ccswks 02-13-1991
x
-<"
"
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 13, 1991
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, February 13, 1991 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room
of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas.
The following members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer,
presiding; Joe Potempa; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken
Greenwald. Absent: Hal Baldwin. Staff present were City
Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mrs. Coralee Fenner advised that
she is Public Relations representative for senior parents for the
tl Project Graduation tl this year. She said basicall y they wanted
to present their plans for graduation night and get a 1 i tt le
publicity. She advised that they would also have a Project
Graduation Market Day, an outdoor craft-bazaar on April 20th.
Mrs. Cindy Boeck said they wanted to see if something could be
done about the roads in the Schirmerville area. She said that
there are at least three roads that are almost impassable. Mr.
Graham had been out and agreed with the condition of the roads
but said that he did not have the funds or manpower to do
anything about it for the rest of this fiscal year. She added
that these three roads, in particular, are really dangerous. She
also asked if the Street Department could draw up some long-range
plans for the roads in their area.
Mr. Wayne Hofferichter said that Boenig Lane is almost impassable
and that East Central School District does not allow their buses
to dr ive on that road. They are having to pick up the children
at other locations and are adding seven to eight minutes to their
routes, which means the kids are on the bus some one and a half
hours one way.
Mr. Sweatt said we have had our Street personnel out there all of
the first three weeks of January. He agreed that some of the
roads in the Schirmerville area are in bad condition and we will
do our best to maintain them. He said we are spending to the
limit of our resources on the roads, adding that this last rain
did cause of lot of washing out.
Mayor Sawyer said we will do the best we can and will put this on
our bell ringer and will talk about roads in Schirmerville during
the next budget discussions.
12 Discussion of audit presentation by Auditor and Audit
Committee.
Mayor Sawyer said that he and Mr. Baldwin are on the Audit
Commi ttee and they are real happy with the audit, which shows
about an $86,000 built-up in the General Fund. This shows
amazingly good management on the part of the City Council. good
spending habits by staff and good leadership by the City Manager.
x
150
He then introduced Mr. Frank Leal and Mr. Barney Ortiz of the
audit firm.
Mr. Ortiz, mentioned that there were no page numbers - they would
be added later - as they do not number the draft audit. He then
asked to turn to the Opinion page. This shows that the City
Manager and Finance Officer are responsible for the report
contents, adding that the auditors might assist but are not
responsible for the report. He said they do not perform a 100%
audit as that would be cost prohibitive. He added that what they
do is "test check" certain items. He said that technically and
officially the Opinion is the only thing the auditors give to
Council. This is an opinion stating to the fact that they have
audi ted the financial statements and have issued an opinion.
Governmental entities will at some time go out for bond issues
and your financial reports, especially the auditor's opinion is a
great factor in determining bond ratings.
Mr. Ortiz then referred to the page entitled "Combined Balance
Sheet". He said this tells the reader what is owned by the City
and is broken down by governmental fund types and proprietary
fund types. The governmental fund types are those activities or
funds that pertain to the activity of the governmental entity
with respect to services provided. The purpose of a proprietary
fund is to earn some kind of return to finance itself. I
Incl uded in this is the Water and Sewer and SAFES funds. The "
accounts groups are broken down into two items the general
fixed assets and the general long-term debt.
Through a staff error, the pages of the audit were not in order
making it difficult for Council to follow. Mr. Sweatt asked Mr.
Ortiz if he would just make some general overview statements
instead of trying to go page by page.
Mr. Ortiz said the overall picture of the City appears favorably.
Most of the fund balances have increased from last year,
especially in the general fund, Financially the City stands at a
very good position. The revenues came down; however at the same
time the level of expenditures were adjusted down al so. The
$850,000 debt was the only issue of the year but you did have a
roll-over debt of about $50,000 from the bank for police
vehicles; and part of that debt was paid off during the year,
leaVing a balance of $25,000. That is a capsule of the whole
operation of the City.
Mrs. Marsh said she noticed there were no discrepancies in
operating procedures.
Mr. Ortiz said there were minor items that were discussed with
the City Manager and there was nothing that was out of the
ordinary in the operation of the City. He said one of the things
they did notice, and which were discussed with the audit
committee, is that there are a lot of entries that were not made j
at the end of the year. He said when they inquired as to why
I
/
x
x
151
they were not made, since they in their exp-er ience are normal
entr~es that would be made during the operation of., the
governmental entity, they were advised that the previous auditors
advised not to make them - that they would make them. Mr. Ortiz
said he saw no reason why the City's very competent staff should
not make these entr ies, since they know how to do them. They
advised the Finance Officer to go ahead and make them - such as
the depreciation and accrual entries, which should be made on a
monthly basis.
Mrs. Marsh said to her this is a very favorable report and she
asked what it would take to get back to a triple A rating.
Mr. Leal said the fund balances or net worth was in bad shape;
but a tremendous improvement has been made in bringing that back
into the black. He said he wanted to caution in that although it
is a tremendous improvement, it is onl y the first step in the
right direction. In the future, he said he looked forward to
having that figure brought up to a three-month's operating
expense to maintain the integrity of the City.
Mr. Sweatt asked if Council wanted another workshop on the audit
and Council agreed that one would not be necessary, that they
would be ready to accept the audit at the next regular meeting.
#3 Discussion of awarding bid on a Street Department one-
ton truck with tilt bed and lift tail gate.
Mr. Sweatt advised that this is a budgeted item in the current
budget. The total budget for this item is $24,138.00 which
includes truck, equipment, overhead lighting and radio equipment.
We received five bids and reviewed them; and the apparent low
bid, with base bid and options, is Bluebonnet Motor Company Inc.
However, as we reviewed the options, there were some
discrepancies so we went directly to the supplier and asked for
quotation. We now find that we could purchase the base equipment
from Bluebonnet Ford in the amount of $12,541.62 and rejected the
bids on the options and go direct 1 y to the supplier, which is
Texas Equipment Company, who would sell the optional equipment to
us for $6400, bringing the grand total to $18,941.62. This is a
$786 savings from the apparent low bid. The options with
Bluebonnet were the 3-way tilt body at $5272, the lift tail gate
$1714, and receiver hitch is $200.
Mr Potempa asked if the trade-in had a 3-way til t bed and was
told no, it is just a dump truck.
Mrs. Marsh said she fel t this showed a lot of initiative from
management to look further to help save money.
#4 Discussion of awarding bid on a Water/Waste Water
Department 3/4 ton extended cab pickup truck.
J\
152
Mr. Sweatt said this vehicle is to replace one that has a good
amount of miles on it. There were six bids received and again
the apparent low bidder was Bluebonnet Motor Inc. in New
Braunfels, with a base bid of $12,838.42 and the utility body
being $3131. With a trade-in of $500, that leaves a grand total
of $15,469.42. Again we looked at the optional equipment and
find that the City can be better served by purchasing it from
Texas Equipment Company for $2503, for a grand total of $14,
841.42. This represents a savings of approximately $645.
There being no further questions, Mayor Sawyer asked that this
item be placed on the next action agenda.
#5 Discussion of an agreement with Bexar County regarding
CDBG project funding.
Mr. Sweatt said that late this same afternoon we received
proposed agreements from Bexar County; but have not had an
opportunity to review them. They are said to be similar to those
executed in the past for Schirmerville. There are some
discrepancies from what we anticipated the project to be, and the
way the CDBG Department proposes. He added that we believe that
we can resolve those discrepancies between now and the next
meeting; and would like to plan to have it on the agenda.
Right now, there is a discrepancy as relates to our own capital
recovery fee. It was our anticipation, when the project was
originally approved for participation, we applied for a grant of
$100,000. That incl uded the City furnishing labor and other
related work that would be capitalized in the amount of $131,000.
Since the awarding of the CDBG grant, the County participation
was reduced to $75,000 and that raised the City's participation
both in cash and in labor and contributed capital to a total of
$156,485 for the total project. We believe that can be
accompl ished; however the CDBG Department has decreed that the
$75,000 is required to cover not only the materials but to pay
the capital recovery and impact fees. We think we can resolve
this with the department. CDBG has written the agreement in such
a way that we make the payments, then apply to them for
reimbursements. That is not in keeping with our plans. Mr.
Sweatt added that the problem is that we dealt with political
portion to get the grant, then they turn it over to the
Bureaucracy. We feel that we have to work with staff but if we
cannot, then we will go the political route.
#6 Discussion of an ordinance amending the garage sale
ordinance.
Mr. Sweatt advised that these amendments came about to clarify
some items Council had questioned. They incl ude broadening the
definitions to include church or non-profit organizational
bazaars, addition of neighborhood garage sale wording, charitable
or non-profit organizational wording. Additional changes include
provisions for application for a neighborhood garage sale made by
;
I
/
x
J53
an individual property
provide clarification
signs.
owner wi thin the area. and
for permit cost and price of
changes to
additional
Mayor Sawyer asked that this item by placed on the next agenda as
there were no further questions.
#7 Discussion of a resolution requesting Guadalupe County
Commissioner's Court to establish voting precincts.
Mr. Sweatt said he felt the resolution was self-explanatory. The
1990 Census shows our city population to be above 10,000; and the
Election Code provides that communities over 10,000 can petition
the Commissioner's Court to re-al ign election precincts. They
are charged, under the Election Code, each March and April of odd
numbered year to determine how the election precincts are drawn.
We believe that it is appropriate to ask them to consider
redrawing the City of Schertz into one or more election precincts
as it falls in Guadalupe County. Currently, our election
precincts cover areas both inside and outside of our city limits.
We believe this will be well received by Commissioner's Court.
#8
action
execute
Company
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: He asked to place on the next
agenda a resolution authorizing the City Manager to
documents regarding the FM 3009 right of way. The Title
has requested this.
#9 ITEMS BY COUNCIL:
of FM 3009 widening?
.t1];~_, _M~u:E..b :
A.
What is the status
Mr. Sweatt said we have acquired, or the acquisition is in the
pipeline, all the right-of-way. Our utilities adjustments could
be accomplished very quickly. We are continually advised by the
Department of Highways and Public Transportation that we are
looking at a minimum of next year. He recommended setting up an
appointment with the District Engineer and then set an
appointment with the Highway Commission. This will be after the
right of way acqusition is completed.
B. What about Deerhaven drainage problem?
Mr. Sweatt said the engineer representing the developer made
contact with us; and we discussed some options and his estimates
as to the cost of running underground storm sewers. We suggested
that he set up a meeting between himself and the property owners
in that area to see if they could resolve their problems. He
assured us he was going to contact the group and set up a
meeting. We have not talked with him this week.
C. Had the City Manager checked on her street lights? He said
he had asked GVEC to look at it.
Mx~ Poternp9: A. Reminded that the VFW meeting would be the next
Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the VFW.
154
x
B. He then reported on the Humane Society meeting, referring to
the balance sheet he had distributed to
Change in Fund Balance of $1,654.65. He
of 31 January, is $2218.67; and they
purchased another $1500 CD.
Council, which showed a
said the balance now, as
said they had recent I y
The officers are President - Ruth Keller; Vice-president is Robbi
Rawls; Vice-president Barbara Weir; treasurer is Candance
Purcell; Publ ici ty is Gill ian Parker and Secretary is Debbie
Abbott.
There will be no auction this year; but a woman will have a
Tupperware party and will donate 25% of the profits to the Humane
Society. They al so talked about seminars that will be held at
the Library to cover subjects such as fleas, ticks, and skin
diseases of animals. HEB is providing free dog food and kitty
litter. They advised that t-shirts were given out with new
memberships. They got a new copier for the Animal Shelter.
The Humane Society will be meeting the second Monday of each
month at 7 p.m. at the CVADAC bUilding in Cibolo and the meetings
will be opened to everyone.
Mr. Potempa reported that the Humane Society had donated $100 to
Mr. Little for a vinyl grinder at the school. Also, they will
call Mr. Shriver because it seems the books are not in order and
he has agreed to audit the books in May.
They will have a jamboree the 25th of August and are planning a
street dance and will participate in the 4th of July Jubilee.
They are still looking for dog dip volunteers.
Mr. Sweatt announced that the annual animal shot clinics will be
held the 9th and 16th of March at the Fire Station.
Mrs. Stanhope: A. She asked what is wrong with the animal
ordinance, she thought it had been reworked.
Mr. Sweatt said there were a couple of changes recommended by the
Health Department.
B. Mrs. Stanhope said she would not be at the next Council
meeting.
Mr. Greenwald: A. The next free seminar by CVADAC will be
February 21st from 7: 00 to 8: 30 p. m. at the Library hosted by
John C. Ramsey entitled "Handling of Special Problems with Older
Persons" .
B. He mentioned the advertising telephone book that just came
out listing all cities in the area as being in Schertz.
/
x
155
C. Mr. Greenwald said he would 1 ike to see discussion at the
next workshop about what it would take to get 5 or 6 parking
spaces reserved from 6:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday and
Wednesday nights for Council and Planning & Zoning members.
#10 ITEMS BY MAYOR! Mr. SawYQr aGkQd that thQ bid GhQQtG
be standardized so they are easier to read and understand.
Mr. Sawyer announced that Mrs. Rita Sabo is in the hospital and
very sick. She has done a lot for the City.
# 11 ADJOURNMENT: There
Sawyer declared the meeting to
Mayor
ATTEST: