ccreg 05-21-1991
230
REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
MAY 21, 1991
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session, Tuesday,
May 21, 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 opening the meeting, Mayor Sawyer had the pleasant task of
expressing his, the Council's and the City I S appreciation to
Richard Lerche for the work he furnished on the re-design and
construction of the parade float. He added that Mr. Lerche's
efforts have resulted in a float that our entire community enjoys
and one in which we all may take pride.
Mayor Sawyer then led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
#1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A.
B.
Regular Meeting of 4-16-91
Special Meeting of 5-1-91
Mrs. Stanhope moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting
of April 16th and the Special Meeting of May 1, 1991. Mr.
Potempa seconded the motion, which carried with the following
vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
Mrs. Marsh had some corrections that she handed to the City
Secretary to take care of.
#2 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mr. David Twidell, stating he was
an attorney representing Jack Heinish who had been terminated by
the City, asked to address the Council in his client's behalf.
Mayor Sawyer advised Mr. Twidell that Mr. Heinish has had his
appeal under the process of the City's employee policy and the
City Charter.
Mr. Twidell said he was present to ask the Council to direct the
City Manager to reconsider his decision to terminate Mr. Heinish.
He said that Mr. Heinish was driving a police car and put it in
reverse and backed into a pole, doing slight damage and for this
he was terminated. He said that he did not feel a single
incident was sufficient reason for anyone to get fired. He went
on to say that the problem was that when the Chief of Police
look at Jack Heinish's file, he found several papers dealing with
other incidents, none of which were the faul t of Mr. Heinish,
One involved running over a larqe hunk of asphalt, another was
the loss of the front 1 icense plate. The third incident had to
I
~
231
do with a hand-held radio and Mr. Heinish said he was not at
fault on any of those items. He ended by saying that Mr. Heinish
had asked him to meet with Council to ask that they tell the City
Manager to reconsider his decision; because when a City loses a
police officer, they lose something of value. Neither of them
felt it fair that he was fired for one little fender bender,
Mayor Sawyer again told Mr. Twidell that under the Charter the
City Council cannot tell the City Manager what to do regarding
personnel. Al so, under the Personnel Manual procedures, the
young man has been given his opportunity to appeal.
Mr. Baldwin said he did not think Council should even be
discussing this.
Mayor Sawyer again advised Mr. Twidell that Council was not going
to violate our Charter and advised him to talk with the City
Attorney.
#3 SWEARING-IN CEREMONIES: Mayor
into office the following: Place 3
Stanhope: Place 4 Councilmember
Councilmember - Ken Greenwald.
Sawyer individually swore
Councilmember Barbara
Mary Marsh and Place 5
After swearing them into office, Mayor Sawyer congratulated each
and said it was so great to have a Council that is so in tune
with the citizens of the City of Schertz.
#4 PRO TEM: Mayor Sawyer then gave the oath of office of
Mayor Pro Tem to Place 1 Councilmember Joe Potempa, adding this
selection is in accordance with the policy set by Council.
#5 PROPOSAL: Consider and take action on acceptance of
proposal for publication of official notices.
Mr. Sweatt informed Council that he had talked with the City
Attorney, who continues to question the State law and he asked
that Council table this item at this time.
Mr. Greenwald ~oved to table this item until Council could
receive clarification from the City Attorney. Mr. Baldwin
seconded the motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced and read a
resolution, the caption of which follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 91-R-8
A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF CONTINUED WIDENING OF IH-35
232
Mrs. Marsh moved to approve the resol ution in support of the
continued widening of IH-35 and Mr. Potempa seconded the motion,
which carried as follows:
i-
I
i
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: Mr. Sweatt asked Council to mark
their calendars for Saturday June 29th at 8:00 a.m. for the tour
of the City. He added that staff is working on the route to be
taken and will ask Planning & Zoning Commission, Economic
Development Task Force and some staff members to tour with them
from 8:00 until about 1:30 pm.
#8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Baldwin gave an update on the
Senior Citizen Appreciation Day activities to be held at the
Parish Hall of the Good Shepherd Catholic Church on June 15th.
Mr. Greenwald mentioned there was a good bit of hail damage in
the area recently and warned the publiC about the "fly-by-night"
contractors now at work in the City. He recommended anyone that
needs work done to make sure the contractor is a licensed and
bonded reputable firm.
Hrs. Marsh said she had eight more inquiries about mosquito
control. Mr. Sweatt said we have continued to look into a
regional approach. He mentioned that staff had met with one
suppl ier that might have an al ternati ve approach. He said the
bulk of the problem is standing water on private property. He
added that he hoped the study would be complete by the next week.
#9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mayor Sawyer advised that he had the
pleasure of addressing the Schertz Volunteer Fire Department
Auxiliary at their meeting the previous night. He said they
asked a lot of questions and gave him a list of complaints, which
he turned over to the City Manager for action.
# 10 ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Mrs. Marsh,
Mr. Potempa, the meeting was adjourned at
unanimous vote of Council.
seconded by
p . m . by a
ATTEST:
/