ccswks 08-26-1987
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SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
AUGUST 26, 1987
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Workshop Session,
Wednesday, August 26,1987, 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; Charles B. Sharpe; Hal Baldwin; and Ken Greenwald.
Absent: Hal Baldwin and Ray Stanhope. Staff present were City
Manager Jimmy G. Gilmore and City Secretary June G. Krause.
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#1 HEARIRG OF RESIDERTS: Bexar County Commissioner Bob Lee
was pres ent to' br'ing CouIic i 1 up to da t e on the CDBG prog ram,
which is a three year program. During the first year they asked
for projects and had about 12 or so. Every project was funded in
some respect. The Rittiman project was one of them and Ford
Engineers were hired to do an engineering study. This took about
six months to complete. The study identified a list of needs,
with water and sewer being primary needs. Both are equally
necessary; but you have to have the water lines first, then
s ewe r. Commis s ioner Lee went on to say t ha t about three years
ago, they came to the City of Schertz and asked that our
population be included with theirs. He said it is ironic because
now that the needs for Rittiman Addition are identified, they
find that the City of Schertz has the PUC jurisdiction for
providing water to that area. He said that as the CDBG program
progresses in the second year, based on the engineering study,
they are in a position to help fund the needs identified.
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Commissioner Lee said the problem is that, in order to provide
water, they have to be able to contract with some utility to
supply the water mains. Since Schertz has jurisdiction, they are
now coming to Schertz. He said they have not researched all the
legal ramifications as yet but their first choice is to come to
the City of Schertz to see if we would be interested in providing
the administration and install the water lines. He said it would
be to see that the job is completed whether by contracting or
s.ubcontracting. Commissioner Lee said Schertz is not only the
logical, but perhaps the only, legal choice they have. Rittiman
Addition cannot contract themselves but they can contract with
the City. He said basically they wanted to let the City know
that the money has been allocated, and for the City to consider
the proposal. He went on to say that they have hopes that once
the water lines are installed, then next year they could install
the sewer lines. They could go to CCMA to contract with them for
the sewer.
Council said it sounds good to them.
Commissioner
the Council.
in writing.
water. What
Lee said he did want to be up
He said they would be glad to
He s aid the y c 0 u 1 d no ,t g i v e
they think they will have to do
front as can be with
provide more details
a grant to provide
is make the $139,000
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a loan, rather than a grant. He said he was not sure how this
would fit into the City's debt service plan. He went on to say
that assuming the City would be willing to accept a loan, the
Commissioners Court would set down with staff and work out some
type of low-interest, short-term type of loan taking into
consideration the City's ability to pay and the time involved.
Once the water mains are installed, the revenues coming back into
the City would be the basis of repaying the loan. Once the loan
was repaid, they would take that money and perhaps be able to do
the same thing with the money with CCMA for sewer lines. This
would be the beginning of a revolving loan fund that could be
used for other things.
Mayor Sawyer said that before Council could make any kind of
decision, they would need to know how many customers in the area,
how much water line and when the City might annex, because then
the billing would be decreased. Mr. Sawyer said that if the City
borrows this money and then cannot pay it back in the length of
time required, it would have to be taken out of tax money of the
people now residing in Schertz and that would not be right.
Commis s ion ~ee sa id th is is very pre I iminary, wha t he want ed
right now is at least some indication of Council approval to
begin to work out the details. The City could always reserve the
right to withdraw at any time. He just wanted some type of
concensus from Council to start working with the City Manager on
the details.
After checking with Council, Mayor Sawyer
Manager that he had the authority to start
Commissioners Court on this project.
advised
working
the City
with the
Mr. Baldwin asked if this project includes both sides of FM 1518
and was told that it does.
Mr. Sharpe asked if the State legislators passed a bill for about
$4,000,000 for grant and loans for water and sewer use. Mr.
Lee's assistant said the State has designated certain areas. She
said they have asked for those areas designated in Bexar County
but have not received them as yet.
Mr. Baldwin asked if there was any hope for Lakewood Acres.
Commissioner Lee said they need roads more than water. The
developer did not bring the roads up to County specifications.
As a results, the roads deteriorated to a point where they are
almost impassible. Mr. Lee said they are about to lose the
school bus and maybe even EMS because of their roads. The
problem is that the County cannot put any money out there unless
they are County roads; and the County cannot accept them unless
they would pass a policy where they could to the same to like
subdivisions. There is a possibility of putting all these
subdivisions on a bond issue sometime.
Mr. Baldwin asked about putting them on an assessment program.
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Mr. Lee said the County can not do that. They asked the last
legisl~tion and they said no because it is too much like
ordinance making. Mr. Lee said they are working on the problem
and hope to have it resolved within a year because they really do
need their roads fixed.
Mayor Sawyer told Mr. Lee that Council has instructed Mr. Gilmore
to work with them on the Rittiman Project to see what it will
eventually cost the City. Mr. Lee said he imagined from 3% to 7%
on a 5 to 10 year pay back.
Mayor Sawyer thanked Commissioner Lee
apprising Council of the situation.
for coming
in and
2. Ms. Esther Geffert addressed Council, saying her mother and
sister both live in Rittiman Addition. She said she understands
both the County's and City's point of view but, the addition does
have an immediate health h~lZard. According to the study made,
the water is contaminated. She said whatever is decided, the
problem still remains.
Mayor Sawyer thanked the representatives of Rittiman Addition for
coming to the meeting, saying they are always welcome.
Mayor Sawyer then called for a recess at 7:30 p.m.
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The Special Meeting was reconvened by Mayor Sawyer at 7:37 p.m.
B. Mr. & Mrs. Steve Jones and Mr. & Mrs. Henry Stultz were
present representing the Southeast Randolph Property Owners
Association and asked about the water situation in their area.
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Mr. Gilmore said staff is currently looking for land in the area
for a water tank. We have been talking with two separate
parties. The Council has approved a 500,000 gallon storage tank
in that area. We cannot put in the distribution lines until we
get the tank in. If the first people say no, then we have an
alternate location in mind.
Mayor Sawyer advised that the City just sold
also put in a tank on East Live Oak Road. He
want to advertise that we are looking for
because people will jack up the land price.
some bonds and will
said that we do not
land in their. area
Mr. Gilmore said the money is set aside for the tank. We will
continues to negotiate with the people until they say no.
Mrs. Jones asked about the grant application.
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Mr. Gilmore we had a letter saying they had reviewed the
application and said we did not qualify for a grant; but we are
still negotiating. They also say our city is not rural; but we
were not talking about the entire city but a specific area that
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is rural. Mr. Gilmore suggested these people contact their state
legislators and send letters.
Mr. Gilmore said that Captain Anderson, the liaison for foreign D
students at Randolph AFB, has asked if he could intern with us.
Mr. Gilmore said he thought that, would be a good idea and we
could get him to work on this problem, by pursuing from different
ang les . Mr. Gi lmore said they have not been forgot ten, Counc i 1
has acted, to start getting wat'er to the area. It i is hard to
predict but we are maybe only looking at one or two years.
Mayor Sawyer said he felt it safe to say that there would be a
storage tank out there by the end of 1988.
Mr. Gilmore said with the 6 inch line to tie into the tank, it
would take 16 hours to fill from the bottom. Once it is filled,
he did not think the area would be using 500,000 gallons a day.
#2 Di.cas.ion of p~oposed ordinance regalatins enclosure of
junk or sal.ase yard aDd the acreenins of sarb_se storase areas.
Mayor Sawyer reminded Council they had a letter of recommendation
from the Planning & Zoning. He said if it is legal, he thinks it
is pretty good ordinance.
Mr. Baldwin asked what prompted this recommendation. Mr. Gilmore
said the old ordinance just did not have any ~eeth in it.
Mr. Sharpe asked if this was approved was 120 days enough time to 0
get the present businesses to comply. He said he did not have a
problem with extending the compliance to 180 days or even one
year.
Mr. Sharpe also had questions about the portion concerning
screening of garbage dumpsters, as there was nothing in the
ordinance showing how the trucks would get to the dumpster after
screening. Mr. Greenwald said that is up to the owner of the
property. Mr. Greenwald said if it could not be done, ther~ are
proyisions for a variance. Mr. Gilmore suggested adding another
paragraph saying screening of dumpsters will be built in such a
way as to allow easy access for pick up.
Mr. Baldwin said he could see a lot of problems.
knocks down a fence, wbo pays?
Suppose a truck
Mr. Sharpe asked if the City had received any input from
bus ines ses on this propos a 1. It wou Id be eas ier to ge t the ir
inpu t before pas sage, rather than wai t unt i I af terwa'rds ,a t the
time of enforcement.
Mr. Baldwin asked what was
dumpste'r can not be seen
yes, and it was realized
possible screen because of
meant by screening - is it so that the
from the s tree t. Mr. Greenwa ld sa id
that some property owners could not
the layout of the land.
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Mr. Sharpe said he really did not have any problems with the
whole ordinance if something could be worked out so that it would
not place a hardship on the businesses.
Mr. Baldwin said he would have no objections if it only applied
to new businesses.
Mayor Sawyer suggested more study of the ordinance and discuss it
again at the next workshop. Mayor Sawyer asked that this be
placed on the Bell Ringer list.
#3 Discu88ion of a.ending the Zoning ordinance Article XIX
Overlay di8tricts, Special Overlay District Jack Bays Blvd. and
Special Overlay Di8trict Schertz Park.ay.
Mr. Greenwald advised that there have been problems with bandit
signs of housing developers. After much discussion, P&Z agreed
to change some of the wording to still allow 10 signs with one
additional sign at the entrance to the subdivision. There was
also a problem with the time limit.
As there were no
Sawyer asked that
reading.
questions on
it be placed
this proposed
on the next
ordinance,
agenda for
Mayor
first
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#4 Di8cu88ion of a..nding the sign ordinance, Article III,
Definitions and IX Per.its.
Mr. Greenwald said the original ordinance did not specify a few
things and the first people that came in saw a few loop holes, so
this amendment addresses those problems.
Mayor Sawyer also asked that this item be placed on the next
agenda for first reading.
#5 Discu88ion of fees for Bngineering Service.
Mr. Gilmore said that in 1984 when the fees were accepted from
the engineer, they neglected to include gross salaries. The
multiplier is still the same and the only salary increase is
their new engineer. Mr. Gilmore said Converse had received fee
schedules from several engineering firms before deciding to renew
Ford Engineering. There was a comparison table enclosed for
Council review showing we are still better off financially with
Ford Engineers.
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Mr. Baldwin asked if staff is satisfied with the work of Ford
Engineers. Mr. Gilmore said yes - there was a small discrepancy
at first but it has been resolved and things are going well now.
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Mayor Sawyer asked that this item be on the next agenda for
consideration.
16 City KaDagert. Report: A. Mr. Gilmore said there have
been several problems with Woodla"nd Oaks, Unit 2. Two streets
have been patched a number of times. The City has refused to
accept these streets. There are two alternatives - either have
them seal coat the streets, which will disrupt the citizens with
the problems of rocks, etc.. This is the best solution. The
other sOlution is have the developer come up with a check to the
City in the amount of what it would cost to do this work and
place the money is escrow to be used in repairing streets as
needed.
Mayor Sawyer said the City is not going to accept dedicati'on
until the streets are done right.
Mr. Greenwald said that if the developers seal coat and it does
not work, we still do not have to accept the streets.
Mr. Gi lmore reminded
have trouble getting
the problem is that
bankruptcy.
that once a developers goes out, we will
anything done. On Starlight and Dimrock,
the engineer that did this work has filed
Mr. Baldwin asked the specific problem. Mr. Gilmore said that it
was improper base over water lines. They had to cut the street
to put in additional lines. Mr. Gilmore said he felt seal
coating is the best solution.
Mr. Sharpe asked if they could only do half the street at one
time to help alleviate some of the inconvenience to citizens.
Mr. Sharpe also asked what could be done in the future to insure
this does not happen again. Mr. Gilmore said what was done to
people who did something like this in another subdivision was to
make him go back in and bore deeper on some new streets prior to
aspbalting. Mr. Sharpe suggested setting some more stringent
standards on building streets.
Mr. Baldwin asked what the engineers involvement is on this. Mr.
Gi lmore sa id norma 11 y we getk a s epar~ t e eng inee r - one who is
not connected in any way to do a test. It has to be,' an
individual testing agent who comes out and test. Normally they
go to the base and the problems have been in the sub-base.
Mr. Baldwin suggested that if developer cuts the street, then he
should put up a bond. Mr. Gilmore asked to let him see what he
could do about this. He then asked if Council would go along
with seal coating and was told yes.
B. Mr. Gi lmore adv is ed tha t since we
Bexar County, more tickets are being
have taken in
written there.
parts of
We are
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having people appeal the judge's decision. Bexar County will not
handle these appeals unless we have an attorney present. Roy
Richard has talked to a young attorney who will handle these in
Bexar County. We do not get any money out of these Bexar County
appeals.
Mr. Greenwald asked to find out why they are turning down the
cases unless we have an attorney there.
Mr. Sharpe asked about how many cases we are talking about. Mr.
Gilmore said that right now two or three but if we don't have an
attorney, there will be many more filed.
Mr. Sharpe suggested
month until the end
reevaluated.
letting
of the
the attorney spend $150 or so a
year, at which time it can be
C. Mr. Gilmore said new Senate Bill 267 now permits the Tax
Collector to charge up to $10.00 for Tax Certificates. At the
present time, we are charging $4.00 and issue an average of 35
tax certificates a month for an average of about $140. The
increase to $10 would be about $250 a month.
Mr. Baldwin explained the speed with which the computer could
issue a tax certificate and said it might be time to consider
asking to tie in with either the School District or Appraisal
District.
Council concurred to go with the $10 fee now and if later the
City does tie in with someone, the extra fee can be dropped.
17 Itea. by Council: Mr. Sharpe ment ioned a sign on a
power pole on Elbel Road that is very high that needs to be taken
aown.
Mr. Sharpe also said that Vaughan Homes has a new model home with
a high fence all around the home. He asked if a variance had
been issued as this could hamper firemen or EMS people. Mr.
Gilmore would check this out.
Mr. Sharpe said he had talked with Mr. Gilmore about Mrs. Elvira
Hild and her property off I 35. She had called Mr. Sharpe about
getting water. She is right on the line between the City and
Green Valley. Green Valley's line is closer to her property.
She paid $580 in 1981, for stubout, to Green Valley.
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Mr. Gilmore said our worry is about blowing our agreement with
Green Valley but if her stubout is there and paid for, then we
should consider her as a customer of Green Valley. Mr. Sharpe
said the City should send a letter to Green Valley saying since
she has taps, we will consider them a customer of Green Valley.
Mr. Sharpe also suggested we try to find out how many other
people have paid for taps to Green Valley.
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Kayor Sawyer said if we start dickering until are agree'DIent is
settled, then we could jeopardize our agree'DIent. Kr.Gil'DIore
said he would check out the legal aspects since they have had the
tap for years.
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Mr. Baldwin asked to be sure the taps are just for residential.
Mr. Baldwin 'DIentioned that the SCUC School District is now
selling football season tickets.
~r. Greenwald said that Planning . Zoning had discussed the
proposed joint 'DIeeting with Council tentatively to be set up for
October 14th. They would like to se~ what Council sees as five
to ten or fifteen years develop'DIent plan and what P&Z can do to ~
help.
Mr. Greenwald said Mrs. Marsh had brought up about Oak Forest
Unit 1 water lines being of PVC pipe and they have had a lot of
blowouts. San Antonio has sued and won on ttiis sa'DIe thing. Mr.
Gil'DIore said Northcliffe has had the sa'DIe proble'DIB and has a~ked
if the City wants to join the'DI in a ~uit. ,Richard H.rris. has
talked with their attorney and it is being pursu~d. This is the
s'DIaller PVC pipe that goes into the houses. We have it allover
the City.
Mr. Greenwald asked if we had anything back on the Northcliffe
bond indebtedness. Mr. Gil'DIore said that To'DI Anderlitch will not
be back in town for another two weeks but he will continue to
check on this.
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Mr. Greenwald said he noticed in the last TML 'DIagazine,
an article stating one of the new tax services
exter'DIinators. If they have a Bexar County license and
in the, Ci ~y of Schertz, does Bexar County get the tax?
Sawyer said that it is sO'DIeti'DIes hard to collect taxes
type of operation.
there is
is on
do work
Mayor
on that
#8 Ite.. by .ayor:
find out how 'DIuch 'DIoney
police vehicles.
Mayor Sawyer asked the City Manager to
the City pays for the decals on the
Mayor Sawyer also said he will have a 'DIan contact st~ff the
following Friday concerning a City logo - will deter'DIine what we
want and give us an esti'DIate on costs.
Mr. Sawyer announced tha t
have a Fun Fes t. It wi 11
but they hope to enlarge
~i'DIilar to the New Braunfels
on October 4th, the VFW is going to
be v~ry small affair this first ti.e
it ,1nto a very nice annual affa1r
Wurstfest.
Mr. Stanhope arrived at 9:32 p.'DI.
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19 Adjourn.ent: There being no further bus iness to come
before Council, Mayor Sawyer declared the meeting to be adjourned
at 9:35 p.m.
ATTEST:
I City
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