ccreg 12-20-1988
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REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
DECEMBER 20, 2988
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session, Tuesday,
December 20, 1988, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 1400
Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members were
present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding; Earl P. Hartzog: Hal
Baldwini Ray Stanhope; Adolph Aguilar and Ken Greenwald. Staff
present were City Manaqer Kerry R. Sweatt and City Secretary June
Krause.
'1 PUBLIC HEARIBGS:
A. The Council to receive comments on the proposed transfer of
Rogers Cable TV to KBL Cable, Inc.
Mr. John Bickham, Vice-President of KBLCOM Inc., a fully owned
subsidiary of Houston Industries, addressed Council sayinq the
reason for his presence was to ask for Council consent to
transfer the control of franchise from Rogers to KBLCOM. He
stated the City's particular franchise requires that Council take
action to consent to the transfer of control. KBLCOM has been in
existence for about three years. There are about 20 franchises
in the San Antonio area with Rogers.
Mr. Baldwin asked what Mr. Bickham meant when he mentioned that
Houston Industries is a sister company to Houston Power and
Light. Mr. Bickham said Houston Industries is a holding company
and there are 6 or 7 subsidiaries including KBLCOM and Houston
Power and Light.
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Mr. Hartzog asked if there was expected to be a rate increase
within the next year. Mr. Bibkham said yes. The total
acquisition is about $1.3 billion dollars, that includes the
business in San Antonio, in Minneapolis, Portland Oregan, Orange
County California and the city of Laredo. These five companies
are owned by Rogers and KBLCOM is buying all these. Rate is the
most commonly asked question - everyone wants to know what can be
done to control rates. Mr. Bickham said the answer to that is
not easy. First of all the basic rate is just a component of a
total bill. Most people do not just pay the basic rate but pay
for all the extras they receive. He said the average bill in San
Antonio is about $25. For instance pay television HBO,
Showtime, etc. - over the last ten years has been a flat $10 and
inflation over these last ten years has been about 9%. Therefore
pay tv has actually gone down and the basic rate has gone up over
the ten year period. The rates will probablY go up about 7% per
year. Mr. Bickham said one of the problems is Cable TV is a
young immature business. In San Antonio there are about a half
million homes and only about 220,000 customers. The investment
is based on each of those homes, not just the ones have take
cable tv.
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Mr. Baldwin asked if what Mr. Bickham was saying is that even if
Rogers kept the company, the rates would increase at least 7%.
Mr. Bickham said yes and maybe more. In 1974 there were 4 basic
channels and toady there are 33 basic channels. The number of
customers has got to growi therefore they cannot be abusive about
rates.
Mr. Baldwin said what he is concerned about is what will happen
to our rates to help pay for the $25 million that San Antonio is
getting for their transfer of franchise.
Mr. Bickham said first the stock sale agreement between Rogers
and KBLCOM was signed in August of this year. One of the things
is that Rogers must go to the City of San Antonio and get them to
remove from the franchise the provision that San Antonio has the
buy-out clause. Rogers could take the City of San Antonio to
court and would probably win but they can not afford the time so
now Rogers is paying the $25 million. Mr. Bickham said with
respect to the $25 million, nobody is paying for it except
Rogers.
Mr. Aguilar said that there was a time that one of the channels
was dedicated to the cities but we had all kinds of trouble
getting anything on for the City of Schertz. Mr. Bickham said he
could not answer that as that was not his area.
Mr. Cipriano Guerro of Rogers said the demand has been very high
on public access channel with programmed materials. Mr. Sweatt
said the best way to get something on is to videotape and get it
in three to four weeks in advance. Mr. Guerro agreed.
Mr. Sweatt said Schertz is the fourth city to
resolution and the other three should be acting on
He asked Mr. Bickham that if there are any changes
the agreement between the company and anyone
cities, would the benefits be made on a regional
Bickham answered yes.
act on this
this shortly.
that occur to
of the seven
basis and Mr.
Mr. Bickham said he would be
agreeing to the removal of
franchise agreement.
getting a
the renewal
letter to
provision
the
from
City
the
There being no further discussion, Mayor Sawyer declared the
public hearing closed at 7:26 p.m.
B. The Council to receive comments on the proposed Revenue
Sharing Budget.
There were no comments from the public nor did Council have anYj
therefore, Mayor Sawyer declared this publ ic hearing closed at
7:27 p.m.
#2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A. Regular Meeting of Nov. 15th
B. Special Meeting of November 30, 1988.
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Mr. Hartzog asked that the minutes of November 30th, item # 1,
second paragraph be corrected to read: "Mr. Shriver also advised
the Business Club will have their Annual Meetinq and party at
7: 00 p.m. December 10th at Kountry Kitchen." Mr. Hartzoq also
requested that item *10, paraqraph C be corrected as follows:
"We have agreed to host the USC meeting here on December 8th
about 2:00 p.m."
Mr. Baldwin requested that the minutes of November 15th, item *9
under Mr. Baldwin: the last sentence be changed to read as
follows: "One will look like the present report and the other
will show fund balances in the various funds." Also on the same
item under Mr. Stanhope b. the first sentence should read:
"Council brought up one time about looking into bUYing that
building on FM 1518 that use to house the Ultimate Coach
rebuilding business."
Mr. Hartzog moved to approve the minutes of the Regular Meeting
of November 15, 1988 and the Special Meeting of November 30, 1988
as corrected. Mr. Baldwin seconded the motion, which carried
with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
*3 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: none
*4 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 88-D-24
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, PROVIDING THAT THE CODE OF
ORDINANCES, CITY OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, BE
AMENDED BY REVISING SECTION 18-76 MAXIMUM
LIMITS ON SPECIFIC STREETS OF SAID CODE AND
PROVIDING A REPEALING CLAUSE.
Mr. Stanhope moved to approve the final readinq of an ordinance
regulating speed limits on Lower Seguin Road. Mr. Baldwin
seconded the motion, which carried as follows:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
Mr. Sweat advised that Council had asked staff to look into
signage at the curve and the siqns are now in place. The East
side of FM 1518 on Lower Seguin Road is believed to be properly
signed.
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#5 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance and
read the caption as follows:
AN ORDINANCE
BY THE CITY COUNCIL ESTABLISHING SPEED LIMITS
ON F.M. ROAD 482 FROM THE 1-35 EAST FRONTAGE
ROAD NORTHWESTERLY TO THE NORTH CITY LIMITS
AND REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT.
Mr. Greenwald moved to approve the first reading of an ordinance
establishing speed limits on F.M. 482. Mr. Hartzog seconded the
motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 RESOLUTION: Mayor Sawyer introduced a resolution and
read the caption as follows:
RESOLUTION NO. 88-R-14
A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE TRANSFER OF
CONTROL OF ROGERS CABLESYSTEMS OF THE
SOUTHWEST, INC., HOLDER OF A FRANCHISE TO
CONSTRUCT AND OPERATE A CABLE SYSTEM IN THE
CITY, TO KBL CABLE, INC. AND KBLCOM
INCORPORATED.
Mr. Baldwin moved to
transfer of cable TV.
carried as follows:
adopt the resolution agreeing to the
Mr. Stanhope seconded the motion, which
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#7 LIBRARY BOARD: A. Reappointment of four members to the
Board.
Mr. Aguilar moved to appoint David Arneson, Margaret Riley, Marge
Smith and Gerald Thurman for two-year terms to the Library Board
beginning January 1, 1989. Mr. Greenwald seconded the motion,
which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
B. Approval of recommended slate of officers.
Mr. Aguilar moved to approve the slate of officers recommended by
the Board, those being Connie Brison, Chairman; Mary McAllister,
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Vice-Chairmani Marge Smith, Secretary; and Julie Parr, Treasurer.
Mr. Stanhope seconded the motion, which carried as follows:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aquilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
'8 UNITED SUBURBAN CITIES:
Mr. Sweatt advised he recommended this item be table as no
agreement has been made.
Mr. Baldwin moved to table this item. Mr. Aquilar seconded the
motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmen Hartzog, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#9 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: A. The traffic light at FM 78
and First Street was on a fixed time basis due to work done on
the bridge but is now back on demand schedule.
B. Concerning the improvements proposed on Lower Sequin Road,
the qeneral plan now is possibly qoinq to construction on site in
late 1989 but in real i ty will probably be 1990. The Texas
Department of Public Transportation funding cycle for this
project is tagqed at $171, 000 for approximate I y 1. 4 miles for
rebuild and then 2.4 miles of resurfacing, the area basically is
from FM 1604 to FM 15l8. They plan to rebuild the shoulders and
minor work on the br idqe. We will prepare cost estimates to
bring this road to a secondary level.
C. Cable TV wire that was low in Mobile Villa has been corrected
as of this date.
#10 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: Mr. Hartzoa wished everyone a safe
and happy holiday.
Mr. Baldwin asked if there was any truth to the rumor that the
FCC is not renewinq our license on out police frequency.
Mr. Sweatt said no, that we received a second frequency in July.
We are investiqatinq replacinq our console equipment. The higher
range used by our utility department is a much clearer channel.
We are still operating on the same channel we have always had.
If we go to the hiqher frequency, it would relieve some of the
dead spots.
Mr. Stanhope apolog~zed for beinq late to the First Annual
Christmas Awards Dinner and wished everyone a happy Christmas.
Mr. Aauilar said we had a busy year, with ups and downs, but he
feels everything is cominq out very well. He also wished
everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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Mr. Greenwald advised at the suicide prevention seminar there
were 32 attendees representing a broad sector of individuals.
There will be additional programs every third Thursday. Word is
starting to get around. We would like to get some information
about these seminars in the newsletter. Mr. Greenwald also
wished everyone a happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.
#11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mayor Sawyer joined the good wishes for
everyone for the new year.
# 12 ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Baldwin moved the meeting be
adjourned at 7:43 p.m., with Mr. Greenwald seconding the motion,
which carried unanimously.
ATTEST:
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