ccswks 03-09-1994
95
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
MARCH 9, 1994
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop
Session Wednesday, March 9, 1994, at 7:00 p.m. in the
Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz
Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were
present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presidingi Barbara
Stanhopei Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Absent: Joe
Potempa and Hal Baldwin. Staff present were City
Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Bill Neller 1. Advised
that as of this date, there were still six Christmas
brackets on the poles on Main Street that covered the flag
brackets. He added that if the flags were to be displayed
the end of the month, these would have to be removed.
2. He was disappointed with the short mentioned of the
flags being displayed for the Vietnam Veterans.
B. Georoe Mower reminded that at the last meeting
asked Council for a copy of the Open Meeting Law,
that he had been informed that the City was required
this available.
he had
saying
to have
Mr. Sweatt advised that there is no law stating the City
must maintain a law librarYi however there is a copy of
this available if Mr. Mower would like to purchase one.
Mrs. Stanhope said she had contacted the Attorney General's
office and also found out there is no requirement to have
this available. However, in making her phone calls, she did
find out that Mr. Mower already has a copy. She then gave
him a copy of the current booklet put out by the Attorney
General.
C. Sue McBride of 1205 Cedarwood asked what would be the
speed limit on FM 3009 once the construction is finished.
Mayor Sawyer answered that the Department of Transportation
sets the speed limiti however the Council can put some
pressure on them for a lower limit.
Mr. Sweatt added that it is being designed for 55 miles per
hour.
Mrs. McBride said she and her husband represent residents
of the Silvertree Subdivision. She said they have been in
contact with the Department of Transportation and they are
saying the City sets the speed limits.
Mr. Sweatt said what takes place is they run tests and
measure traffic for 24 hours. They make their
recommendation based on 86% of the traffic during this
period. The City cannot set a different speed limit than
what the State recommends.
~6
Mrs.
would
lower
and Elbel
McBride said they had been informed that the limit
be from 45 to 55 MPH and they are recommending it be
no more than 35 miles per hour between Silvertree
Road.
Mrs. Marsh advised that the previous speed limit for that
portion of FM 3009 was 45 MPH before construction started.
Mrs. McBride said they have also been in meetings with the
Department of Transportation about the elevation for parts
of FM 3009, especially at Eli Whitney. Last Friday four
people from the State met with them and they are suppose to
get back in touch soon. She mentioned that there is not
even street lights in that area and it is dangerous.
Mr. Sweatt advised they had to take the street lights out
for construction. He said we can all make requests but they
are not going to do anything until the road is completed.
Mayor Sawyer told Mr. & Mrs. McBride that the City would
keep up the pressure on the State.
D. Richard Hammel wanted to know if there are any reports
that could tell him what it would costs to have the County
collect taxes for the City. He asked if any study had been
done on this.
Mr. Greenwald said the last time we looked into this it was
not cost effective and there were delays in posting times.
He said there were other objections but these two are the
ones he could remember now.
#2 Discuss FY92-93 External Audit Report.
Mayor Sawyer advised that the Audit Committee has been over
this at length in a meeting with the auditors.
Barney Ortiz, of the firm of Leal, Carter and Rocha,
referred
to the 113 page Annual Financial Report Councilmembers had
received. On page 20, as in the past they only thing the
City will receive from them is their opinion on these
financial statements based on their audit. These financial
statements are the responsibility of the City's management;
however in smaller cities the auditors assist staff but the
responsibility still rests with the City. He added that
they have reviewed the contents and audited the contents and
that in their opinion, they feel they fairly represent the
financial position of the City. As in past years, the City
has gotten an unqualified opinion, which means they had no
reservations whatsoever. Also this year, as in the past
five years, the City again received the Certificate of
Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the
Government Finance Officers Association. This is a pretty
tough certificate to get and the City has gotten this the
last six years.
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97
Page 30 is a compilation of the revenues that the City has
received during the year, the expenditures for the year and
the comparison between the actual and the budget for the
General Fund and the Debt Service. He briefly went over the
figures for the General Fund, since that is the largest fund
the City has. He pointed out that 2.6 million dollars was
budgeted and got approximately 2.6 or 2.7 million dollars -
favorable on budget of about $66,000. In total
expenditures, the City budgeted 2.5 million dollars and got
actual expenditures 2.4 million dollars. We were under
expended on the budget approximately $79,000. We projected
to have excess revenues of $154,000 and we had actual of
$300,000 so we were over the budget by about $145,000.
After the City transferred monies for the debt service to
cover interest on our bond issues of $184,000, we had left
over in actual $115,000 from the $300,000 before we made the
transfer. On the budget, we estimated we would have less
expenditures than revenues by about $30,000 so we beat out
budget by about $146,000. Last year to begin with we had a
fund balance of $104,000, this year we add to that $115,000
so the City has an operating reserve of approximately
$145,000. We have approximately 2.7 months of operations.
Mr. Ortiz mentioned that in 1989 we had a deficit of
$50,000 and in 1993 we now have $545,000. We are talking in
excess of 900% that we have come from 1989. Each year since
1989 we have progressed to the point we are right now. He
said usually a city of this size operates between three to
three and one half months reserves.
Mr. Ortiz then directed attention to page 79 for the
Enterprise Fund, which is comprised of the Water and Sewer
System fund and the SAFES funds and combines them to show
one operation. The Enterprise Fund is operated as a
business. The reason is that these funds operate to provide
a service and you expect to get a return to replace
equipment, improvements etc. This does not mean that all
the monies in this fund can be transferred out. In the
Water and Sewer System we had fees charged to user of
approximately 1.6 million dollars. The operating expenses,
before any depreciation, was approximately 1.4 million
dollars. We had an operating income of $231,000 and to that
you apply depreciation on all fixed assets and that came to
$390,000. Operating income, including depreciation, we had
a loss of $159,000. That loss is before you take
non-operating revenues and expenditures, the biggest portion
being interest expense. If you apply the non-operating
revenues of $218,000 you now arrive at a net income of the
whole operation, or in this instance a loss of $378,000 for
the operation of the water and sewer fund, including
depreciation. We transferred out $227,000 to Capitol
Projects Fund but that has to flow through this fund, so now
you arrive at a loss of $605,000 in the Water and Sewer
Fund. The key figues here is the operating income loss of
$159,000 and obviously the additional expenditures, being
for interest, of $298,000 or the net income from
operations only of $378,000.
98
Last year we had retained earning in the Water and Sewer
Fund of $197,000. We now apply the loss of $605,000 to that
and now have a deficit in retained earnings, or no operating
reserves of any kind, of $408,000. Mr. Ortiz related that
the City does have some cash that is reserved especially for
certain things. Those are for the Revenue Bond retirement,
$341,000 and cash reserved for equipment replacement
$123,000.
He then referred to page 64, the revenues and expenditures
are detailed into certain categories. You will also see
expenditures that are classified into categories. Then on
page 65 you will see each of the categories, both revenues
and expenditures, broken down into detail.
Mr. Ortiz said that the previous Monday, he had met with
the Audit Committee and went over this report and another
report where they presented certain items of recommendation
to the City they had and discussed them in detail. He said
he thought Mr. Sweatt and the Chairman of the Committee
would present these four items to Council later on.
Mr. Ortiz said if Council had any questions or comments
they wanted to make to please call his office. He then
mentioned that included in this report were some five to ten
pages of notes that simply amplify the report. They did put
in the notes that during the end of the year, the City amend
the water and sewer rates.
Richard Hammel asked if the water rates were broken down
into areas or funds, since those who live outside the City
in Bexar County pay more than those within the city limits.
He wanted some justification for this.
Mr.
living
Comal
Those
rates.
Sweatt agreed that the rates are higher for those
outside the city, whether in Bexar, Guadalupe or
County or wherever they live outside the city limits.
outside the city pay 100 percent of the inside city
George Mower asked if the auditor would give him the four
items in their recommendation to the Council.
Mr. Ortiz exlained the report, saying this is the first
year Council received this report in this fashion. The
Account Profession has put out some standards and said they
should put out a report labeled "Conduct of Audit Report".
This report addresses significant auditing findings and
there are none; also would disclose disagreements with
administration - there were none. They also would disclose
if there were consultations with other accountants - there
were none. He explained the entire report at this time.
He said they disclosed separate items items that they felt
needed to be presented to the audit committee and Council.
------
9~
The first item was they routinely review minutes and brought
to the attention to the audit committee that some of the
minutes were not signed. They brought this up because once
the signature is affixed to the minutes, they are official
according to state law.
The second item brought to the audit committee is they
encountered some accounts that are duplicate number. For
instance you could use number 101 for cash in the General
Fund and then if you use number 101 in the Water and Sewer
Fund labeled accounts receivable, it would accept it but it
is best to have an accounting system where the numbers are
unique throughout the system.
The third item was that although there was a great
improvement over last year, they did discover five bank
accounts that were not reconciled. The amount was small and
they did not consider it material; but it would be good if
all accounts would be reconciled.
The fourth item concerns the SAFES accounts receivable.
SAFES maintains a detail of the accounts receivable and that
detail should agree with the accounting records with the
City. They find that the detail ledger did not agree by
approximately $8,974. SAFES presented to them a memo and
reports to be reviewed and after review, if the auditors
felt it needed to be done, they could adjust them. After
their review, they felt no adjustment needed to be done.
They felt these figures could be reconciled. They have a
meeting with SAFES to review these figures.
Answering further
complete audit of
item, that would
samplings.
questions, Mr. Ortiz said this
the City. They do not go through
be cost prohibitive - so they do
is a
every
take
#3 Discuss Board of Adjustment hearing on a request by
Ira and Carolyn Garrett, 3712 Hull Street, for a Special
Exception allowing them to cover their existing patio slab
with a sun room.
Mayor Sawyer called attention to the recommendation from
Planning & Zoning that this be approved for public hearing.
As Council had no comments, this was asked to be on the next
agenda for public hearing.
#4 Discuss an ordinance, recommended by Planning and
Zoning, that amends the Subdivision Ordinance regarding
private streets.
Mayor Sawyer read the recommendation from Planning & Zoning
as follows: "Our current Subdivision Ordinance states that
private streets are expressly forbidden. Over the years,
private streets have been authorized for... .Mobile Home
Parks.... .Inquires are being received from developers about
private streets for developments as large as 300-400 lots.
lOO
Due to the serious concern for secure living conditions by
homeowners, the Commission feels more developers will be
looking for ways to provide this security.
The Commission feels the proposed amendment
Subdivision Ordinance is needed to ensure that the
safety and welfare of the citizens is protected and
is protected from any liability."
to the
health,
the City
Mr. Sweatt said the basic problem is that if a street is
closed for security purposes, it immediately constitutes a
problem with it being a public street. This ordinance deals
with the issue by requiring the street be built to a certain
standard and that there is a development of a maintenance
agreement in which the homeowner is assured that there is
someway those streets are going to be maintained by the
Homeowners Association.
After discussion with citizens present, Mr. Greenwald said
this ordinance makes it mandatory that a property owners
association collects a fee to pay for street repairs and
that they are obligated to maintain them to City's
standards. Mr. Greenwald said he was totally against
private streets because the tax payers are going to pay the
same amoumt of taxes and will get no street maintenance nor
police patrols and that is not fair.
Mrs. Stanhope added that if that is the choice the
owner makes, that they are paying taxes for something
don't get - but they know that up front.
home
they
#5 Discuss subleasing of Scout Hut property to Church
of the Harvest.
Mayor Sawyer recalled that we did allow them to sublease the
Scout Hut last year.
Mr. Sweatt said that is right the Council authorized a
sub-leasing under the terms of the agreement between the
City and the Scouting Association for a one year period of
time. The Scouting Association would like to enter into a
second sublease with the Church. They feel it is
advantageous to them because the fees that have been paid
has allowed them to do significant maintenance to the Scout
Hut that they were unable to do without this.
#6 Discuss donation of 1956 fire truck to Guadalupe
Valley Fire Fighters Training Program.
Mr. Sweatt advised we do have a 1956 Ford pumper and have
not been able to receive credit in our key rate structure
for this vehicle for a number of years, because of its age
and the fact that parts are not available. The State Fire
._-~/'
101
Insurance Commission rates a community and establishes a key
rate on a number of factors and its equipment is considered
based on years and ability to perform a function. In this
case, the equipment could perform a function but is beyond
an age we could receive credit for it and it is considered
unreliable because we do not have parts available.
Mrs. Stanhope asked if there was any dollar value if we
auctioned it off or sold to a collector.
Mr. Sweatt said we do not feel there is much value because
the market is pretty well bloated since every city has these
to dispose of.
In this case, the Guadalupe Valley Training Program has the
need for a stationary pumper. We would like Council's
permission to donate this pumper to them for this purpose.
It can meet their needs and they would be very happy to
receive it. We would not plan to transfer it immediately as
we have one piece of equipment in repair right now.
Chief
you
there
are parts available for this piece of equipment. Also from
the pump - this equipment has a Champion pump and there are
no parts available for that. Ford Company wouldFp not give
us
a list of parts, which has to
get credit for this truck on
served its purpose with the
to retire it.
Woodward said once a truck reaches 25 years service.
have to have a letter from the manufacturer saying
be sent to the State for us to
our key rate. This truck has
City since 1956 and it is time
Chief Woodward said we do have mutual aid with other
entities if needed.
Mayor Sawyer
interested in
since they do
area.
said we can check to see if anyone would
buying it, if not then we could donate
train our people as well as others in
be
it
the
#7 Discuss contract for organized youth recreation
services with Buffalo Valley Youth Association.
Mr. Sweatt said there was really only one change or
amplification to the contract this year, that is in Section
14. This amplifies a previous practice of how city
equipment was used by certain BVYA personnel. It goes into
some details on this. Basic is what has been done in the
past and setting up a release of liability form.
Mr. Greenwald said this was discussed at the BVYA Meeting
two weeks ago and was approved by their board.
] 02
#8 Discuss Community Development Block Grant agreement
with Bexar County regarding Rittimann Addition Sewer
Project.
Mr. Sweatt said the Council will be reminded that the City
did support a request by residents of the Rittimann Addition
for a CDBG Grant for sewer improvement in that area. The
project was approved in the 1992-93 fiscal year and is
finally moving forward. Bexar County has made a grant of
$164,000 for the project. Bexar County has asked if the
City would assist in the project, using the City Engineer
with the cost paid by the grant, to design the project and
our utility department be responsible for inspection of the
project. Bexar County Community Resource Department will
cash flow the project, award the contract and do all the
administration of the contract and simply ask that we assist
in the inspection. Based on our ultimate assumption of the
operation and maintenance responsibility, we believe that
appropriate. He said he did not have the agreement with him
because we are still discussing some insurance issues.
Mayor Sawyer asked that this be discussed at the next
workshop.
#9 Discuss Community Development Block Grant agreement
with Bexar County regarding Mobile Villa Utility Project.
Mr. Sweatt said the agreement has not been forwarded to us
for final action but do hope to have it for the next
meeting. This is a straight CDBG project in our city
limits. It is our project, we will administer it - it is a
pretty basic contract. We did qualify based on a minimum of
21 residents meeting the low to moderate income criteria.
We have a tentative schedule of going to bids and having
them in by late April so we could award the street
constructin by late July.
Mayor Sawyer mentioned that this is the one we put in for
$100,000 to add to our bond money to complete sewer, water
and streets in Mobile Villa.
#10 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. TML Region 7 meeting
on April 8th in Live Oak at their Community Center at 6:30.
Need to have reservations in by March 28th. He said he
would be reminding Council again.
B. Bexar Metro 911 is in the process of changing all rural
routes in Bexar to CPS service addresses. We believe that
will have some effect on some of the area in our city limits
that carries other city's addresses.
Mr. Hammel asked if there was some way he could get
delivery services that is really where he lives.
~._~.
103
Mr. Sweatt said it is his understanding the three Post
Masters would be getting together to talk about this issue.
Perhaps they would like to ask them that at the meeting.
C. The 28th Texas Legislative Conference
Braunfels on the 24th and 25th of March
Center. Mr. Kelleher, CEO of Southwest
honored with the Texan of the Year award.
will be in New
at their Civic
Airlines will be
#11 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh reminded all the
VFW members the National Commander will be there on the 14th
of March.
Mrs. Stanhope: A. Seems there is again some controversy
at the Senior Citizens complex as to who owns that street.
B. Again, had another call of speeding on Mitchell right
after school is out.
Mayor Sawyer said he had the police there within five
minutes after he was called and they did not see one thing.
Mr. Sweatt said he went back and checked and on seven
different times for a period of from thirty to forty
minutes, the most cars during the after school hours was 28
vehicles and one was possibly speeding. Since the first of
January six tickets have been issued in that area for
speeding.
Mr. Gr~~n~~ld: A. The new Edwards Board has supported a
new director.
B. The San Antonio water system is now studying the
inverted rate structure - he suggested Mr. Sweatt send them
a copy of ours. Also San Antonio City Council is looking at
a Citizen Police Academy. Maybe they would like a sample of
ours.
#12 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Said one of our citizens reached
the grand old age of 100 years today and he presented her
with a proclamation on behalf of the City Council and
citizens wishing her Happy Birthday. She lives in Autumn
Winds.
Mrs. Stanhope said she is presently going through our
Police Academy and it is not only a lot of fun but even as
involved as she has been, she is learning a lot. Any
citizen that has not signed to go, should plan to attend.
J04
#13 ADJOURNMENT:
meeting was declared
Sawyer.
ATTEST
~
c~ Secretary~
There being no further business, the
adjourned at 8:23 p.m. by Mayor
6J/Y1/)J~
Mayor, City of SCh~Z, Texas
, --~