ccswks 08-11-1993
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
AUGUST 11, 1993
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop
Session, Wednesday, August 11, 1993 at 700 p.m. in the
Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz
Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were
present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presidingj Joe Potempa;
Barbara Stanhopej Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Absent:
Hal Baldwin. Staff present were City Manager Kerry R.
Sweatt, City Secretary June Krause and Assistant City
Manager Steve Simonson.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: None
#2 Discuss Board of Adjustment hearings to be held on
August 17, 1993 as follows:
A. Request by Rick Saenz, 501 Aviation, for a Special
Exception to the side yard setback requirements
allowing them to face a new house on an angle toward
the intersection of Aviation and Lindbergh Avenues.
Mayor Sawyer advised that this is one of his neighbors and
that he is in favor of the request.
Mr. Sweatt said that at the side of Mr. Saenz' house at
501 Aviation, Lindbergh deadends approximately 140.5' back
from the intersection. Mr. Saenz uses that portion of
Lindbergh for entrance to his garage. He owns the adjacent
lots #39 and #40, which are 21' frontage by 90.58' deep and
at the rear there is a gas booster station. Adjacent to
those two lots is a is' alley with a City sewer line down
one side. He proposes to angle his house on lots #56 and
#57 and by doing that the corner of the house would touch
the alley. The Zoning Ordinance calls for 7' side yard
setback lines and this house would violate that. Notices
have been sent to all property owners within 300' of this
property and Planning & Zoning has reviewed the request,
with several solutions. The first would be to grant the
request, the sewer line being no overwhelming problem. The
second would be to advertise the property for sale,
abandoning the alley and that portion of Lindbergh and sell
to the property owner. This portion of Lindbergh is of no
use to the City. Of course, we would have to reserve the
sewer line portion as an easement.
Mayor Sawyer advised that when it rains, Mr. Saenz'
property is flooded and he has been asking for something to
be done for years. He said that if the City can sell the
property, that seems the best course.
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225
Mr. Sweatt said we would first have to get individual
appraisals and then advertise the property for sale. We
have advertised the request for a BOA hearing on August
17th, so we suggest the BOA hearing be held and consider the
request and if granted, he could still go ahead with his
plans. We could still consider selling the property later.
B. Request by Lonnie Nielson, 1012 Andrew Low, for a
4' Special Exception to the rear yard setback allowing
him to build a cover over his existing patio.
Mr. Sweatt commented that this property is located in
Savanah Square and faces on a cul-de-sac. At the rear of
his property is a 13' electrical easement for GVEC and cable
tv. When his house was built, his patio was entended 4'
into the easement; however now that he wants to cover the
patio it becomes a building structure and requires the
exception. This would not interfere with the easement at
all.
After brief discussion, Council could see nothing wrong with
the request.
C. Request
Parkway for
regulations
rather than
by Winn's Stores, Inc. at
a 2' Special Exception to the
allowing them to build their
the required 8' height.
500 Schertz
fence height
fence 6' high
Mr. Sweatt explained our regulations call for an 8' fence
to be built between commercial property and the abutting
residential property. For some reason at the time Winn's
was built, this was not done and they now propose to
construct the fence. However, with the ground elevation as
it is, they propose to build a 6' fence, which would make a
total of 8' on the residential side.
Council agreed to have this put up for BOA hearing.
#3
rezoning
Meadows).
Discuss ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance
86.6 acres of land out of Gaudalupe County (Dove
Mr. Sweatt reported that this proposed subdivision is
adjacent to Silver Tree and currently it is zoned R-4, R-2,
R-5 and Neighborhood Services. They want to rezone the
entire 86.6 acres to R-6, which is larger lot sizes. This
has been discussed and agreed upon at previous meetings.
#4 Discuss appointment of members to the Board of
Directors to the Tax Incremental Reinvestment Zone.
Mr. Sweatt related that the City is to appoint two members
and a Chairman to the Board, while the School District and
County will appoint two members each. He listed some
recommended names as: Adolph Aguilar, Lewis Street, Sam
Cabanski, James Rihn and Gerry Bethke. None of these people
have been contacted as yet.
226
After discussion, it was Council concensus to recommend
Gerry Bethke and Lewis Street. Mayor Sawyer said he would
contact these men to be sure they would accept.
Mr. Sweatt reminded that both Mark Marquez
Simonson would be deeply involved with this
however, they could not serve as Chairman.
and Steve
committeej
Mayor Sawyer requested that Mr. Joe Potempa Chair this
Board.
#5 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Sawyer called an
executive session at 7:40 p.m. under Article 6252-17
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes, Section 2 (e) to discuss with
attorney pending litigation or settlements.
The Special Meeting was reconvened at 8:36 p.m.
#6 Consider and take action, if any, on the above
executive session.
No action was necessary at this time.
#7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT:
A. We
Mobile
water
will
This
mean
have been allocated $100,000 Urban CDBG grant for
Villa sewer mains project. This will let us do the
lines, etc. and at least the sewer stubouts so it
not be necessary to go back and tear up the streets.
money will not be available until October, so it may
two or three months delay in going out for bids.
We also have part of another project - instead of granting
our Economic Development project, they did fund a study for
this area's planning grant.
B. The Air Force held their AICUZ meeting the previous week
and we have a copy of that report in our files if Council
would like to read it.
#8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL:
Mrs. Marsh asked about the status of the speed limits
FM 3009. Mr. Sweatt advised he had talked with Dale
of the Department of Transportation. He said they
going to post signs and do a study and then ask us to
an ordinance to lower the speed limits.
for
Stein
were
pass
Mayor Sawyer suggested getting in touch with Mr.
for help on this.
Kuempel
Mr. Greenwald announced that at the meeting, they discussed
a temporary lowering of the speed limit because of the 18
month construction.
Mr. Potemoa
speeding. Mr.
to them yet.
Transportation
and FM 78.
asked if there was anything new on the train
Sweatt said he had not had a chance to speak
He said he had talked with the Department of
and the Railroad about the signals at First
Mrs. Stanhope: A. She asked if the Director from the
Housing Authority had contacted Mr. Sweatt they are
looking into funding for additional housing and wanted to
know if the City had any qualms about how they were
financed. Mr. Sweatt said he had talked with her and told
her the Council would continue to support elderly housing.
B. There was a meeting of the Vision 8 Committee and they
have selected their "Star of the Year".
Mr. Greenwald related that he and Mr. Bierschwale had
attended the Canyon Regional Water Association meeting and
they approved the recommended changes Mike and Kerry Sweatt
drafted. There was discussion of the possibility of having
to reappoint David Davenport after the first of September
since he was appointed to a Board that does not yet exist.
#9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: None.
#10 BUDGET WORKSHOP: Mayor Sawyer reminded
that the budget workshops started last week and that
meeting Mr. Sweatt would furnish information
Inverted Block Rate Schedule for water.
Council
at this
on the
Mr. Sweatt handed out the updated Letter of Transmittal and
handed out charts on the inverted water rates, which shows
that the more water used, the more you pay; and with the
inverted rate, the increase starts quite rapidly. The 5/8"
meter is one living unit, the 3/4" meter is 1.5 living
units; the 2" is 10 living units and on up to 6" meter
being 92 living units. He said staff feels this is the most
fair structure that could be devised. The inverted rate
would encourage conservation without penalizing the average
customer.
Mr. Greenwald said he felt this type of rate schedule would
be mandated before long because of the Edwards Acquifer
limitations.
Mr. Sweatt said we have suggested this rate structure in
the budget but it will not go into effect until January 1st.
This can be discussed in more detail when discussing the
Water Department budget.
Mr. Sweatt referred to the Recapitulation page in the
budget, which shows the Revenues as follows: General Fund -
$2,848,290; Water & Wastewater $1,833,651; Fleet
Services - $68,846j Capital Recovery - $152,844 and SAFES -
$467,093.
228
Turning to page 3, Council discussed the detail of the
General Fund Revenues. Some of the line items questioned
were: 40020 Tax-Bingo - lower because we just have not been
receiving as much as in years past. 40026 Tax-Alcohol
Beverage there was some feeling this should be zero but
the City Manager would check and get back with answer.
41018 - Franchise-Paragon Cable - In November Paragon will
be lowering rates but we do expect new growth. 420211
through 42018 building related permits - The new building
will determine these figures and staff felt we should be
conservative. 43022 - Meeting room rental, library - this
was zeroed after the Library Board changes last year. 44010
Municipal Court Fines - the collection agency has done
exceptional job of collecting warrants. 44012 - M.C./Arrest
Fees - this is based on warrants and we feel that if we get
our warrants current, it will lower our income. 48010
Emergency Management Coordinator - lowered, the retired Fire
Chief was the Coordinator and the new Chief was not
certified and Debbi Kline is certified, so she will be the
coordinator and has less time to devote to this. We may
feel it advantageous to withdraw from this in future years.
48080 Retirement Reversion - under our new retirement
plan, there is not reversion as the funds go back into the
system.
Mr. Sweatt then pointed out that 49030 - Loan proceeds
police vehicles represents 2/3 of the expected purchase
price of four new vehicles. 49032 Loan Proceeds generator -
we propose to purchase a new generator for this building and
the community center and fund this year's portion through
grants from E911. 49033 - Loan Proceeds park fence we
propose to construct a fence at the BVYA fields for about
$9,000. We propose to borrow the money and then have a
special charge per person of fifty cents for attending
tournaments only. This fence will allow the separation of
events.
Before beginning the departmental budgets, Mr. Sweatt
advised that we have not reprinted every pagej however we
had some good news in that our health insurance rate is
better than expected so we will save about $4,000 in
expected expenditures.
CITY COUNCIL DEPARTMENT - total budget $19,000
Mrs. Marsh reminded everyone that about a month previously
she had requested money for a sound system be in the budget
and she did not see it in this one. She had borrowed one
for this year's jubilee and the man she borrowed from has
designed a system to make sure everybody can hear. It would
probably not exceed $5,000. She reminded that she also
requested to put in the budget funds to sand blast the large
pavilion and repaint it. She would like for these items to
be put in this year's budget.
/
22D
Mayor Sawyer reminded Council that Mr. Sweatt had
advised we would be saving about $4,000 on insurance
that could go toward the sound system.
just
and
Mr. Sweatt related that only about $2500 of that is
General Fund and the rest from the other funds.
from
CITY MANAGER BUDGET - total $153,051
Mr. Sweatt advised this includes the
one full-time finance clerk and the
finance officer from a Service Grade
additional money involved.
proposed addition
realignment of
12 to a 15, with
of
the
no
There were questions regarding the computer fees, licenses
and maintenance. Mr. Marquez said this was the continuing
effort to divide out the fees into departments and
descriptive line items.
MUNICIPAL COURT - total of $59,265
Mr. Sweatt advised that there was a request for a printer
deleted from the department's requested budget.
TAX DEPARTMENT - total of $80,988
The total budget was decreased about $1,000 we have
deleted the direct line to the Appraisal District in Seguin
as it does not work properly and the cost is not worth what
little we get out of it. We will save about $1300 this
year.
PLANNING - total budget of $114,290
Mr. Sweatt advised that we have transferred one person from
the street department to this department to do our building
maintenance, etc.
When the new line item 54211 - engineering services - was
questioned, Mr. Sweatt said this is another effort to
identify separate items. This was included in item 54216 -
other consult/prof services last year. The Capital Outlay
items is for a radical arm saw.
9:56
10:00
#11 ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Sawyer suggested adjourning at
p.m. as Council had decided they would not go beyond
p.m. on budget workS~~d.-l~,vt~
Mayor, l City of SCh~Z, Texas
ATTEST:
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City ~retarYY Cl~of Schertz