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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
MAY 15, 1991
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, May 15, 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;
Hal Baldwin; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald.
Absent: Joe Potempa. Staff present were City Manager Kerry
Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: None
#2 Discussion of request for paving of Fawn Drive.
Mayor Sawyer said the Council had asked Mr. Sweatt to give a
synopsis of the events pertaining to this subject.
Mr. Sweatt said staff has attempted to cover the history and
background on this subject. As late as 1976, the City did
reconstruction work on Fawn Drive. He added that, on at least
two occasions, the City has expended funds on this street.
During both times, it was discussed that the street did not meet
Ci ty specifications j but the property owners did not want the
street to be widened or to cut any trees. The street was
originally constructed outside the city limits and has never been
paved over fifteen feet wide. Over the years, we have attempted
to stabilize the shoulders for drainage purposes the most
recent being this year when we expended funds to pour a cement
type sl urry on the shoulders to prevent drainage erosion, He
provided six different estimates of costs for making the various
types of repairs or renovations but none of these were
acceptable to all parties involved. The City's policy has always
been that basically we try to maintain the streets in the type of
roadway and type of surface in which it has come to the City.
Under the policy adopted in 1979, the City would pay all the
costs of the street and alley intersections, and twenty percent
of the remaining cost, with the property owners sharing eighty
percent of the remainder,
Mrs. Marsh acknowledged that this report was a very thorough
piece of work. She suggested there should be a meeting with all
residents of Fawn Drive, give them a complete briefing and then
they would have to make up their minds, as a body, as to what
they want. Make sure they understand all the options - then it
is up to them.
Mr. Baldwin explained the meeting he had in the past with the
residents of Deer Haven. He said the people on Fawn Drive wanted
an improved street and the people on Antler Drive wanted the City
to stay off their street and not do anything. The Fawn Drive
property owners felt that they are taxpayers, and have paid for
that street and did not want to pay anything else.
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After further discussion on such a meeting I Mayor Sawyer asked
the City Manager to set up a meeting as soon as possible i but
with property owners of the entire subdivision.
# 3 Discussion of rev1s1ng City Code regarding junk cars.
travel trailers and boats.
Mr. Sweatt said that in light of our current enforcement
practice, we have dealt with one issue and that is the question
of inoperative versus unlicensed vehicles. Up until quite
recentl y, we have operated on the premise that the inoperative
vehicle was one in which it was unlicensed or inspected and
therefore unable to ride on public streets, Based on some recent
action, we find that must go even further and deal with an
inoperative condition as well. We have instructed our Inspection
Department to deal with the question of inoperative, as well as
the other aspects of this.
probabl y the ordinance does need to be cleaned up i but in the
course of cleaning it up there are several other issues - such
as a recent letter from a property owner who feels that boats,
trailers and other kinds of abandoned things should be considered
in our process of requiring property owners to remove certain
objectionable items. We have asked Mr. Spain to look into this
but perhaps Council should ask for both Planning & Zoning and
staff suggestions.
Mr. Spain said that on the question of boats, that would require
an amendment to the "rubbish" ordinance as opposed to the "junked
vehicle" ordinance,
Mr. Greenwald reminded Council that P&Z would review it but they
would like some guidance.
#4 Discussion of Chamber of Commerce request for
contribution regarding sign.
Mayor Sawyer said he agreed with Mr. Sweatt's recommendation that
we do not have money to assist the Chamber with their sign like
the cities with motel/hotel taxes could.
Mr, Lindemann, our Chamber liaison, said the reason for the
request was they did not want any city to feel left out. They
realize there are only two cities in the region with the
hotel/motel tax money, and those were the primary targets. He
added that they had no expectations other than from the two
cities.
Mayor Sawyer took a concensus of Council, who agreed to not
participate.
#5 Discussion of Mayor Pro Tern Selection.
A
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Mayor Sawyer reminded Council that under the new pol icy,
Potempa will be the Mayor Pro Tem for the next six months.
Mr.
#6 Discussion of Senior Citizen Appreciation Day.
Mr. Baldwin suggested having the Senior Citizen Appreciation on
June 15th, providing he would be able to secure the Parish Hall
and that the Knights of Columbus would take care of the bingo
part of the program.
Council agreed with this date and schedule.
#7
notices.
Discussion of proposals for publication of official
Mayor Sawyer acknowledged Mr. Lewis F. Fisher of the Recorder-
Times and Mr. Bill Lindemann of the Herald Newspaper Group.
Mr. Sweatt called attention to a memo he had circulated in which
the City Attorney confirms there is
concerning his wife working for one of
proposal. He added that in
misunderstanding, he had submitted
without a recommendation from him.
no conflict of interest
the papers who submitted a
order to preclude any
copies of the proposals
Mrs. Marsh said her concern is that, even though the proposals
are for publication of legal notices, in her opinion the official
newspaper for the city should give coverage of city events; and
the Herald gives very limited coverages for our city. Mrs. Marsh
indicated she had talked with representatives of the papers about
having a reporter attend the workshops, because that is where the
business gets done. That would el iminate the reporters from
having to get a briefing from the City Manager on the items at
the regular meetings.
Mr. Baldwin said he understood what Mrs. Marsh was saying;
however, both of these papers are low staffed and operate on a
shoestr ing. He added that if we want things publ ished, it will
be up to us to produce the copy and pictures. He did not feel
one paper could give us any better coverage than the other. He
ended by saying he felt there is a limit as to what Council can
expect.
Mr. Greenwald advised that he was upset with no coverage of the
Opening Day of Buffalo Valley Youth Association activities
involving our youth. He said that for approximately three years
the association wrote up new items and submitted them and less
that ten percent were published.
MR. POTEMPA ARRIVED AT 7:43 PM.
Mr. Lindemann advised that the amount of news coverage was in
proportion to the amount of advertising - you have to maintain a
balance in order to operate. He said he did not feel there was
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any conscious effort on their part to give Universal City more
coverage than other cities. He said they do the best they can
with limited staff. He said he would like to be able to have a
representative at each meeting; but it would have to be the same
person for each since it would involve only one article, He said
that if the Council wanted coverage of an event, all they had to
do was let him know.
Mr, Fisher said he echoed what Mr. Lindemann had to say; adding
that his paper stood ready to help in any way they could.
Mayor Sawyer received concensus of Council that they would be
ready to act on this item at the next meeting.
#8 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Sawyer called an executive
session under Article 6252-17 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes.
Section 2 (e) to discuss Garden Ridge annexation, drainage and
other pending litigation at 7:43 pm.
The workshop was reconvened at 8:43 pm.
# 9 Cons ider and take action, if any, on above executive
session item.
Mayor Sawyer advised there was no reason to take any action after
the discussions listed above,
#10
Commerce
Club.
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. He announced the Chamber of
Mixer for May 31st at 5:00 pm at Northcliffe Country
B. On May 22nd from 8:30 - 4:30 pm AACOG will sponsor a workshop
for newly elected officials.
C, He did not receive it in time to place on the agenda; but he
had a sample resolution from the Greater Austin-San Antonio
Corridor Council. The resolution is in support of continuing the
widening of IH-35. He added that if Council had no objection, he
would place this resolution on the next action agenda.
D. Called attention to the individually received invitations to
the Appreciation Night for Bob Lee.
#11 ITEMS BY COUNCIL:
Sweatt had checked with
mosquitoes,
MrE_~_M~r~b - A. She asked if Mr.
Randolph Air Force Base regarding
Mr. Sweatt said he had and they have no plans for spraying at
this time. He said he had talked with other City Managers in the
area and they discussed aerial spraying.
B. Asked if Mr. Sweatt had received a price for roofing the runs
for the new animal shelter.
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Mr. Sweatt advised it would only add a couple thousand dollars to
the facility costs.
C. She asked when Council could expect the park reservation
prices.
Mr. Sweatt advised that he should have the information for the
next workshop.
D. She mentioned that there would be a notice on the VFW
bulletin board and Council should sign up as to whether they
would be walking or riding in the July 4th parade.
Mr. Potempa - A. He advised that he was very impressed with the
Police Department Ceremonies, adding that Chief Agee and his
staff did a tremendous job and the Honor Guard looked
outstanding.
B, He asked that someone check out 101 Robert Stevens: but the
Mayor said it had been checked and there was no violation.
C. Mr. Potempa said he did not go to the Humane Society meeting
as he was finding it hard to support them.
Mr. Sweatt said our arrangement with them is that they furnish
the material for the shots when there is an adoption, we
collect the money and rebate their share back to them. They buy
at a bulk rate and we charge at retail rate. He said it seems
they are getting away from the intent of their organization. He
was really at a loss as to what is going on and suggested that,
until they come on line, we cease supporting them.
Mrs. Stanhope - A. She said that prior to the election, several
people had asked about recycling.
Mr. Sweatt said it has not been dropped. When we went out for
new solid waste contract bids, we asked them to bid on recycling
and they did and it may be time to review those costs again.
Converse tried the one-day garbage and one-day recycling and the
people did not 1 ike it, so they are going back to twice week
pick-up.
Mrs. Stanhope asked that something on this be put in the
newsletter.
B. She reported that the Housing Authority generator is portable
but very huge. Mr. Sweatt said the problem would be that when we
would need it, they would need it also. We need a new generator.
Mrs. Stanhope said the Housing Authority is having some vandalism
problems and the police are on top of it. She reported the Arts
and Craft building is in the process of being completed, they are
replacing the roof and they are 100% occupied. She said they are
looking at a concrete fence to replace the damaged one and they
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reall y appreciate how the City went down and helped with their
drainage.
t-fr. Baldwin - A. Expressed concern about the report saying the
FM 3009 project would not likely be scheduled until 1996. He
then asked about the three remaining tracts the City needs to
acquire.
Mr. Sweatt said all three are tied up in various types of
litigation but we feel they can be resolved shortly. On one we
have notified them that if it cannot be resolved in thirty days,
then we will go to condemnation.
B. Concerning Senior Citizen Appreciation Day, he suggested
dividing up the list of business for Council members to solicit
prizes,
Mr. Greenwald - A. He mentioned that the new gate at Randolph
Air Force Base is just for construction purposes. He added that
once the runway is completed, it will accommodate all sizes of
airplanes.
B. He attended the CVADAC meeting and one thing that was brought
up was that the City is contracting with them for training on the
drug abuse program. Tex Farnsworth said he would suggest the
same thing for Cibolo.
C. Planning & Zoning are getting ready to put out another survey
with a lot of yes and no type questions.
# 12 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Mr. Gary Geyer wants to talk to
Council about the Universal City Festival and has asked to come
to the next workshop.
B. He suggested requesting the City Manager to put some
favorable comments in the Police Chief's personnel file regarding
the outstanding Police Memorial Ceremony. They were very
professional.
# 13 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Mayor
Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned at 9:24 pm.
ATTEST: