ccreg 04-01-1990
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REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
AP R I L 3, 1 9 90
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session, Tuesday,
April 3, 1990, 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;
Earl Hartzog; Hal Baldwin, Barbara Stanhope, Mary Marsh and Ken
Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and
City Secretary June Krause.
Mayor Sawyer opened the meeting with everyone joining him in the
Pledge of Allegiance. He then introduced Mr. Joe Potempa,
President of the Schertz Business Club, who presented Teresa
Martinez with the "Employee of the Quarter" plaque. Along with
the plaque, Mr. Potempa advised Teresa that she also would
receive a free steak dinner at the Kountry Kitchen.
#1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Mr. Hartzog moveg to approve the
minutes of the Regular Meetings of February 20th and March 6th
and the Special Meeting of February 28, 1990. Mr. Greenwald
seconded the motion.
Mrs. Stanhope referred to the minutes of the Special Meeting of
February 28, 1990 and requested the next to last sentence of item
#4 be corrected to read: "He went on to say that it probably is
a city street because utilities are there".
Mayor Sawyer then called for a vote on the motion, with the
following results:
AYES:
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: Mr.
and Mrs. Marsh for the
Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Baldwin for the minutes of February 20th
minutes of February 28th and March 6th.
#2 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: None
# 3 CABLE TV HEARING: Mr. Dennis Marmon, V ice President I
General Manager of Paragon Cable was present to discuss their
current rate increase. He said that he had been with Paragon in
San Antonio since September of 1989 and the acquisition of the
cable company took place in April. He referred to the increase
right after the acquisition, saying he could not say whether or
not that 17.3% increase was valid and right. He said that of the
six senior managers that were present when that rate increase
took place, there is onl y one remaining. They have totall y
reorganized their company. He said that the City of San Antonio
had conducted surveys nationally and found that Paragon's rates
are comparable. He went on to say that their company is very
sensitive to the price they must charge for services and that
their basic service price will be adjusted 7.9% to $18.30, the
lowest pr ice change in the last four years. He said they are
180
also offering a guarantee that the new basic service price
effective May 1, 1990 will not change for 18 months. He felt
this rate is very competitive. He said that they now have a
hiring freeze and have reduced their employees from 500 to their
current figure of 380 and their quality of service has increased.
Mr. Marmon said they are trying to do everything they can to
control costs.
Mr. Hartzog asked what their profit margin was currently. Mr.
Marmon said yoU cannot look at their business like you do other
businesses, you have to look at it as a return on investment. He
said they are currently looking at about a 12% return on
investment at the end of the 15 year franchise life.
Mr. Hartzog said he was not pleased with the rate increase and he
had talked with a number of people, who said they would
discontinue cable service.
Mr. Baldwin said he was not happy with the 7.9% increase right
after the 17% increase and he appreciated the effort of holding
this rate for 18 months. He said he would continue with the
service because he enjoys programs that you cannot get without
cable.
Mrs. Stanhope said, as for herself, she has already said that is
enough and had her service discontinued. She has talked with
numerous people though who are definitely upset about the
increase. They don't feel that the service they are getting is
worth the increase.
Mrs. Marsh said she
before and she too is
wi th the programming
outages.
agrees with everything Council has said
not happy. She said she was not satisfied
and they seemed to have an awful lot of
Mr. Greenwald agreed with everything that had been said.
he took exception to the guarantee of 18 months with
increase because it specifies "basic rate". He said to
means that everyone with any premium channel will
increase there is.
He
no
him
get
said
rate
that
any
Mr. Marmon said all premium services, with the exception of HBO,
have been at the same rates since 1983 - in fact, Disney has come
down $2 from what it use to be.
Mr. Greenwald said he also felt there were too many
did not agree with the telephone answering either as
tried to call and waited 20 minutes and then hung up.
was fed up and had cut his service in half.
outages and
he recently
He said he
Mayor Sawyer said he felt the general feeling is that people are
not happy with the service they are receiving from the company.
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Mr. Marmon said the $25,000,000 that was paid to San Antonio was
paid by Rogers and did not impact the purchase price of their
company. He said he was concerned when he hears problems people
are having with service or billing and he would look into it. He
said that when there is a problem with cable outages, they know
almost immediately and get someone out to look into it.
After Mr. Marmon answered some general
audience, Mayor Sawyer thanked Mr. Marmon
public hearing.
questions from
for coming to
the
the
#4 Police Chief announcement regarding appointments.
Chief Agee said that when they have promotions and new employees
in their department, they like to bring them to Council and
introduce them. He then introduced Sandy Butler, who replaced
Beverly Case. Sgt. Tacquard left to join the Highway Patrol and
as a result they held an assessment process to fill that slot and
although it was very close, Officer Zambrano became Sgt. Zambrano
the first of the month. He then introduced his newest officer
Paul Gumm. Chief Agee then announced that one of the new
vehicles was out front if anyone wanted to see it.
#5 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 90-S-11
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, AMENDING THE SIGN
ORDINANCE, NO. 8 6-S- 2 8, ARTICLE I I, GENERAL
PROVISIONS AND ARTICLE VI, SIGNS PERMITTED IN
ALL BUSINESS, COMMERCIAL AND MANUFACTURING
DISTRICTS, SECTION 5b (3), SETBACK; AND
PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE.
Mrs. March mQ-yeg to approve the final reading of an ordinance
amending the sign ordinance. Mr. Greenwald seconded the motion,
which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 90-M-12
AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING THAT THE CODE OF
ORDINANCES, CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, BE
AMENDED BY REVISING CHAPTER 12-1/2,
ATTACHMENT 'B', PROVIDING FOR THE USE AND
REGULATIONS OF SWIMMING POOL FACILITIES AND
REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT.
f; 82'
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Mr. Hartzog moveg to approve the final reading of an ordinance
amending Chapter 12-1/2 of the Code. Mrs. Stanhope seconded the
motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#7 ORDlNABCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE
ABANDONMENT OF CERTAIN LAND AND REAL PROPERTY
INTERESTS CURRENTLY OWNED BY THE CITY; AND
OTHER MATTERS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.
Mr. Greenwald moved to approve the first reading of an ordinance
author izing the abandonment of certain property. Mrs. Marsh
seconded the motion, which carried as follows:
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#8 BIDS: Consider action regarding bids for sale of Elm
Street Right-of-way.
Mr. Sweatt advised that letters were sent to to the adjoining
property owners for the 50' right-of-way, which has been
determined excess to our needs. We had the property appraised
by our tax office. We have not received any offers for this
property as of the deadline and now suggest and recommend that
this property be offered for public sale and solicit bids. The
property can be used for residential purposes; but it will
require a various to put a residence on the 50' lot and we have
asked the Planning & Zoning Commission to consider that as part
of the sale.
Mr. Baldwin moved to offer the Elm Street right-of-way property
for sale to the highest bidder. Mr. Greenwald seconded the
motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#9 AUDIT: Consider annual report from audit firm of
Melick, Thorpe and Vaughan.
Mr. Gordan Armstrong thanked Council for the opportunity to come
before them and to do the audit. He then thanked Mr. Sweatt and
his staff, specifically Debbi Williams and Alice Austin. He
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advised that they did spend over an hour with the audit committee
and went over the audit in detail. He welcomed any individual
questions on a one-on-one basis with any member of the Council.
He advised that this is the second year in a row that the General
Fund has not been a pretty picture, this year the City lost money
as far as the unreserved fund balance. He added that had we not
transferred some $160,000 from the Water Department we would have
been in serious trouble. He said as it is, we ended up with a
negative fund balance of over $11,000. He said one of the big
areas that caused problems is the over budgeting of the Municipal
Court fines revenues. He said the General Fund has no reserves,
in fact it is $11,000 in the hole. A city of this size should
have half million to one million dollars sitting in an unreserved
fund balance. He added that the Council should look very hard at
how the money is spent.
He went on to say that in the Water Fund, basically the City lost
$71,000 and part of that was the result of the transfer to the
General Fund; otherwise the Water Fund would have had about an
$80,000 profit last year.
Mr. Armstrong said that in the SAFES fund we lost $12,000. There
are a lot of uncollected accounts in SAFES; however SAFES'
collection rate is a lot better than some of the other small
cities in the area.
He said they had looked a little at this year I s revenues and
there is a need to make adjustments throughout the year on the
expenditures and revenues, depending on how they are going.
Mrs. Marsh said she believes that if you don't have money, you
don't spend it. She said she did not read anywhere in the report
that it said Schertz has serious problems and she asked why the
audi tors do not put that in the report. Mr. Armstrong said it
was not appropriate to state that in the report.
Mrs. Marsh said there is a lot of stuff in the audit that needs
answered - something needs to be really looked at and something
done and real I y fast because we cannot afford to go through
another year in this situation. She said her recommendation is
that Council take this report up thoroughly at the next workshop.
Mrs. Stanhope said she also would like to have Mr. Armstrong
come to the workshop because she said she did not have the
expertise but would like to understand what she was looking at.
Mr. Armstrong said that the audit committee has met a couple of
times during the last month and one of the recommendations is for
the audit firm to come in and start doing a quarterly analysis so
they could tell Council these things. He said that starting the
end of July Mr. Melick would start doing the analysis. It may be
a little late for this year but next year they will be in a
better position.
184
Mr. Baldwin said that from the standpoint of a person that has
been on the Council for seven years and has watched this take
place year after year, Gordon Armstrong has said more at this
meeting than any auditor ever said before. He said some things
that should have been said three years ago but were not; and none
of the Council had the expertise to figure out what was going
on - to look at the audit and determine that every year the City
was going down. The Audit Committee has gone over the audit and
as bleak as it seems, there are some positive aspects. The
overall financial picture really improved a little bit last year.
It absolutely will be necessary to monitor our expenditures all
this year and we do need to take a look at the revenues to see if
we are on track. He said he did not think there was any doubt in
anyone individual's mind on this City Council that when they
were given a figure one and half years ago of some $400,000 of
Municipal Court fines, they almost all agreed that it would be
impossible to do but they were assured by a couple of patrolmen
that it could be done very easily. The alternative to that was
to pass a tax rate that would have been completely unacceptable.
We hoped for the best but it did not material ize - we did not
have a Warrant Officer, we had turmoil in the department, things
just did not work out where we collected the revenues we
anticipated. Hopefull Y this year we are on track, we may be
still a little behind but at least it is better. He said we do
have a fund balance of $50,000, which is not even one day's
operating expenses and we should have at least half a million
dollar fund balance. You need about a month or two month's
operating funds in reserves; if for no other reason, just for the
investment income you derive off that and as a safeguard against
something happening. There have been some positive things in
this past year - they have pulled some stray accounts together
under General Fund so there is some accountability and a lot less
work. Our Water and Sewer Fund transfer is down this year and
our interest income is up, tax collections are 95% plus for the
fifteenth or sixteenth year. He said we are trying to come out
of this but panic is not going to do it. He said all the Council
knew when they passed this budget that they were financiall y
strapped. He said they passed a more than 8% tax rate to try to
pick things up a little and he added we are probably going to
have to continue to pass a lot higher tax rate than they would
like. You just can not do it in one year.
Mrs. Marsh said the Council are not experts like Mr. Armstrong
but are laymen and people that really don't understand so you
have to put your faith in somebody. She said she could not
believe that somebody on the staff did not know; and if they did
know, the Council should have been kept advised.
Mayor Sawyer said that we hope that by the end of this fiscal
year, we will see daylight. He said he felt the quarterly
reports would help in this respect.
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Mr. Armstrong said he agreed that the loss is less this year than
last and that last year he did say you are in trouble. He said
he hoped this is the bottom of the trend.
Mr. Melick said he hoped that at the workshop they could go
through the work sheets and bring them alive for Council and give
everybody a chance for interaction.
Mr. Baldwin move~ to approve
Greenwald seconded the motion,
vote:
the audit as presented. Mr.
which carried with the following
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
Mayor Sawyer said he felt the Council has done an outstanding job
considering that they were so short in the past.
#10 BVYA: Consider action to allow Schertz-Cibolo-
Universal City ISD to use BVYA leased building.
Mayor Sawyer reminded Council that we lease the building to BVYA
and the School Distr ict has requested to use the building for
band practice for Corbett School.
Mr. Baldwin said they are opening bids on new band hall/cafeteria
and other improvements to Corbett Junior Hi School; and about the
first thing they will have to do is tear down the present band
hall, because that is where the new building will go. If this
project is started between now and May, they won't have a band
hall so the School District is asking that they be allowed to use
the BVYA Hall for the remainder of this year and until the
project is completed sometime in November next year. Mr. Baldwin
said their insurance will cover any liability incurred. When
asked about cleaning of the building, Mr. Baldwin said they have
a custodian right across the street who will take care of that.
Mr. Greenwald added that
instruments stored there.
rehearsal hall. He said that
the building.
there will be no equipment or
It will strictly be used as a
BVYA has no objection to them using
Mrs. Stanhope asked if the City will have any responsibility if a
child is hurt. Mr. Sweatt said we will ask that the school
furnish us with certificate of insurance that holds the city
harmless.
Mr. Hartzog said the school has let BVYA use their gyms many
times.
Mr. Hartzog ~oy~~ to authorize BVYA
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD
agreement with the City Manager.
motion, which carried as follows:
to lease the building to the
as long as it is within
Mrs. Stanhope seconded the
186
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog, Stanhope, Marsh and Greenwald
NAYS: None
ABSTAINING: Mr. Baldwin
#11 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. The Economic Development
Task Force has announced our second annual Business Appreciation
Dinner to be held in late September.
B. On July 4th activities, one of the changes this year is the
addition of an Arts and Crafts display. Also the use of the area
across from the park for the carnival and several other changes.
C. There will be a TML Regional meeting on April 20th in Laredo,
please give attendance plans as soon as possible.
D. The United Suburban
continuing negotiations
franchise arrangements.
Ci ties met
with City
this date and reported on
Public Service regarding
#12 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Hartzoq: A. At the Library
Board meeting they reported they made about $900 on the recent
book sale.
B. National Library Week is April 22nd through the 28th and they
would like a proclamation.
Mr. Sweatt advised that they are sol ici ting any donations and
volunteers for the float committee.
Mr. Baldwin reminded everyone that May 12th is Senior Citizen
Appreciation Day. He added they are still looking for prizes.
Mrs. Stanhope said she really enjoyed the article in the paper on
Schertz and she was also glad to see the letter to the State
Department of Highways regarding the Texas State Travel Guide and
we hope to get Schertz's name included.
Mrs. Marsh said the EDTF is getting ready to roll on the video,
the script has been written and approved and they are in the
process of getting the pictures to produce the best product for
the least amount of money.
Mr. Greenwald announced that April 14th at 9:00 a.m. will be the
opening day for Baseball/Softball season. Council should be
getting a formal invitation.
#13 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. April 22 through 28th is also
National Volunteer Week and since we have called ourselves, for
many years, the "City of Volunteers", we will proclaim that week
in Schertz for the volunteers.
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B. National Arbor Day is the last Friday in Apr il and we will
have a proclamation on that.
C. Mayor Sawyer asked Council's concurrence to appoint Mr. Eloy
Esquival to the Housing Authority Board to replace Mr. Keen, who
had to resign. Mr. Sawyer said he had put Mr. Keen on the
Recycling Committee. He also announced that the Executive
Director of the Housing Authority has resigned and they are
taking applications for that position.
#14 ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Baldwin IDoveg the meeting be
adjourned at 8:25 p.m., and Mr. Hartzog seconded the motion which
carried unanimously.
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Mayor, City of S~tz, Texas
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