ccswks 10-11-1989
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OCTOBER 11, 1989
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Session, Wednesday,
October 11, 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, presidingi
Earl Hartzogi Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Absent Hal Baldwin
and Barbara Stanhope. Staff present were City Manager Kerry R.
Sweatt and Deputy City Secretary Alice Austin.
# 1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Jim Shriver, advised
that out of the seven members of Planning and Zoning they had six
members that went to the meeting in Lubbock. He advised that
while they were there they had learned some interesting things.
He advised that one was that they would like to thank the Council
for funding their way to the conference because they had found
that not too many cities do that.
Mr. Willman said that previOUS conferences had been geared
toward larger cities. After attending last year I s conference
Planning and Zoning members had written letters and this year the
sessions were aimed more toward small cities.
Mrs. Marsh said that she would like to blow Planning and Zoning's
horn. She had talked to Steve Simonson and apparentlY everybody
now knows what Schertz is and where it is and how good it is.
The members shown like stars and the briefing went exceptionallY
well. Mr. Brisgill had fielded all the questions and he was on
the stage with a high-powered consultant and an assistant city
manager from some other city. The high-powered consul tant let
everybody know that if you did not pay him a large sum of money
you would not get a decent comprehensive plan and the assistant
ci ty manager agreed with him. Ty got up and told what happens
here with the volunteers and the service of the citizens of the
City of Schertz that get into the actual planning of the city.
Someone in the audience asked who his planners actually were and
he introduced the members of the Planning and Zoning. There was
praise for the presentation and how Schertz was handling its
business without spending millions and millions of dollars and
getting the job done. Mrs. Marsh said that now was the time to
concentrate on finishing the plan and to go next year and try to
win one of the prizes.
'2 Discussion of october 17 Agenda Items:
A. BOA Hearing - side-yard setback. Mr. Sweatt advised that the
hearing would be scheduled for october 17.
B. Ordinance-Cable Franchise fees. Mary Marsh asked if the
delay from November to January was a convenience factor. Mr.
Sweatt advised that the cable service bills in advance and that
our ordinance would not be read on second and final reading until
the middle of October because of their billing cycles it would be
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very difficult to hit the beginning of a billing cycle on
November 15 so if the effective date is changed we would be able
to get all of the notices in to all of their customers and hit
the beginning of the whole billing cycle. Mrs. Marsh asked if a
notice could be placed in our Newsletter.
13 Discussion of reappointment of three members to the
Planning & Zoning Co..ission.
Mayor Sawyer advised that this was a discussion of request for
reappointment of Bob Andrews, Joe Potempa and Jim Shriver to the
Planning and Zoning Commission. He advised that the Commission
has recommended reappointment. Mayor Sawyer and members of
council all concurred that Mr. Andrews, Mr. Potempa and Mr.
Shriver had all been doing an outstanding job on the Planning and
Zoning Commission and were in favor of putting this item on the
October 17 agenda for their reappointment to the commission.
14 Discussion of an ordinance amendinG the Subdivision
Ordinance, Table of Contents, Article II, Section 15 and Article
III, Section 24 regarding park and recreation areas.
Mr. Sweatt advised that this recommendation comes from the
Planning and Zoning Commission to reinstitute a requirement that
a number of cities incl uding ours had at one time and had
repealed due to some action at state level. Within the last three
years a similar ordinance was challenged and was upheld by the
Texas Supreme Court. A number of cities have considered corning
back into the park dedication field. This ordinance was prepared
after Planning and Zoning had reviewed a number of different
ordinances which basically requires dedication of park land
depending upon the acreage of a plat being proposed for
development. There are a number of stipulations and, the size of
the land is directly related to the size of the property being
platted. It sets up a payment of money in I ieu of land in
certain instances. A number of cities have enacted a similar
ordinance and it has not been a stiffler to growth but instead
has assured that there would be adequate parkland available.
Mrs. Marsh advised that it blows her mind that we could require a
developer to provide land and if he did not have the land to pay
in some instances. She said that the surveys conducted very few
requests for additional recreational areas were expressed. If we
assume additional park lands this will create an additional
burden on the city for maintenance and equipment. Mrs. Marsh
advised that she feels we should look at the additional expenses
involved and that she would prefer to see any additional monies
go into our existing park area.
Mayor Sawyer asked if the money could be used for a golf course.
Mr. Willman advised that this could not be done as the ordinance
is written.
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Mr. Hartzog advised that he had read the ordinance and could not
find anything that he felt should be added and that it covered a
lot of loop holes.
Mrs. Marsh advised that most people living within a subdivision
did not want a public park within their subdivision.
Mr. Richburg ask if the developer had the option of either giving
land or payment in lieu of. Mr. Richburg also asked if the
developer could waive the requirement that the money be used for
park area within the subdivision or within a reasonable distance
and designate the funds be expended instead on existing
park lands . Mr. Sweatt advised that there was an option which
would be based on P&Z'S recommendation. Mr. Sweatt also advised
that the parks must be within a reasonable distance from the
subdivision donating the land or money.
Council agreed that this item merited more study and requested it
be sent back to the city manager for further research. Mayor
Sawyer wanted clarification of whether the donated land could be
a jogging trail, to make sure that the money could not be spent
for a golf course. Mrs. Marsh also requested that the city
manager find out if the funds could be used in the main park if
the developer designated that they be used this way.
15 Discussion of an ordinance amending the Sign
Ordinance Articles II, III, VI and VII.
Mr. Sweatt advised that after holding a number of hearings and
having a number of meeting with business people the Planning and
Zoning Commission have been brought forward several
recommendations on some revision. Basic changes deal with
banners, flags pennants and those types of advertising criteria.
Basically the ordinance will liberalize the ordinance and allow
banners, pennants and streamers in areas and under conditions
that have not previouslY been allowed. Gives the city the
authority to remove those that become abandoned or poorlY
maintained. Mr. Greenwald advised that several business people
had been contacted as well as the inspector because he would have
to enforce the ordinance. A key to the abandoned signs is that
all signs not covered by this ordinance shall become non
conforming and said signs shall be brought into conformance by
alteration or removal by January 1, 1995 unless the height, area
or supports on an existing sign are altered, in which case the
sign shall be brought into compliance at the time of alteration.
Mayor Sawyer asked if the inventory of signs up to date.
Mary Marsh advised that the verbage "special event" could be
almost anything. A sale could be a special event. She also
advised that she would like to see one central location for
garage sale signs and all others would be illegal. Mr. Sweatt
advised that we had not talked about a centralized sign area.
Mr. Willman advised that Seguin had recently passed a garage sale
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ordinance and the only way a person could advertise was to put a
notice in the paper. Mayor Sawyer advised that we would have to
come up with city property to put signs on since Mr. Rowell had
withdrawn permission to use his property at the low water
crossing. Mr. Sweatt advised that garage sale signs were
addressed elsewhere in the code as they were talking about two
different type of signs. Mayor Sawyer requested that Planning
and Zoning take a look at garage sale ordinances. Mr. Hartzog
said that he would like to see the city assess a fee for the
garage sale permit.
Mrs. Marsh said that she wondered what the modus operandus would
be in enforcing this ordinance because it would take
approximately 16 hours just to write up or notify the signs on 78
that are illegal. Mrs. Marsh asked if the inspector would be
taking one place at a time and said she felt this would be the
only way this could be handled.
Hr. Sweatt advised that we would probably divide the city up in
districts and take one district at a time. We might not cover
everyone in every district. Mr. Sweatt said that the
businessman depended on his sign installer to make sure he
complied with the law and we needed to make the businessman aware
that he should check with the city before installing a sign.
Earl Hartzog asked what the period is for portable mobile signs,
when are they authorized and for how long. He advised that we
had a lot of small businesses who could not afford large signs.
Hr. Sweatt advised they could put them up for 2-45 day periods or
1-90 day per year. Mr. Hartzog asked if penalties were included
if a person was not in compliance. Mr. Sweatt advised that it
was in the main body. Mr. Hartzog asked if billboards were on
the tax roll. Hr. Sweatt advised that they were subject to taxes
but he was unsure as to whether they were actually being taxed.
Mayor S~wyer requested this ordinance be on the reqular agenda
October 17.
16 Discussion of a resolution authorizing the City
Manager to enter into an Interlocal Agreeaent for purchase of
certain vehicles.
Mr. Sweatt advised that previously we had discussed entering into
a joint bUYing agreement with the City of New Braunfels for the
purpose of bUYing police cars. He advised that we propose to
solicit bids with the City of New Braunfels, City of Garden Ridge
and that we have made it available to a couple of other cities if
they choose to enter into the program with us. He advised that
the City of New Braunfels the program of soliciting bids or
advertising bids and we propose to receive bids on the 24th of
October. He also advised that if council was not in agreement
with the City of New Braunfels we would merely proceed with our
own advertisements. Mayor Sawyer requested this item be on the
October 17 regular agenda for action.
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17 Discussion of Change Order/Work Agreement regarding
construction of water services, Rittimann Addition
Mr. Sweatt explained that they had previouslY discussed the
relocation of the service lines in Rittimann Addition that were
being funded by the Community Development Block Grant project.
He advised that the supply lines were being moved from the alley
to the street. We propose that a change order be authorized with
the existing contractor based on his original bid for a maximum
$8700 dollars to relocate services from the rear to front to
connect to the new meters, and meter appertinances that are being
installed under the contract and extend the services to the
nearest point to the residence. He advised that this would be
paid from Water and Sewer construction. Mr. Sweatt advised that
we would take ownership of the new meters and after
reconditioning the old meters we would put them back into
service.
Mr. Hartzog advised that this needed to be done but that it
upsets him that Bexar County was not paying for this.
Mayor Sawyer requested this item be placed on the october 17
agenda.
18 Discussion of awarding bid on paving at storage
tanks.
Mayor Sawyer advised that this was an agreement that the City
entered into when we bought the land. She sold it to us with the
provision that we blacktop the entry.
Mr. Sweatt advised that three bids had been received from a low
of $26,721.80 to a high of $43,9.01.60. He advised that Ford
Engineer ing had recommended Bluestone Excavating who presented
the lowest bid as they had done work for the city in the past and
the city was satisfied with the work and timeliness of
completion. Mayor Sawyer requested this item be placed en the
October 17 agenda.
19 Discussion of an ordinance
Section 12-4 Assessment & collection of
connection with personal bond.
amending the code,
special expenses in
Mr. Sweatt advised that state law had changed and we recommend
that council change the warrant fee from $25.00 to $35.00 for
warrants issued by Municipal Court. He also reminded the Council
that the city had previously done away with the warrant service
fee being paid to the warrant officer. Mayor Sawyer requested
this item be placed on the October 17 agenda.
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110 Discussion of authorization to solicit bids on
two-way radio communication equipment for police service.
Mr. Sweatt explained that the specifications had not been
completed in time to provide them for council. What we proposed
to do and was provided for in the budget was a 5-year lease
purchase arrangement to acquire a new console and a second
repeater station to allow the pol ice department to implement a
new frequency. We propose to relocate the new repeater station
at the Naco well site so we can broaden our coverage and
el iminate dead spots. We would replace the old console with
state-of-the-art equipment capable of cross banding so that we
can have police, fire, and utility all together in certain
emergencies. Mrs. Marsh asked how much we had budgeted. Mr.
Sweatt explained that it was around $9,000 per year. Mr.
Greenwald asked if the base station could be expanded to include
more channel s. Mr. Sweatt explained that there would be blanks
on the console to allow this. Council agreed to authorize
solicitation of bids.
111 Discussion of appointment of Advisory Committee
for Capital Recovery/Impact Fee Study.
Mr. Sweatt advised under Senate bill #336 in the imposition of
impact fees it is necessary that we conduct a study and
evaluation and develope the material necessary to either hold in
place or change upward or downward our current impact fees. One
of the items we will need to do is to appoint an advisory
committee. The advisory committee is described as having a
certain makeup or in the alternative utilizing the Planning and
Zoning Commission. In the event you choose to use the Planning
and Zoning Commission we need to have at least one real estate
type member. In our case since we have one on the Planning and
Zoning Commission it would not be necessary to do that, however
since we do have the likelihood of imposition of the fees not
only in the city but in the extra-territorial jurisdiction we
must enlarge the committee to include at least one member from
the ETJ. The committee has functions such as to advise and
assist the Council regarding land use assumptions, review the
capital improvements plan regarding water and wastewater
improvements and file written comments. Monitor and evaluate
implementation of the capital improvements program, file written
comments with the city on proposed capital improvement plan and
impact fees not less than five business days prior to the public
hearing addressing the adoption of impact fees, advise city
Council of the need to revise or update the land use assumption,
capital recovery program and capital recovery fees and file a
semi-annual report evaluating the progress of the city in
achieving the capital improvements plans and identifying any
problems in implementing the plans.
Mrs. Marsh said it appeared to her that the committee would be
doing all of the work. Mr. Sweatt advised that the consultant
would do the work and the committee would review.
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Mr. Sweatt advised that council needs to consider the use of the
Planning and Zoning Commission to be extended to include at least
one person from the ETJ, or a committee having an at large group
with at least 5 members representing real estate interests.
Mayor Sawyer advised that Lee Boswell had recommended two
individuals who live in the ETJ that were familiar with building
but Mr. Sweatt had not been able to contact them at this time.
Council agreed to appoint the Planning and Zoning and have Mr.
Sweatt continue to try to contact the two parties from the ETJ.
'12 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
1. Economic Development Task Force meeting is scheduled for
October 12 and will be the last meeting before the LCRA Tour.
Had another dry run this week, every things going as per schedule.
Items that are being acquired for the welcome basket as well as
our individual hospitalitiy baskets are being finished. Tour is
scheduled for the 19th at 1:45 to 1:50.
2. Mr. Sweatt introduced Mark Marquez who is serving as the
Economic Development Intern for the next semister. Mr. Marquez
advised that he appreciated the opportunity that the Council was
giving him by accepting him in the intern program and said he
hoped that he could repay the opportunity. Mr. Marquez explained
his background.
113 ITEMS BY COUNCIL:
Mary Marsh showed the Council denim satchels which had been made
by Carol Simonson. Mrs. Simonson not only donated the material
but constructed the satchels. These would be used by the ladies
to carry souveniers such as wind chimes, key chains, business
cards and each would have a yellow rose in the pocket.
Earl Hartzog: 1. Asked if we would make a motion to nominate
someone to the Guadalupe County Appraisal District Board. Mayor
Sawyer advised that we had three names Chuck Sharpe, Bill Little
and Mildred Powers. Mr. Hartzog said he would like to see all
three nominated. Council agreed to consider nominating the three.
2. Mr. Hartzog also asked about the Appraisal Review Board. Mr.
Leon Davis said he would like to be considered.
3. Mr. Hartzog asked if we had gotten the frequency for the
wells. Mr. Sweatt advised that they were working and that we
would like to schedule a tour through the utility office to show
council how it was working.
4. Mr. Hartzog advised that at the last council meeting he had
passed out some newsletters and that one of the persons that had
some questions had not stayed after reading the newsletter. He
requested that a stack of newsletters be placed by the agenda at
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the meetings. He also asked if the newsletter could be mailed out
with the Fire Department's annual mail out for raffle tickets.
5. Mr. Hartzog asked if we had anything going on student day.
Mayor Sawyer asked Mr. Sweatt to check with Sandy Schlather about
setting up something.
6. Mr. Hartzog also advised that the bonfire would be on the
25th and they would have a parade starting at the bank. He said
that they had a problem with getting items for the bonfire and
that he had talked to Jerry Graham and had been advised that he
would talk to Mr. Sweatt about using the city dump truck to pick
up some lumber and other items.
7. Mr. Hartzog also advised that the Humane Society would be
having their last dog dip on Saturday and that they would be
dressing up in cat and dog hats and collecting money on IH 35.
He also advised that the Library/Humane Society dance would be on
the 17th if they had to use the Community Center and on the 18th
if they decided to hold it at the VFW.
8. Mr. Hartzog advised that he planned to go to a function for
Bob Lee and asked if the city would pay the fee. Mayor Sawyer
advised that he did not feel the city should pay as this was a
political function.
114 ITEMS BY MAYOR: 1. Attended the Council of
Mayors and one of the items they discussed was the hearing date
on the landfill and so far they have no hearing date. He advised
that he had told them that the city still supports the landfill.
2. He advised that he had missed most of what was said about
3009 but that he understood that they were delaying letting the
contracts for widening and requested that Mr. Sweatt check into
this. Mr. Sweatt advised that he was not aware of any delay.
Mayor Sawyer said Schertz Parkway was a sure thing. Need to
start pressing the state on 1103 overpass.
3. Senior citizens would be having a mini-convention at 9: 00
a.m. Saturday.
115 ADJOURNMENT: On a motion duly made and seconded
the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
ATTEST:
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