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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 12. 1990
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Session. Wednesday,
September 12, 1990 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room. Municipal
Complex 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following
members were present Mayor Earl W. Sawyer. presidingi Joe
Potempa; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh; and Ken Greenwald. Absent
Hal Baldwin. Staff present were Kerry R. Sweatt City Manager and
Alice Austin Deputy City Secretary.
'1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mayor Sawyer advised that he had
been informed by the City Manager that there were some people at
the meeting who were given erroneous information by a member of
our staff regarding the public hearing on the tax rate and the
budget. He advised the citizens if they wanted to speak at this
time to go ahead.
1. Mr. Ken Brown of 1217 Spicewood advised that the way this came
about was that the paper had stated the public hearing would be
on Tuesday and that he had called down to see what time and had
talked to someone in the Tax Department who told him that the
hear ing would be on Wednesday. He advised that he had called
back Wednesday morning to verify the time and was told that the
meeting was at 7:00 p.m.
He advised that he wanted to know why it is necessary to
continually raise the tax rates like we do in the City of
Schertz. He advised that last year the rates went up 23.56%. He
asked what the proposed rate for this year was. Mr. Sweatt
advised that the proposed rate was 36.89 cents per $100 value.
Mr. Sweatt advised that the value this year as reported by the
County Appraisal District was $272,170,741.
Mr. Brown advised that that would be an increased rate of
approximately 16% over last year. Mr. Sweatt advised that this
was 5.06 cents. Mr. Brown advised that there were several people
who had talked about a rollback last year because of the amount
of the increase and it is becoming increasingly important because
the tax keeps going up and up. He said that he wanted to get the
opportunity to find out why the tax rate keeps going up and up.
He said the city keeps adding people to the payroll, that every
time you pick up the paper the city has added more people. He
said that for those on a fixed income it seemed unfair to keep
raising the rates.
Mr. Sweatt said that he did want to apologize for the confused
information Mr. Brown had been given. He advised that we had
recommended an increase in the tax rate to the City Council of
the 5.06 cents and advised that a portion of that is an offset in
a loss in assessed value of approximately 15 million dollars
between last year's total assessed values and this year's total
assessed values. He advised that an additional 1.5 cents of that
recommended tax rate is for additional debt service costs that
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are connected with the certificates of obligation that were
issued last year. He advised that these items were excluded from
the increase rate calculation when doing the calculations as it
applies to the rollback calculations. He advised that the city
budget has grown. There has been recommended increases in
personnel, increases in cost in a number of areas with all of the
insurance costs increasing. He advised that there were increased
cost in the area of capital outlay for data processing equipment
and replacement of one vehicle. He advised that the remainder of
the budget was pretty well operational items only.
Mr. Brown asked how much salaries were increasing percentage wise
over last year. Mr. Sweatt advised that overall there was
approximately a 2.34 % increase in salaries. Mr. Brown asked if
that was in-total including the new people. Mr. Sweatt said that
this was exclusive of new people. He advised that there was
proposed to be funded one new full-time position in the General
Fund, one new full time position in the Water & Sewer Department
and two part-time positions in the General Fund.
Mr. Brown asked what the city had done to cut expenses.
Mayor Sawyer advised that we had put off buying certain items
that we fel t were necessary last year i vehicles and things of
that nature that we feel are needed in the city to maintain the
current standard of living that we enjoy. He advised that he had
suggestions to close the park and swimming pool and fire 90% of
the employees and that he was opposed to all of that. Mayor
Sawyer told Mr. Brown that we would welcome him to take a copy of
our budget and look it over and see what he would like to live
without.
Mayor Sawyer said he wished that Mr. Brown would have shown this
concern when we were discussing taxes during the budget sessions.
He advised that he would welcome Mr. Brown to all the meetings
and would welcome his input earlier in the discussion. Mr. Brown
said it would be a shame to have a rollback. Mayor Sawyer
advised that there could not be a rollback unless there was a
certain amount of increase and the city's was not that high. Mr.
Brown said it depended on how the increase was calculated. Mayor
Sawyer advised he could calculate any way he wanted to as long he
calculated by the rules laid down by the State.
Mr. Brown asked where
Sawyer advised that
dropped the val ue on
jurisdiction.
the decrease in valuation came from. Mayor
Guadalupe County Appraisal District had
several pieces of property in our taxing
Mr. Brown said the population of Schertz continues to increase,
that houses are being buil t every day, and they are not cheap
houses in all cases. All of this is added, where are the cuts.
He advised that he has properties in Schertz and they had not
gone down this year.
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Mr. Sweatt advised that there was not a percentage decrease, that
the Appraisal District had actuall y re-eval uated most of the
property in Schertz and that the net effect was a total decrease
of almost fifteen million dollars.
Mayor Sawyer advised that Council would value Mr. Brown's input
on the budget, but would like to have it a little sooner in the
budget process.
Mayor Sawyer said that the City Council felt that they did a good
job in managing the citizen's money.
Mr. Brown said that he had talked to Mr. Sweatt previously about
the raise in garbage rates and had suggested that maybe going to
one time a week pickup would lower the cost. He said he was
advised that we had to pay for the tonnage. Mrs. Marsh advised
that she could not stand one-time a week pickup.
Mayor Sawyer advised that we have enjoyed good rapport with the
people who deliver that service and that there was a group of
homeowners who oppose a landfill in this area. He told Mr. Brown
that we need his support in obtaining a landfill in this area.
Mayor Sawyer also advised that the City was currently working on
garbage services including recycling.
2. Ruth Tienor. Advised that she wanted to inform Council of the
bonfire and snake dance planned by the school. She advised that
homecoming would be on October 12 and the bonfire and snake dance
would be on October 10 at 6:30 p.m. The route would be from the
bank down Main Street. She also advised that she would be
getting with Chief Agee and Chief Melton to work out any
arrangements. She advised that she was there to make sure
Council had no objections to their plans.
3. Unknown female. Advised that at the swimming pool there was
no place for people to sit and eat except in the smoking area.
She asked if it could be arranged that there be a place for
people to eat where there was no smoking. Mayor Sawyer requested
that Mr. Sweatt check into this.
4. Chuck Sharpe advised that he would like to reserve time on
Item #9.
112 Discussion of P & Z recommendation to appoint Gary
Bricken to the P & Z Commission.
Mr. Bricken was introduced to members of Council. Mayor Sawyer
advised that he saw nothing wrong with appointing Mr. Bricken to
the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mr. Potempa advised that he
knew Mr. Bricken personally and felt he would make a good
commissioner. Mayor Sawyer requested this item be placed on the
September 18 Agenda for action.
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13 Discussion of a resolution adopting Schertz Economic
Development Plan.
Mr. Sweatt advised that this was a recommended plan by the
Economic Development Task Force that outlines not only some
specific goals and objectives but also the steps of getting there
and puts down on paper some specific charges that we feel the
Council has generally made to the Economic Development Task Force
as part of overall development. He advised that they were
proposing that one item on page 8, item 13.c.(1) be deleted and
renumber the following items accordingly. He advised that other
than that the description of the plan is as discussed by the
Economic Development Task Force and is recommended for adoption
by the Council as a concrete expression of the goal and a plan
and an objective by the City Council as charged to the Economic
Development Task Force.
Mrs. Marsh advised that this was an excellent plan and after
approval by the Council the next task would be implementation.
Mayor Sawyer advised that this is another block in our bUilding
for bringing more business to Schertz in an effort to keep our ad
valorem taxes lower.
14. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes,
attorneys on pending litigation.
Called
Section
under
2 (e)
Article 6252-17
to consult with
Mayor Sawyer called the executive session at 7:20
advised the citizens and staff present that this was
session and asked those not on the City Councilor a
the City's legal staff to please leave the room.
p.m. and
a private
member of
Mayor Sawyer reopened the meeting at 8:24 p.m.
IS. Consider and take action, if any, on the above
Executive Session.
Mayor Saywer advised that they had an executive session with the
legal staff on pending litigation and that they saw no reason to
take any action on what went on in the executive session. He
advised that this was merely a briefing by the attorneys.
16.
Discussion of an ordinance setting the tax rate for
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1990.
Mr. Sweat advised that there were two elements not necessarily in
the order they appear. He advised that when we began the budget
hear ing workshop sessions several dates had been establ ished;
September 11 being the date set for the public hearing on the tax
rate which was held last night. The second date was set as
September 18th as the date for a public hearing in consideration
of adoption of the budget. One of the stipulations in the
Uniform Truth and Taxation Act requires certain kinds of
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publication and certain sizes of publications. In relation to
the ordinance setting the tax rate and the anticipation of that
being done on September 18, a notice was set to be run and was
run in the newspaper publ ishing the city's official notices;
however, due to an error on the part of the newspaper, the size
of the article was printed incorrectly. It is required that it
be published as a quarter page ad like the earlier notice about
the tax rate hearing. Instead, the notice printed in the middle
of the page which you cannot see, was published in our official
publication today, which precludes us from considering the budget
and/or the tax rate on September 18. He advised that in order to
comply with the State law and the property tax board publication
notices it will be necessary to run a special notice in the
alternate publication. as we cannot comply with the publication
notices and publish the notice in our official newspaper
publ ication because the time will not allow this. In order to
comply he advised that we propose to go to our alternate
publication which is the Seguin Gazette and this will require
that we change the date for action from September 18 to September
25.
Mr. Sweatt suggested that Council continue to look at the two
items as they appear on the agenda and that next week, in keeping
with earlier stated action, we have an item on the agenda which
essential I Y says anyone who wants to come and talk about these
items will have an item on the agenda which considers any
testimony and will take action to re-schedule the action until
September 25. Consensus of Council was to schedule discussion
item on September 17 and action item on September 25.
17 Discussion of Park Dedication Ordinance as revision to
the Sub-Division Ordinance.
Mr. Sweatt advised that this ordinance comes after considerable
study and research and recommendations from both staff and
Planning and Zoning Commission and re-wr i ting through the City
Attorneys office. We have included in your agenda packet wording
that would propose to amend the Sub-Division Ordinance No. 87-S-
11 by adding Section 24 which will start with item 24.1 through
24.16. He advised that the purpose of the ordinance prescribes
that in as much as neighborhood parks are essential to the health
and general well being of the citizens that as future sub-
divisions are platted that there be a procedure to prescribe
ei ther dedication of park land or payment for improvements to
existing parklands as a part of the cost of sub-dividing and
developing additional property in the city limits.
Mike Spain, City Attorney stated the ordinance covered either
dedication of land for the park or payments in lieu of that
dedication and there is a procedure for those payments. In some
cases it can be used to build new parks and in some cases it can
be used for improvements to existing parks.
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Mr. Sweatt advised that this differs from earlier discussions and
provides for both new and existing parks and removes some
questions dealing with distance and space relationship between
land platted as park sites. He advised that on page 7, item 24-
14-D there is a clarification of wording to read:
"24-14-D Security for Performance. The City may require
financial assurances from the subdivider that the private park
will be developed and completed, with assurances that a failure
by the subdivider to timely complete the improvements to the park
shall result in a dedication of the private park to the City and
the proceeds of the financial assurances, as offered, become the
property of the City for use in completing the park."
Mr. Sweatt advised that with this change we believe this answers
and addresses the various questions raised by Council, Staff and
ci tizens and all of the recommendations by the Planning and
Zoning Commission and will accomplish the purpose of broadening
neighborhood parks for the enjoyment of both new and eXisting
subdivisions.
Joe Potempa said that he would like to commend city staff and the
Planning and Zoning Commission for the time and effort they put
into this project.
Mayor Sawyer requested that this item be placed on the September
18 agenda.
IS Discussion of an ordinance approving the budget for
Fiscal Year 1990-1991.
Mr. Sweatt advised that this item be placed only on the action
agenda for discussion so that the action will in effect take
place on the September 25 agenda.
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service.
Discussion of bid proposals for garbage collection
Chuck Sharpe advised that he wanted to talk about economic
development on this item. He advised that about 10 years ago he
was appointed to the Economic Development Committee and that he
had been involved in economic development for about 10 years and
that he had found out a few things that he would like to share.
Economic development is a very slow process, it takes a long time
to get something done.
He advised that he had also worked in the area of economic
development with the Chamber of Commerce and the Austin-San
Antonio Corridor Council and that one of the things that keeps
coming out is that about 75 to 80 percent of the jobs that are
created locall y come from eXisting businesses. He said that we
could hope to get a General Motors or Motorola here but our
chances of doing that are slim to none. Where we get our jobs
are those businesses that start small and grow within the city.
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He said that you just have to look at Monotech, GardenRidge
Pottery, Schertz Bank and the Smoke Pit to see the improvements
that have been made and additional jobs created by local
businesses. He said he feels that the City Council is certainly a
pro economic development group and have created a climate for
people who would want to come to the City of Schertz to build and
to live. With the tax abatement program and with the Planning
and Zoning, we have to try to expedite action by the city staff
in the permitting process. He said that it is not often that a
City Council has the chance to promote economic development as in
the case that is coming up in the awarding of the special
contracts for the garbage collections. He advised that during
his twenty years in the city we have been served by Mr. Gutierrez
and that he had known Mr. Gutierrez and the famil y. He advised
that in looking at the award for the garbage contract. Council
would find that the bids were very competitive. He advised that
the reason he approached this from an economic development
standpoint was that if we could get a business to come in here
tomorrow and hire ten new people that the Council would jump at
it. He advised that Council would have that chance when they
start awarding the contract. He said that what he was real 1 y
saying was that to do the best thing for the citizens of Schertz
was to go with a proven company that can show that they can
perform the service and have done it for many years and that he
fel t the best action for Council was to go with the Gutierrez
bid.
Mr. Sweatt advised that we had asked the recycling committee to
meet and Council has been furnished a copy of their
recommendation as it relates to recycling. He advised that they
had purposely been excluded from the discussion as to who was the
best garbage collector and how that should be done, but instead
have restricted themselves purely to the question of recycling.
110 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: Included in packet a discussion
of our current circumstance dealing with the cable regulatory act
and advised that. based on our understanding of the 1988
regulations, if we propose to consider any action(franchise
renewal or any other action) we need to begin the process three
years before the termination of the existing franchise. He
advised that our current franchise expires on September 15, 1993
and we propose that the current cable provider be provided a
letter that says that we intend to begin that process and that we
would like to set a public hearing to begin that process. He
said with a concurrence of Council he would begin the process.
Mrs. Marsh asked what the status of the legislation is. Mr.
Sweatt advised that the original recommendation as he understood
it, was to amend some FCC regulations and re-establish some local
controls. He advised that the most recent reports that he had
read simply propose to set at the FCC level minimum rates and the
FCC become more involved in the rate setting process.
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Mr. Greenwald said that somewhere in the process there were
considerable changes and that he did not really see the FCC
getting involved in the rate setting process. He said he felt it
should be left up to the local franchise people.
Mr. Sweatt advised that to preserve our place we needed to begin
the process. Concensus of Council was to start the process.
III ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Joe Potempa: 1. Pointed out Item
number 2 on Mr. Sweatt's report the letter on MAST and asked if
this would be distributed to the military. Mr. Sweatt said it
was his understanding that this had been curtailed because of the
Mid-East crisis. Mr. Sweatt advised that we had lost the MAST
service and that there is an air ambulance service working out of
Baptist Hospital. Mr. Spain advised that this was not yet in
operation and would not start until January 1.
2. He advised that this was the second time he had noticed Item
No. 4 and no action being taken. Mr. Sweatt advised that he was
curious as to whether Council liked the publication. Mr. Potempa
advised that he found it very interesting. Mrs. Marsh advised
that she had not seen anything in the publication that she had
not read somewhere el se. Consensus of Council was to save the
$89.00 for this publication for something else.
3. Mr. Potempa advised that he had enjoyed the commendations
from Chief Agee in regards to Officer Cantrell and Officer Young
and that he wanted to give them a couple of more to pass out.
Barbara Stanhope: 1. Advised that she had attended a Library
Board meeting and that they have worked up some figures that show
what is happening to what they consider as their funds. She
advised that the only years she could see that they need to look
at and make council aware of what they see is happening are 88,
89,90 and 91 and that each year the City's contribution has gone
up until this year. This year it went down $5,699. She advised
that the In Kind column covers suppl ies (paper towel s, postage,
telephone, electr ici ty) all of the things before that the city
just paid and that now this is worked into their budget. She
advised that this year the Board fel t very I ucky because the
Seguin Library backed our Library. She advised that the Seguin
Library has a contract with the County and that in negotiating
wi th the County this year they got a substantial raise in per
capi ta and they supported our Library I s request and the County
gave our Library the same dollar amount per capita. She advised
that the column Other Sources was such things as fines, copy fees
and rental. She also advised that on top of that they had their
donations from their fund raisers which are not included in these
figures.
She advised that the way the Library Board was looking at it,
they put a ten thousand dollar value on telephone, electricity
and supplies. So if yoU add that to the fifty-six ninety-nine it
looks to them like we are fifteen thousand short of what we gave
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last year. They just want us aware that this is how they figure.
She advised that the Board was concerned because they have to
meet certain cr iter ia to maintain their accreditation and that
this is their main concern.
She advised that the Board had to put in a request to the County
and they list certain things to justify that request.
Ken Greenwald: Advised that CVADAC is holding a seminar at the
Library on the 20th of September at 7:00 p.m. on Recognizing and
Reducing Stress in your Life. He advised that at their meeting
this past Monday it was announced that they did receive their
TACADA grant in the amount of $47,500 and they have begun the
process of looking for a full time executive director.
'12 ITEMS BY MAYOR: None
ATTEST:
On a motion duly made and seconded the
8:51 p.m.,,./? ~
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'13 ADJOURNMENT:
meeting was adjourned at
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