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ccswks 09-13-1989 1 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 13, 1989 The Schertz city Council convened in Special Session, Wednesday, september 13, 1989, 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; Earl Hartzogj Hal Baldwini Barbara Stanhopei Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry R. Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause. #1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Mr. Bill Neller, affiliated with the American Legion Post, read a statement which said "Let service to the community, state and nation be ever the main object of the American Legion and its members". He said their members feel they are obligated to serve their community in any manner in which they can. They have made available the flag displays on Main Street and now have another project. He had 106 Chr istmas decorations he had made to be used wherever in the city. He also showed a small plastic tree that he had decorated and he suggested there are bed-ridden people in the city who would like to have one of these on loan during the season. He asked if Council knew of anyone that would be interested in having one of these small trees to help bring Christmas to their homes, just let him know. He said these things are examples of things that he would like to do for the city. B. Mr. Jim Shriver, as Chairman of the Citizen Leadership Panel, passed out their final report to Council. Mr. Sweatt said this was made a part of the five-year plan. Mr. Shriver, as President of the Schertz Business Club, said that Mr. Baldwin had brought up the possibility of the Business Club working with the City on a float. He said if the City wants to do this, they would like to know so that they could earmark the funds for this. Mr. Sweatt said some money is set aside in the next budget with the view of funding a float. He said he has a staff committee working on this now. He said it is our feeling that we would probably not unveil it until the 4th of July. Mr. Sweatt said yes, we definitely do want the Business Club to participate. He said Mr. Simonson is chairing a committee for Christmas decorations this year and he would be getting Mr. Neller to help on that also. C. Michelle Tereletsky said the storage Shelter was cleaned up and looks wonderful. some manpower on Friday to unload some shelter. shed at the Animal She asked to borrow kitty litter at the Mrs. Tereletsky said she would like permission to advertise that the month of october is "Adopt a Dog Month". She advised that they have kits on this at the shelter. 2 She also showed some very professional little dog house boxes, made by Jim Purcell, in which to collect donations. #2 ORDIIIAlfCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and read the caption as follows: ORDINANCE NO. 89-T-26 AN ORDINANCE LEVYING AND ASSESSING ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, FOR THE YEAR 1989 i PROVIDING THE BASIS OF ASSESSMENT OF 100% APPRAISED VALUE AND PROVIDING FOR THE COLLECTION THEREOF AT THE RATE OF $0.3183 ON THE ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR ($100.00) ASSESSED VALUATION AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Mr. Greenwald moved to approve this ordinance adopting the tax rate for 1989 as an emergency measure. Mr. Baldwin seconded the motion. Mr. Sweatt showed a couple of graphics, the first was a comparison of tax rates of area cities. The charts gave the comparisons for Converse, Cibolo, Selma, Schertz, Live Oak San Antonio, Universal City and Windcrest. This shows Schertz's rate of .3183 is very comparable with the area cities. The next chart showed the net effect of the proposed tax rate on different appraised valuations. One other chart showed the assessed values from 1982 through 1989, another showed the current tax collected as compared to the tax rate itself. Mr. Hartzog mentioned that at the budget discussions, it was said that since 1986 the city has spent its reserves. He said we have gotten to the point in several departments, noticeably the police and fire departments, where we have to replace vehicles and equipment. He said that this year we have no choice but to raise taxes because the City is out of reserve funds. Whether it was a mistake to spend those reserves or not is a decision of the past and should be buried and this year Council should proceed on with what has to be done. I I !" Mrs. Marsh said she agreed except it sounded strange that we have to raise taxes because we do not have a reserve and she said she would not like to leave the idea in anyone I s mind that it is appropriate to spend the reserve over and above what is budgeted. Mayor Sawyer then called for a vote and the motion carried with the following vote: AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and Greenwald. NAYS: None ) /" oJ "JI Mr. Hartzog asked if we are faced with a roll back election, what is the time frame. Mr. Sweatt said most of that is governed by the Uniform Tax Legislation. He said there is about a gO-day period in which certain actions can take place. And of course one of the four authorized elections dates has to be taken into consideration. One of the problems it creates is that we have to get our tax notices out and begin to collect money. If a roll back occurs and carries at the election, then you have to go back through the process of escrowing the funds or sending the money back - some very expensive conditions. #3 Discussion of September 19th agenda items: A. Final consideration of an ordinance relating to taxation of Telecommunication Services. Council had no problem with this ordinance and Mayor Sawyer asked that it be on the next agenda. B. Final consideration of an ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance. No further discussion, put on the next agenda. #4 Discussion of an ordinance repealing Section 12-6 (h) Process Server's Fees of the Code of Ordinances. Mr. Sweatt said this is a very brief ordinance repealing the prov~s~on that provides for the collection and payment of a Process Server's Fee. Under our current arrangement for our warrant officer service, that being a full time employee of the ci ty, the fee goes to the General Fund so this is no longer valid. #5 Discussion of an ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses. Mr. Sweatt said this is a 21 page ordinance that has been reviewed by the Planning & Zoning Commission, our staff and City attorney's office. This proposed licensing process tracks what we bel ieve have been consti tutionall y tested cases and other cities' and counties' regulations on the subject. It ties both land use and licensing together. It provides for a route of appeal. Mr. Sweatt said we believe these will meet both the statutorial and constitutional tests and feel it appropriate to add to our code of ordinances. Council thought the ordinance was very thorough. for #6 the CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. paving work to the tank We have completed the plans sites and would propose to 4 solicit bids for mid October to get the work done before the extra cold weather sets in. This is completing the 1987 project, including the paving to the Live Oak site that was a condition of the purchase of land. Mr. Hartzog asked if it was possible to do this in-house. Mr. Sweatt said we will take a look at it but he real I y feel s the size of the job may prohibit our doing the work. We would really like to get the work done before the real cold weather comes. B. Received a letter from the County Judge concerning our nomination to the AACOG Regional Development and Review Commi ttee. They are pr imar il y looking for nominees from the consumer area. Mrs. Stanhope suggested nominating Mr. Aguilar. C. As reminder, at least by giving some thought to our County Appraisal District. by the middle of October. next workshop session, we need to be possible nominees to the Guadalupe We need to finalize our nominations D. It is a pleasure to announce another anniversary for one of our long tenure employees Mrs. Krause. Would like some direction from Mayor and Council for salary consideration and eval uation. In the past Mrs. Krause's salary was set by City . Councili last year Council approved establishing the City Secretary's position within the pay plan itself. Mrs. Krause serves also as deputy city manager. Mayor Sawyer said Council handled Mr. Sweatt's evaluation with a TML list of items and if Council so desires, he suggested handling Mrs. Krause's the same way. After discussion, Council decided the Mayor and Mr. the evaluation, then it be reviewed by Council in Session. Sweatt do Executive #7 ITEMS BY COUIICIL: Mrs. Marsh: A. The first thing concerned marketing our city through our local newspapers. She suggested a need for the establ ishment of a central contact point to advise the media on events that happen. She recommended Linda Boyle be appointed as Schertz Public Affairs or whatever name desired. If anyone - Council, staff, committee, citizen - has news of an event, they would contact Linda, who would make sure the news media were advised of it. This could be announced in the newsletter. B. She would I ike to see, as part of the financial reports on the new budget, how the City stands on contingency based on deferrals that were established. C. Received a call from a citizen, who suggested the need for some sort of institute of higher learning in our area. --~ ~ t..J D. Asked if the city Manager was Richburg on the street in Deer Haven. still working with Harry Mr. Sweatt advised he was. E. Asked the status of the Don Decker project. Mr. Sweatt said we plan to have that on the last workshop in September. F. What is the status of a license tag substation at some place like Wuests. Mr. Sweatt said Mrs. Boyd is willing to meet with Mr. Kusak to discuss the possibility. Mr. Hartzog: A. How near are they to Rittimann Water Project. Mr. Bierschwale probablY be done by the 25th of this month. completion of the said they would B. Are the residents of Rittimann getting the line to their house or will that be a separate project. Mr. Bierschwale said that will have to be negotiated between the County and the City of Schertz, but no one will be left without water to their residence. C. I-35 sewer line - what is the status. Mr. Sweatt said we have revamped our Memorandum of Understanding and they are in the process of doing the same. We are preparing specifications for our portion of the line. We will be bringing the Memorandum of Understanding back to Council after staff has revised it. There is money in the budget for oversizing. D. Dur ing Budget workshops, Mr. Hartzog said he suggested the City annex Anton I s on I -10. Since it is in San Antonio's ETJ, can we see if San Antonio will release this for annexation by Schertz. E. Mr. Hartzog said he would also like to see the City annex along F.M. 78 to include the Shamrock Service Station. Mayor Sawyer said that may be in our ETJ but we need to look at it very carefully before taking any action on this. Mr. Greenwald said this could negate us from getting any further grant funds. Mayor Sawyer said another place to look at for annexation would be Stone Creek Mrs. Stanhope: A. There will be a bake sale Saturday at Kountry Kitchen to support GRASP and their purchase of a van. She attended the Housing Authority meeting and one of the tenants brought up their lack of transportation, they really miss the van. Mr. Baldwin: A. He received a call from a woman who is very concerned because it has been 1-1/2 years since Schertz has done anything for the Senior Citizens. His recommendation would be to 6 do something soon - say in October, maybe in conjunction with th~ir Monday or Thursday luncheons. He said we would still make preparations for the second saturday in May for Senior Citizen Appreciation Day. Mr. Sweatt advised that on October 14th, they are having a Senior Citizen Mini-convention at the Community Center. Perhaps something could be done at that time. Mr. Greenwald: A. Planning & Zoning will try to bring their presentation for the APA Conference to the 27th of September Workshop. B. P&Z are getting a lot of requests on the junk vehicle ordinance, primarilY from people who are actually restoring antiques. He would like to get a concensus to send P&Z a letter asking them to look at the screening requirements, as they are too restrictive. He felt there should be some allowances. Mr. Sweatt said when this ordinance was being developed, this was looked at very long and hard and he felt it is an area that would be difficult to deal with. He said staff would look at it again. C. At the P&Z meeting, Steve Simonson talked about Christmas decorations and one suggestion brought up was rounding off the water bills - for instance if the bill was $22.50, make the check for $23.00 on a voluntary basis. This could be used for Christmas decorations, landscaping, float, etc. as these are things that are tangible and can be seen by the people. Mr. Sweatt said he would look into it. #8 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. He invited Mr. Joe Porter to the Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss his plans for the Housing Authority. B. He had received a letter from the Kiwanas Club asking if the City had any projects they could get involved in. #9 ADJOUR1lMEllT: There being no further business, Mayor Sawyer adjourned the meeting at 8, 42 J~L ~or. City 0 S ATTEST: /