ccreg 04-02-1991
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REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
APRIL 2, 1991
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session, Tuesday,
April 2, 1991 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; Mary Marsh and Ken
Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City
Secretary June Krause.
After welcoming everyone to the meeting, Mayor Sawyer asked that
they join him in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Sawyer read a proclamation and presented it to Mr. Larry
Jones proclaiming the month of April as "Child Abuse Prevention
Month" .
#1 PUBLIC HEARING: Held jointly with the Planning & Zoning
Commission members to receive citizen input on amending the
Zoning Ordinance regarding political signs.
Mr. Bob Andrews, Chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission,
cited the reason for the public hearing regarding political signs
in our over lay districts. He advised that after this hearing
there would be no further input from citizens received by either
the Councilor the Commission. The P&Z will then have ten days
in which to make a recommendation to Council.
Mrs. Marsh asked that Mr. Andrews explain the difference between
the old and the new ordinance.
Mr. Andrews said in the old ordinance, there were no pol i tical
signs authorized other than on weekends with permission. The new
ordinance will allow political signs for 120 days prior to an
election on private property with permission of the owner of the
property.
Mr. George Mower of 501 Brooks Avenue asked if a political sign
was restricted to a certain district or for all of the City of
Schertz.
Mr. Andrews explained that what was being considered was the
overlay districts on Schertz Parkway and Jack Hays Boulevard,
where there are more restrictions than other areas of the City.
There being no further citizens wishing to speak, the Mayor and
Chairman Andrews closed the public hearing at 7:06 pm.
Mayor Sawyer declared a short recess at this time.
He then called the regular session back into session at 7:08 pm.
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#2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A. Special Meeting of 3-13-91
B. Regular Meeting of 3-19-91
Mrs. Marsh moved to approve the minutes of the Special Meeting of
March 13th and the Regular Meeting of March 19th, 1991. Mrs.
Stanhope seconded the motion.
Mr. Baldwin asked that the date in the last sentence of Item #10
C. be corrected to read "April 11, 1991".
Mayor Sawyer then asked for a vote on the motion, which carried
as follows:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#3 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mrs. Vonada reserved time for
item #7.
#4 HEARING: Mr. George Mower requested a hearing before
the Council relating to the provisions of City of Schertz
ordinances/codes pertaining to miscellaneous offenses, Article
III, Division 2 Motor Vehicles (junked car ordinance).
Mr. Mower asked that the following be made a part of the minutes:
"April 2, 1991
SCHERTZ CITY COUNCIL
GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
My name is George Mower, representing my wife, Dora. I hope that
I will not offend anyone by reading my presentation to the
Council. I do this because I have been told by members of the
City Administration that my verbal skills are not all they should
be and I ask that a copy, which is handed to your secretary, be
made a part of the minutes of the meeting in its entirety. We
enjoy very much spending our winters in Schertz. And now that
spring is here we need to prepare to go home for the summer -- to
Nevada.
In February our winter home here was burglarized. And when we
returned we found a citation from the City of Schertz describing
our pickup as "Junk and a Nuisance" according to your City
ordinance. Now this pickup runs perfectl y well, does not have
one part missing, and I am told that if we would build a privacy
fence to hide the pickup it would be all right. Of course, this
pr i vacy fence would make it easier for burglars to enter our
house again. On the other hand we have been told that if we got
a license current for the pickup, which we do not intend to use
until next year, which would incl ude a cost of approximatel y
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$300.00 when you consider the insurance and other costs involved,
this same pickup would be perfectly acceptable according to your
ordinance no longer "junk and nuisance" sitting in the same place
in full view.
Now this does not make sense to us. Especially when we drove
around the City and took pictures of the City storing vehicles in
plain sight and not properly licensed. We took pictures of them
and turned them over to the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning
Commission on March 12, 1991, who seemed to hand the pictures
over to Mr. Simonson, Assistant City Manager, who asked us for
the exact location of the pictures and the date, which was March
12, 1991. Now obviously the City has not been able to live up to
its own ordinance, which by the way uses as its def ini tion as
"Junked/nuisance" motor vehicles the State law #6701d-l1 which
the ordinance of the City misquotes to change the meaning of the
law around, still using the label of the state law. Which by the
way made it perfectly legal for us to park our pickup where we
have prior to the City's creation of the ordinance #89-H-ll.
Now what we respectfully request is that the City rescind this
ordinance and let the State law govern which has been working
successfully for the State of Texas since 1929. We consider that
for the City to prosecute under this ordinance would be a
violation of our property rights and therefore our civil rights.
Finally, inasmuch as the pickup was legally parked on our
property and still is according to State law prior to the
enactment of the City ordinance we felt we have continuing rights
under a "Grandfather clause".
Respectfully
/s/ George and Dora Mower
501 Brooks Avenue
Schertz, Texas 78154"
Mr. Sweatt said that, as we have attempted to discuss with Mr.
Mower, the Inspection Department has notified Mr. Mower that the
vehicle described by Mr. Mower has vehicle license that expired
in 1989. After the hearing by the Planning & Zoning Commission,
we attempted to notify Mr. Mower that the City's presumption of a
junk and abandoned vehicle is one in which the motor vehicle
license and the inspection sticker are invalid and it appears to
be inoperable. If operation could have been demonstrated rather
than just starting of the engine, then we would have been happy
to ask the City Council to cancel the hearing. However, he had
not had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Mower.
Mr. Sweatt added that the only city vehicles he was aware of that
had no license plates is one of the police vehicles that was
wai ting for auction. We have to remove the plates on these
vehicles and send them back to Austin. The other vehicles in the
pictures were pol ice units who had lost front plates and that
have since been replaced.
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Mr. Baldwin asked Mr. Mower what his intention was on the pickup
truck and camper? Has it not moved since 19897
Mr. Mower said the license ran out in February of 1990 and every
couple of weeks he moves the vehicle so that the lawn does not
grow up under it. He said he had asked the Planning Commission
to have Leonard Truitt at the meeting because he had witnessed
the pickup on the move.
Mr. Sweatt said he did make an offer to Mr. Mower that if we can
prove that it is in an operative condition and can be driven on
his property, then we will drop the hearing. Mr. Mower declined
to talk with Mr. Sweatt.
Mr. Mower said he would be glad to demonstrate that the vehicle
will run and can be moved if someone would make an appointment
with him.
Mr. Sweatt said he would call Mr. Mower the next day and make the
appointment and then report back to the Council.
#5 APPOINTMENT: Consider and take action on appointing Mr.
Charles McDonald as Marketing Team Chairman of the Economic
Development Task Force.
Mayor Sawyer said Mr. McDonald is the Manager of Wal-Mart in
Universal City and is an outstanding volunteer and outstanding
business man.
Mr. Potempa moveg to appoint Mr. McDonald as Marketing Team
Chairman of the Economic Development Task Force. Mrs. Stanhope
seconded the motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced a resol ution and
read the caption as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 91-R-6
A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, APPROVING PARTICIPATION
IN TELEPHONE FRANCHISE STEERING COMMITTEE;
AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Mr. Greenwald IDQved to approve the resolution to participate in
the Telephone Franchise Steering Committee. Mrs. Marsh seconded
the motion.
Mr. Sweatt said this is an agreement to participate in a Texas
Municipal League sponsored Steering Committee to investigate
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Mr. Baldwin asked Mr. Mower what his intention was on the pickup
truck and camper? Has it not moved since 1989?
Mr. Mower said the license ran out in February of 1990 and every
couple of weeks he moves the vehicle so that the lawn does not
grow up under it. He said he had asked the Planning Commission
to have Leonard Truitt at the meeting because he had witnessed
the pickup on the move.
Mr. Sweatt said he did make an offer to Mr. Mower that if we can
prove that it is in an operative condition and can be driven on
his property, then we will drop the hearing. Mr. Mower declined
to talk with Mr. Sweatt.
Mr. Mower said he would be glad to demonstrate that the vehicle
will run and can be moved if someone would make an appointment
with him.
Mr. Sweatt said he would call Mr. Mower the next day and make the
appointment and then report back to the Council.
#5 APPOINTMENT: Consider and take action on appointing Mr.
Charles McDonald as Marketing Team Chairman of the Economic
Development Task Force.
Mayor Sawyer said Mr. McDonald is the Manager of Wal-Mart in
Universal City and is an outstanding volunteer and outstanding
business man.
Mr. Potempa moveg to appoint Mr. McDonald as Marketing Team
Chairman of the Economic Development Task Force. Mrs. Stanhope
seconded the motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced a resolution and
read the caption as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 91-R-6
A RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, APPROVING PARTICIPATION
IN TELEPHONE FRANCHISE STEERING COMMITTEE;
AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Mr. Greenwald moved to approve the resolution to participate in
the Telephone Franchise Steering Committee. Mrs. Marsh seconded
the motion.
Mr. Sweatt said this is an agreement to participate in a Texas
Municipal League sponsored Steering Committee to investigate
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certain State-wide practices by Southwestern Bell in its
franchising with a number of different cities throughout the
State of Texas. The purpose of this committee is to provide a
model ordinance, obtaining legal and audit counsel and to provide
other kinds of assistance to cities in connection with franchise
adoption.
Mayor Sawyer then called for a vote on the motion, which carried
with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald
NAYS: None
#7 SAFES: Consider and take action on second quarter 1990
SAFES write-offs.
As Mrs. Vonada had requested time for this item, Mayor Sawyer
called her forward at this time.
Mrs. Vonada of 121 Henry Ford Drive in Schertz. She said she was
against all write-offs, they do not cancel debts. She said she
did understand that they would still try to be collected. She
said our city is the one writing these off and it looks extremely
bad for our city. These write-offs are going to cost our
citizens tax increases; and will cost the citizens of every city,
that has these services, a tax increase. She asked if all these
write-offs were carried at the end of the year, would SAFES come
out even carrying its own weight?
Mr. Sweatt advised that this did not have anything to do with
deficits - has nothing to do with carrying its own weight. It is
an accounting process. It will just take these off the current
billing.
Mrs. Vonada said these are legal debts and she felt the Council
should find some legal means of collecting them. She said last
year the write-offs were over $26,000 and so far this year it is
a little over $12,000 and this is only the second quarter.
Mr. Baldwin said he did not know what el se you could do with
these debts. It al so makes him angry, especial I y when he sees
some of the names on the list; but he was just not sure what you
do with bills, as long as the proper procedures have been
followed to collect them. You reach a point where you are
spending more money for them, even if you do collect them. He
asked Mrs. Vonada is she had some idea how they could be
collected.
Mrs. Vonada said she did not have an answer but would like to
check around to other small cities to see what they do.
Mrs. Marsh asked what is our percentage of collection. Mr.
Sweatt said it is a very low percentage of non-collected bills.
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Mr. Leon Davis said his objections are the same as Mrs. Vonada.
He said it was not just a case of writing these debts off because
an individual was dead or even alive. He fel t the debts are
collectible even without going through an attorney. He offered
to go to the residences and try to collect.
Mr. Sweatt said that would be up to SAFES as to whether he be
given the list to try to collect personally. He said we have
sent at least three letters and one phone call to try to collect
these bills. He suggested Mr. Davis contact SAFES.
Mrs. Marsh said for two years she has voiced her very strong
objections to writing these off. She felt there were more things
that could be done to try to collect these even though great
efforts had been made. She said she fel t we should go with a
letter from the attorney because that had not been done.
Mr. Sweatt said his one conversation with SAFES was that they did
prefer not to use the attorney letter because of their good will
and their efforts in fund raising and other activities.
There followed much conversation on this subject.
Mr. Baldwin moved to write these bills off for the second quarter
1990. Mr. Greenwald seconded the motion, which carried with the
following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Baldwin, Stanhope and Greenwald
NAYS: Councilmembers Potempa and Marsh
#8 ORDINANCE: Consider and take action on final reading of
an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to
political signs.
Mr. Sweatt explained that a recommendation from Planning & Zoning
members had been received and they recommend approval of the
changes to the Zoning Ordinance. This ordinance has been
considered and approved on first reading.
Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and read the caption as
follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 91-S-5
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, AMENDING THE ZONING
ORDINANCE, NO. 87-S-1, ARTICLE XX, OVERLAY
DISTRICTS, SECTION 2, SPECIAL OVERLAY
DISTRICT JACK HAYS BOULEVARD AND SECTION 4,
SPECIAL OVERLAY DISTRICT SCHERTZ PARKWAY;
AND PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE.
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Mr, Greenwald moveg to approve the final reading of an ordinance
amending the Zoning Ordinance pertaining to political signs.
Mrs. Stanhope seconded the motion, which carried as followed:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
AYES: None
#9 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: On April 20th the Baptist
Memorial Hospital System will be sponsoring its Fiesta Wildflower
Bicycle Tour to begin at Rolling Oaks Mall.
#10 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Potempa reported the street is
collapsing in the 700 and 800 blocks of Aviation and on Mitchell.
Mrs. Stanhope announced the Library Book Sale for the 5th, 6th
and 7th of April.
Mrs. Marsh reported on the 4th of Jul y Jubilee, saying this
year's will be bigger and better than ever. There will be float
pr izes; a Schertz Sweetheart contest, where organizations and
businesses can sponsor a contestant; the flag raising ceremony
will be a full ceremony with band and speakers - the main speaker
will be Schertz' own Colonel Retired Air Force Ted Guy, who is a
Vietnam POW. This year's theme is "Stand up for Freedom". She
added that we are desperate to learn the name and address of
everyone who served in any way in Desert Storm.
Mr. Greenwald: A. Invited everyone to the BVYA Opening Day
Ceremonies Saturday at 9:00 a.m., adding that they have over 400
children enrolled with 38 teams.
B. He requested that at the next workshop, Council discuss the
purchase of a camera for Council use.
# 11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mr. Sawyer announced the Schertz
Elementary School "Fun with Rhythm Part IX" ninth annual
physical education program at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 9th in the
Samuel Clemens High School gym.
#12 ADJOURNMENT: Mr.
adjourned at 8:02 pm, with Mr.
which carried unanimously.
Potempa mov~g the
Baldwin seconding
meeting be
the motion,
ATTEST: