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ccswks 06-29-1994 182 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL JUNE 29, 1994 The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session Wednesday, June 29, 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 Hal Baldwin, presidingj Charles McDonaldj Joe Potempaj Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause. Mayor opened the meeting and welcomed everyone present. fl.1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. George Mower signed in to speak on why the ordinance on Council rules and regulations will not work. He said that this is the first time he would have to rebut what was said by Council at the last meeting. Then he mentioned that he made a declaration of appreciation to Council for passing this ordinance allowing citizens to speak and neither of the local papers quoted him. He then left the meeting. '2 Discuss final consideration of an ordinance amending the Code, Section 18-33, Four-Way Stops for Dimrock at the intersection with Cotton King. Mayor Baldwin reminded Council they had considered the first reading of this ordinance and it is scheduled for final consideration at the next action meeting. Mr. Sweatt advised that we have had no comments from the neighborhood other than the initial ones of appreciation when the signs were first installed. They have been up almost three weeks and traffic appears to move correctly. '3 Discuss final consideration of an amending the Code, Section 19-96, Drought and Water Management and Surcharoes. ordinance Emergency Mr. Sweatt said this ordinance changes the level in which various stages of the Water Management Plan are triggered. The current level is 644 for Stage 1, this ordinance would change that to 649 and proposes a goal of 15% reduction; Stage 2 currently begins at 628, to be replaced with 640 under the new ordinance and a reduction goal of 20% and instigates certain mandatory regulations. Stage 3, which currently begins at 612 feet, would begin under the new ordinance at 632 feet, and has a reduction goal of 30% and has additional mandatory requirements for conservation. Stages 4, 5 and SA will continue in effect. These are in line with the recommendations of the Edwards Underground Water District and are the same as have been adopted by several other cities. 10<) 0.) Mayor Baldwin said he just wanted to ask the reason why the small cities are required to go into emergency conservation action earlier than the City of San Antonio. He said so we take all these measures and conserve water in the City of Schertz but how is that going to help the aquifer when the City of San Antonio can continue to use their higher levels. Mr. Sweatt gave some of their current numbers that correspond to ours. Their current Stage 1 starts at 655, our's would be at 649 so actually they begin Stage 1 earlier. Stage 2 is 640, which is the same as our's would be. Their third stage, however is 620 feet, whereas our's is at 632 feet. That is the real substantial difference Stage 3. Mayor Baldwin again said he does not understand why we have to really impose heavy conservation on our people at Stage 3 when San Antonio does not have to until much lower level. Mr. Sweatt said these are the measures proposed by the Edwards and there is continuing discussion as to the role the Edwards Water District has and will have under the Water Management Plan. It is felt by many people in the water business that these efforts being made by the Edwards Underground Water District will lessen the impact that the Federal Water Master will order. Mr. Greenwald related that the Edwards has said their projections are that these levels they are proposing keep the springs flow at Comal to what the judge mandated. San Antonio has taken it upon themselves to they feel the 632 foot level will do that. best will has say Mr. Potempa suggested holding up on this ordinance until we get something final from the Water Master. Mrs. Marsh suggested going along with this ordinance, saying she is not unhappy with it. It was recommended by the Edwards and we should go along with it; but we should ask for an explanation as to why it is not across the board. It is always subject to change. Mayor Baldwin said he would rather someone in authority make a legal decision. On polling Council, they agreed to have this ordinance on the next action agenda. #4 Hear and discuss presentation regarding Guadalupe County Appraisal District budget and related matters. Mayor Baldwin recognized and welcomed Mr. Chairman of the Appraisal District and Appraiser. Malford Pat Fox, Brehm, Chief Ms. Fox, after thanking Council for allowing them to visit, said she would like to cover two topics. The first would be the 1994 reappraisal and second the proposed 1995 budget. J84 As for as our values are concerned, the Appraisal District did a major reappraisal this year. They mailed notices to approximately 80% of property owners within their boundary, about 44000 notices. They have had approximately 2500 informal hearings and it looks like them will finish in a timely manner before the end of July. The City of Schertz has 217 new homes for a total value of $22,000,000 to $24,000,000 in new improvements, which represents about 10% increase in new construction and another 8 to 10% straight increase on our values. There is a great deal of construction activity on this end of the county so they expect this trend to continue. Several weeks ago they sent a copy of the proposed 1995 budget in the amount of $676,883, that represents an increase of $47,098 over the 1994 level. That is represented in three different areas. First they have an addition of one appraisal position, for a total cost including benefits of $26,620. They had employee expense increases in the amount of $13,800 and that represents a 3.25% increase of the salaries, plus increases in health insurance and unemployment insurance. The remainder of the increase, which is $6,678 can be found in the general operating expenses. $4,500 of that is for the purchase of a new copier for their mapping department. In explanation of the new appraisal position, the property tax division of the Comptroller's Office is requiring each year to do methods and procedures review of each Appraisal District. They received their report in January of this year and they indicated a number of areas in which they are in good shape. They then indicated three areas they felt the Appraisal District needed to commit more resources to, those being Sales Analysis, Personal Property Discovery and Agricultural evaluations. As for Sales Analysis, when you are in a down market you are okay because you do not have a lot of activity; however we are in a position of increasing number of sales so we really need to commit more man hours to the analyzation of those sales so they can accurately track those values. The second area of Personal Property, they have about 2300 accounts but have not had adequate resources to be able to do an on-site inspection of those accounts every year. The last area is agricultural evaluation. The Comptroller's office report indicated they should dedicate more resources to checking those account that have been branded agricultural. They have been using a part-time appraiser for the last three years and they have now dedicated him to checking questionable agricultural accounts. Each year they have coded between 200 and 300 accounts as questionable. They successfully removed the agricultural valuation on 25% of those accounts. That has cost them approximately $1800 to $2500 per year and has gained them in levy between $22,000 and $30,000 each year - that is the return for their $2500. Ms. Fox said they feel if they hire this additional appraiser they will be able to review all of the accounts in the district within the first couple of years. 18~ Mr. Brehm said it was the Boards feeling that they were trying to put out a lot of brush fires. Although it doesn't effect the City of Schertz but they are going to take a good look at the river front property and also all the farm properties. He said he personally had notices a lot of farm property that has not been in use in a number of years. Because of the expansion, they need this additional person and may even have need of another in the future. Mr. McDonald noticed there was no vehicle allowance on the last page of the report submitted. Ms. fox said it was shown on the previous page as $2400 but it really is only $1800. They changed their way of figuring the auto allowance this year. It now is each appraiser is compensated with $150 per month plus 12-1/2 cents per mile. Mayor Baldwin county. Ms. related that from 8 to 10%. asked the overall increase throughout Fox said it was approximately 12%. the average reappraisal value in Schertz the She was Mr. Potempa asked why, when he has a Texas Tax license to collect tax, did he get a letter from her office saying he had to file as a business. He only has a hobby. Ms. Fox said they get the list from the comptroller's office of everyone who is registered to collect sales tax and they have no way of knowing if they are a business or not without sending that letter. Mr. Sweatt asked if the Appraisal District expects to meet their deadline of July 25th, for submission of the assessed value information. Ms. Fox said they could not certify before July 25th. She said they could give cities estimated figures earlier but could not certify. Mayor Baldwin mentioned that the roll value is probably the largest the City of Schertz has every had. He told both Ms. Fox and Mr. Brehm that they were doing an excellent job and thanked them for coming out. fl.5 Discuss policy reqarding aqenda information. Mr. Sweatt reminded Council that they had asked staff to investigate the possibility of furnishing more information and furnishing advance information to the public as it relates to the agenda packet and information. We have never had any intent to hide anything but the Open Records Act makes it a little more complicated that just making a copy of everything. He and the City Attorney reviewed and looked at Attorney General opinions as to how we might furnish this information and developed this policy. He then read the policy proposed. Primarily, a copy of the Council packets will be available for the public to look at or copy, less any information that could be disadvantageous to the interests of the City. We believe this will meet the Council's interest in making the material available and still will not compromise any position the City might have. J86 Mrs. Marsh wanted to make it clear that Council is doing this on their own, they are not required by law to do this. Mrs. Stanhope mentioned that this is additional work so she felt that in six months Council should again look at this to get a wag on the cost of this service. Mr. McDonald suggested a sunset condition to this effect. Mr. Greenwald asked if we would be releasing the tabulation of bids received. Mr. Sweatt said it would be released because the bids were opened and read at a public meeting, so were already public knowledge. '6 Discuss bids for Savannah Square drainage. Mr. Sweatt recalled that this is a long and involved process. We are resolving an issue in the Savannah Square area with the proposed construction of a storm sewer line running from the current retention and detention basin across a portion of Savannah Square and across a portion of Deer Haven and down to FM 3009. This work is being funded through a payment by the consulting engineering firm that did the work in the Savannah Square area. We have solicited bids and the low bidder is $167,592.23. That full amount has been posted with us and we propose that at the next regular meeting you consider awarding bids to L & J Construction Company in that amount. Answering questions, Mr. Sweatt advised that this company has not done work for us but have been in business ten years and they have numerous construction projects and have a good reputation. They have been investigated by our engineer. The second low bidder was $185,961.40. Mayor Baldwin asked that this be on the next agenda for action. fl.7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. He asked for concurrence or direction on budget workshops. During the month of August the proposed workshop dates would be August 2, 10, 16, and 31st. August 24th is not a meeting date but it also could be set as a workshop date so that we would have five full meetings to work through the budget process. The department head budgets will be submitted to the City Manager on the 8th of July, and they will go through review from the 11th to the 27th of July. As Ms. Fox stated, we will not have the certified tax roll until July 25 and he has to file a budget by August 1, 1994. Some significant dates Council would want to be aware of are the Tax Public Hearing date is September 14th, budget public hearing around the 20th of September and on this date we expect that some action would take place on the budget and tax rate. --,' 181 Mrs. Marsh asked if the conduct of the budget meetings would be under the same rules as other meetings and was told they would. B. With Council permission he would like to place an item on the agenda for action next week. We have had a vacancy on the Schertz Development Foundation Board. They have suggested Sabina Neal, who is the Vice-President of Technos Corporation, to fill the vacancy left when Mr. McDonald was elected to Council. Council agreed for this to be on the next agenda. #8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Potemoa: A. Asked if a letter had gone out to Mr. Street regarding his possible replacement on the Tax Increment Financing Board. Mr. Sweatt said a letter had gone out this date. B. He said he wanted to see more visibility of police in Mobile Villa. He reported that the sewers are in and they are now putting in the water lines and then later will do the streets and curbs. Mr. Sweatt said they would do their best as they do in any other neighborhood. Mrs. Stanhooe reminded those that planned to go to the Mayors and Councilmembers TML convention in Amarillo needed to get their reservations in. Mrs. Stanhooe also called attention to an editorial in the Herald Newspaper by Gary Gossett that was very good, adding that we need to thank him. Mrs. Marsh reported on the June 28th meeting of the Schertz Business Association. They added two new members and Mr. Sweatt gave a very good City Hall update. The majority of the meeting was taken up with discussion of the July 4th Jubilee. They already have 90 parade entries, 16 Arts and Crafts booths and will have an adult carnival as well as the kid's carnival. They announced that Leah Elena Brown is the new Miss Schertz Sweetheart, Colette Conques is Miss Friendly City, Kelly Sutherland is Miss Jubilee and Robin Diane Bruce is Miss Freedom. This year will be the biggest and best Jubilee ever, starting with the street dance on the 2nd of July. #9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Mayor Baldwin asked what the status was on establishing a Board of Adjustment. Mr. Sweatt said the proposed ordinance will be ready for Council consideration by the 19th of July. B. Announced that he will be creating a "Town Hall" meeting to allow anyone to come and say whatever they want to say, where the public can come and speak their mind. He said he would conduct the meeting and Council members could join him 188 if they wanted to. He is trying to create an atmosphere of letting people say what they want to knowing we will listen. fl.10 ADJOURNMENT: meeting was declared Baldwin. There beinq no further business, the adjourned at 8:15 p.m. by Mayor d~ Jfayor~Citi -of Schert;ijA'Texas ATTEST: ~~ Secretary, City of Schertz -----~