ccswks 08-01-1990
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
AUGUST 1, 1990
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session
Wednesday, August 1, 1990 at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of
the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The
followinq members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding;
Joe Potempa; Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald.
Absent: Hal Baldwin. Staff present were City Manaqer Kerry
Sweatt and City Secretary June Krause.
#1 HEARIRG OF RESIDERTS: Mr. Ed Mazian reminded Council
that about five weeks previously he had told them about the
ruts on Fawn Drive. They are still not fixed and are getting
worse, especially after the rains. He asked when would they be
fixed.
Mr. Sweatt said the maintenance crews have been tied up in the
Schirmerville area. The Fawn Drive and Antler Drive ruts are on
the maintenance list and will be processed as quickly as
possible. He advised that we have had problems getting asphalt.
Mr. Mazian also asked about the police vehicles he observed
parked behind 4-M Motors, beinq concerned about the cost of
storage. Mr. Sweatt advised that there is no cost involved and
the vehicles have been advertised for bid.
#2 Discussion of a Board of Adjustment hearing on a request
by Rick & Rita Saenz, 501 Aviation, for an 8 foot front yard
setback variance.
Mrs. Krause informed Council that 63 letters were mailed to
property owners, with ten returned undeliverable for various
reasons. Ten were mailed back to us - nine in favor of the
variance and one against.
Mrs. Marsh asked for clarification of the last paragraph of the
Planning & Zoning recommendation. Mr. Greenwald explained that
two members did not feel this request met the four requirements
of the ordinance since there is room on his lot.
Mrs. Stanhope said that if they moved the house back there would
be no room for mobility to qet in and out of his garage.
Mrs. Marsh said the man is only askinq for 8 feet and will still
have a 17 foot set back; but she still was concerned about this
request not meetinq the criteria for variances.
#3 Discussion of a Board of Adjustment hearing on a request
by Southwest Remodelers, on behalf of Bortels at 700 Mitchell,
for a 4' side yard variance.
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Mr. Sweatt pointed out the Planning & Zoning recommendation for
approval of the variance request and the drawing of the property.
He also called attention to the fact that the work was commenced
prior to getting a permit. Everyone is being very cooperative.
Mr. Potempa asked how much work had this contractor done in our
ci ty. Mr. Greenwald said they have been doing work here for
years and in this instance, they claimed some mix up between the
workers and their office concerning the permit.
Mr. Sweatt added that our ordinance also calls for a penalty for
not getting the permit prior to doing the work. They would have
to pay double for the permit.
Mr. Greenwald suggested a letter be put in the file with
Southwest Remodeler' s bond that they are put on notice. He
advised that the City Inspectors have, on their own, come out on
weekends to check on any building going on to be sure permits
were obtained.
#4 Discussion of the final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Code by revising Section 13-14 Peddlers' and
Solicitors' Permits (b)(7) and (e).
There were no further comments on this proposed ordinance at this
time.
#5 Discussion of the final consideration of an ordinance
amending the Code by adding Article VI Garage Sales.
Mayor Sawyer and Councilmembers said they had no further comments
on this ordinance either, except to get on with it.
#6 Discussion of budget workshops.
Mr. Sweatt said it was his intention, in accordance with the City
Charter, to file the recommendation on the budget the following
day with the City Secretary. He said that a number of the
meetings were also predetermined and he needed direction on
several others. He then listed the meeting dates in August as
being the 7th, 15th, 21st and 29th. He suggested the meetings of
August 7th and 15th as workshops on the budget as separate items
from the regular meeting. We could also have workshops on the
21st and the 29th if necessary. To comply with the Texas Tax
Code, it appears there will have to be a special meeting on
September 11th, which would be a public hearing on the tax rate.
It must be the only item on the agenda. The effective tax rate
can be published on August 8th, then we would anticipate to have
on the September 4th agenda a proposal to adopt a tax rate. This
is just a proposal to place the consideration of it on the
agenda. Under this schedule the notice will be in the paper on
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September 11th on what the tax rate is proposed to be; and on
September 18th, Council would be considerinq a vote on the tax
ordinance. At the same time, the budqet public hearinq would be
held on September 18th.
MR. BALDWIN ARRIVED AT 7:37 P.M.
Mr. Sweatt said that if the tax rate is adopted on the 18th of
September, that qives us time to qet the tax notices out by the
1st of October. He said we are still receivinq final information
from the Guadalupe County Appraisal District. It does appear
that we have had a decrease in our total assessed valuation,
ranqinq from 3 to 5%. It appears now that we would be lookinq at
a tax rate increase.
#7 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. Just for information, there
is a project that is 100% reimbursable - that is a cooperation
project with the Texas Department of Public Transportation for
relocation of a water line on Schertz Parkway at I35. Bids will
be received on the 16th.
B. It has been called to our attention that speed limits on
Lower Sequin Road have been considered and posted at a speed that
was thouqht to be proper. However, somehow it has slipped
throuqh and has not been put in ordinance. We would now like to
place this ordinance on the next aqenda.
C. We have solicited bids for a number of items of surplus
property. There is equipment from the Fire Service,
Administration, BUildinq Maintenance, Police, Street/Parks, and
Water/Waste Water plus five vehicles. As of the deadline, we
only received two bids and those only on partial items. One bid
was for only two printers for a total of $100. The second
included various items includinq all of the bicycles. The
hiqhest bid for anyone bicycle was $5.00.
Council was in aqreement to not let the bicycles qo for this bid
and to include them in an auction by the Humane Society/ Library.
Mr. Sweatt said one of the reason we had not qone with an auction
on all these items was the complexity of qettinq all the items
toqether in one place.
Mr. Baldwin said the School District also has a qood bit of this
type items and suqqested qettinq toqether and havinq a combined
auction.
Mayor Sawyer suqqested lettinq the City Manaqer see what he could
come up with and make a recommendation to Council.
D. Just a reminder that bids are out now for qarbaqe collection
services. The bid openinq will be about the 23rd of Auqust.
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*8 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mrs. Marsh: A. The Metrocom Chamber
of Commerce met on July 18th. The Diplomat Committee talked
about the "Business of the Month" and the luncheon at Red
Lobster. The Economic Development Committee is searching for a
new Chairman. Joe Ramos brought up the fact that the UTSA
Economic Development Center gets funds to help people trying to
get going with things on Economic Development. Joe was
considering the possibility of getting some help on the Profile,
and he was going to submit this as a special project for funding
under this program. They still do not know when they will get
the profile out. Education Committee had no report. There was a
UTSA Seminar at Converse about how the seminar could benefit the
ci ties. They did not have too good a turnout. Now they are
going to contact the cities and try to get them to host one of
these seminar in their city. They are planning on one a month.
They talked about the good mixer at Gunn Chevrolet, had about 160
people there. The Past Chairman talked about the Wal-Mart $2,000
grant and that it was not a continuing grant. Then they
discussed Economic Development tourism. They also talked about
the San Antonio/Austin Corridor Council dues coming up and lot of
discussion about it being too much for what little good they got
out of it. They also discussed working on getting new
memberships and they need a new Chairman for this committee.
Jim Shriver, Treasurer, advised that right now they are out of
the arrears and a little on the plus side.
Mrs. Marsh said her observation is that this Chamber does not
real I y impress her. They can I t seem to get people to do what
they are suppose to do, they can't get committee chairmen or get
them to go to the meetings. They needs plans and everything.
She added that when you have so many cities working together,
there is so much that could be done if properly organized and
run. She added that perhaps we should start thinking about our
own Chamber of Commerce in the City of Schertz.
Jim Shriver said that had he known what he was going to get into,
he would never have volunteered to run for director. He said
that the way the Chamber is organized, he sees no future for it
and they can not even get the cities to participate in the
Chamber.
Mayor Sawyer suggested getting our City people, Business Club
Members and politicians together to see if there is a way they
can form a Chamber of Commerce and hire a person to direct it.
Mr. Baldwin said to hire a director of a Chamber is not cheap.
He added that he has always been an advocate of keeping the
regional concept. He said he did not see any real value in each
city having their own little Chamber.
B. The last Business Club meeting was very en joyable and well
attended. The meal was free from Marianne Bulgrin. There were
comments about the 4th of July Jubilee and they are looking
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forward to it being bigger and better in the future. Anita Clark
did a fantastic job and so did Nolan Edwards on the parade.
Anita has said she will take it again next year. There will be
an after-action meeting on August 8th. They had a little trouble
with the carnival so will have a different one next year. The
"Sweetheart" really enjoyed herself. They discussed ways of
getting more interest in the "Sweetheart" contest for next year.
Mr. Potempa added that the Schertz Business Club will sponsor our
"Sweetheart" into the Greater Randolph Area Chamber of Commerce
pageant to represent us.
Mrs. Marsh asked how we are going to get requests for our float
to be in parades. Mr. Sweatt said that Nolan Edwards was going
to get us a list of parades and then we will write letters saying
we have a float available. He added that we need to come up with
some ground rules on the float, primarily where we are going to
go with the float.
Mr. PotemDa: A. Humane Society will meet August 6 at 7 p.m. at
the Kountry Kitchen and the first Monday in September, they will
meet for an election of officers.
B. On Friday night during the ten o'clock news on channelS, the
City got some bad publicity.
Mr. Sweatt said he and Mr. Potempa had discussed this and they
were accurate as far as it went. The number they used stating
that the City of Schertz was the second highest city in regards
to dollars of fines in the San Antonio area, with Leon Valley
being first, was the amount in our original budget last year.
That figure has now dropped downward, during our mid-year
adjustment, to about $168,000. He said he did not know where
they got that number but it was right at the beginning of the
budget year.
C. At the next Tuesday's meeting, the Business Club will present
the Employee of the Quarter plaque.
Mrs. StanhoDe said she would like for the Council to have some
mini tours of various departments prior to discussion on the
budget.
After discussion, it was decided to meet at 6:00 p.m. and tour at
least two departments prior to the next meeting.
#9 ITEMS BY MAYOR: A. Mayor Sawyer and Mrs. Marsh
attended the Swim Meet and it was very nice.
B. Mr. Gutierrez has started his recycling effort off FM 3009 at
his old landfill site.
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# 10 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business I Mayor
Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned at 8:31 p.m.
ATTEST:
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