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ccswks 11-01-1995 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 1, 1995 The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session on Wednesday, November 1, 1995 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were present: Mayor Hal Baldwin, presiding; Councilmembers Charles McDonald; Joe Potempa; Earl Sawyer; Timothy Swinney and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary Norma Althouse. #1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Ann Almond of Cibolo reported on the activities of the City of Schertz float. The last three presentations for the float were Comal County (they won third place), Guad~lupe County (they brought home first place honors), and Night in Ole Converse (they brought home first place honors). A float activity report was distributed by Mrs. Almond to the members of Council for their review. Mrs. Almond noted the final event for the year will be the Veteran's Day parade this Saturday and she is looking for someone with a convertible who can give the Court a ride through the parade. The VFW and the ROTC will be on the float. B. James Harris of FM 1518 and Schaefer Road spoke regarding the Restoration Advisory Board. They had a meeting Monday night at Converse City Hall and the Wing Commander from RAFB was present. Today they signed an agreement with the State on the items they intend to clean up as soon as money is available. The four items they are going to clean up, in priority order, are as follows: 1. East Area Investigation - possible contamination off base in the FM l5l8/Cibolo Creek area. 2. BX Service Station - Long Term (they had a big spill there a few years ago and are continuing to monitor it). 3. East and West Flight Lines (possible contamination from gasoline runoff and pollution from metal cleaning). 4. Fire Training Area. Mr. Harris stated the Board is still working and still having meetings. The public records are kept at City Hall in Universal City. Regarding Woman Hollering Creek, Mr. Harris said they put some pink dye in it the other day in case someone calls in about it. The base is trying to track something. They monitor the Cibolo Creek and Woman Hollering Creek every quarter and the figures are well within the standards. -29- - , ) C. Nolan Edwards of the Schertz Business Association related he had presented a check earlier this evening to Steve Simonson. The Association donated $3,000 to the Christmas lighting fund. Mayor Baldwin expressed his appreciation and mentioned he doesn't know how cities afford to decorate a three-mile boulevard because the decorations are so expensive. To this, Mr. Sweatt pointed out that the decorations the City employees and Mr. Peterson made are as good as, if not better, than the ones you can buy. Before moving to the next agenda item, welcomed back Councilmember McDonald who vacation in Alaska. Mayor Baldwin had been on #2 Discuss rescheduled public hearing on a request from James Sagebiel, on behalf of Guadalupe County Annex Offices, to rezone five (5) acres of land from Single-Family Dwelling District (R-l) to Public Use. Mr. Sweatt advised this same item came before Council previously, but because of a mixup in the description in the legal notice in the newspaper, it was appropriately referred back to Planning and Zoning. A correct legal notice was published, new notices were sent to property owners and a new public hearing was held by Planning and Zoning. They recommend approval of the rezoning request. Mr. Sweatt pointed out the location of the land on the map. Mr. Swinney recalled that the biggest concern of one of the citizens was what's going to happen to the rest of the land. The County is going to use only about five acres out of a nine-acre tract. Mr. Greenwald mentioned the other four acres will remain zoned as R-l. Mr. Sawyer commented whoever owns the land can come in and request rezoning if they don't want R-l. Mr. Sweatt reminded Council there is a diagram included in their packets showing how the County plans to lay the annex out. Council indicated their readiness for this item to placed on next Tuesday night's agenda. #3 Discuss (5) acres of (R-l) to Public first reading of an ordinance rezoning five land from Single-Family Dwelling District Use. Council agreed they were prepared for this item to be included on next Tuesday night's agenda. #4 Discuss award of bid for fire truck. Mr. Sweatt related the City received three bids by the deadline of 10:00 a.m. october 16th. KME Fire Apparatus submitted a bid of $149,989.00, with no trade-in allowance, -30- and a delivery time between 120 and 150 days after receipt of the chassis at the manufacturer's plant. This receipt is estimated to be in February of 1996 making the delivery time somewhere between 240 and 270 days. Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc. $156,634.00, with a trade-in bringing it down to $155,134.00, days. submitted a allowance of and a delivery bid of $1,500.00 time of 90 Quality Manufacturing, Inc. submitted a bid of $157,558.80, with a discount of $1,143.80 if we pay for the chassis upon delivery, bringing it down to $156,415.00 or a discount of $6,302.35 if payment in full is made at the time of the order, bringing it down to $151,256.45. Their delivery time is within 300 days. Mr. Sweatt went on to say Chief Woodward is here to discuss the bids in detail if Councii so desires. All three bids were very good and represent equipment the City would be happy to have. As Council is aware, this is a stripped down piece of equipment and does not have all the paraphernalia necessary to meet the NFPA requirements. It is the City's intention to purchase the other items as separate items and we feel we can come in with a lower total dollar expenditure. The Volunteer Fire Department has offered to buy the generator and some of those other items. Mr. Sweatt stated that after reviewing the bids, the delivery time and other related items, the City believes the best bid is that of Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Inc. The award of the bid to Ferrara would include the requirement of the establishment of a penalty of $35 a day for any failure to deliver within the 90 days specified. This is calculated based on the difference in this bid and that of the low bid so we would not be injured if they took as much time as the lowest bidder to deliver the equipment. Chief Woodward informed Council that KME met 85% of specifications, Ferrara met 98% of the specifications Quality Manufacturing met 90% of the specifications. people saw Ferrara's truck and Quality's truck at TML. Volunteer Fire Department has volunteered to pay approximately $10,000 worth of equipment needed for the truck. the and Some The for new Mr. and their McDonald asked why the difference in the delivery time Chief Woodward replied Ferrara has twelve of them on lot and the other companies have to order them. Mr. Swinney questioned the $1,500 trade-in allowance and was informed by Chief Woodward it is a very fair price. Mr. Potempa asked the status of the truck being traded in and Chief Woodward replied it's out of service at this time. -31- Mr. Swinney and Mr. Sawyer both commented on how much they were impressed with the quality of the Ferrara truck they saw at TML and Mayor Baldwin echoed their opinion. Chief Woodward added that maintenance on either the Ferrara or the Quality truck would be taken care of locally. Mr. Potempa asked what kind of warranty is involved and Chief Woodward answered one year on the chassis, one year on the engine, one year on the transmission, two years on the pump and lifetime on the water tank. Mr. Chief of 3" Potempa asked how much hose the truck will carry and Woodward replied he will have 1,000' of 5" hose, 600' hose and 600' of 1 3/4" hose. After being reminded by Mr. Sweatt this is a investment, Council indicated they were ready for to placed on next Tuesday night's agenda. 25 year this item #5 Discuss resolution casting votes to elect Directors for Guadalupe County Appraisal District. The consensus of Council was to cast their votes for Sylvia Schlather. They were ready to go with this item on next Tuesday night's agenda. #6 Discuss revision to Code of Ordinances amending Traffic Code. Mr. Sweatt commented this ordinance proposes to delete the current Chapter 18, Traffic Code, and replace it with a new Chapter 18. The current ordinance has been in effect since the 1970's and with all the amendments to it, is quite a patchwork. They feel it is best to delete the current ordinance and adopt a new one. The majority of the changes are housekeeping items, but there are some specific changes that should be reviewed. Does Council wish to review the entire ordinance section by section? Mayor Baldwin suggested reviewing just the significant changes and the Councilmembers agreed. Mr. Swinney, referring to Section 18.7, asked if it's saying you have to get a permit to have a funeral procession through the City. Mr. Sweatt replied the intent is to give notice to the City if someone is anticipating 50 or more vehicles. This is so arrangements can be made for emergency vehicle routing. Mr. Potempa asked if there's a charge for the permit and was told there is not. Mr. Sweatt mentioned that Section 18.11 has been combined with what in the old ordinance was Section 18.47. This deals with riding in the back of a pick-up. We have added the statement the City Manager may, by regulation or permit, authorize exceptions to this section for authorized parades. Council some years ago passed an ordinance forbidding children under a certain age to ride in the back of a piCk-up and we have been violating that ordinance -32- when we have parades. Section 18-31 is a new section. It addresses the issue of stopping before entering a public roadway from property other than a public roadway. In Section 18-32, Stop Intersections, a considerable number of through and stop streets have been added, primarily to recognize new subdivisions. Those streets that are now four-way stops have been moved to Section 18-33. Other corrections have been made to update this section. The title of Section 18-33 has been changed from Stops to All-Way Stops because in some instances three-way intersection as opposed to a four-way. new intersections have been added to this section. Four-Way it is a Several Some new streets have been added and corrections made to Section 18-35, Yield Intersections. One way streets were not previously included in Section 18-37, One-Way Streets and Alleys, but the service roads for a portion of IH-35 are one way only, so they've been included. Mr. Swinney asked if Section 18-40 regarding driving through, around or under a railroad cross1ng gate or barrier is new and Mr. Sweatt replied it is not. Mr. Swinney wondered if something should be included about when the gates malfunction or do we use the common sense of the Police Department. Mr. Sweatt remarked the Police Department is notified and they get out and direct traffic. In Section 18-43, Negligent Collision, the City Attorney recommended some legal wording be changed. Section 18-44, Crime Watch Signs, simply changed the person responsible for installing certain signs, namely the Public Works Director. Section 18-45, Vehicular Weight Limits on Roadways Maintained by the City of Schertz, Texas, is fairly significant. Currently load limits on certain roads are specified by ordinance and added to the list in this section. This will encompass all roads maintained by the City without having to do a separate ordinance each time. Exemptions are listed. Section 18-46 designates through truck routes. Mr. McDonald pointed out FM 78, from city limits to city limits, needs to be added to the list. Everyone agreed and Mr. Sweatt, saying it was an oversight, said he would see that it's corrected. Mr. Greenwald asked if they're hazardous material hauling on through Mr. Sweatt replied they would like to. going truck Mr. to designate routes only. Potempa asked -33- how come it's not in this ordinance. Mr. Sweatt answered they hadn't considered it as part of this Traffic Code update, but he will certainly get some recommendations before final consideration of this ordinance. It may be more germane in some other location, but he doesn't think so. A new Section, 18-54, has been added regarding racing vehicles. Previously the racing of all kinds of vehicles was handled under bicycles. Now there are three separate areas - vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. This section does provide authorization for a permit in case of professional races or similar events. It was discovered that Sections 18-48 through 18-54 were reserved and that Races Prohibited should be Section 18-47. Section 18-58, Traffic Light Locatio~s, contains minor wording changes. Section 18-60, Obedience to Devices, added firefighters as being authorized to direct traffic. Mr. Swinney asked if there's a part of the Traffic Code that covers regulations regarding branches or bushes blocking traffic signs and high hedges on a corner blocking the view. Mr. Sweatt replied the one most commonly used is Section 18-131 having to do with a visibility triangle. In Section 18-76, Maximum Limits on Specific Streets, there have been several changes regarding speed limits and street names. In Section 18-90, Parking for Certain Purposes prohibited, there has been a change in the wording of paragraph (b) eliminating prohibition of washing vehicles in the street. The City doesn't see a real problem as long as it's only the water from washing the vehicle that's going into the street. Clearly, we don't want oil and grease washed into the street. Mr. Potempa asked about paragraph (a) in Section 18-90 which says that no person shall park a vehicle upon any street for the principal purpose of displaying such vehicle for sale. Does that mean if a person has a car for sale and drives it to work with the sign in it, he can't come home and park it in front of his house? Mr. Sweatt answered he would be prohibited from parking it on the street, but he could park it in his driveway. Mr. Potempa then asked the intent and Mr. Sweatt said to prevent streets from becoming used parking lots. After further questioning by Mr. Potempa, Mr. Sweatt acknowledged if the person drove the car to work every day, there probably wouldn't be a problem parking in front of the house because the car is moved daily and does not create a traffic hazard. TeChnically, however, the ordinance does say parking on the street is prohibited. -34- Section l8-91, Parking Prohibited, has significant changes in paragraphs (b) and (c). In paragraph (b) the weight has been changed from 3/4 ton to one (1) ton and the phrase excent for temporarv narkino bv a customer In front of ,q commercial establishment has been added to the end of the first sentence. paragraph (c) has auxiliarv svstem of on any residential and 8:00 a.m. been clarified a vehicle left street between to read No vehicle or runnina shall be narked the hours of 8:00 n.m. Mr. McDonald, referring to paragraph (b), commented he would like to see something allowing a recreational vehicle to park on the city street for three days. The protective covenants in Woodland Oaks limit it to three days. Mr. Sweatt pointed out the enforcement of it will be. difficult, but they can do whatever the Council feels is appropriate. Council was in favor of it, so after discussion about the way to allow the three days for RV's, Mr. Sweatt indicated he would work on the wording. Mr. Greenwald, going back to paragraph (a) of Section 18-91, stated there's currently a sign prohibiting parking on the north side of Curtiss from Westchester to Schertz Parkway. It's great, but there needs to be one on the south side also. Mr. Sweatt found it was not in the ordinance and said if it's needed, they'll include it. He couldn't explain how it has a sign, but is not included in the ordinance. In Section 18-114, Races language about bicycles as vehicles in Section 18-54. professional races or similar Prohibited, there's similar there was language about provisions for a permit for events are included. In Section 18-121, Use of Sidewalk, Pathway Required; Manner of Walking on Roadway, it stipulates that when pedestrians walk in the roadway they are to walk no more than two abreast and to walk on the side of the roadway facing oncoming traffic. This also includes provisions for a permit for professional races or similar events. Mayor about 50 mph Baldwin mentioned he is getting a lot the lack of traffic lights on FM 3009 speed limit. It's too fast. of complaints and about the Council agreed they were ready for this item to be included on next Tuesday night's agenda. #7 Discuss graffiti removal policy. Mr. Sweatt advised they have drafted an ordinance, but it would, in fact, still hold the property owner responsible. The City feels some kind of volunteer system, using community service assignments from Municipal Court, and/or securing contributions from businesses for paint and -35- supplies might be the best way to go. Mr. Sawyer asked why we have to pass an ordinance. Why can't we just ask the property owners to donate the paint and paint brushes and have the court assign the duties to individuals who need to do community service? Mr. Swinney commented he doesn't think anyone's proposing an ordinance.. That's certainly not the number one choice of homeowners. We're just trying to come up with a way to involve concerned citizens with the court system in an effort to remove the graffiti. We need to figure out the mechanics of it and address the liability. The best way to handle graffiti would be for the businesses to have one of their employees remove it, but some of them apparently don't have enough pride to do that. Mr. McDonald remarked he had experienced it with Winn's and they wanted $1500 to come out and paint the wall with anti-graffiti paint. If businesses have to do that once a week, they can't afford it. It's not necessarily pride, it's economics. If, however, you put that anti-graffiti paint on the building, it contains some kind of seal so that the next time you can just wash off the graffiti. There was a brief discussion on the liability involved. Mr. Greenwald suggested making a presentation to the Schertz Business Association and getting a feel for their interest in the project. They may not want to do it, but if they do approve, we can furnish the manpower through the court system and scrounge up some supplies to get started. Mr. Greenwald was certain he could find someone to donate money for the project. Mr. Swinney felt solving the problem of liability should be the first step. What kind of blanket liability protection does the City have? Mr. Sweatt replied the City has a liability policy which covers them only if they're in the pursuit of municipal activities and they do everything they can, from a risk management position, to reduce any violations to that policy. Mr. Swinney reviewed his game plan. He would like to see a system through the municipal court whereby they get people out there doing community projects, and specifically removing graffiti. As long as the City has liability insurance, that should not be a concern for the businesses. We can do everything to minimize risk. We don't need ladders, we can provide extension poles so nobody has to leave the ground. The only problem we need to solve is where we're going to get the paint. Mr. Sawyer suggested approaching the Schertz Business Association for help. Council agreed. #8 Consider and take action regarding rejection of bid for sewer line construction. -36- Mr. Sweatt reported only one bid was received and it was well above the estimate of cost. It is recommended the bid be rejected. Mr. Swinney moved to reject the bid for the sewer construction. Mr. McDonald seconded the motion, carried with the following votes: line which AYES: Councilmembers McDonald, Potempa, sawyer, Swinney and Greenwald. NAYS: None. Council took a short break before the Executive Session. #9 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Called under Chapter 551 Texas Government Code, Sub-Section 551.074, Personnel Matters, to deliberate evaluation of City Manager. An Executive Session was held from 8:43 p.m. to 11:10 p.m. Mr. Swinney had to leave after the Executive Session. #10 Consider and take Executive Session. action, if any, on above Mayor Baldwin announced they have evaluated the City Manager. They find he is always well-prepared and knowledgeable of discussion items. They feel he is extremely reliable in anticipating potential problems. They're proud of the recent upgrading of the City's bond rating which was a direct result of a lot of hard work on the City Manager's part. They feel he provides outstanding and effective leadership in the economic development program. Business development has been phenomenal under his guidance. They're very happy with his tenure in the City and the work he has done. #11 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. Informed Council they have tickets and an invitation to attend the Kiwanis Veteran's Day breakfast at the Randolph Church of Christ. If Council cannot use the tickets, the Kiwanis has asked that they distribute them. B. Reminded Council there is a City holiday on November 10th for Veteran's Day and City holidays on November 23rd and 24th for Thanksgiving. #12 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Greenwald: Related he gave the BVYA minutes to the City Secretary for inclusion in Council's next packet. Seven of the Board members have agreed to be the judges for the Christmas Lighting Contest. Mr. McDonald: A. Noticed Pulte wants to change the name of their subdivision up in Woodland Oaks. He thinks that's wrong. -37- B. Mentioned, regarding the plats for the Pulte homes, that one of the houses looks pretty close to drainage ditch. How much backyard are they supposed have? Mr. Sweatt promised to check on it. model the to Mr. books $5.00. really PotemDa: Reported he bought a very large stack of at the library book store the other night for only He's doing some research work on the Mafia. It's worth the effort - go over and spend some money. #13 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Reminded everyone that the Senior Citizens Arts and Crafts show is November 18th at the Community Center. #14 ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Mr. seconded by Mr. Sawyer and unanimously meeting was adjourned at 11:18 pm. McDonald carried, and the M6yor, City of Schertz, Texas ATTEST: ~ ~//~~) City Secretary, City of Schertz -38-