ccswks 05-09-1990
I.
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL
MAY 9, 1990
The Schertz City Co~ncil convened in Special Worksnop Session,
Wednesday. May 9. 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: A. Mr. Malford Ackermann invlted
the Council to drive Maske Road, then aSKed why there was not a
scheduled maintenance for this road. He added that after the
last rain, the garbage truck came through and lett deep ruts and
they are still there. He said some maintenance has been done on
the other end of Maske but not on his end.
Mr. Sweatt said it was on the work order 1 ist to be done and
since we are short of personnel we are behind schedule and
hopefUlly it will be done either thls or next week.
Mayor Sawyer assured Mr. Ackermann the work would be taken care
of as soon as possible.
B. Mrs. Marsh said she appreciated the opportuni t"J to speak.
She said she wanted to address the SUbject of the water tower.
Everything that she has seen, heard or read - all the words have
been put out by Garden Ridge and Schertz has had no opportunity
to respond. She added that she was very hopeful that whEn Mr.
Sweatt advised the Mayor of Garden Ridge that the letters would
come of: f , the subj ect woul d die a natural death ; but it seems
that has not happened. When the two articles in the Herald and
Recorder-Times came out this date. she said she felt that dUE to
camp 1 etel y erroneous i nforma t ion in some ins tances. the reccrd
needs to be set straight. First of all, Mr. Sweatt vIas not
respons ib I e for the pa i ntlng of ~ Schertz ~ on that water tower.
Many months ago when this Council was going through the
del iberations of the budqet, one of the items on the budget \vctS
the painting of the water towers. At that time just in
discussion - someone mentioned the fa,.:t that why don I t we have
o~r name on water towers 1 ike other places have their name C1
water towers. She said she thought the discussion went something
1 ike you don' t put names on your 'Jround storage water tower s ,
on I y on e 1 eva ted water towers. Then, in the d1 scuss ion c, t
painting that water tower, Council said why not go ahead and put
our name on that water tower; and it was agreed that we would put
our name cn tha.t water tc>wer. Mrs> Marsh said it \4aS dc,ne in the
budqet by mutual agreement by the entire City Council, Mr. Sweatt
did not do it. She added t ha tit was net done with ma 1 ice. we
were just identifying ()ur property. There was some discuss.:.o!"
about what would Garden Ridge think; but Council just did not
think it was that big a thing. She said that had Council kncwn
this was going to end up a ~water-tower gate". we would not have
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.. agreed to go ahead and put ~ Schertz" on that tower; however. she
tel t persona 11 y that we had every right to do ri- t . Mrs. Mars h
said she just wanted to set the record straight, the City Council
did not intend to aggravate our neighbors. She added that we are
sorry that some of the people in Garden Ridge had thin skin and
objected. We rectified this almost immediately. She said that
Mayor Yohey had contacted her and asked her to think strongl y
about it and she did, as well as all the other Councilmembers;
and when they were polled for their vote, they voted to paint it
out.
Mayor Sawyer said he did pole the Council and they voted to paint
out the lettering; but he did not feel we were breaking any law.
#2 Discussion of final reading of an ordinance revising
speed limits on Schertz Parkway.
Mr. Malford Ackermann said that he crosses Schertz Parkway three
or four times a day and he feel s that Maske Road is rather a
blind intersection. He said the speed limit now is 30 miles per
hour and he does not want to see accidents by raising the speed
1 imi t. It is especial 1 y bl ind if the weeds grow at all. He
said he would hate to see the speed limit raised to 45 miles per
hour, he said maybe it could be raised to 35 MPH. He asked that
Council consider his comments.
Mr. Hartzog said Council needs to look at the line-ot-sight as it
applies to farm vehicles.
Mr. Sweatt said we do meet the 25-foot trianglization, and
currently it does not pose a visibility problem. Obviously if
tall weeds grow up there, it could be a problem.
Mr. Baldwin said he drove it and he could agree, if there
weeds very tall, it could be dangerous. He said he could
what he fel t was a reasonable distance in order to cross.
mentioned that there are only one or two people that live on
road, which should be considered. He agrees that when
overpass gets in something will have to be done. He said at
point, he did not see that big a problem.
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Mr. Hartzog said the City is planning to do work on the dip; but
maybe we should look at it.
Mrs. Marsh suggested taking another look at this. She initially
said she did not see any problem but would like to take another
close look at it.
Mr. Hartzog said he wanted to get the speed up
there is enough line-of-sight for farm machinery.
if staff says
Mayor Sawyer polled Council to see if they wanted to recheck this
before passing the final ordinance. After discussion, three
members of the Council asked that more study be done.
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#3 Discussion of the final readlng ot an ordinance amending
the Code of Ordinances by revising Article V - Water and Waste
Water Capital Recovery Fees.
Mayor Sawyer said Council has approved the first reading of this
ordinance and he did not see anything wrong with the fees. The"
will be looked at every year to be sure they are still in line.
Mr. Sweatt said the changes suggested by t~e City Attorney have
been made and will be highlighted.
#4 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sa\vyer in'troduced an c,rdinance and
read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 90-E-14
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, CANVASSING THE RETURNS AND
DECLARING THE RESULTS OF THE CITY OFFICERS
ELECTION HELD IN SAID CITY ON THE 5TH DAY OF
MAY. 1990, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY'.
After canvassing the returns, Mr. Hartzog lTloY~l3d to appro'le the
ordinance canvassinG the returns 2nd declaring the results of the
election held on May 5, 1990 and declar ing an emergency. Mr.
Greenwald seconded the motion. which carried with the following
vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Hartzog. Baldwin. Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#5 Discussion of the first reading of an ordinance amending
the Code of Ordinances by revising Chapter 10, Article III.
Section 10-60 Exceptions.
Mr. Sweatt said this has come about as a recommendation of the
Plann:nq tx Zoning Commission ir. order to deal with junked and
abandor.ed ca:rs ar.d to clean UD tr.e ordinance. The State law
defines an antique car as one 35 years old. which is exempt from
so:ne thir.>:;J's u'lder the ordinance. However, these cars must be
licensed and have insurance. etc.. P&Z 15 beinq asked for
exemptions to allow them to work on these cars at their
residence. In some instances, they can do the work in accordance
with the ordinance by working behind a privacy fence or the like.
However. some say the car 15 not at a 5taqe that it is ready to
be licensed or because it is hard to get reDair parts. Because
of this. Planning & Zoning members thouqht there should be soree
alternative to the ordinance. So we have this recommendation to
revise the ordinance so that following a hearing before the P&Z
and satisfying the requirements of an antique vehicle, a
serviceable cover may be used to shield this vehicle from public
view. It should be clean and in the shape of the vehicle. Mr.
:>C 212
+. .
Sweatt said basically the burden would st~l be on the property
owner to make an appl ication for an exemption to the P&Z. If
they could prove the cover meets these cr iter ia, the exemption
could be allowed. This has had a lot of discussion at the
Planning and Zoning Commission meetings.
Mr. Greenwald said it seems a lot of antique restorers have more
than one vehicle and only have a one-car garage. Also trying to
get parts for these older vehicles is extremely hard and take a
lot of time. By not being able to put the car in a garage, P&Z
thought by letting them use this cover, it would give them
another option.
Mrs. Marsh said she felt the cover would be sufficient.
Mr. Hartzog referred to the 35-year age for antiques and then
asked about classic vehicles which could be less than that, this
should be looked into.
Council agreed with Mayor Sawyer to put this on the next agenda.
#6 Discussion of the establishment of the Office of Records
Management and related actions in accordance with the Texas Local
Government Records Act.
Mr. Sweatt advised that the Texas Local Government Records Act
requires that each local government establish a records
management division by ordinance, or order, no later than January
1, 1990. However, a Records Management Officer must be appointed
and a Records Management Committee established no later than June
1, 1990. He said he had included in the packet a sample
ordinance that would place us in compliance with State law.
Staff suggests that the Office of the City Secretary be appointed
as the Records Management Off icer and the Committee consist of
City Manager, Water/Waste Water Superintendent, Chief of Police,
Streets Superintendent and Librarian.
#7 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Sawyer advised there is no
longer a need to hold an executive session.
#8 Consider and take action, if any, regarding item '7. No
action necessary.
#9 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. The annual Chamber of
Commerce Military Appreciation Golf Tournament will be held at
Northcliffe on June 1, 1990 and our City normally participates in
the mixer. We paid $50.00 as a sponsor. Council agreed to this
expenditure.
B. Reminder of Student Government Day on May 15th. The general
plans are for everyone to meet in the Council Chambers at 9:00
a.m. for a briefing. From there, the students will go with their
selected counterparts; and we will all meet again at noon at the
Library for lunch. After that, we will all go back to the
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Council Chambers for reports from the students and then hav,::, a
mock council meeting.
C. On May 16 at the Eadisson Hotel in San Antonio, tnere \,-,111 be
a Economic Development Seminar for suburban cities. It will
begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 4:30 p.m.. There is no
charge; however, we need to let them know the attendance numbers
by May 11th.
# 10 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: MX$, _J1Ci.rsh:
Economic Development Task Force would have
4th Jubilee and will be sell ing T-shirts,
watches and whatever they have.
A. Advised that the
a booth at the Jul y
coaster. cups, ':;aps,
B. She asked if staff had heard anything more on the stop light
for FM 3009, saying it usually takes at least 15 minutes :0 get
onto FM 3009. Mr. Sweatt said they did a traffic count but we
have not heard anything.
C. On the name tags - she said she was going ~o have one made to
see if the Council likes it. It will be a yellow name tag with
royal blue lettering with our logo.
Mr. JlaIt:20g: A. Just rerninded Council they need ':0 cOlsider the
Mayor Pro Tern and keep in mind about a charter review. He said
he did not know of anything that needed changing but they may
want to consider drug testing.
Mayor Sawyer said he was going to aSK the City Manager to find
out what it cost for drug testing, then multiply that by the
number of city employees and just find out the total cost first.
B. He asked for a traffic count on Maske Road.
C. At the Library Board meeting, there was mention of high weeds
growing at the railroad tracks at Schertz Parkway and FM 78.
D. He had a lonq conversation with a resident of Lone Oak who
stated the rocks are falling off the wall in the park. Even if
we cannot get the rocks, could the wall be cemented.
E. He reminded Council. for future consideration, the problem of
Fawn Drive - something should be done.
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MLs..S_tClDh_c.'Pe: A. The Housing Authority is in the process of
hiring an Executive Director, should finalize next Monday night.
B. Mentioned ite~ #6 on the City Manager activity report
concerning the proper disposal of some 18" AC water pipe that was
a part of the Mangum lawsuit matter. Mr. Baldwin asked if Mr.
Sweatt was sure bidding would not get a better price. He said he
wou 1 d get in touch with the man that did the school's di sposa 1
and see what he would estimate the cost to be
OJ, ~ L.
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r:-1:L.~_IialJlwl!1: A. Noticed that the Departmen:: Heads are in the
process of getting their mid-year budget revisions ready. He
said that in looking at the Financial Report, there are some
areas that shows right now is the time to be looking at those.
He said he was hoping they would be ready wi thin a couple of
weeks. Mr. Sweatt said it was all in his hands and he was trying
to get them finished real soon.
B. Reminded everyone to be at the Parish Hall Friday night at
6:00 p.m. to set up the tables and do some cooking for the Senior
Citizen Appreciation Day on Saturday.
M!:.~_nJlre~m'LC!)d: A. Planning & Zoning is going to be sending
recommendations on ETJ and annexation suggestions. He said they
have had several committee meetings on this.
B. CVADAC is going out for a grant in the amount of $35,000 for
extended services. The move to the new building was helpful but
is br inging in more people. Guadal upe County Probation people
were at the meeting and they are going to put CVADAC on their
communi ties services program. There are restrictions who they
can put down there but they can put people ::0 cut grass, answer
telephones and things like that.
# 11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: As is his custom after elections,
Mayor Sawyer announced his appointments of ex-officio members to
the various boards in the City.
Mrs. Marsh - Economic Development Task Force, Business Club, San
Antonio-Austin Corridor Council, Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Greenwald - BVYA, Planning & Zoning and CVADAC
Mr. Baldwin - EMS and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD
Mrs. Stanhope - Library and the Housing Authority
Mr. Potempa - Humane Society and the VFW.
B. He asked if we could see about getting a light at FM 78 and
the Smoke Pit. Mr. Sweatt advised that is not a street coming
out of the Smoke Pit, only the parking lot.
C. Referred to some pot holes he had discussed with the City
Manager and wanted to know who is responsible - the City. Entex
or who. This is on Aviation.
D. There is also a puddle in front of Mrs. Anderson's house on
Maple that has been there forever. He asked that Mr. Graham get
down there and look at it. Mr. Sweatt said we have worked on the
issue but there is no place to move the water because it is
extremely flat there.
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..... Al so check the corner at Schertz ParklrJay atd C~urtiss \vhere
t~ere is 31so a Dig puddle.
F. Has
Osborn's
there
well.
been any prO'JTe3S in the purchase of Mr.
Mr. Sweatt said in the hands of the attorney.
Pat
G . Concerning the sel ect ionJf a Mayor Pro 'rem,
Councilmembers get together and make a decision.
said Mr. Greenwald is the senior member.
he sUGgested
Hr. B3.1dwin
H. Received a letter from Greg Laughlin, 3aying he appreciated
hearing from us and can understand our concern over the rise in
Cable TV rates.
Mr. Sweatt said there would be a meeting of the United Suburban
Cities the following day and they are continuing their
discussion of the Cable TV situation.
Mr. Neller showed Council some Christmas ornaments he is making
to replace the ones he made last year that were too small.
Mr. Potempa announced that he had the material to construct the
sleigh for this year.
# 12 ADJOURNMENT: There beinG no further business, Mayor
Sawyer declared the meeting Close~L~~~~
Mayor, City of Sche ~',
ATTEST:
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Clty of Schertz