ccreg 09-18-1990
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REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 18, 1990
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session, Tuesday,
September 18, 1990, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the
Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The
following members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding;
Joe Potempa; Hal Baldwin; Barbara Stanhope i Mary Marsh and Ken
Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City
Secretary June G. Krause.
Mayor Sawyer led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance prior
to opening the regular meeting.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mr. Brown reserved time for item
#6.
#2 APPOINTMENTS: Mr. Greenwald moved to appoint Gary
Bricken to the Planning & Zoning Commission. Mrs. Marsh seconded
the motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope. Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
Mayor Sawyer welcomed Mr. Bricken and his wife to the meeting and
for volunteering his time on the Planning & Zoning Commission,
adding that he looks forward to working with him for many years.
#3 RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced a resolution and
read the caption as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 90-R-15
A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, ADOPTING THE SCHERTZ
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Mrs. March moved to approve the resolution adopting the Schertz
Economic Development Plan. Mr. Greenwald seconded the motion,
which carried with the following vote:
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AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#4 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
AN ORDINANCE
BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ,
TEXAS, AMENDING THE SUBDIVISION ORDINANCE,
NO. 87-S-11, ARTICLE III, DESIGN STANDARDS,
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SECTION 24. PUBLIC SITES AND OPEN SPACES; AND
PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE.
Mrs. Stanhope mov~d to approve the first reading of an ordinance
amending the Code by adding Section 24 Parks and Recreation
Areas. Mr. Potempa seconded the motion, which carried with the
following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope. Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#5 BID PROPOSALS: Consider and take action regarding bid
proposal for garbage collection service.
Mr. Sweatt advised that four sealed bids were received for
furnishing of contractual services for solid waste. He said the
bids had been tabulated in every manner appropriate, and we find
in some instances the bids are very close and there is quite a
wide diversity in other aspects of the proposal. In preparing
the proposal s, he said staff found that we had perhaps not
emphasized some areas that we should have and this might have
caused confusion to some of the bidders. We have compared the
bids with both our current rates and to area city I s rates. On
the basis of the disparity and the remarks and closeness in some
areas, staff recommended Council reject all bids.
Mr. Greenwald mQved to reject all bids submitted for solid waste
collection. Mr. Potempa seconded the motion.
Mrs. Marsh said there is a lot more to this than meets the eye in
the items that go into the bid. It is quite complicated and it
covers a completely new area in which we have no experience. She
said there is no question about the fact that it is not going to
be very long before there will be a Federal mandate on recycling.
She said she feels the sooner cities get into recycling of some
sort the better off they will be when this mandate comes down.
She said she is all for recycling and it is needed. She said at
this point she fel t it needed a little more study or citizen
input. She said she had received comments and phone calls both
for and against; therefore, there will be a necessary period for
educating the public on recycling. This should be discussed a
little more before Council makes up their mind as to what they
are going to do.
Mrs. Marsh said the second area she would like to discuss is that
she finds in her own mind all kinds of questions on commercial
rates because these bids almost cut the current rates in half.
She said if Moore Industries were to be accepted for the
contract, what would it look like with Schertz' rates way down
and the other cities' rates much higher.
Another area Mrs. Marsh questioned was service. She said she did
not see the rating of service for this should be any different
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than anything el se. Therefore, this should be
performance. She said she was sure the City
numerous complaints about Moore's service and
various complaints on service.
judged on past
has on record
she also has
She said her final comment goes back to the Economic Development
Task Force - one of the provisions in their charter has to do
with the assistance and support of local business. She said Mr.
Gutierrez does have a track record of outstanding performance and
that should count - not just that he lives in Schertz and is a
good citizen.
Mr. Baldwin said he had some serious concerns about renewing a
contract with Moore Industrial. He said he was very concerned
about the commercial rate - that he felt the rate Moore proposed
would not even pay for the trips to the landfill. The rate
structure is totally out of sync with other cities and by cutting
the rates in half, he just did not see how Moore could justify
the costs. He said it concerns him that six months ago Moore had
to have $365 a month to empty an eight yard dumpster five times a
week; and with this proposal, he can do it for $155 per month.
He said it just does not make any sense to him. He said he also
has concerns about not going ahead and making a motion to award
the contract at this meeting.
Mr. Sweatt said apparentl y we did not emphasize one over the
other residential versus commercial. He said there was
apparently quite a bit of confusion about our recycling rate. He
said we asked for a rate that included an increase in the
billing/collection charge and there was apparently quite a bit of
misunderstanding on this. We did not give any indication that
the award would be made on one basis or the other so we feel the
fair thing to do is to reject all bids.
Mr. Potempa said he was not satisfied with the service received
from Moore, they do not empty the cans - only take out the bags.
Also their trucks have some type of fluid leak and it is eating
into the asphal t. He has called this to their attention to no
avail and he is totally not satisfied with Moore's service. Also
he said he could not accept the prices on commercial.
Mrs. Stanhope said she really feel s recycl ing is going to be a
very important part of everybody's life in the future. She said
she does feel, from comments that have been given her, that we do
need some type of information program to our citizens. Maybe a
small survey should be put out to see how the citizens want
recycling to be handled. She said when she looked at the bids,
she had a hard time seeing how the rates can help but go up on
commercial. She fel t that wi thin two or three months, if Moore
is awarded the bid, they would be increasing the rates. She
said probably the most comments she has had is on the service.
If something is dropped, it is not picked up - trash is left and
the cans are left in the street. She said she would be more
comfortable in rejecting all bids.
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Mr. Greenwald agreed with everything that had been said. He said
the majority of phone calls he receives concern the lack-luster
attitude and poor service. As to recycling, he said he did not
see any way around not doing it. As to the rate structure, he
also felt they would be coming in shortly for an increase. He
fel t all bids should be rejected and more discussion should be
done and find out exactly what Council wants. There has to be
some middle ground that would serve the residential customer
satisfactor i I y and the commercial customer al so. He also asked
the City Manager to talk to Mr. Moore about extending the current
contract for sixty days, or at least thirty days, until this can
be straightened out.
Mr. Baldwin added that he was not in favor of tabling this since
we put it out for bids and recycl ing was part of that bid
specification. He said he did not see anything in any of the
proposals that would hold the City to any firm commitment to any
of the companies. He fel t this was something that could be
negotiated at a later date. He said he feels very strongly about
the situation and he would not vote for tabling.
Mayor Sawyer said he really agreed with everyone.
Mr. Chuck Sharpe said what he was hear ing was basicall y some
dissatisfaction with Moore service and some possible rates that
might be raised at some time and something about recycl ing. He
said we have a recycling committee appointed to look into this
and they were very active. He said he woul d agree with Mr.
Baldwin that if you put bids out, you should make a decision and
press on.
Mayor Sawyer then requested that the people that had bid not
speak at this time, and then called for a vote on the motion to
reject all bids, and motion carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Stanhope, Marsh and Greenwald
NAYS: Mr. Baldwin
#6 Discussion of an ordinance setting the tax rate for
1990, and announce re-scheduling of consideration and action to
September 25, 1990.
Mayor Sawyer recognized Mr. Brown, who had requested time for
this item.
Mr. Ken Brown said he lives at 1217 Spicewood. He first
apologized for not getting involved earlier; but after discussing
this at the workshop the previous week, he did go over and look
at the budget and made some observations. He said citizens
continuous 1 y see their taxes going up and he wondered if every
effort was being made to control expenses. He then quoted some
percentages showing expenses up by department from the 1988 to
1990 budgets. He said he objected to continuous increase, which
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is far in excess of the inflation rate. This needs to be looked
at to save the tax payers some of their hard earned dollars.
Mayor Sawyer once again invited Mr. Brown to attend the Council
meetings, as well as other citizens. He also said he would like
Mr. Brown to ask a little better informed questions than he was
asking. He said he would be happy to discuss the figures with
Mr. Brown at any time because he just could not believe the
percentages presented.
Mr. Sweatt pointed out something that Mr. Brown did not take into
consideration, that is the change in our accounting process and
our assignment of expenses in each of the departments. Mr. Brown
did not take the time to sit down and ask questions when he was
in.
Mr. Baldwin pointed out that several items such as worker's
compensation are now in the departmental budgets when previously
they were all lumped into one administration budget.
Mr. Brown said he fel tit was time to make our expenses more
eff icient, whether it be by department consol idation or to cut
out overhead to be more efficient. Mr. Brown said we have
increased our revenues tremendously but have continued to spend
it all or squander it all in every department. He said he felt
somewhere there was a place to cut to save tax payer money.
Mrs. Marsh said that perhaps next year Mr. Brown might be able to
help Council do that because she said what he was saying was not
correct. She said there is absolutely no squandering, this is a
bare bone budget. She said there were too many factors that Mr.
Brown was not considering. She said Council spends hours and
hours on the budget and there is no fat. She said we have one of
the smallest staffs of any city in the area. Prices keep going
up and you get things mandated to you from the State. She said
you have got to know the history behind the figures.
Mayor Sawyer told Mr. Brown that Council enjoyed listening to
him; but he only comes to two meetings in a year. He invited Mr.
Brown to come to meetings and give Council his expertise and they
would listen to him.
Mr. Sweatt
originally
publishing
and budget
then presented some slides, saying this item was
scheduled as a public hearing but because of a
error, it was necessary to announce that the tax rate
ordinance was postponed until September 25th.
Mr. Sweatt then showed the overheads, one ref lected the taxes
from the year 1982 through the year 1990; another was a pie chart
reflecting the various sources of general fund income for 1990.
The third chart showed the expenses by department; while the last
chart demonstrated by character and object the particular kinds
of expenditures in the general fund.
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Mayor Sawyer advised the citizens that a public hearing would be
held on the budget on September 25. 1990.
#7 Discussion of Publ ic Hearing and Ordinance concerning
budget for F isca 1 Year 1990- 91, and announce re- schedul ing 0 f
Public H8aring and consideration of ordinance approving the
budget for Fiscal Year 1990-91 to September 25, 1990.
Mr. Sweatt said this is a necessity to meet publication
requirements under the Uniform Truth in Taxation law until
September 25, 1990 meeting. He said some general comments might
be in order. He said a portion of the recommended budget
includes a recommendation of a tax rate of 36.89 cents per $100
value. The tax rate is 5.06 cents per $100 value above that of
the 1989- 90 budget. He said a portion of that is due to the
approximately fifteen million dollars decrease in assessed value
and includes the 1.5 cents additional which was brought about by
increase debt service for the 1990 Certif icates of ObI igation.
Additional items that are included this year are additions in the
swimming pool fees. addition in the water rates; and proposed
expenditures includes addition of a new patrol officer in the
police service, a new mechanic in the Water/Wastewater
Department, a part-time employee in both the Library and Finance
Departments; as well as part-time employee in Building
Maintenance and a part-time Economic Development Coordinator. A
major capitol expenditure includes the first year of a proposed
three to four year data processing development program and the
replacement of a vehicle in the street department.
#8 ANNOUNCE PUBLIC HEARING: Mayor Sawyer announced a
public hearing to be held on October 16th to receive information
regarding future cable service and franchise matters.
# 9 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A.
Chamber of Commerce Fair for October
the Community Center in Schertz.
Mr. Sweatt announced the
11th from 2 until 8 pm in
B. Al so have received announcement of the Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Assistance Program for September 27th in the
Kountry Kitchen and are inviting all local businesses to attend
to see if there are ways of receiving assistance through the
University of Texas Business Development Department.
C. Reminded everyone of the Economic Development Task Force
Business Appreciation Dinner at the VFW beginning at 7:00 p.m. on
the 11th of October.
#10 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: none
# 11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mr. Sawyer announced that Kroger
Stores would be accepting all telephone books for recycling and
there was one place on Randolph that would accept the books.
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#12 ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Baldwin moved the meeting be
adjourned at 7:49 p.m., with Mrs. Marsh seconding the motion and
unanimous approval.
ATTEST:
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