ccswks 04-27-1988
108
\
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
APRIL 27, 1988
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, April 27, 1988, at 7:~~ p.m. in the Conference Room of
the Municipal Complex. 14~~ Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The
following members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding;
Charles B. Sharpe; Hal Baldwin; Ray Stanhope; Adolph Aguilar and
Ken Greenwald. Staff present were City Manager Jimmy G. Gilmore
and City Secretary June G. Krause.
#1 BEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Mr. George Brown, who is one
of the 5 home owners in Northcliffe annexed into the City, said
he was before Council the previous October or November asking
that Council consider deannexing them. He received a letter on
November 3~th saying it was going to be considel"ed. He said they
responded to that letter on December 4th. On January 26th he
said he wrote the Mayor asking what was going to be done and he
has never heard what is going to be done. He said he was present
to again ask Council to consider deannexing them.
Mr. Gilmore said of the letters sent out to those residents, one
came back asking not to be deannexed and that was plesented to
Council around January or February and a decision has not come
back.
Mayor Sawye~ said Council's decision was that if everybody wanted ~-~
it, Council would deannex but everybody did not request
deannexation.
Mr. Brown asked if he understood then that Council did consider
the request and decided not to deannex.
Mr. Baldwin said he did not remember considel"ing, although he did
know. that it was talked about, he did not remember making a
decision not to deannex.
Mr. Aguilar saLd evidently Mr. Brown never did get notified of
Council s decision. He went on to say that it was discussed and
if eveLybody said yes, okay; but they would not deannex just one
piece of land. Mr. Aguilar said if Council deannexed
individually, that would start something that everybody would ask
for. If not l~~% for deannexation, Council will not annex. -
Mr. Baldwin sa~d Council should make an official decision.
Mayor Sawyer asked that this be on the next workshop and the
following meeting it will come up for a vote.
B. Mrs. Courtney said it was not her intention to talk to
Council; however she had received a letter, sent by cer-tified
mail, and that she had made copies so that Council would have
them for their discussion. She said that obviously this was an
attempt by Chief Keith to get her to drop her investigation.
(
109
C. Mr. Doerk said he had been a pO~lceman in Schertz for 3 1/2
years and he too got a letter from the Chief s attorney. Mr.
Doerk went on to say that he had never attended a Council meeting
until the previous Tuesday night and he has not said anything or
has he written anyth~ng. He said there was an incident where he
called for a police officer and was told that an officer would
not go to his house and the report would not be investigated.
Mayor Sawyer said he also received a letter
Counsel, which says approximately what was in
letter. Mayor Sawyer said he did advise Council
become involved without our attorney present as
matter.
from Mr. Keith's
Mrs. Courtney's
that they do not
this is a civil
Mr. Doerk asked if Council would discuss his complaint.
Mayor Sawyer said not until our attorney is present.
Mr. Sharpe asked when this incident occurred and Mr. Doerk said
early March or April of 1987. Then Mr. Sharpe asked him why he
waited so long to report it. Mr. Doerk said he did not want to
get involved, that he would rather talk to Councll one on one.
Mayor Sawyer then asked Mr. Doerk if he had written a letter of
resignation and read portions of Mr. Doerk's resignation.
Mr. Doerk said that when a peLson leaves, he wants to leave with
a good impression.
Mayor Sawyer saJ.d we will handle his complaint but would not
comment on litigation between Mr. Doerk and Kelth.
Mrs. Courtney said she was still in the process of circulating a
petition.
Mayor SawyeL commented that he did not intend to discuss this
until he had our attoLney present.
D. (I) Mr. Willman announced that there was a vacancy on
Planning & Zoning if Council had anyone they thought might want
to serve.
(2) Mr. Willman asked who has control of the
between our city lim~ts and New Braunfels.
construction going on in that area.
strip
There
of
is
land
some
Mr. Gilmore said we are aware of the construction and are looking
into it now.
E. Mr. Ralph Ikels addressed Council, saying she ~lves on
Richardson Drive and has known Chief Keith for 14 years. She
said she knows that he is a dedicated Ch~ef that has done many
good things that people are not aware of.
~
110
\
#2
REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:
A. ordinance amending the Code by rezoning 3.817 acre tract from
R-2 to General Business and Neighborhood Services.
Theie being no further discussion, Mayor Sawyer asked that this
ltem be placed on the next agenda.
B. ordinance amending the Code by rezoning 888+ acres
surrounding Schertz Parkway.
Mayol. Sawyer explained that this merely is correcting specific
acreage for the different zonings. He then asked that this item
also be on the next agenda.
C. ordinance regulating speed limit on F.M. 78.
Mayot Sawyet said the Highway Department recommends the speed
limits and this gives our police the right to regulate the speed
limlts.
#3 POLICE RESERVE APPOINTMENTS: Mayor Sawyer said that he
had told Mr. Marrero that this~would be voted on tonight although
oLdinarlly Council does not vote at workshop.
Mr. Greenwald moved to appoint Mr. Marrero to the Police Reserve
Force. Mr. Baldwin seconded the motion, which carried as
follows~
AYES: Councilmen Sharpe, Baldwin, Stanhope, Aguilar and
Greenwald
NAYS: None
14 Discussion of citizen complaint.
Mayor Sawyer said Council has had a complaint from Mrs. Courtney,
who wants an Ad Hoc Committee appointed to investigate the police
department in the areas of turnover, salary, reason for leaving
the fo:...ce and warrant fees. Mayor Sawyer went on to say he
wanted to know if the Council wants an Ad Hoc Committee.
Mr. Baldwin asked what the charter says about this.
Mr. Gilmore said the investigation will be done by the Council
because the Council is only one that can subpoena and make final
considerations.
Mr< Aguilar asked if Mr. Gi~more was saying that no one else can
investigate. Mr. Gilmore answered that that is the way the
charter is written.
Mr. Aguilar then said :-f something ~s not right in a department,
then they would have to go to Council. Mr. Gilmore said he does
,/~
!
111
his investigation first and presents it to Council and if Council
does not agree, then they can.
Mr. Aguilar then said if what you say is true, then anytime we
investigate, it is because we do not believe you are right. Some
thlngs we don t hear about and maybe working under the gun. Mr.
Aguilar said what he meant was that a lot of things have happened
that Council does not know about.
Mr. Gilmore answeled that if a person :Leaves the City and says
one thing and then comes back and says something else, then what
do you believe. If someone that has left the city changes his
mind and now wants to put that in writing, ~t can be
investigated.
Mr. Baldwin said that if a committee needs to be appointed, lt
needs to be a Council Comm~ttee.
Mayor Sawyer said it is the Council's decis~on to ~nvestigate and
their decision as to what is investigated but do i. t under the
law. Mayor Sawyer said he feJ,t this was a complaint against the
C~ty Manager and the way he manages departments. He went on to
say that if a citizen complains about the pay, then lt is up to
the Council because they control the pay.
Mr. Stanhope asked Lf a policeman is asked to reslgn, does ~t go
to the Ci ty Manager or Chief. Mr. Gilmore said It goes to the
Personnei Officer.
Mr. Stanhope then asked if a policeman is asked to resign, does
he wr~te a letter. Mr. Gilmore said that we know because there
aLe th:J,ngs in this person s personnel file. Mr. Stanhope then
asked if a person comes in and says he wants to resign; is he
asked why? Again Mr. GLLmore sal.d it is alJ in his peLsonneJ..
file - Mr. Doe....k was not asked to resign. All recoolds are kept
in Pe;..sonnel.
Mr. Baldwin asked if the ones on the list, presented by the City
Manager of those that have left, that did not resign - were they
asked to resign. Mr. Gilmore said we may tell them they have the
optlon of resigning or being fiLe.
Mr. Baldwin asked lf any of them had asked for a hear ing. Mr.
Gilmore said the last one did and made two appointments and then
did not show up.
Mr. Baldwin stated that in 1987 seven ieft - 3 resigned and one
did not make probation. Mr. Gilmore said that in the SCUC Schooi
Distr ict Samuel Clemens High School had a 15.9% tULnovel Late;
Corbett Jr. HJ..gh had l~%; Dobie Intermediate had 22.6%; Rose
Ga~den Elementary had 41.6%; Schertz Elementary had 20% and
Wiederstein Elementary had a 40% turnover rate. This shows it lS
not uncommon fool a public entity to have a large turnover.
~
112 \
Mr Stanhope sald he was really concerned about the turnover.
Mr. Gilmore said he had been going over some of the old Council
minutes and back in 1978 there was concern with pay and turnover.
He said that during the past year pay has come up seven times and
two times pay was increased in one way or another.
Mr. Aguilar asked that of the officers today, besides the Chief,
how many have been employed longer than four years. Mr. Gilmore
said two for 4 years; one for three years and one going on two
years. Mr. Aguilar added that out of a total of eleven, there is
a large turnover that has been here less than one year; only four
people have been here over two years.
Mr. Shalpe said he had jotted down some words - daily operation,
turnovei, salary and warrants. Council has talked about all but
daily operation and he did not consider he needed to know that or
even want to know. ML. Shar'pe cont inued by saying that it is
interesting to note that in 1982 the police department budget was
$233,~~~ and $487,~~~ ~n 1987. He said we do raise sala:...ies but
they are still low. Mi. Sharpe said he did not know what a
committee could tell Council that they did not already know. He
said Council had copies of letters of resignation and it was hard
to understand a peLson leaving for one ieason and coming back
later and say that is not the reason. He said he was not sure
what Council wanted - raise salaries of staff by raising taxes or
whatever. Mr. Sharpe said salar ies have been r-aised and they
have added additional people to the department. He said he was
not sure what an investigation would accomplish.
Mr< Greenwald saLd he agreed with Mr. Shalpe Council has known
for six years that our pay is not comparable and how much they
could afford to raise salaries He said every budget year
Council raises salar ies and everybody else does so Schertz is
continuaL..y behind. Mr. Greenwald said Council has tr ied to
upgrade some equipment as they can.
Mr. Baldwin said thLs is something that must be resolved by this
Council. He said he agreed about the daily management but
Council continues to have people come to Council, ';'ndividualiy
and in groups, with allegations and complaints. He said there
was no person on the Council that did not suspect somethlng was
wLong. Mr. Baldwin said the only way Council can know is to
investigate - start at the top with the City Manager.
Mayor Sawyer said he had one police officer that complained to
him peLsonally and that was a long time ago. Mr. Sawyer said if
there is a complaint, he insists that ~t be in writing. He said
he had no reason to disbelieve anything Mrs. Courtney has said
but he did not disbelieve anything any other has said elther.
Mr. Sha~pe said he had not had but one active officeL call him.
He said when a person leaves and then comes in later and
complalns, he does not listen.
/~
113
Mr. Baldwin said that maybe _f Council had an investigation and
called them all back in, it would open their eyes.
Mr Stanhope stated that the City does not have a problem with
any other department .Like they have with the police department
fo~ the last thLee years. He said he had met with Mr. Yeater and
talked to him and also met with other people and thele are l~tt~e
th~ngs. Mr. Stanhope said maybe Council should lnvestigate. He
said he was probably one of the strongest for the pol~ce
depar tment but maybe if there is a little smoke, there is a
little fire.
Mr. Sha~pe said he had more complaints on other departments than
on the poiice department. He said if they did invest_gate what
wou.id be the scope - what are Council looking fOL. The pay is
low - we know _t; on resignations - if they don t put ~n the true
reason at the time of ~eav~ng, could we be~ieve them next time.
Mr. Gilmore stated that State and Federal law restr~cts us from
giv~ng out any information on employees except name, position,
and length of service on people who leave. It is also covered ~n
our employee manual.
Mr. Doerk sa~d the only thing he could see that an investigation
would do is to insure people that nothing is wrong.
Mr. Sharpe asked Mr. Doerk if he had rather leave the department
rather than stand up and be counted; then you come back and throw
rocks. Mr-. Sharpe said he finds that there are systems and
procedures to let someone know what is wrong. It ~oses validity
to complain after you are gone.
Mr. Doerk sa~d if he complained, it would be unbearable for him
in the department. He said he would not get anywhere in law
enforcement if he was tagged a complainer. He went on to say
that he could not take if after working here for three years.
Mayor Sawye~ thanked Mr. Doerk for his comments.
Mr. Sharpe said Council should answer Mrs. Courtney s request for
an Ad Hoc Committee, saying that Council had discussed many
things she brought up and Council did not see any reason for an
Ad Hoc CommJ_ttee.
Mayor Sawyer said that according to the Charter, Council can
investigate only and what are they going to investigate.
Mr. Gilmore said our crime index is down and recovered property
is appreciably up.
Mr. Baldwin said he did not have any complaints about patrolmen
performance of duties.
~"
114
'\
Mr. Gi~.more said the only complaints he receives are PR and
something must be done right because of the letters we get. He
said he judges management on output. Every person has a
different style of management. No one has complained about bad
service from the police department.
Mr. Aguilar said Council has a question that has not been
cleared - retalnability and why.
Mr. Gilmore said that refer ring to the letters of resignation,
when people leave, they have the' options as listed in the
Personnel Manual and they all s~gn saying they have read that -
they do not have to go to the department head.
Mr. Doerk said he was aware that he could go to the City Manager
but he felt it would get back to the Chief.
Mr. Baldwin said he did not remembeL Council turning down a pay
increase or more persons or if equipment was asked for; but he
did not want the Council to take the rap for the cars. Some time
back Council was told this was the best way to go on cars.
Mayor Sawyer said over the past several years Council has raised
poLlce pay a number of times - one time $5~ a month. He said
last year Council wanted to increase pay higher than other
departments but general opinion was to give them an increase in
clothing allowance instead. Mr. Sawyer said he did advocate pay
raises for all lower paid employees of the City. He said before
Gilmore's time, Councils did not raise taxes for any reason. He
said if Council now gets a positive reaction, they raise taxes.
Mr. Sharpe saJ.d i.f you look at the area surveys, our Water
Street Supei. visor, City Manager, City Secretary etc. all
undeL pa~d. You have Eo look at the whole city structure,
just one department.
Mayor Sawyer then asked if Council wanted an investigation of the
street department. Mr. Baldwin said Council should first answer
Mr. Sharpe s suggestion, which was to answer Mrs. Courtney by
saying we do not want an Ad Hoc lnvestigation.
and
are
not
Mayor SawyeL polled the Council with Mr. Aguilarf Mr. Baldwin and
Mr. Stanhope disagreeing and Mr. Greenwald agreeing with Mr.
Sha.pe.
Mayor SawyeL said from that I take it you want the Council to
investigate and he suggested Council first get with our attorney
and proceed on whatever lines our attorney sets out for us. Mr.
Sawyer said he refused to go on a witch hunt. Both Mr. Baldwin
and Mr. Stanhope said no one wants a witch hunt.
#5 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Sawyer called an Executive
Session under Article 6252-17, Section 2 (f) on land acquisition
at 8:36 p.m.
I
1 J f)
The workshop meeting was reconvened at 8:53 p.m. with Mayor
Sawyer explaining they discussed land acquis}tion of a parcel of
lana Council is lnterested in purchasing for a weil site.
#6 Consideration of an ordinance amending the code by
revising Section 18-45 vehicular weight limit on Schertz Parkway
and East Live Oak Road.
Mayor Sawyer said that Mr. Ackermann had requested that Council
look again at the weight :dmit as he felt it was not even high
enough fo{ a fa~m vehicle.
Mr. GilmoLe sald this ordinance calis for 15,0~0 weight ~imit as
the school buses weight about 14,900 pounds.
Mr. Sha_pe asked the we~ght of the large grocery tLucks.
Mr. Willman suggested restr~cting to through traffic.
Mr. GLeenwald agreed that the ordinance shouid state "to through
traffic".
#7 Consideration of an ordinance amending the code, Section
12 1/2 Parks and Recreation.
Mr. Gilmore sa_d we aLe trying to bring the park fees In
alignment with the other Ci. ties. People outside the Cl ty are
using our parks because of the low fees and our people don t get
in there. This ordinance will bring our fees in line.
Mayor Sawyer said we should not penalize our citizens.
Mr. Stanhope asked if anybody did a survey as to who is using our
facilities.
Mr. Gilmore said he had but did not have the figures with him.
Mr. Greenwald said that Jerry Graham has done it two times that
he knows of and 80% of the users are not from here.
Mr. Baldwin pointed out that the ordinance says the parks will be
closed from 11:~~ p.m to 8:~~ a.m.; and asked about the guy out
jogg ing. Mr. Gilmore said he didn (t feel this would apply to
someone like that because they would be passing through.
Mayor Sawyer then asked that this be on the next agenda.
18 Discussion of Schertz Parkway Grand Opening.
Mr. Gilmore said that Mr. Sharpe was doing most of the work on
thl.s. The ribbon cutting would be at 9:00 a.m. on April 30th.
There would be several antique cars, the fire tJ.,ucks and SAFES
for the parade. Would also have the Civil War cannon and crew to
~
116
\
fire it. We will be serving coffee, cold drlnk and pastries
under the tents. The Street Department crews cleaned up a large
area for parking of the cars. After refreshments, the Mayor will
make a short speech, the cannon firing and ribbon cutting then
all will drive down Schertz Parkway.
Mr. Sharpe added that he would have the Metrocom prof ile for
handouts. Also after this event the VFW will be having a short
ceremony dedicating the flag pole at the fire station at about
l~:~~ a.m.
Mr. Hartzog said the Business Club had rumors that it was by
invitation only. Mr. Sharpe answered that the papers have stated
the public is invited.
# 9 CITY MANAGER' S REPORT:
locating a swimming pool manager.
they do not have to be a swimmer.
A. We are having problems
We need a mature person and
B. BVYA is stating they are going to host baseball tournaments
starting July 4th and we have the Jubilee on that day. There is
not room for both.
Mr. Greenwald asked where our people that come to the Jubilee are
going to park. He said he will see if he can contact BVYA and
find out about this.
C. P&Z has submitted a recommendation to the Council in regard
to a policy on political signs for local elections along Schertz
Parkway and Jack Hays Boulevard.
Mr. Shar'pe said he asked that Council consider letting local
people put up l~ sings for this election and take them down by
May l~tfi.
Mr. Gilmore said he had asked to hold in abeyance until he got
the okay from Council. Mr. Sharpe said this will be just for
this election. Mr. Gilmore said since it is a temporary request,
all that was needed was a concensus of Council.
Mayor Sawyer asked if anyone objected and no one did.
Mr. Greenwald suggested something like this be incorporated into
the ordinance.
D. We have gone out for bids on seal coating. Mr. Gilmore
showed on a map the streets being considered at this time.
Mayor Sawyer asked if we were including in the bid that they
remove all rocks. Mr. Gilmore said he believed they are required
to sweep twice.
I~
~
117
11"
ITEMS BY COUNCIL:
Mr. Stanhope: Is there a state or city law saying that police
can park on the road facing on-coming traffic. Mayor Sawyer said
the man was running radar. Mr. Stanhope said he could start out
and hit someone head on.
#11 ITEMS BY MAYOR: Mayor Sawyer said he had complaints
from folks that feel the police officers are not aware of what is
going on. If they see 1. ights on in a place at 2 or 3 in the
morning, they should stop and investigate.
On April had a call about getting Cable TV into Greenshire. Mrs.
Krause said she had contacted the company and they will check
their work orders and find out when they can get service there.
#12 ADJOURNMENT: Mayor Sawyer declared the meeting to be
adjourned at 9:45p.m.
ATTEST: