ccswks 04-27-1994
133
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
APRIL 27, 1994
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Meeting
Wednesday. April 27, 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, presiding; Joe Potempa; Hal Baldwin;
Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff
present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary
June Krause.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: George Mower of 501 Brooks
Avenue read the following statement:
tl Apr i 1 27, 1994
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the Schertz City
Council. . .
I corne before you this evening to protest having to present
my case before the Council members have stated yours.
I feel that the citizens should have the right to speak next
after the City Council members speak on subjects as they are
brought up.
First I want to state my objections to using emergency funds
(contingency fund). Now in reviewing the budget for this
year, I find that there were only $10,000 budgeted for this
fund of which the City Council is contemplating spending
7,500 dollars to provide a very nice gadget to tell the
depth of the water our City has been coping with high water
on Cibolo Creek for many years by locking the gates whenever
the creek rises to a dangerous level.
So I ask, how can you spend our emergency funds this way
when the City Secretary says the City cannot afford to
conduct the early voting election according to the law for
elections.
VOTING BOOTHS THAT PROVIDE VOTERS PRIVACY WHILE VOTING MUST
BE PROVIDED AT ALL POLLING PLACES. VOTING BOOTHS MUST MEET
THE REGULATORY SPECIFICATIONS FOR VOTING BOOTHS, OR HAVE
BEEN APPROVED FOR USE BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Sec. 51.032, 1 TAC 81.70)
ARRANGE THE VOTING BOOTHS IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY ARE IN
VIEW OF THE ELECTION OFFICIALS. WATCHERS. AND PERSONS
WAITING TO VOTE BUT ARE SEPARATED FROM VOTERS WHO ARE
WAITING TO VOTE. PREVENT ACCESS TO THE VOTING AREA THROUGH
ANY ENTRANCE OTHER THAN THE ONE DESIGNATED.
ESTABLISH AN AREA CONVENIENT TO THE VOTING BOOTHS, IN VIEW
OF ELECTION OFFICIALS, FOR PLACEMENT OF THE BALLOT BOX
(BALLOT BOX NO.1) IN WHICH VOTERS WILL DEPOSIT THEIR VOTED
BALLOTS. (Sec. 62.006)
104
George E. Mower, 501 Brooks Avenue Schertz, TX 78154"
Mayor Sawyer, addressing Mr. Mower, said he did not think
he had ever denied him the opportunity to speak. Every time
he wanted to, he got to speak.
Mr. Mower said they (citizens) should be given the
opportunity to speak after each item. He said that if the
Council bundles around an item and the citizen then has to
try to interject, it looks like they are trying to dominate
the meeting, this is not fair.
Mayor Sawyer agreed, saying it is not fair to the City
Council. He went on to say it sounds to him like Mr. Mower
was attacking our City Secretary and the way she handles
voting in the City. He assured Mr. Mower that he thought
him wrong. He added that if he wanted to send his letter to
the Attorney General, we will be very happy to hear from him
to see if we have done anything wrong.
Mr. Mower said he thought Mrs. Krause was performing
admirably; but Mayor Sawyer said that is not the way he was
sounding in his letter. Mr. Mower said she is not
responsible, that the Mayor and Council are responsible for
the omission of application of the law.
Mr. Sweatt advised that any change in the process of
holding the election - any relocation of the office, moving
of the office, any item - must be precleared with the
Justice Department. If there is any question and the
Secretary of State finds any errors in these items then it
would be necessary to issue a request for clearance to the
Justice Department.
Mr. Jim Harris said he would like to state Mr. Mower's
meaning in a different way. He said the Council has
information given them that citizens do not have. He said
if they want this information, they just have to jump into
the conversation. He said he had never heard the Mayor ask
if any citizen had any comments to make.
Mrs. Marsh said she needed clarification and then asked if
this was a Council meeting or not. What is being alluded to
is more of a old town meeting or public hearing. She said
she did not know of any place in the United States where a
City Council meeting is conducted any differently than ours,
adding that she felt the Mayor had been extremely lenient.
She added that the meeting was for the Council to do their
best to make recommendations to the City Manager on the
conduct of running the City - it is not an open forum for
everybody to express an opinion. We have never had problems
in the past. She reminded Mr. Harris that if he ever had a
question that was expressed appropriately in a well defined
manner, he always received an answer to his question.
However, as of late, there has been an attempt - that is
-~
13q
quite obvious - for some citizen to take over the running of
this meeting and interiecting things that should not be
interjected at this meeting, in her opinion. Mrs. Marsh
concluded by saying Council cannot get their work done if
they are constantly being harassed.
Mayor Sawyer said when he was gone, Council could do what
they wanted but he believes in an open meeting and giving a
citizen an opportunity to speak, although he does not enjoy
listening to Mr. Mower and his suggestions. He said that
if the citizens want information call one of the
Councilmembers and get it or contact the Municipal Offices,
because we have never held back on any information we have.
Mr. Baldwin said when you try to do things as economically
as you can, you get criticized. If you go out and set up a
voting place with clerks hired to work, then you get nailed
for that. It is very difficult to decide just how you want
to run it. Early voting is a very low participant type of
event, it was held very well by Mrs. Krause in her office
with never a complaint and we have had some pretty hot
elections in this city. We had one election that was won by
one vote but we did not have anybody complaining about the
way the early voting was conducted at that time. Now we
have this great, huge cry coming from one gentleman that we
are not running this thing properly.
Mr. Mower said he just wanted to inform the Council that he
has had other avenues open to him. He said he had filed a
complaint with the Secretary of State.
#2 Discuss repeal of
Ordinance, No. 87-S-22.
Schertz Parkway
Platting
Mayor Sawyer said he noticed that only one of the property
owners was present. Mr. Biegert, who had called him awhile
back about the platting fees. Mayor Sawyer said he agreed
with Mr. Biegert that this Ordinance No. 87-S-22 needs to
be repealed. When it was first passed years ago, it was a
good idea and a way to get certain things paid for on
Schertz Parkway at no cost to the tax payers in the City.
Since then the market has fallen out on the property.
Mr. Sweatt said Mayor Sawyer had very well summarized this.
This ordinance was passed in 1987, primarily to establish a
platting fee to repay developer's costs for Schertz Parkway
improvements and to fund expansion to five lanes. The
ordinance sets up payments of $25 a front foot and for any
property platted within 500 feet of Schertz Parkway, whether
it fronts on the Parkway or not, etc.. This ordinance was
passed as a result of a number of land owners along what is
now Schertz Parkway of putting up the money and awarding the
construction payments of approximately $975.000. The
Council, at that time, agreed with the developers that there
should be a way to recover a portion of that cost. This was
anticipated to be in effect for a ten year period of time
J ~ti
although nothing to that effect is in the ordinance. We are
going into the seventh year of the agreement and not one
dollar has been collected because there has not been one
foot developed and platted along Schertz Parkway. At the
time, this made a lot of sense. Economy changed, times
changed and developers came and went. We held a meeting of
a couple of the property owners in late 1993 and they agreed
that this ordinance was a serious impediment to development.
We contacted the remaining owners and one said he was very
much opposed to doing away with the ordinance. We have
further talked with him and he now sees the wisdom that this
current arrangement would be a detriment to development. We
have now notified six property owners who have a direct or
indirect interest in the ordinance and felt that we would be
discussing this tonight with a recommendation to do away
with the ordinance. Mr. Sweatt said he had received no
communication from the property owners except Mr. Biegert
by the deadline.
Mr. Potempa said he had also talked with Mr. Biegert. In
talking to him, the way the ordinance reads now, it costs
him somewhere around $600,000 in platting fees. Who would
want to come in and have to pay that amount on top of every
other fee.
Mr. Sweatt mentioned that in lieu of this Special Platting
Fee there is in place the Tax Incremental Financing District
that is in a position to development some funds for not only
the widening of Schertz Parkway but other kinds of
improvements that might be necessary.
Mayor Sawyer asked that this be on the next agenda for
action.
Mr. Biegert said he appreciated Council's efforts to
eliminating this fee.
#3 Discuss Urban County designation Bexar County CDBG
Program.
Mr. Sweatt said we have a letter from Bexar County
Judge
outlining that we are now approaching the deadline to
express our opinion regarding requalification process for
the Urban County Community Development Block Grant program.
We have participated for at least the last six years in such
a program in which our total city population is included
with Bexar County's unincorporated population, with a number
of
Bexar County suburban cities, into a population pot that is
used in the calculation of eligibility for Community
Development Block Grant Federal funds. In the beginning it
was necessary to use our population and that of the other
suburban cities in order to reach the required threshold.
Since that time the threshold has changed and it is not
necessary for Bexar County to have our population in order
~
1~7
to qualify for CDBG funds. However, the more population
they have and the greater number of certain qualifications,
the more dollars come to the overall program. We have
submitted applications for a number of different projects.
The City of Schertz has only had two projects funded out of
CDBG funds directly to the City. That was approximately
$80,000 in the Schirmerville area for some water lines
improvements and most recently, $100,000 grant for water
line improvements in Mobile Villa. We have jointly
sponsored a request for funding in Rittimann Addition for
water line and sewer line improvements. We have jointly
entered an alliance with five other cities on an economic
development study that is currently under way. We asked two
years ago if we could be considered as a split place so that
the portion of our population in Bexar County could be
eligible for CDBG Urban County funds but that portion of our
city in Guadalupe and Comal Counties be eligible for
Statewide participation in the State and small cities and
non-entitlement cites CDBG Program. HUD advised that was
not possible and could not get out until our three-year
commitment expired, which will be expiring at the end of
1994. We currently have an application in to Bexar County
CDBG for $148,860 for improvements in the parks and
throughout the city for ADA requirements. You are either in
the Urban City or your are not. Judge Krier has agreed to
extend the deadline until May 27th to decided exactly what
we want to do. We do not have the most current information
about the rules but it appears to be more money at the
Statewide level but we would be competing with more cities
and more projects. Mr. Sweatt said he did not have a
recommendation at this time. He recommended tabling this at
this time until the May 11th Workshop.
Mr. Greenwald and other Councilmembers decided they would
need more information before making a decision.
#4 Discuss final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Swimming Pool charges and regulations.
Mayor Sawyer reminded that this has been discussed
thoroughly at previous meetings and as there were no further
questions, he asked that it be placed on the next meeting.
#5 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. Animal Control
Department will have a Pet Fair on Saturday, April 30th from
noon until 5:00 p.m. at the Shelter. They will have some
performing animals, a petting zoo and a pet parade.
B. Showed our participant ribbon from the Flambeau
Parade. Our float was way at the back of the parade, left
the line at about 9:45 p.m. - while we get a lot of
exposure, it is really tough on the children on the float.
They had to be there by 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon.
c. On May 18 at 12:00 noon, there will be a police
memorial Service here as we have had in the past.
138
D. He asked consent from Council to place a three
action items on next weeks agenda. (l) You will recall we
have discussed possibly contracting dispatching service with
Cibolo, for a payment of $330 per month. It has now gone
before the Council in Cibolo and is now ready for our
consideration.
After discussing, Council agreed they would be ready
to consider this next week.
(2) He also would like to add two bid items for
consideration if they are ready.
a. Bids will be coming in on the 28th of this month
on an emergency generator, which we have been discussing for
years. This is part of this year's budget and we have some
grant funds. We expect to have positive recommendations.
b. Bids will also be coming in on the 28th for
Mobile Villa water and sewer bids. Assuming we have
bids and a satisfactory recommendation, we would also
this on the agenda.
the
good
like
(3) We
Reserve who
our reserves.
will also have an appointment of a Police
is an ex-employee and would like to serve on
E. We have received notice from the Second Twenty
Fifth Judicial District Community Supervision and
Corrections Department. Have discussed this item with Mayor
Sawyer. We are asked if we would like to submit a proposal
for the location of a 60-bed non-violent intermediate
sanction facility in our community. These are persons who
have violated provisions of their probation. It is not a
prison and would serve a seven-county area. There is State
funding for the facility and will have a staff of 25 to 28
persons. There is fairly stiff competition and one
community has offered free land, that is served by water,
sewer and electricity. Deadline for expression of interest
is May 5th. Mr. Sweatt said it would be pretty hard to
compete with free land, especially since they need a minimum
of five acres.
Mayor Sawyer agreed we would be hard pressed to
the free land. Council agreed that if staff had the
it would be okay but not likely to get it.
meet
time,
#6 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh reported on the
Schertz Business Association meeting. They have been
approved as a non-profit organization. The float has gotten
four new places to go this year. Scholarship Committee had
six applications this year and have selected a winner, which
will be announced later. There were some changes in the
Schertz Sweetheart contest. Among other changes, this year
there will be three titles - Schertz Sweetheart, who will
receive $75j Miss Friendly City, will receive $50; and
~
139
Miss Jubilee will receive $25 and there would be an
alternate. There will be a street dance this year on July
2nd. So far the "Club 100" has received pledges of $1400.
Mr. Potempa had received a call from a Mrs. Flores,
who lives on Colony Drive, saying something about school age
kids not being in school and roaming the streets all day.
She called the School and was told there was nothing they
could do about it for anyone under 10 years of age. She
call the Police Department and they were tied up at the
time. Later the officer called and said he did not want to
go over and frighten a nine year old. She then called the
City Hall because the kids had gone over next door and
picked up three kittens and the owners were not at home.
When she called here, she was told that since she was not
the owner of the residence, she could not make the
complaint. Mr. Potempa said he thought we had something
called Crime Watch. Mrs. Flores called back the second
time and was in tears because the kids had taken the kittens
and drowned them. Mr. Potempa wanted to know why we can't
do anything to kids who are doing things like this. There
should be something that can be done.
Mr. Sweatt was asked to check into this.
Mr. Potempa asked if he could get a copy of the ADA
Transition Plan so he could see what it is all about.
#7 ITEMS BY MAYOR: None
Mr. Charles McDonald asked to speak, saying talking
about early voting, he exercised his constitutional rights
one day this week and voted early. His wife was very upset
when voting because Mr. Mower followed her into the room
and as she did not know who he was, he really intimidated
her. Especially when she was going through her purse
looking for her card and he was looking over her shoulder.
She said because of that, she would never early vote again.
Mr. Mower apologized to Mr. McDonald, saying that by
law he was not allowed to wear any type of badge, even to
having his name on the badge.
#8
meeting
Sawyer.
ADJOURNMENT:
was declared
There being no further business, the
adjourned at 8:00 p.m. by Mayor
ATTEST:
~J--LY;0 ~/:-Y/--'--
~Mayor, City of ~~r~, Texas
Ci~~rY,
city of Schertz