ccswks 07-31-1991
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
JULY 3 1, 199 1
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Tuesday, July 31, 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 Potempai Hal Baldwin; Barbara Stanhope; Mary
Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry
R. Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
#1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: Mr. Bill Neller first called
attention to the sign on his truck requesting everyone to vote.
He said he had put flags at each absentee voting place and would
have them at the voting places on election day.
He also said that the flags would be placed on Main Street on
August 15th honoring World War II Veterans. Mr. Neller
expressed concern about the faded yellow ribbons that are still
up on Main Street and FM 78.
Mr. Potempa said the Business Club had discussed this and the
ribbons would be taken down.
Mr. Neller then asked why the City of Schertz had three
full-time animal control officers? He felt this was unnecessary
as he had experience in working at shelters in the past. Also a
concern of his was the fact that there is no advertising of our
shelter, when Live Oak, Home For the Homeless and Converse all
advertise their shelter adoptions. Another complaint was that
the shelter is not open on Sunday, he said people do come out on
Sunday to adopt animals.
Mr. Sweatt advised that first, we do not have three animal
control officers and that we do advertise at times but maybe
just not this time. As for being open on Sunday, Mr. Sweatt
said we just have not had the personnel to keep the shelter open
on Sunday. We try to keep the shelter open the other days and
providing on-call time - it is just a matter of allocating
resources.
Mayor Sawyer added that we do have animal control problems in
Schertz with about twenty-three square miles to take care of;but
will look into his suggestions.
Colonel Ted Guy said he has always been very active in the
POW/MIA business and a year ago last November he was called out
to Randolph because they knew he backed their position that
everybody was dead in Southeast Asia - that nobody else is
coming home. He said that is what he has told 200 or 300
families around the country. However, he met a young lady whose
husband is a MIA and she asked him to just look at his file.
After going through some of the file, he said wives were still
getting information as late as 1987. Colonel Guy then mentioned
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several books he had read on this subject after which he got in
touch with Senator Helms in Washington and got a copy of his
report on MIAs. Two weeks ago Colonel Guy went to Washington
for seminars. Now he wanted to ask the Mayor and Council if
they would adopt a resolution to bring all people home. The
State of Texas has adopted a resolution and the State of
Minnesota has and only one city has and that is in Florida and
they have all been sent to Congress. He asked that Schertz
adopt a resolution and get copies out to all our area cities and
legislators. Colonel Guy said he is now totally convinced we
have people alive over there. He said, of course, he is
concerned about the live peoplej but also about how the
American people have been treated with one lie after another.
He ended by saying that unless the people of the United States
say something about this, we will not get anything done.
Mayor Sawyer said he felt we all support Colonel Guy'S position
and will be happy to sign a resolution to that effect.
Colonel Guy said it will be good for our beautiful city to be a
stepping stone for the State of Texas. He had given Mrs. Marsh
a copy of the State's resolution and said he would be happy to
help draft the City's if wanted.
Mayor Sawyer said this will be on the next agenda.
#2 Discussion of final boundary agreement with the City of
Garden Ridge.
Mr. Sweatt recalled that from time to time Council has
discussed this dispute with Garden Ridge on extraterritorial
jurisdiction. He added that as a result of a number of
meetings, the boundary map and agreement has been reached. He
said this basically places within Garden Ridge's jurisdiction
all that territory known as Gifford Hill, and it recognizes our
annexation out along the MKT railroad. He said we believe this
will solve the conflict between the two cities.
Mr. Sweatt then
areas in question.
will resolve the
boundaries.
pOinted out on the map the location of
He added that the bottom line is that
current law suit and establish
the
this
these
Mrs. Marsh added that it will offer protection for the future.
Mr. Sweatt then proposed that this item be considered by
Council on August 6th and by the Garden Ridge Council at their
next meeting.
Council agreed they would be ready to act on this at the next
meeting.
#3
K.W.
Zoning
on the
Discussion of BOA hearing to receive input on a request from
Webster, 3917 Davenport for Special Exception to the
Ordinance to allow him to locate a storaGe shed partially
utility easements on the south side of his lot.
/
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Mr. Greenwald said this will be placed on two easements but it
is about the only place that it can be put. Our building
official has worked with the owner, GVEC and Paragon Cable and
decided this is where it would be least obtrusive. Mr.
Greenwald added that this is the same company - Alco Creative
Builders who did the same thing before without getting a
permit.
Mr. Sweatt advised that we are pursuing this and the next time
we will pull the company's bond. It is partly the owner's fault
for not asking for a permit but this company has a bad
reputation right now. We had the same trouble with a similar
company and pulled their bond. They recently have come back in
on the weekends doing work under another name.
#4 Discussion of Official Notice Publication designation.
Mr. Sweatt reminded Council that this has been discussed
several times and they have heard from the attorney the
definition of an official newspaper. We have heard several
different plans by local papers. Most recently, one paper has
identified with the Commercial Recorder as their parent
newspaper and this meets the requirements. They suggest running
our legal notices in that paper and they will put it in the
local paper at no additional charge. Both local papers meet the
guidelines of the legal definition. Mr. Sweatt said he is
recommending the Northside Times for a period of six months,
with the stipulation that the Recorder-Times run the same notice
at no additional charge.
Mr. Potempa asked the number of Help Wanted, Tax notices and
legal notices we run per year. Mr. Sweatt said a minimum of
ten Help Wanted, usual only one tax notice and at least one
hundred legal notices.
Mrs. Marsh said she still feels a lot depends on the support
each gives our city.
Mrs. Stanhope said the last survey taken revealed that about
91% of the citizens read the Herald and 81% read the Recorder.
Mr. Sweatt added that regardless of Council choice, that we
designate the Seguin Gazette-Enterprise as an alternate.
Mr. Bill Lindemann, editor of the Herald, addressed Council
regarding the merits of his paper. He felt the rates would even
out with both papers. He advised that this year the City spent
$1300 on various types of notices. He said the second-class
paper is a non-issue since both meet that requirement. He added
that there would be no need to designate an alternate because
the Commercial Recorder is a daily paper, which could meet any
deadline. In looking at the bids, he advised that his paper
uses 100% recycled paper. He added that the Recorder's legal
notices appear in the front of their paper, which makes it hard
to find; whereas, their's are run in the classified section so
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272
that everyone always knows where to find them.
say that they wanted to continue being the City's
and they have the financial stability necessary.
local and committed to the area.
He went on to
official paper
The owner is
Lewis Fisher of the Recorder-Times advised that his paper had
been in business for almost twenty years and have been a
competing newspaper in the Randolph area all that time. He said
they publish a lot of legal notices from area cities and their
circulation has increased since they submitted their bid. He
said they have been as consistent as they know how to be and
would appreciate Council's consideration very much.
Mayor Sawyer then asked if Council would be ready to vote on
this at the next meeting and received an affirmative reply.
#5 Discussion of Quit Claim Deed for portion of Williams Street
to the SCUC Independent School District.
Mr. Sweatt related that this has been pending for some time.
The Council had expressed their willingness to make this
conveyance about one year ago. The lawyers have talked together
and our attorney recommends the form presented as being the
best. He added that it is not necessary to say that we have no
interest - just that if we do, we will convey it.
#6 Discussion of budget workshops and tour schedules.
Mr. Sweatt advised that in accordance with the Charter, he had
filed today with the City Secretary the proposed budget for
fiscal year 1991-92. The dates for budget workshops are August
14th, 20th, 28th and September 3rd and 11th, if necessary. He
suggested we set these dates as workshops at the conclusion of
the regular or special meetings. He suggested tours as follows:
on August 14th, meet at 6:00 o'clock and tour the municipal
offices and police department. On August 20th, again meeting at
6:00 pm, tour the library, fire and SAFES departments; then on
August 28th tour the Water/Waste Water, Street/Parks and Animal
Control. Meeting one hour earlier for the tours will give time
for that and to get back to the meeting at the regular hour of
7:00 pm.
Some trigger dates to keep in mind are: September 10th - hold
public hearing on tax rate (the only item on the agenda); on
September 17th we anticipate holding the budget public hearino
and at the same meeting we would present the ordinances to pass
the budget and tax rate.
We will need to publish the effective tax rate in August on
either the 7th or 14th and the publication of the tax rate will
appear in the papers on September 11th.
Mrs. Marsh asked if the City Manager had discussed the problem
of the assessed valuation with Pat Fox at the Appraisal
District. Mr. Sweatt said only in general terms. He added that
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we have selected 50% of those amounts in protest in our
calculations for the budget.
Mayor Sawyer said there are about $16,000,000 in protest and
this will really make the job of cominq up with budqet fiqures
extremely difficult.
Mr. Baldwin asked the amount of our current tax rate as it
relates to the proposed tax rate. Mr. Sweatt said our current
rate is 36.89 cents, the effective tax rate would be about 38.89
cents and we are proposing a tax rate of 40.89 cents, which is
under the rollback and above the three percent.
Mr. Sweatt advised that no action is necessary if the dates
given meet Council's approval.
Mr. Potempa asked if Council could have all the backup material
for each line item being suggested.
Mr. Baldwin suggested, since that would be an extremely large
packet, that Mr. Potempa go by the City Manager's office and
look at all the backup sheets.
Mrs. Marsh said she felt it went really well last year. Anyone
having questions can bring them up and Mr. Sweatt can find the
answers in his packets.
#7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. Referred to the approved drug
program for city employees, saying we have an agreement with
CVADAC to help us convey to our employees all about drugs and
offering counseling. On August 6th, we will have three sessions
for employees so that all our employees can attend one of the
sessions. At the same time, PacificCare will hold a Health Fair
clinic. Then on August 7th, we will have the training for
supervisors. Council members are invited to attend any or all
of these sessions. We believe this to be a good program for our
employees.
B. On the next action agenda, we would like to have
designating Tom Dovey as the person to calculate our
tax rate. This appointment has to be done by law.
an item
effective
C. He presented the Goals as selected during the Tour
recently, saying council needs to prioritize the items
ready for the August 10th meeting.
held
to be
Mrs. Marsh gave her list of priorities and then the Mayor gave
his list.
Council discussed this at length, with Mr. Sweatt saying the
purpose of this exercise is to decide where the City wants to go
- where do we want our visions to lead.
Mrs. Marsh suggested that, since two Councilmembers did not
attend the tour meeting, everyone should study the items between
this date and the next meeting so that Council can arrive at a
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prioritized list. Each item to be listed on the board and
members vote on the priority.
#8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh - A. She mentioned that she
had received a message that several years ago there was a
Trailways bus that stopped in Schertz and the person wanted to
know why we could not contact Greyhound to do this now.
B. Reported on the VFW District 5 meetinq, sayinq it was a very
good meeting where they went over their aims and goals for the
year.
C. She then reported on the Schertz Business Club meetinq held
on the 23rd of July. The Treasurer's report gave the total as
$4394.64. Mr. Dan Grogan, Executive Director of the Chamber
gave a report on Chamber activities. Among other items he did
say they are workinq very closely with the race track people.
Mr. Sweatt gave the City Hall report mentioninq that the budqet
workshops would beqin on the 14th of Auqust and invited everyone
to attend. Mr. Baldwin qave a very qood briefinq on the Auqust
10th election and how it would effect home owners and
businesses. Under new business, they received a letter of
thanks from the Samuel Clemens Hiqh School Project Graduation;
they have started planning for next year's 4th of July - will be
havinq the meetinq to determine the theme early in Auqust. They
are working on the video of the 4th of July now. They will be
takinq down the faded yellow ribbons from Main Street and FM 78.
They brouqht up about the vacant buildinqs on FM 78 and the hiqh
weeds, etc..
Mr. PotemDa: A. Asked when the hole in the street across from
the Municipal offices would be repaired. Mr. Sweatt said the
contractor would be brinqing the street back up to qrade and is
working on that now.
B. He asked if our inspectors are checkinq on the people that
are doing the reroofinq jobs in town. He has been advised that
some of the jobs are real shoddy and some firms are not qetting
permits.
Mr. Sweatt said our inspectors are trying to check with all of
these and we have asked that owners notify us when the job is
complete.
Mr. Baldwin said
10th election
absentee so far.
issues also.
that there is a lot of interest in the Auqust
they have had over one hundred people vote
There is still a lot of confusion over the
Mr. Greenwald mentioned an article in the latest TML magazine
dealinq with EPA, rules and regulations, storm water run off
etc., addinq that it is an extremely interestinq article.
#9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Mentioned receivinq the quarterly check
from paraqon Cable, sayinq they are now sendinq the checks to
the Mayors to make the people aware of how much
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money they put back into the communities.
B. He said
vacant homes
top of this.
that as he walks around town, he sees a lot
with high grass - our inspectors need to keep
of
on
C. Cracks
curbing and
Parkway.
are getting really big on East Live Oak
black top are separating at the curve on
and the
Schertz
Mr. Baldwin asked if we could get an update from the Highway
Department on the construction project on 1-35, especially
around Schertz Parkway.
City
There being no further business to come before
Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned at
#10 ADJOURNMENT:
Council, Mayor
8:48 pm.
ATTEST:
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