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ccswks 03-28-1990 172 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL MARCH 28, 1990 The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session, Wednesday, March 28, 1990, 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 P. Hartzog; Hal Baldwin; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause. #1 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: None #2 Discussion of an ordinance amending the Sign Ordinance, Articles II & VI Signs Permitted in All Business, Commercial and Industrial Districts and Section 5b (3) setbacks. Mr. Sweatt advised that this ordinance was passed on the first reading. It basically is a house cleaning procedure to clarify areas where there is potential conflict. Businesses are allowed two signs - one free standing and one on the building. On the section deal ing with setbacks, the clarification is that there will be a minimum setback of five feet from the property line. Staff recommends passage on final reading. On being queried by Mayor Sawyer, Council members said they would be ready to vote on this item at the next meeting. # 3 Discussion of an ordinance amending the Code, Chapter 12-112, Attachment B Use and Regulations of Swimming Pool Facilities. Mr. Sweatt said this ordinance was also passed on first reading at the last meeting. This also includes some housekeeping clarifications and changes in the swimming lesson rates. It also changed the dates for hal f-pr ice passes to July 31st. Before, the price changed on Jul y 15th. We al so took out the specific dates of the swim-lesson schedule. Mr. Hartzog asked if staff had checked what the outside city limit rates are in other surrounding cities. Mr. Sweatt and Mr. Graham both advised that they had checked and we are in line on our charges. Mr. Hartozg said he fel t we should give people inside the city priority because he did not like to see General Fund money spent on people from outside the city. #4 Discussion of Float Committee recommendations. Mr. Sweatt pointed out the sample of the float Mr. Graham had presented, adding that Mr. Graham is the Chairman of the Float Committee. He advised that after a lot of research, we found it will be cheaper to build a float trailer ourselves. It will be drawn rather than motor driven. Mr. Sweatt said he believes we have the expertise to do this in house. This design will allow ) ~ F;F' ~ . , ~ us to fold up the sides and we will purchase a cover to go over all to use during transport. Members of the Business Cl ub are will ing to help with this project. Mrs. Wright of the Canvass Shop suggested putting our logo on the canvass so that it can be seen as the float is pulled down the road. Mr. Graham added that this has a tubular frame and the top is 8 x 16 feet. The little extra top piece can be put on and taken off - everything is by pins and hinges. This is the basic float and can be decorated any way we want it. Mrs. Marsh asked the projected cost. Mr. Sweatt said with the the donation from the Business Club and donation of labor, it would cost about $2500 to $2600. Mrs. Marsh said she thought the concept was really neat and she could visualize having a ~Schertz Sweetheart" sitting on top with a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, 4 H, ball player from Little League, lifeguard - all activities we have in Schertz represented. She added that she would like to see some potted plants or greenery of some type on the side of the float with "Schertz" on the front or on both sides. Mr. Graham advised that from about mid March to October there are about 18 parades in our area. Mr. Sweatt said that Mr. Graham's committee should have the float completed by June 15th. #5 Discussion of Entex Gas rate increase. Mr. Sweatt advised that the increase is about 15 cents a month or $1.78 per year. He mentioned that Nelda Ibanez from Entex was present to answer questions and that Council had information in their packet regarding cost of service. He said that any number of actions were possible, starting with (1) no action with the resul t of the increase being placed into effect - (2) negative action that would delay the effect - (3) inquiries. If the City does not object to this type of change, it would go into effect automatically. He reminded Council that the most recent action in the past was a 2 cent decrease made in 1988. Nelda Ibanez explained that what they were asking for was 15 cents to be applied to the basic bill so that during the winter months customers are not compromising their comfort versus the number of dollars they would have to spend on gas heating. So this way, every customers will have 15 cents added to their bill every month. This 15 cents was calculated from expenses for cal endar years 1989 and 1988. As far as personnel, Ms. Ibanez said they are strictly on a merit increase basis and their biggest increase was for medical insurance. She said they fel t justified in asking for this because their last rate increase was back in 1987. 174 Mayor Sawyer said it sounds like a very moderate increase to him. # 6 Discussion of Schertz Business Club use of City of Schertz logo. Mr. Joe Potempa, President of the Schertz Business Club, said that in conjunction with the July 4th activities, they were asking permission to use the City logo for all their activities. Mayor Sawyer and the Council thought it was a great idea. Mr. Potempa also asked that the Business Club be on the next agenda to present the "Employee of the Quarter" plaque - they are going back to that after missing one year. He also showed the new plaque that would have all the names on it and stated that this time Kountry Kitchen was giving the recipient a steak dinner for two. Mr. Sweatt reminded Council that in finaliZing the contract with BVYA, we asked that there be no conflict of activities on the 4th of July. He said the Business Club is asking that maybe even on the 3rd of July the carnival be placed on the grassed area behind the parking lot. He said that if that is done, then we would need to close the street between the large pavilion and the parking area. Mayor Sawyer said we have closed that street many times in the past for BVYA activities. Mr. Sweatt discussed moving SAFES and the bandstand this year to get them out of the hot sun. Mr. Graham suggested making Aero one way from the pavilion exit west to FM 1518. This met with approval from everyone. Mr. Potempa advised that this year the Jubilee promises to be bigger and better than ever. #7 Discussion of speed limit recommendations on Schertz Parkway. Mr. Sweatt said that during a 181 day period, 91 citations were issued for Schertz Parkway. Of those, 48 were issued in the 40 MPH zone and 63 in the 30 MPH zone. One of the cr iter ia for establishing speed zones is the median speed for which a driver feels comfortable. In the 40 MPH zone, the median speed was 53.5 MPH; so this would indicate that the driVing public feels comfortable driving 13.5 miles over the speed limit. In the 30 MPH zone the median speed was 43.2 MPH. To clarify a statement in his memorandum, Mr. Sweatt said the current bump is the result of two factors - not only a drainage consideration but also a circumstance where two contractors, two engineers and two projects came to meet and this was a product of some last minute adjustments to come to grade. ) '; ilk;lf. ') Because of safety considerations, staff feels they could justify a 45 MPH zone from Maske Road to the 1-35 Access Road and 35 MPH from Maske south to East Live Oak and 30 MPH on to FM 78. We believe anything above 45 MPH would be impractical and dangerous. Both Mrs. Marsh and Mr. Hartzog agreed. Mrs. Marsh added that when the area started building up, the speed limit could always be lowered as necessary. Mrs. Stanhope said she had looked at the speed limit on both Jack Hays and FM 1518 and she would definitely be in favor of at least 45 MPH for Schertz Parkway. Mr. Baldwin agreed but felt it would be too drastic to have to slow down from 45 MPH to 30 MPH and he favored the three increments. Mr. Greenwald agreed but wanted everyone to keep in mind the construction that would be taking place on 1-35 and the increased traffic we are going to have. Mr. Sweatt said this will not appear on the next action agenda but we will get further recommendations and bring back for a later meeting. #8 Discussion of a Warranty Deed conveying a 0.003 acre tract of land, located at the corner of Pecan Drive and Schertz Parkway, to Yon Scheele Company. Mr. Sweatt said this is the resul t of the proposed platting of the property where two errors were found. There is a strip of land that was never conveyed to the city and this 0.0003 acres still belongs to the city. So in exchange for the about 20 feet in width from curb to curb on Pecan drive, we plan to convey to Mr. Von Scheele a high speed turn off arrangement that was dedica ted to the City. Somehow in the design of Pecan Drive a corner clip was retained by the City. It will make no difference in the street but will clear up the ownership. We recommend that the Council recognize the conveyance of the .0003 acre of land to the abutting property owner. For your information Mr. Von Scheele does plan some Garden Homes in that area. Mr. Greenwald said Mr. Von Scheele and Mr. Vaughn want to utilize the land for garden homes; and during the platting process, they stumbled upon this problem. This was just a minor glitch that came up at the time of platting. Mayor Sawyer said he would be in favor of this transfer; and since Council agreed, Mr. Sweatt said this item would be on the next agenda. # 9 CITY MANAGER' S REPORT: A. asked about pot holes at Maple Some time ago, and Chestnut Council had where the 17tR --"-- subdivisions join. About 15 to 18 months ago, we started to get pot holes and patched them according to the regulations; and now it has started deteriorating again. We dug up the area, and find the sub base is spongy. We hope we have it corrected now and will complete the work as soon as it gets dry enough. We definitely have a problem there. B. Remind Council that at the next meeting we have scheduled a public meeting on cable rates. C. The Texas Department of Heal th held their publ ic hearing on the landfill question and we had an overflow crowd. They heard some arguments and discussions from both attorneys and have continued the hearing until late November. D. There will be an Economic Development Task Force meeting Thursday night with a long agenda, including goals and operating plans. E. We are down to one person in the Animal Control Department so if Council gets calls, we are trying to fill the positions as fast as we can. F. Mayor Sawyer and Mr. Sweatt attended the first meeting of the recycling committee and they elected Mr. Keen Chairman. G. We are in the process of filling two vacancies in the police service, as the result of the leaving of two officers to take new jobs, both with promotions. #10 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh: A. Several months ago she mentioned getting some new name tags for Council. She said what it boils down to, is Council willing to pay for their own badges, as the brass with black lettering is about $13.00 each. Mr. Sweatt said he would have a sample to show Council in a few days. B. Mrs. Marsh asked for a status report on the Certificates of ObI igation regarding the animal shel ter, right-of-way for Jack Hays and Service Center. Mr. Sweatt said the appraiser is completing the work on the right of way. We have finished some cost estimates on Changing some building designs for the utility office/service center. The Tax Department is just about finished with some appraisals on several pieces of property. The animal shel ter received some construction estimates about a week ago and had not had time to go through them. Mrs. Marsh asked if we plan to complete all these projects this year other than the road. Mr. Sweatt said we plan to at least have them under way and they will all be brought back to Council before starting. ). Mr~__HactzQq: A. He asked about the paving at the tank site on East Live Oak Road. Mr. Sweatt said the work is done in accordance with the home owner's understanding of paving in back of the house. B. On Pecan Drive at 617, there is an individual that has a race car who every day after the race dismantles the car and does mechanical work in the drive way. He now has two vehicles disassembled. Mr. Sweatt said this house has been a constant source of problems. Because of the vehicle on a trailer, they did not violate the ordinance. When they take it off and are in violation, we talk to them and they move it out but then move it back again. Mrs. StanhQI@: A. Did we ever get the guidel ines from the National Humane Society on the shelter. Mr. Sweatt said yes and we have some plans and recommendations from Texas A&M and others also. B. The Housing Authority has some funds this year for a portable generator, do we have specifications for this. Mr. Sweatt said yes we do have some specifications and they can get the information from Mr. Bierschwale or Mr. Graham. C. The new president of the Humane Society is Ruth Keller. l1!:.~ldwin: A. Referred to the two stub-outs on Beacon and Elm Streets. He said these are 2 50 foot rights-of-way that go no where and he felt the City should get rid of them. Mr. Sweatt said the Planning and Zoning Commission recommends that the Elm Street one be vacated. We have had an appraisal and presented to the property owners to bid on the property. The deadline for bidding is next week. After that we will be bringing it back to Council. B. SAFES had a very successful fund raiser. The raised $1500 plus on the raffle tickets the Fire Department's idea of mailing the tickets was fantastic. C. Senior Citizen Appreciation Day will be May 12th. We have advertisements in the newsletter, have talked about it at the Business Cl ub meeting and Lion's Club meeting. The Hall is reserved and we need to get some donations for prizes. Mr. Greenwald: A. For members of the VFW, April 9th is election night. At the last meeting he attended, one of the members was advocating giving 10% of the proceeds back to the VFW for the jamborees, etc. 178 B. P&Z has one more meeting to go on the SB336 Capital Improvement fees. He said he thought they were going to make the deadline in spite of the consultants. Mr. Bill Neller said that on the 7th, 19th and 29th of May the flags will be up on Main Street. # 11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mayor Sawyer advised that he had appointed a Recycling Committee and they had their first meeting the previous night. He said he would ask Council to approve the appointment of Eloy C. Esquivel to the Housing Authority Board at the next meeting. We have a Guadalupe County crime call-in line for Secret Witness call s . This needs to be advertised. Bob Andrews is on the committee and you can get the number from him. Mr. Hartzog announced that the Library Book Sale would be this weekend and will be in the back of the Library. # 12 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned at Mayor ATTEST: )