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ccswks 07-29-1992 236 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL JUL Y 2 9, 1992 The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session, Wednesday, July 29, 1992 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were present: 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: Mr. Bill Neller mentioned that he would have the flags up on Main Street August 14th for VJ Day to honor all the men and women who served in the Pacific Area during World War II. Mrs. Moody, representing the Texas Bluebonnet Square Dancers, advised they have been reserving the Community Center since it was built - they were originally called the Dancing Bears. They are a small group with members from Live Oak, Universal City, Cibolo, Schertz and often have visitors from New Braunfels and Austin. They have 24 dues-paying members, who pay $7.50 a month per member. She said at the present time, they are barely able to pay the $20 a week; but have paid through the end of the year. She said that now that the price would be going up to $70, they could not continue. They would just have to disband. She said they begged Council to come up with some way so that they would not have to pay the higher fee. Mr. Jordan, who is also a member of the group, said he lives in Schertz and primarily bought here because of the use of the Community Center for their weekly meetings. He did not feel the price should be based on paying expenses; but set up where people would maybe just pay the utilities. Mr. Sweatt advised that we did attempt to set rates to pay for the cost of operating the facility. We felt the cost should be borne by those using it, not by those who don't. Mayor Sawyer suggested grandfathering these folks who have been there since the beginning. He asked for and received a consensus from Council to allow them to continue paying the same fee as they had been paying. C. Mr. Willman asked the status of the Tax Increment Financing for Schertz Parkway. Mr. Sweatt advised this is in a holding pattern until we get all the items in the plan. We had approved this conceptionally but it needs a little more work. #2 Discussion, with property owners from Northcliffe Subdivision, regarding disannexation request. ) ';~f :.~ t/ Mr. Sweatt referred to the request and advised that the applicants. Mr. & Mrs. Meadows and Mr. & Mrs. Minenna. were present to discuss their request for disannexaton. He added that since the letters were received and answered by him, he has had personal discussion with these citizens. Mr. Sweatt then pointed out on the map the location of the two lots that are inside the city and the one that is partially outside the city limits. He said that this area was annexed along with the frontage along I-35. Mr. Sweatt referred to the disannexation in this area that took place in 1988, saying that was done to realign boundaries, at the request of property owners because a portion of each lot was outside the city limits. Mr. Baldwin said Council was going back over ground that was discussed at great length in the past. He stated that there is no reason for these lots to be in the city limits. He felt the whole area should be disannexed until such time as all of Northcliffe is annexed into the city. Mr. Meadows related his experience a year ago in trying to determine if his lot was inside the city limits. First he was told it was not and then several months later he received a delinquent tax statement from the City. He said he paid that statement but still, in his opinion, did not have any city services. He added that starting June 1st of this year, they started getting excellent police service from the City but that is the only service he gets. Mr. Potempa said if we are not providing services, then they should be disannexed. Mrs. Marsh advised that we are providing fire, police, garbage and ambulance services; but she did agree with Mr. Baldwin they should be disannexed until the entire area is annexed into the City. Mrs. Stanhope and Mr. Greenwald agreed that they should be disannexed. Mayor Sawyer advised that the City Manager instructed to disannex the entire area, with the of the I-35 frontage. would be exception #3 Discussion of final consideration of an establishing the Pecan Drive Reinvestment Zone. ordinance Mayor Sawyer said the public hearing has been held and first reading of the ordinance was approved. Since was no further discussion by Council, Mayor Sawyer that this item be on the next action agenda. the there asked #4 Discussion of final consideration of an approving the Tax Abatement and a Tax Abatement for and with Rex Bornmann. ordinance Agreement ; $.'0 ~.4'......,;-.~ There being no further discussion on this item, Mayor Sawyer asked that it be on the next action agenda. #5 Discussion of final consideration amending the zoning ordinance by rezoning a land from Neighborhood Services to R-l Dwelling District. of an ordinance certain tract of Single Family There was also no discussion desired for this item and it was to be on the next action agenda. #6 Discussion of final consideration of an ordinance amending the Code to require installation in Convenience Stores of security devices. Mr. Sweatt reminded Council this item was on the agenda to consider the second reading and vote at the next action meeting. This was placed before Council after substantial discussion with the police service and code enforcement. He added that the meat of the ordinance is Section 10 95.2, which stipulates that each convenience store within the City of Schertz shall be equipped with the following security devices: 1. an operating security camera system. 2. an operating silent alarm system. 3. a drop safe or cash management device providing a safe with limited access. 4. a conspicuously posted sign in the convenience store entrance stating that the cash register contains $50 or less. 5. an illuminated parking lot. 6. readily visible height markers at the entrance of the convenience store displaying height measurements from the floor. 7. a cash management policy, 8. windows clear of tint or signage to provide an unobstructed view of the cash register and transaction area of the convenience store. Mr. Sweatt said he has since the first reading of the ordinance had discussions with some representatives. A productive meeting the previous day with representatives of Pay Less, in which they advised us they were very pleased to support the ordinance and felt this a very substantial step forward in our efforts to bring more security to convenience stores. He defined the meaning of "convenience store" as any place of business that is primarily engaged in the retail sale of groceries, gasoline and services that is regularly open for business at any time between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. - this does not affect those others that operate outside those business hours. Mr. Charles Lander, representing Lone Star Ice and Food Stores, said they were concerned about the safety of their employees and the increase in the crime rate; but they did not feel the ordinance was going to help. He said they had a store that had most of the security measures in this ordinance and three men went into the store and shot and killed one man and seriously injured another. He said those measures did not stop these men. He added that the Sheriff's Department caught the one that pulled the pistol in less than a week; but he did not care and this kind of ordinance would not stop that. He said what is really needed is more enforcement on the criminal justice side. This ordinance will just be more costly for the stores. He also said the cameras they have, which are reasonably good cameras, cost between $1700 and $2000, not the $800 as stated in the paper. The placement of safes in all convenience stores is not realistic, according to Mr. Lander, as they cost about $3,000. He ended by saying he felt this ordinance would be arbitrary and unreasonable burden on convenience stores and it places the burden of policing the community on small businesses rather than where it belongs in the police department. Mr. Sweatt agreed that there are some people that would not be deterred for any reason. Mr. Shepherd, a property owner in Schertz, said he had owned the site of one convenience store in Schertz for twenty years and he is interested in crime. He said his store had never been robbed - he asked when the last robbery occurred in Schertz and how many in the last eighteen months. Mr. Sweatt said previouslY and we years. the last one occurred about have had about three in the one month last two Mr. Shepherd said it concerned him that the ordinance only selected the stores that are open between 11:00 p.m and 6:00 a.m. He said he realizes a lot a crimes are committed between these hours but this says that just because he is open a few more hours that the next one he has to spend about $6,000 to do all these things. He said a lot of these stores do not make even half that much money in a year. He felt that the majority of the stores in the city would close because they could not afford the expense. Mr. John McPherson of Diamond Shamrock said they are safety conscious. He said they have all of these eight measures that are proposed but he could understand where the small businessman could have a hardship with some of these. He said they have two cameras in their stores and the thing they might have a little problem with is the Robbery Prevention Program and giving the employees only seven days to complete that training. He said they would not put a new employee, working for them less that thirty days, by .) 4 ;, .tOM/.. ,-. themselves in a store. He Said the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission gives them thirty days in which to send their employees to a TABC seller's school. He felt they would need about thirty days to comply with that stipulation in the ordinance. Mr. Jeff Pollard, with Johnson Oil Company who has the chain of Tiger Tote stores, said they have been in business since 1988 and have never experienced any act of violence against any customer or any employee in any store. He wanted to commend the Council on their efforts to increase the security in convenience stores. He felt Council might have been misgUided on some of the measures - such as silent alarms, they would not be a deterrent and could increase the violence. He said they were also concerned about the requirement of the safety cameras as they had never had an act of violence. The cost of this would be more than their profits for the entire year for those time frames and if passed, they would have to close down. They also have seminars of training for their employees on how to handle instances of avoiding conflict, they do have a drop safe and have lighting in the parking lot. He did not feel this ordinance would do a lot to cut down on crime. John Orbanick, District Manager for Stop 'N Go, felt that it was wrong to pin point convenience stores because there are acts of violence in others such as fast food stores. He said they do have a lot of the things - they have drop safes, the height marker, they have safety training of two days which stresses passive resistance. He added that they have started putting cameras in their stores and they cost about $3,000. The cost of camera systems and silent alarm systems could cause a lot of stores to have to close. Answering questions of Council, Mr. Orbanick said they have about 144 stores in the area and have now installed about 25 to 30 cameras. Mrs. Marsh said she felt Council should further discuss this with regard to the comments heard this evening. She reminded Council that she was one of the two dissenters against this ordinance when it was first discussed. She said her prime reason was based on passed experience - that being only three robberies in the past two years. She called attention to two instances on TV where cameras picked up on robberies; but she is still concerned about the expense to small business operators. She said she definitely is for security measures, but she still favors the recommendation of the Chief of Police, which was for the AdVisory Council. Mrs. Stanhope said she had supported Mrs. Marsh on the Advisory Council as a better way to start. She said her concern if she was an owner is that she would put more than $5,000 or $6,000 on a life. Yet she had heard from all the gentlemen that the things that they had been briefed on to protect these lives are not necessarily protection. She - ) , ~- felt Council should look at population growth, how many more stores would come into the area and the factions that will come in with population growth. Mr. Potempa said he agreed that law enforcement needs to be revised on the criminal justice side but it is not in the hands of the Council to do that. As for as the silent alarm, a person might panic and cause extra violence; but as for cameras, they could save a life and one life would be worth the cost. Mr. Baldwin said he thought we had accomplished one purpose that being to get all the representatives to corne forward and discuss it. He said he now had a little confidence that at least three or four of the stores have employee interest at heart and are already implementing these procedures. He said he was glad to hear that because the whole purpose, as far as he was concerned, was that the ordinance did not have anything to do with the owners or their profits but the employees and the safety of the people that go into their stores. To him it seems a store that does not make more than $5,000 a year between these hours, maybe should not stay open during those hours. He said he felt the cameras were not so much as a deterrent but they catch killers and that is more important than $5,000. Mr. Baldwin said there are some other stores that have come to his attention that may stay open just over the 11:00 p.m time that should be considered. Mr. Greenwald said that speaking of Lone Star's concern of the ills of our society, unfortunately we cannot legislate all of them. He said the cameras were not a sole deterrent. We have a small police department and the cameras are primarily to apprehend. As for the worth of the camera. he felt it is well worth the cost to catch criminals. After discussion, Mayor Sawyer asked if Council wanted to look at this ordinance again. Mrs. Marsh action. She taking into commented on. said we had just seen an advisory council in wanted to take another look at this ordinance, consideration everything these gentlemen had Mr. Sweatt suggested he would like to see in writing any recommendation or thoughts each of these gentlemen might have. Mayor Sawyer advised that this ordinance will be back at the next workshop for further study. thanked each of the gentlemen for coming. brought He then #7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. He reminded everyone of the upcoming TML Annual Conference in Houston on October 7th - 10th. OAn ~q~ B. There will be a Regional TML meeting in San Marcos on August 7th and we need to make reservations soon. C. We have received some bad news from the Appraisal District. Our Certified Tax Roll has been certified to us in the amount of $253,000,000, which represents approximatelY a $14,000,000 drop from the previous year. For budget purposes, there is a portion under protest but we are still looking at a 4.4% decrease from last year. That is equivalent of 1.8 to 2 cents in the tax rate itself. On that basis and under the Charter, the budget recommendations will be filed with the City Secretary on August 1st. Our suggested public hearing dates are September 8th and 15th. He then asked if council would agree to the budget meetings dates of August 4th, 12th, 18th and 26th our regular meeting dates in August. We would still have available to continue to work on the budget September 1st and the 9th if they were needed. On that kind of schedule, the public hearing on the tax rate would be held on the 8th of September and the budget hearing on September 15th. This would provide for September 15th for adoption of budget. D. You will be seeing a cooperative venture between our city and Universal City on the low water crossing. We have not been able to satisfactorily resolve the question of adequate storage lanes to make a left-turn lane onto FM 1518 off of that area. We are going to talk to the Highway Department about changing some radiuses there to accomplish the same thing. E. The newsletter has come out and it almost scooped us but we wanted to tell you tonight that Mrs. Ann Vick has been selected as this month's Star of the Month. #8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh A. The Economic Development Task Force met on July 16th and talked about the Tax Abatement, the Business Appreciation Dinner which will be on September 17 and we will ask Helen Dutmer if she will be the guest speaker. They discussed some changes to that dinner. They had a long briefing and discussion regarding some very, very good prospects, which hopefully some of them will bear fruit. B. The Business Association met the previous day. Mr. Baldwin gave the city update, mentioning the budget sessions were going to start and asking everyone to attend those. They discussed the 4th of July and will meet the next week to have the after-action report and start planning for next year. Also the By-laws will be discussed. Had a very low attendance and will have a new-member drive, asking everyone to bring a new member to the next meeting. Their financial report revealed they did make money on the 4th of July but don't have exact figures as yet. They had a guest speaker, Larry Anders from Universal City police Department. He talked on D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). His talk was very good and she felt he would be very good to speak to the Council some time. I _J l'1L,._~Q.:t~~IllQ~ - A. At last workshop Mrs. Stanhope brought up about a teen curfew, he asked if the city Attorney had received copies of San Antonio's ordinance. Mr. Sweatt said the attorney has been out of town. Mr. Potempa referred to an incident in the park the previous evening where shots were fired but no one was hit, saying something had to be done. B. He referred to the letters sent out by the City on cutting trees. He said he goes along with that; but also the City has a problem with a tree right in front of the building that has limbs hanging too low. l1r~.__ StaI1hope - A. Said she met an interesting gentleman at the Conference who is on the Council in Seguin. They talked about curfews and he had worked with their attorney for about six months on an ordinance - we could get copy of that. B. Mrs. Stanhope then went over some of the seminars she attended at the conference; the Legislative Overview being the first. She had material on the Teen Court, giving some statistics on its success. Some of the other topics of interest were the Americans with Disabilities policies, the new Open Records Act, crime prevention and refuse derived fuel. It was a very interesting conference. Mr. Baldwin agreed that the seminars at the conference were excellent. Mr. Greenwalg urged everyone that could to attend each of the MPO meetings because if we don't attend, we can forget any money for road repair or replacement. He added that one of the things Council needs to keep in mind is the breaking the MPO up into a county. #9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Reported on the BVYA banquet and tournament, saying there were 150 at the banquet. B. He had received a letter from Annie Almond saying she had talked with a gentleman who invited us to send our float to Lake Dallas in November. She had talked with one of our employees who would be willing to take the float up there at no expense. Mr. Sweatt mentioned that we have no insurance on the float but did feel our TML insurance would cover the truck up to 100 miles. He would check on that. Mrs. Marsh felt it was a good way to advertise our city. Council felt the need to check on the insurance first but if that was okay, they were in favor of taking the float up there. 244 C. He referred to the previous meeting where the people carne to talk about the cemeteries and damage. He wonder if we could talk to Mr. DeKunder to look into getting a Historical marker for the cemeteries. Mr. Baldwin agreed to talk with Mr. DeKunder. #10 ADJOURNMENTj meeting was declared Sawyer. There being no further business, the adjourned at 9:09 p.m. by Mayor ATTEST: