ccswks 07-27-1988
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
JULY 27, 1988
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The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, JUly 27f 19818Jn~t 7h:00 p.m. kin the chonference RoomTohf
the Munic1pal Comp ex, 4u8 Sc ertz Par way, Sc ertz, Texas. e
following members were present: Mayor Earl W. Sawyer, presiding;
Earl Hartzog; Hal Baldwin; Ray Stanhope; Adolph Aguilar and Ken
Greenwald. Staff present were Interim City Manager Steve
Simonson and City Secretary June Krause.
11 BEARING OF RBSIDEftS: A. Mr. Jerry Graham announced
that the Schertz' Swim Team 'won' first place in overall competition
at the recent meet. This is the firs.t time that Converse has
been beaten.
Mr. Graham also advised that the Schertz Business Club had asked
him to be Chairman of the July 4th parade next year. Before
accepting, he said he would like to have Council's feelings on
this proposal. Council concensus was for him to accept.
B. Mr. Brain Beck voiced his concern about the residence at 927-
929 Beck Street, which is next door to him. His opinion was that
she is running a kennel at the address, since she has three grown
dogs and 6 to 8 puppies. He said he had complained to the Animal
Control people and talked with Mr. Simonson during the last month
and nothing has been done. He contended that the animals have 0
not had any water or food in 4 weeks. He was told that the lady
sleeps during the day and throws papers at night but he had not )
seen the woman in the past four weeks. Also the yard needs
mowing, there are rats coming from that yard.
Mr. Simonson said that in respect to calls that have come in, he
had the Animal Control people down there to explain to them that
when their animals had a litter, they would nave to get rid of
the pups after a certain amount of time. The lady from this
residence has come in and complained about harassment. Mr.
Simonson said he asked Brian Beck if he would meet with this lady
to try to settle this and Brian refused, saying he did not have
time. Mr. Simonson said he has asked the AiC people to monitor
this situation.
Susan Beck advised that these dogs are chows and the one that is
chained to the tree not only barks but the owner said this dog
attacked her. Susan said the rodent problem is awful. She said
she was told by one of the A/C people that since they refused to
meet with their neighbor, there was nothing else that could be
done.
Mr. Beck showed some pictures he had taken of the yard. Mayor
Sawyer and Council suggested checking with the health officer on 0
the rodent problem and have the Animal Control people go by again
and check this out.
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C. Mr. Willman pointed out the new zoning map, saying we have
just gotten the new update. He asked Council to look at it and
let h~m know if anything needs to be corrected.
#2 Guadalupe County Juvenile Probation Officer to present
proposal to Council for consideration.
Maribeth Powers, Chief Probation Officer for Guadalupe County,
said her proposal had been submitted to the JUvenile Probation
Board and was enthusiastically accepted. The proposal presented
is to place a juvenile probation officer in our offices full
time. In the past they could not justify placing one in Schertz
full time but Ms. Powers said the time has come when the caseload
has grown with the growth of the city. She indicated they cannot
give Schertz the service it deserves without someone here full
time. In order to place a full-time officer in Schertz, they
will need office space, desk, chair, telephone, etc. - whatever
Schertz can provide. The officer to be placed here is Ron
Quiros, who is identified with this area. He lives in Converse
and has developed good' relations with the Schertz Police
Department. He will be able to present programs to the
community.
Mr. Simonson said we could provide temporary space in the police
department with desks, etc, including telephone.
r ,Mr. Hartzog asked how this would work with our Juvenile Officer.
iMr. Simonson said they will be work ing very closely with each
iother and this way they could make a stronger team.
iMr. Aguilar asked about the school distr ict being in more than
ione County. Ms. Powers said they work only with Guadalupe County
juveniles but work closely with Bexar County. One of the real
,advantages is that Schertz will have good visibility and
,availability, which is very important. She went on to say that
she was sure we could see more activity with referral services.
iCouncil concensus was to support this effort. Mayor 'Sawyer asked
that this item be on the next agenda for vote.
13 Discussion of bid for liquid asphalt distributor.
Mr. Simonson said when we went for bids, we were looking for
!something that would do more than just carry tar. We only
received one bid but feel this is a good bid. This equipment
will allow us to do things in the County that we were not able to
ido in the past.
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Mr. Aguilar asked if we expected this pr ice. Mr. Graham said
this is a good price and includes shipping and safety items. It
lis coming from Canada. It has a wand built in that can help keep
the dust down in the Shirmerville area.
Mr. Stanhope asked if we have the money for this item.
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Mr. Simonson said it could be purchased from bond money. He had
talked with Tom Anderlitch and he said as long as buying street
equ ipment and seal coat ing, we could use the bond money. Mr.
Simonson said at the next workshop, we would be bringing the
schedule for the next phase of seal coating and we will have
money left for this. We feel that we can get the same contractor
and do all the rest of the seal coating at one time.
Mr. Hartzog asked if the interest on bond money has to go back
into the bond funds and Mr. Simonson said it does.
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Mr. Hartzog asked if we have the equipment to haul this and Mr.
Simonson said a half ton pickup could haul it.
Mayor Sawyer asked that this be put on the next agenda.
14 Discussion of Re~ersbip Assess~nt by Bezar County
Council of Mayors.
Mayor Sawyer said they have asked for an assessment of $20 a
year. He then asked that this be on the next agenda also.
15 Discussion of possible purcbase of vater veIl site.
Mr. Simonson reminded Council that they have talked about getting
a well in Guadalupe County and drill as soon as possible. He 0
said they could not get agreement on the one area so he then went
to Morton Southwest. He also went to an engineer who has been
drilling wells in that area. He came out and drew an imaginary
line showing where we would have a very good chance of obtaining
good water. Also Morton Southwest will let us back out of the
deal if we do not hit water. He said they will work with us to
make sure we have an easement. Also they have no problem if
later on we want to put a tank on the property and asked that we
coordinate with Selma.
After discussion of the location, etc., with Mr. Simonson
advising that the expense could come from bond money, Mayor
Sawyer asked that this be on the next agenda.
16 Discussion of disposal of police vebicles.
Mayor Sawyer reminded Council that they had asked Mr. Greenwald
to look at our vehicles and he has presented his report..
Mr. Greenwald said his report makes reference to two suggestions
whereby the City could realize savings by going with a solid
color vehicle and a smaller engine.
Chief Star r advised that he had done his own vehicle check and
look into the expenses on each and came to the conclusion that it D!
would not be cost effective to spend any more money of these
vehicles.
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Mr. Stanhope asked Mr. Starr how he felt about the smaller
~ngines. Mr. Starr said he did not feel anything wrong with that
put asked not to go too small.
Mr. Baldwin asked the method of selling the vehicles.
Mayor Sawyer said Council could authorize the City Manager to
dispose of them at auction.
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Mr. Simonson said both Mr. Bierschwale and Mr. Graham said they
felt if the vehicles were cleaned up a little, it would enhance
the price. He suggested cleaning and fixing what we are able to
do in house and then go out for sealed bids. He said he felt we
would get better prices by the sealed bids and it would be a
1C0ntrolled bid.
Mr. Aguilar asked how this would affect the officers taking the
cars home. Mr. Starr said it would not affect them very much as
these were the juvenile officer, investigator etc. cars.
~ayor Asked this be on the next agenda.
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Mayor Sawyer then called for a recess at 7:34 p.m.
rI'he Special meeting was reconvened by Mayor Sawyer at 7:51 p.m.
: 17 BUDGET WORKSHOP: Mayor Sawyer called attention to the
1988-89 proposed budget with accompanying cover letter from Steve
Simonson. Mr. Sawyer said it appears that there is a short fall
and Council needs to come up with about 8.45 cent increase.
Mr. Simonson said that because of the shortfall found, he had
asked Mr. Thorpe to be present to help answer questions as to how
we got into this situation. He said he was at first looking at a
~ery conservative budget that had small raises; however, the one
presented this meeting is without raises. The big problem being
there is no cash forward to supplement the taxes.
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Mr. Thorpe explained that when the present 1987=88 budget was
being put together, it was anticipated that there would be
$150,888 left in the operational fund. However by the end of the
~ear, because of the economic condition, the cash reserves were
used. We started out this year without the reserves we
,anticipated at the beginning of the year. The I&S should be
piscussed as a separate item; because when you pass an ordinance
that sets debt service, it has to be used for debt service only.
~s we collect taxes, that portion is transferred over to I&S bank
accQunt and stays there until it is used to pay bonds and is not
avaJ.lable to uSe. There are some bonds tba"t are combination
bonds that can be paid out of water funds or I&S. Council could
pay more out of water and spend some of the I&S. The problem is
that Water & Sewer is $10S,0Se to the good but the only legal way
of transferring from Water & Sewer is through Transfer in Lieu of
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taxes. The Water fund is already paying their share, which comes
out to about $200,000. Mr. Thorpe went on to say that with the
Mangum case there were extraordinary expenses paid out of general
fund and that the City Manager's and Council s times spent on
th:..s case could be reimbursed from Water & Sewer fund. That
would amount to about $13,000 more that Water could reimburse for
Transfer in Lieu of Taxes.
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Mr. Baldwin asked if we had put all of the I&S requirement in the
I&S rate to pay our bonds. Mr. Thorpe said yes and over the
years we end up with some build up. However once it is in the
I&S fund, it cannot be used for anything else.
Mr. Baldwin asked what happened to the fund balance. Mr. Thorpe
said that the opening entry was anticipated and we had well over
$100,800 in CDs when the budget was made up; but dur ing the
balance of the year it was spent. You are anticipating in May
what you will have for a fund balance in September. Mr. Baldwin
agreed it is tough to make decisions with budget amounts.
Mr. Baldwin said he had never advocated raising the Transfer in
lieu of taxes because the water customers do not have any recall
but to pay their bills.
Mr. Baldwin said he was really discouraged because there are a
lot of things that Council have planned and now to find out that
the City is in the hole. Mr. Simonson said it really shocked him 01
also. He said that revenue sharing has to be spent this year by
law.
Mr. Hartzog asked Mr. Simonson how he was going to make it
through the end of the year. Mr. Simonson said he has asked
depar"tment heads to put the brakes on and only spend what is
absolutely necessary.
Mr. Hartzog said he felt Council should spend some of the self
insurance funds for police cars.
Mr. Baldwin said he felt Council should have been told the end of
the previous year of the short fall and Mr. Aguilar agreed.
Mr. Hartzog asked the status of Water & Sewer and SAFES. Mr.
Simonson said both are in pretty good shape, they are meeting
their budget.
Mayor Sawyer said the plans Council had made included up grading
some of the salaries and they need to look at raising salaries
even if it means a tax increase. Mr. Sawyer said Schertz has
about the lowest tax rate in the area.
Mayor Sawyer called for a short recess at 8:58 p.m.
The Special Session was reconvened at 9:81 p.m.
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~r. Simonson said he would like to have a special workshop just
for the budget. He said he would like to bring the department
heads in so that they could tell Council just what they are
asking for.
~r. Baldwin said he felt the Council should be told just what got
the City into this trouble.
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Mayor Sawyer advised that we can t live in the past but have to
look at the future.
Mr. Thorpe said that he assumed Council was well aware of this,
that they were getting the type of information discussed at this
meeting. He said that from what he is hearing, Council was not
aware of it. He said the figures were all in the budget and
audit.
Mr. Simonson said that living on our resources has been going on
for several years. Mr. Thorpe added that last spring the City
had some pretty good CDs and he could see where these figures
"ere projected.
Mr. Aguilar said that when things would come up, Council would
ask if there was money to pay for it. He said that lookinq back
Council bought a lot of tbings that were really needea but
apparently the City really did not have the money to spend.
Mr. Thorpe said he is working with bookkeeping now on a
~implified design, which could furnish Council with a summary of
the budget montnly that would go into some detail.
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~r. Hartzog said one thing that was not in the budget is the FM
~009 project. Mr. Simonson said about a~l we have now for buying
~ ight of way on FM 3009 is about $8,000. He said they have
talked with some of the people and maybe will get most of the
right of way free - all except one of two parcels.
i 8 CITY IlARAGER' S REPORT:
~. Mr. Simonson asked Council if they were ready to go to public
pearing on the MediPure request for specific use permit. Because
pf the weekly newspaper, the only way the public hearing can be
on August 16th would be to put the notice in the Seguin paper as
well as the Herald. Council agreed to go with the 16th of
August.
B. Chief Starr has requested that one of our former police
officers be appointed to the Police Reserve on a non-paid officer
ptatus. Mr. 'Starr has talked with Brady Thompson and this is
basically as a reserve but we are protected on liability by the
officer naving the 400 hour course rather than just the 120
required for a reserve officer. Mr. Greenwald said to be sure
and check the Fair Labor Standards on this.
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c. The Chamber of Commerce has requested a renewal of our
agreement and are requesting $1250 per year. This would be on a
future agenda as it is not effective until October 1.
D. We have problems at the Animal Shelter - the electric surger
burned both motors out on the lift station. It will take about
$1,000 to replace. We really need help in trying to find a
better location for the shelter. We really hate to put a lot
more money in this location.
E. In Council packets there are two letters concerning the
Animal Control - one a good letter and the other a complaint.
19 ITEMS BY COURCIL:
Mr. Aquilar: A. There could be a dangerous situation on East
Live Oak Road just as you turn off of Jack Hays Boulevard. There
is a sign post facing vehicle traffic at an angle. Jerry Graham
said he would look at it.
Mr. Hartzog: Met Saturday with the Selection Committee and Mary
Marsh was selected Chairman. The committee is meeting this same
evening and have taken the information Council completed to
consider.
Dr. Richard, a member of the selection committee, said they have
a question about salary. They have gone through the applicants
ana have selected seven right now and may submit five to Council.
Mr. Stanhope: It looks like they are completing the railroad
br idge work - are they going to take all the dirt out. Mr.
Simonson said he was told a month ago that it would be removed.
He has not been able to get in touch with this this week. Mr.
Graham said he had talked with them that day and they are suppose
to start taking out the dirt and resurfacing within two weeks.
Mr. Baldwin: Have presented a memo with the results of the Deer
Haven meeting concerning streets. The real problem is Fawn
Drive. This group felt like the Antler Drive people were more
outspoken than those from Fawn. The solid majority said they do
not want anything done with their streets. The bottom line is
that the best thing that could happen is the people who live
there take responsibility on themselves to regulate speed.
Mr. Aguilar announced that the coming Monday would possibly be
the last meeting of the Charter Review Committee and everyone is
welcome to attend.
110 I~BIIS BY IlAYOR: Received a letter from Mr. Kenneth
Conway, Treasu'rer of Northcliffe Homeowners Association,
expressing appreciation for outstanding service afforded him by
the Streets/Parks employees.
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Also received a letter from Mrs. Courtney commending Animal
Control Officers Betty-Ann Kent and Nanette Walkingstick.
Mr. Sawyer said he would be sending a letter to Mayor Jones in
Seguin on the 150th Anniversary.
Received a lett'er back from Mr. Hines of GVEC and he says the
last two outages had nothing to do with the big one. He has
asked to come meet with Council.
.11 ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come
before Council, Mayor Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned
at 9:31 p.m.
ATTEST: