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ccreg 09-18-1990 " 46 \ 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: ," i 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, ; J /x 47 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 ~ 48 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. / /x ~~ /. LJ 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 50 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. J x 51 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. 52 #12 ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Baldwin moved the meeting be adjourned at 7:49 p.m., with Mrs. Marsh seconding the motion and unanimous approval. ATTEST: - Texas )