
Mr. Mower inquired if there was a meeting of the Schertz Parkway Zone Board as
advertised in the June newsletter that came out five (5) days late. This has been
happening regularly and that is why I want to talk about communication. How can you
communicate with the citizenry when the newsletter is habitually four (4) and five (5)
days late? The meeting was scheduled for the 4th in the newsletter but of course, it was
cancelled. The people who put this on the sign on the lawn didn't know the meeting had
been cancelled because it was still up. Do you ever intend to catch up with this and do
anything that is going to make things more in reality and have voracity with the
citizenry? For example, the third thing I've seen in print about the Community Forum is
that over 350 citizens attended. Mr. Mower said he counted 200 chairs - 10 rows of 10
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chairs on each side before the three rounds were taken up and used by people that got off
of these chairs. Because there were voids in those chairs, that means there were less than
200 people there. The important part is, that if you paid a group like this $75,000 to put
on this thing and they can't even tell you how many people were there, something is
wrong. It shouldn't take them very long to count the names on the sign in sheet(s) to
figure out accurately how many people were there. Mr. Mower said he noticed that the
newsletter had the accurate count of the election just passed, why couldn't you do that
with this?
#3 PUBLIC HEARING: To receive citizen comments on junked vehicle at 438
River Road.
Mr. Cashwell noted this matter does reflect changes in the law in terms of our process. It
is required that before we take possession of a junked vehicle we must have a public
hearing, primary reason being, that once the city takes possession of such a vehicle under
these conditions, that vehicle must then be destroyed. We want to be sure that we live up
to the standards ofthe law in order to insure that we don't inadvertently do something for
which the consequences are absolute. Mr. Truitt will now give further background on the
process in this case in point.
Leonard Truitt explained that on April 26, 2001 a notice was sent to Mr. John H.
Zimmerman at 438 River Road who is not the owner of the vehicle by record. A second
notice was sent to Mr. Hollingsworth of 517 Exchange who is shown to be the owner by
the Department of Motor Vehicles. Mr. Hollingsworth contacted the Inspection
Department in writing, stating that he had sold the car to Mr. Zimmerman in 1996 who
has apparently not transferred the title. On May 4, 2001 the certified letter to Mr.
Zimmerman was returned unclaimed. On May 9,2001 Mr. Zimmerman contacted the
Inspection Department after receiving a door-hanger concerning the situation on his
property. Mr. Truitt informed Mr. Zimmerman of the letter that was sent concerning the
junk vehicle. He was unaware of the requirements and was uneasy that the vehicle could
be removed from his back yard after being explained the junk vehicle ordinance, said he
had purchased the vehicle only for parts. The vehicle was in the back yard but has been
moved to the side of the property in public view, and is up on jack stands missing front
tires. Mr. Zimmerman was offered 10 additional days to take care of removing the
vehicle and he has failed to comply.
Mayor Baldwin asked if Mr. Zimmerman would be responsible for any cost incurred in
removal of the vehicle. Mr. Truitt answered that there is no cost to the City. The City
has to notify any junk dealer, fill out a state-issued form and the junk dealer claims the
vehicle which can only be used for parts, it can not be used on the street.
Mayor Baldwin asked Mr. Hollingsworth who was in the audience if he would like to
address Council on this matter.
Mr. Hollingsworth said he had sold the vehicle to Mr. Zimmerman in 1996 but because
the title had never been transferred, he had received a letter also from the Inspection
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Department. In the meantime, he has sent certified letters to the State Department of
Transportation informing them of this transaction but that didn't get it out of the
computer. His only concern was that in the original letter from the City of Schertz, he
had been told that he could be charged $200 to $250 for towing charges.
Mayor Baldwin invited other comments for the public hearing.
Mr. Mower commented that there was something mentioned that alluded to these kinds of
vehicles being rat infested. Being that we're getting so many laws, we might consider
passing a law against anybody putting food outside their locked doors so rats won't come
and feed on it, that way, we could get rid of the rats because they would go elsewhere if
there were no nuts, no cat food or dog food out for them.
Mayor Baldwin advised Mr. Mower that his comments didn't pertain to this public
hearing and should be addressed at a future meeting under Hearing of Residents. Mayor
Baldwin asked Mr. Mower if he was in favor of removing the junk vehicle or if he
thought it should just stay there.
Mr. Mower said he was in favor of the City getting out of this nonsense business.
Since no one else wished to speak, Mayor Baldwin closed the public hearing. This item
will be placed on the next regular meeting agenda for Council's action.
#4 Consider and take action appointing applicants to the following:
a. Economic Development Commission
b. Transportation Safety Advisory Committee
(1) Youth Member
Mayor Baldwin stated we had room for the three (3) candidates to the Economic
Development Commission. Mr. Carl Douglas, Ms. Abbie Brown and Mr. Ronald
Gonzalez applied. Mayor Baldwin asked for a motion.
Mr. Greenwald moved City Council nominate Mr. Douglas, Ms. Brown and Mr.
Gonzalez for the EDC. Ms. Agee seconded the motion. The vote was as follows:
AYES: Councilmembers Head, Agee, Swinney and Greenwald
NAYS: None
Mayor Baldwin noted we have a requirement for three (3) members on the Transportation
Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC). Mr. Joseph Dominguez received five (5) votes, Mr.
Johnie McDow received four (4) votes and a tie between Mr. Dave Allen, Mr. Bill
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Gignac and Ms. Isabel Pellerin each receiving three (3) votes. By secret ballot, Mr. Allen
received three (3) votes and Mr. Gignac received two (2) votes. Candidates for the
TSAC are Dominguez, McDow, and Allen.
Mr. Greenwald stated that he thought we needed to get some youth involved and he
recommended Wyatt Agee. He has been active with student government at Clemens and
maybe it will stir some interest in City elections.
Mayor Baldwin asked for a motion.
Mr. Greenwald moved that City Council nominate Mr. Dominguez, Mr. McDow, Mr.
Allen and the youth member, Wyatt Agee for the TSAC. Ms. Head seconded the motion.
Prior to the vote Mr. Swinney inquired if there were any age restrictions as far as being
voting age.
Mr. Cashwell answered there is no age restriction and the concept of youth membership
is a recent one which Council should feel free to expound on as they feel appropriate on
other boards and commissions as youth advisors.
Ms. Head said there were two (2) youth at the land planning committee meeting and they
added a lot.
With no further discussion and a motion and a second, the vote was as follows:
AYES; Councilmembers Head, Swinney and Greenwald
ABSTENTIONS: Councilmember Agee
#5 RESOLUTION: Consider and take action authorizing certain actions including
proceedings in eminent domain in connection with the acquisition of certain waterline
and temporary construction easements in Gonzales and Guadalupe Counties and related
matters.
Mayor Baldwin read the caption and asked for a motion.
Mr. Greenwald moved that City Council approve the resolution authorizing certain
actions including proceedings in eminent domain in connection with the acquisition of
certain waterline and temporary construction easements in Gonzales and Guadalupe
Counties and related matters. Ms. Agee seconded the motion. The vote was as follows:
AYES: Councilmembers Head, Agee, Swinney and Greenwald
NAYS; None
#6 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
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Mr. Cashwell: A) Called attention to the Census 2000 report and summarized
observations made by he and staff. The median age is 35.1 years, the number of folks
over 55 is diminishing while the number under 55 is growing and 25% are school age.
Male-Female breakout is pretty even, meaning there are a lot of decision-makers in these
homes with a substantial number of single-parent households. You have a predominance
of owner-occupied housing units. The average household size is about 2.82 and the
average family size is about 3.17 (roughly 3 people per household), a likelihood of a
pretty high median income and certainly some disposable income. The community is not
very diverse in terms of ethnicity. The great predominance is Anglo as opposed to
Hispanic or "Other". What that says about what kind of things you want to do in the
community in programs and such could speak volumes. We've seen some questioning of
our total population numbers and considering the minority population is the most
undercounted, totals might well be a little higher. The demands placed on you as
community leaders in future will certainly be a function of what you are seeing here.
With a younger and perhaps somewhat more affluent population with a great number of
more children, you will probably see demands for the kinds of things you have already
recognized and spoke so well about at the strategic planning session - i.e., leisure
services and facilities, etc.
B) We have received a letter frorn Mr. West, General Manager ofGBRA. We had
some discussions on that matter at your last meeting and we have had a response
from them regarding their intentions concerning the existing discharge permit and
renewal thereof at the wastewater facility located in the Northcliffe/Scenic Hills
area (actually in the City of Schertz). This has produced a considerable amount
of conversation and we had more discussion today and I will brief you at our next
meeting on where we are with that. I think we are moving in a good direction.
C) Ms. Agee brought the letter to our attention from Mr. Jerry D. Graham and
certainly speaks to leisure services. Mr. Graham suggested a Parks and
Recreation Commission be created. He is encouraging you to more fully
formalize your commitment to this issue as well as the citizen participation. I
have seen such entities created, they run the gaumet and this is certainly food for
thought in the future. These can be either advisory or executive.
Mr. Greenwald commented that Mr. Bierschwale is working on re-allocating the
department and we need to let him finish what he wants to do and then have him come
back and tell us ifthis will dove-tail with what he wants to do.
D) The latest inspections from the Health Department don't indicate that Mr. Davis
has been wielding any of that new authority he has been given.
E) A letter and summary from Mr. Steve Vassallo of Johnson & Associates
characterizing the results of your recent strategic planning efforts is in your
packet. He did pretty good justice to it. As the Mayor noted in a phone call to
me earlier in the week, there is still more to be done. If any of you have more to
share or anything that is in need of correction on this report please let us know.
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This report has been circulated to staff and they have been advised to keep this in
mind in the context of their budget presentations this year.
F) Copies of the Northeast Partnership's latest minutes and agenda are provided in
this report. Those folks are very active with regard to the Edwards Aquifer issues.
I attended a meeting in Windcrest last week where that subject was the primary
topic of discussion and the regulatory efforts that the Edwards expects to make
and impose as time goes on. You will see a resolution for consideration at the
next workshop, having to do with subject of their discussion.
G) I will be attending the TCMA conference in Laredo. Plans are to leave around
noon on Thursday, June 7th and return Tuesday, June 12th.
#7 ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to discuss, Mayor Baldwin adjourn a the meeting at 7:45
pm. ~
lL__
Mayor, City of Schertz, Texas
ATTEST:
77~~ (lLH" /,.,'.. " "
City Secretary, City of Schertz
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