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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
JUNE 10. 1992
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop
Session. Wednesday, June 10, 1992 at 7:00 p.m. in the
Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz
Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were
present: Mayor Pro Tern Barbara Stanhope, presiding; Joe
Potempa, Hal Baldwin, and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were
City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
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# 1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS:_ Bil.L_1i~L~l~r - A. Reported
the party at the VFW for the Audie Murphy veterans was
than expected. He felt they did not get the publicity
should have from the local newspapers.
B. The flag retirement ceremonies will be Sunday, June 14th
at 7:00 p.m. at the Fire Station. Sgt. Tuttle from
Randolph has about sixty flags and there have been turned in
about fifty-five here. He added that the flags will be
flown on that day on Main Street.
Mr. Willman reserved time for item #4.
#2 Discussion of contract with Schertz Business
Association for 4th of July Jubilee activities.
Mr. Sweatt had furnished a copy of the past year's
contract, saying there may be a couple of areas that need to
be changed. He said he and Mr. Edwards had discussed
Section XI. In last year's agreement the City agreed to pay
up to $300 in promotion and advertising activities. And
since this year, as there is only one local newspaper, he
felt this could be lowered. In order to clear up any
misunderstanding as to who does what, in Section XIV of the
current contract it says that the Schertz Business Club
agrees to furnish tables and chairs and clean up the
pavilion area upon conclusion of activity. It has been
contractually a City obligation to clean the area or to
furnish janitorial service to the area throughout the
activities. He said he was not sure how this got into the
agreement and suggested that it be deleted. He said the
other provisions are fairly standard and acceptable to both
parties.
Mrs. Anita Clark said that $250 of the $300 was to be used
for news and $50 for the gift certificates for the
Sweetheart. That would be $125 for each of the newspapers.
Mr. Greenwald suggested leaving the $300 as it was because
it says up to that amount.
Mr. Sweatt said he would have this in final form for the
next meeting for action.
Mrs. Clark advised that they already have the insurance to
cover the Jubilee.
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#3 Discussion with
regarding cable franchise.
EXCEL Communications
Group
Mr. Sweatt said he would like to provide Council some
information and then would ask Mr. Dawson of EXCEL
Communications to speak with Council. He reminded Council
we have negotiated and developed a franchise agreement with
Excel Communication Group for the development of a second
cable franchise in the city limits. Representatives of
Excel Cable have met with the Council and staff on several
occasions and in March of this year a franchise agreement
was signed with the company. Part of the requirements in
the agreement were that among other things, in Section 8
sixty days from the date of acceptance of franchise, the
company must have submitted certain documents and have proof
of application to FCC for license and other necessary
permits. Representatives of the company are present to talk
with Council regarding these items, construction schedule
and financial matters. He added that we all recognized that
it would be unlikely that a franchise in Schertz alone would
be capable of supporting itself.
Mr. Kevin Dawson said it was great to be present to talk
with Council. He added that they have run into some
roadblocks on a few issues. He said that when they met with
all the City Managers, they thought everything was falling
into line. When they went to other cities to begin their
negotiations, one of the big issues that happened to them
was that one of the banks in Mexico changed ownership, since
they received the Schertz franchised. He said that instead
of going back and renegotiating that financial commitment
with the new owners, they were already in the process of
working with another financial commitment, which they had
been working on for about eight months. They felt it would
benefit them to bring that to fruition, which they have now
done. That held up their other franchises. They were
unable to activate any of their loan money until they had
secured the other franchises. They found themselves in a
catch 22 and knew they wanted to stay with the deadlines in
the City of Schertz.
Mr. Jeff Gangwer said the complexity of their financial
situation with one city in and seven out was very tough to
put into terms. The time line was very hard. The company
is an American company and they will be corning forth with
the commitment publicly within a few weeks. He said that
today they informed Mr. Sweatt with a letter from this
group committing to the project. He said they have secured
the twelve million dollars to build the whole Metrocom. In
order to get back on schedule, they have escalated their
build rate to 45 miles a month, which would produce the end
results within a year and one half. He said they really
have not lost any time. He said they have parts of Schertz
designed and are ready to go and they will follow through
with their commitments to Schertz. They are looking for
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locations within the Metrocom, they have FCC applications
out for tower sites but they have a problem with the
airport, which limits them where they can go. He said they
are excited and that Schertz has helped them all the way.
Mr. Potempa asked if they would start construction in July.
Mr. Dawson said it would probably be three months after the
July date.
Mr. Sweatt said one of the provisions in our franchise says
that within sixty days after accepting the franchise, the
company will provide, among other things, documents required
to obtain any necessary federal, state and local license,
permits and authorizations. The company has not done that.
So in their discussions early in the day, he suggested that
one of the things the company may be asking the Council for
is to look at those sixty days running from July as opposed
to back in March, based on financial commitments. The
schedule that was approved as part of the franchise review
called for construction beginning in 1993. He said he has
asked the company to make certain that they can fit with
those construction schedules. If they cannot meet them,
then they need to ask the Council to extend those dates.
Mr. Dawson said the company is definitely within the
twenty-four months of having the system with subscribers on
board within the City of Schertz. Answering Mr. Potempa's
question, they are looking at September 1st for the
beginning of the construction process.
Mr. Baldwin asked if this would be a primarily underground
system.
Mr. Gangwer said if it is underground now, then they will
go underground and will utilize the GVEC poles where
possible. They will be looking at 50/50 underground rather
than the normal 70/30.
Mr. Sweatt said that, with Council's permission, he would
expect to place this on the July 7 action agenda to consider
any request from the company as to the change from the sixty
day provision. Essentially their request is that the
sixty-day provision for furnishing certain information be
adjusted to July 7 and they be allowed the clock start
running from that date for sixty days to furnish the
information.
#4 Discussion of final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Zoning Ordinance Article XX Overlay District,
Section 4 special Overlay District Schertz Parkway.
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Mr. Sweatt reminded Council that this came from P&Z as a
recommendation that we provide a special zoning category
that would provide protection on Schertz Parkway. We have
in place an overlay district but it was felt that a new
zoning category would take the best of that and eliminate
some that were not compatible. The public hearing was held
and ordinance was approved on first reading.
Mr. Willman said that during the preparation of this
ordinance, there were a lot of different mental pictures of
the results. He presented some draWings as to what it could
look like. He said this would allow us to be able to tell
developers what we want and where. But there is still
flexibility in this. He said this is a combination of all
our other zoning and is new to Schertz.
Mr. Greenwald said this is similar to the concept that was
on cable some time ago. You can walk from home to the
doctor office or mini mall, etc.
Mrs. Stanhope said if there were no further questions, this
would be place on the June 16th agenda for action.
#5 Discussion of final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Zoning Ordinance by rezoning property along
Jack Hays Boulevard and Schertz Parkway from East Live Oak
Road to the Southern Pacific Railroad and rezoning the Beck
Concrete property.
Mr. Sweatt said this too was the result of a recommendation
from the Planning and Zoning Commission to revise and reduce
the amount of general business zoning that exists along Jack
Hays Boulevard and a portion of Schertz Parkway; and to
consider plaCing permanent zoning on the Beck property that
was recently annexed. Public Hearings were held on this and
the ordinance was passed at the first reading after the
public hearing.
There being no further questions, Mayor Pro Tern Stanhope
requested this be placed on the next action agenda for
finalization.
#6 Discussion of final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Code Chapter 5, Article II BUilding Code,
Section 106.2 Contractor's License requirements.
Mr. Sweatt advised this ordinance was approved at first
reading at last meeting and placed on this agenda for
discussion, with the second and final reading to be on June
16th. This particular ordinance proposes to amend the
Building Code to provide for the requirement of a
contractor's license. This would stipulate an initial fee
of $50 and an annual rate of $25 and would require that a
written application be made prOViding references of
customers and suppliers. This primarily was drawn as a
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result of some concerns from some of our citizens. We feel
this would not preclude any contractor but would provide us
the grounds to regulate.
Mr. Potempa said he strongly felt this was a step in the
right direction and would eliminate unscrupulous individuals
from ripping off our citizens.
Mr. Greenwald said he personally knew of two people who
have liens against their property as a result of these
unscrupulous contractors.
#7
hearing
Special
storage
Discussion of P&Z recommendation to set a BOA
date on a request by the Housing Authority for a
Exception to the Zoning Ordinance to construct
areas at the back of the Roy Richard Courts.
Mr. Sweatt advised that, with council permission, we have
proposed the hearing be held on July 7th. Notices would go
to the abutting property owners. The request is for a
special exception at three locations - Pfeil and Maini
Pfeil and Exchange and Pfeil and Curtiss, to construct
storage sheds at the back of the property, which would cause
an encroachment into the required setback lines.
#8
sources.
Discussion regarding
alternate water
supply
Mr. Sweatt said one of the Visions Study Committees has
been charged with researching alternate water supplies, not
necessarily in response with the speCific Texas Water
Commission edit about the Edwards, but because of our
particular geographic situation, we need to look at all
alternatives. Some time ago we heard a presentation by a
representative of Canyon Regional Water Authority to
consider membership in that organization. After review by
Council and Vision Study group, we were authorized to
participate as an associate membership. Our first priority
was to consider other ground water sources. The Council
authorized staff to continue to research the Maske Road
water well. We were able to secure well logs and other
tests on this well and we asked our consulting engineer Mr.
Paul Denham to participate with us to determine quality,
quantity and dependability of that particular water strata.
Mr. Denham said the key thing with any water supply is you
have to look at its raw condition - what it takes to treat
that water. This well was drilled in 1963 by Haskin and we
got the logs from him. The Edwards good water line follows
I-35 and then dips down across the Cibolo Creek this
includes wells belonging to Cibolo, Marion as well as
Schertz. Below that in the area of Maske Road. it is
consider Edwards water but is the bad water area. The tests
made in this area generally have that sulphur smell. The
two parts of the well they looked at were quality and
quantity. Quantity, the well was test pumped to 300 gallons
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per minute. That is a fair quantity but at the bottom of
what you would want to look at for a Municipal well. This
well possibly could be pumped at a higher rate. As to
quality, we found the sulphur smell very evident. It can be
aerated and get a pretty good quality of water but the
treatment would really run the costs up. We pump water from
the Edwards and treat it with chlorine and it is about as
inexpensive as you can get at about sixteen cents per
thousand gallons. That is right at the well head and
includes electricity and such to get that water. Once you
begin with a treatment process, the costs go up. It would
run about $2 to $3 per thousand gallons. The reliability of
the quality is probably not there.
Mr. Sweatt said that what we are saying is that it is a
good idea and we should keep it alive, but it is very costly
and does not look to be the best alternative. We are back
to talk to Council tonight about another viable alternative
and that is a regional approach to the problem. We believe
that a long term answer to water supply in this area is
likely going to be surface water. Surface water now is
available through Canyon Reservoir and Guadalupe Blanco
River Authority and that source. Today, we believe the best
approach for our immediate future, besides that of
continuing to utilize the Edwards River where we can, is to
look to a regional planning and regional approach. We have
spoken to New Braunfels Utilities and Canyon Regional Water
Authority and we believe today that membership in CRWA
represents our next alternative. If the rules that the
Water Commission has proposed are adopted, our growth is
restricted. The Water Commission has indicated to us that
our cap will be placed somewhere near our historical high at
the very most. That allows for no growth. CRWA membership
is $10,000 plus a share in the operating costs of the
authority. They have proceeded with a grant application to
Farmer's Home Administration for funds to construct, not
only the first phase of a water treatment plant, but water
lines and distribution facilities to serve those members of
CRWA.
John Bierschwale said that currently Canyon Regional Water
Authority has approximately 800,000 gallons to one million
gallons of water available for purchase that will not be
available until 1994. They are about 50 to 75% complete
with their plant. Their planning construction of the water
treatment plant is December of 1992 and approximately 18
months from start date, the plant would be completed. If we
do contract for whatever amount of water, it would not be
due until 1992 and that would be based on a cost of for two
million gallons per day about $1.05 per thousand. At one
and a half million per day, the cost would run about $1.30
per thousand. There are several issues that still have to
be worked out. They have their loan to build the plant but
the big problem is getting that water from the plant to the
City of Schertz. They are in the process of getting an
$8,000,000 grant to construct a line in this direction. If
that does not occur, the system would have to be what is
called water wheeling - it would have to go through a series
of water systems to get to the City of Schertz. In this
case, it would go from Canyon Regional to Green Valley to
the City of Schertz. He said with all the restrictions
being put on us by the Texas Water Commission we are going
to have to find a secondary water system and staff is
recommending Canyon Regional Water System.
Mr. Davenport said the proposal to wheel through Green
Valley really is the ability for Schertz to start moving to
surface water with the intent of ultimately having that
major transmission line. He said they do have an agreement
through the master agreement that if need be each member
entity agrees to wheel water through its system. A new
thought we are talking about is firm yield and ability to
grow with water that we can depend upon over a seven year
drought period.
Mr. Sweatt summarized by saying we believe at this stage we
have looked at a lot of possibilities and they are all still
alive. Our best alternative today is to conceptionally
agree with Canyon Regional Water Authority to express to
them our plan to participate and petition them to join for
membership; commit $10,000 membership chargei start
developing some constructual agreements with Canyon Region
that will speak to questions like our resale, the wheeling
issue, how many acre feet of commitment - all of those kinds
of issues will have to be resolved. If it is the Council's
direction, we would suggest that Council agree
conceptionally and at a formal meeting notify Canyon
Regional of our intention to submit an application for
membership. After acceptance, we would be asked to place
two members on the Board of Directors and begin
participating in the budget process as well. Our suggestion
is that we consider at the meeting of the 16th a motion by
Council to agree and join the Canyon Regional Authority.
After full discussion by Council, Mayor Pro Tern Stanhope
asked this item be placed on the agenda of the 16th of June.
The meeting was recessed at 8:36 p.m. by Mayor Pro Tern
Stanhope.
The Special Meeting was reconvened at 8:44 p.m.
#9 Discussion of mid-year budget amendments.
Mr. Sweatt reminded Council that staff had prepared a bound
document which represents recommendations we have prepared
for mid-year course adjustments. Generally this is not
viewed as a major budget operation but rather a course
correction and adjustment in those areas where there are
over and under runs occurring. He then called attention to
a few corrections to be made to the document.
204
Mr. Sweatt gave some general comments, saying the changes
are contained within the budget and all the adjustments have
either been made within the department or from one
department to another to make up over or under runs. We
have gathered out of each department the budgeted commercial
insurance expenses. We tried to allocate out to each
department all expenses for that department; however the
commercial insurance got unmanageable this year. Therefore
we have put all that money in Non-departmental and hope that
by next budget year, we will have the accounting numbers in
line. There are some changes also in the Workers Compo It
appears through six months of the fiscal year, we are on
target pretty well on both expenditures and revenues.
Probably the most significant single decrease in revenues is
in Municipal Court fines. The court fines are influenced by
several factors - the judge, level of police activity, the
administrative efficiency and the state law. We have been a
victim of some changes that occurred right at the end of the
last fiscal year that have effected how Municipal Court
Revenues are received. Defensive driving course is a good
example. At one time, a person could only take this once
every three years - now you can take this every year. In
the Municipal Court revenues we are projecting a decrease of
about $42,500. In the areas of commercial insurance, we
have made some changes in our basic insurance and believe
there are considerable savings that can be accomplished in
our overall insurance premium. We have not projected those
savings in this budget, however. In the Fire Service, we
actually under estimated some expenditures related to
personnel costs. Due to a misunderstanding between us and a
supplier, there is about $2200 more in computer maintenance
than anticipated. He went on to say that in the Parks and
Streets Departments, you will see a substantial amount of
money moving between the two departments. As you know,
those two departments are really one large department. In
the Water/Wastewater we are well under in water sales so
have had to reduce project revenues and expenditures
accordingly.
After discussion by the Council, Mr. Baldwin said that our
projecting revenues will be down a little and the
expenditures will be down a little. He said he did not want
to go through the budget amendment by line item, that he was
willing to accept it as there were no big items of change in
either revenues or expenditures.
Mr. Potempa mentioned that Council had said they were not
going to let the police department equipment go as we had in
the past. He noticed from the report that some of our
vehicles have in excess of 80,000 miles on them. With that
in mind, how many vehicles are we going to have to replace?
Mr. Sweatt said next year probably four vehicles.
vehicles are in good shape with the service they get
our Fleet Service and of course they will be rotated.
Our
from
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There being no further discussion, Mrs. Stanhope asked that
this item be on the next action agenda.
#10 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. He submitted a draft
of a letter to Dale Stein, of the Texas Department of
Transportation concerning the "Road Closed" signs.
B. The door hangers went out today for the curb painting
project. They have gone to a lot of trouble and expense and
have asked to bring up to fifty at a time to our pool to
swim free. This seems like a good thing to do.
# 11 ITEMS BY COUNCIL :_Mr '__.. Poj:em~: A. There is a
Christmas tree at Schertz Parkway and I-35 and since it has
been there so long, he asked that it please be picked up.
B. He asked what is wrong with the SAFES radio channel.
Mr. Sweatt said he would check it out.
C. He had been asked if they would be opening the dam
Boerne so it would flood out some trailers here.
Sweatt explained that they do not open a dam, the high
only comes as a result of a lot of rain in that area.
at
Mr.
water
D. He received a letter from Mr. Morgan immediately upon
his receiving a letter from our Inspector regarding cleaning
his lot. Mr. Potempa said he looked at the lot and
although there was some lumber, his yard looked okay to him.
Mr. Sweatt said he received the same phone call and also
went and looked at the lot and felt it was rather junky. He
did ask the Inspector to go and talk to the gentleman.
Mr. Baldwin reminded everyone of the Senior Citizen
Appreciation Day and asked for bingo prize donations.
Mr. Greenwald advised that BVYA will have their closing
ceremonies the following Saturday at about 9:30 a.m, adding
that they had to cancel about 40% of the games due to rain.
They still have three tournaments scheduled for July.
#12 ITEMS BY MAYOR: None
#13 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further items for
discussion, Mayor Pro Tern Stanhope declared the meeting to
be adjourned at 9:49 pm.
ATTEST: