03-02-2021 MinutesMINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
March 2, 2021
A Regular Meeting was held by the Schertz City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas,
on March 2, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. in the Hal Baldwin Municipal Complex Council
Chambers, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Building #4, Schertz, Texas. The following members
present to -wit:
Present: Mayor Ralph Gutierrez; Mayor Pro -Tem Jill Whittaker; Councilmember Mark
Davis; Councilmember Rosemary Scott; Councilmember Michael Dahle;
Councilmember David Scagliola; Councilmember Allison Heyward;
Councilmember Tim Brown
City City Manager Dr. Mark Browne; Assistant City Manager Brian James;
Staff. Assistant City Manager Charles Kelm; City Attorney Daniel Santee; Assistant
to the City Manager Sarah Gonzalez; City Secretary Brenda Dennis; Deputy
City Secretary Sheila Edmondson
Call to Order
Mayor Gutierrez called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Opening Prayer and Pledges of Allegiance to the Flags of the United States and
State of Texas. (Councilmember Heyward)
Councilmember Heyward provided the opening prayer followed by the pledges of
allegiance to the Flags of the United States and State of Texas.
Mayor Gutierrez stated he has a special announcement: Council and guests, while
seated it is perfectly fine for you to remove your mask or while speaking at the
podium, but as you approach the dais or depart the Chamber we respectfully ask that
you place your face mask back on.
Employee Recognition
Each Department Head introduced their new employees.
Jack Bluebird Sr. - IT Systems Administrator, and Andrew Conley IT Support
Specialist (B. James/M. Clauser)
e Luis Hinojosa - Public Works Street Worker 1 (J. Kelm /S. Williams/D. Letbetter)
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City Events and Announcements
a Announcements of upcoming City Events (B. James /C. Kelm/S. Gonzalez)
Assistant City Manager Charles Kelm provided the following information:
Wednesday, March 3rd
(Rescheduled from February 17th)
Breakfast with the Blue
Abel's Diner, 17327 IH 35 N
8:00 -10:00 AM
Get to know your neighbors and local police officers over breakfast!
Wednesday, March 3rd
Main Street Committee Meeting
Council Chambers
6:00 PM
Saturday, March 6th
Kick Cancer VIRTUAL 5K/1K will take place March 5 -15, 2021 to raise
funds for cancer research. Participants are encouraged to complete the
5K/1K at their favorite park and then submit their results for event prizes.
Register online at Schertz.com
Tuesday, March 9th
Council meeting cancelled
Tuesday, March 23rd
Next regular scheduled Council meeting
Sundays, April 18th through May 23rd
Adult Kickball League (ages 21 years and older) sponsored by the Schertz
Parks & Rec Social League
Games will be played Sunday evenings from 6 -10 PM, April 18th through
May 23rd at Thulemeyer Park
Register online at Schertz.com or call the Parks Department at 210 - 619 -1850
for more information.
Registration includes a team t- shirt!
• Announcements and recognitions by the City Manager (M. Browne)
City Manager Mark Browne recognized Officer Kelly Kallies who recently
graduated LEMIT LCC - Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas -
Leadership Command College.
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Announcements and recognitions by the Mayor (R. Gutierrez)
No announcements at this time.
Hearing of Residents
This time is set aside for any person who wishes to address the City Council. Each
person should fill out the speaker's register prior to the meeting. Presentations should
be limited to no more than 3 minutes.
All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body, and not to any individual
member thereof. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks
while addressing the Council may be requested to leave the meeting.
Discussion by the Council of any item not on the agenda shall be limited to statements
of specific factual information given in response to any inquiry, a recitation of existing
policy in response to an inquiry, and /or a proposal to place the item on a future
agenda. The presiding officer, during the Hearing of Residents portion of the agenda,
will call on those persons who have signed up to speak in the order they have
registered.
Mayor Gutierrez recognized the following who spoke:
Ms. Mandy Moore, 1563 N, Santa Clara, who addressed Council regarding Police
accountability.
* Mr. Leonard Moore, 1563 N. Santa Clara, who also addressed Council regarding
Police accountability and use of force.
» Ms. Maggie Titterington, 1730 Schertz Parkway, who provided Council with The
Chamber upcoming events.
Consent Agenda Items
The Consent Agenda is considered self - explanatory and will be enacted by the Council
with one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless they are
removed from the Consent Agenda upon the request of the Mayor or a Councilmember.
Mayor Gutierrez read the following items into record:
1. Minutes — Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of
the regular meeting of February 23, 2021. (B. Dennis)
2. Resolution No. 21 -R -18 - Consideration and /or action approving a Resolution
accepting the Semi - annual report with respect to the progress of the Capital
Improvements Plan, and other matters in connection therewith. (B. James /J.
Walters)
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3. Ordinance No. 21 -A -05 - Consideration and /or action on a request for
voluntary annexation of approximately 214 acres generally located
approximately 6,000 feet east of the intersection between FM 1518 and Lower
Seguin Road, also known as Bexar County Property Identification Numbers
309419, 309811, 310011, and 310013, Bexar County, Texas. Final Reading (B.
James, L. Wood, N. Koplyay)
4. Resolution No.21 -R -15 - Consideration and /or action approving a Resolution
by the City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas, authorizing a contract with
San Antonio Constructors, LTD, relating to the Schertz Parkway Concrete
Pavement Repair Project and authorizing the budget expenditures for the
project. (M. Browne/B. James/K. Woodlee /J. Nowak)
Mayor Gutierrez asked Council if there were any items they wished to be
removed for separate action. No items were removed from consent.
Moved by Councilmember Allison Heyward, seconded by Councilmember
Tim Brown to approve consent agenda items 1 through 4.
AYE: Mayor Pro -Tem Jill Whittaker, Councilmember Mark Davis,
Councilmember Rosemary Scott, Councilmember Michael Dahle,
Councilmember David Scagliola, Councilmember Allison Heyward,
Councilmember Tim Brown
Passed
Discussion and Action Items
5. Ordinance No. 21 -S -06 - Consideration and/or action on a request to rezone
approximately 229 acres of land to Planned Development District (PDD),
generally located approximately 6,000 feet east of the intersection between FM
1518 and Lower Seguin Road, also known as Bexar County Property
Identification Numbers 309419, 309811, 310011, and 310013, City of Schertz,
Bexar County, Texas.Final Reading (B. James, L. Wood, N. Koplyay)
Mayor Gutierrez open up this item for Council questions. A discussion was held
by members of Council who provided their views and thoughts on approval or
disapproval of the proposed zoning change.
Moved by Mayor Pro -Tem Jill Whittaker, seconded by Councilmember
Michael Dahle to approve Ordnance 21 -S -06 on final reading.
AYE: Mayor Pro-Tem. Jill Whittaker, Councilmember Mark Davis,
Councilmember Michael Dahle, Councilmember Allison Heyward,
Councilmember Tim Brown
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NAY: Councilmember Rosemary Scott, Councilmember David Scagliola
Passed
Roll Call Vote Confirmation
Mayor Gutierrez recognized City Secretary Brenda Dennis who provided the roll call
vote confirmation for agenda items 1 through 5.
Workshop
6. Workshop Discussion and Update (Ordinance 20 -H -18) - Discussion and update
regarding the COVID -19 virus and our current Ordinance No. 20 -H -18 Declaration of Local
Disaster. (M. Browne/K. Long /S. Hall)
Mayor Gutierrez recognized Emergency Management Coordinator Summar Hall who
provided information regarding the following:
Vaccination Update:
- Moderna — 2nd Dose Allocations 1,000
—These will be administered on Thursday, March 4th.
- Pfizer — 2nd Dose Allocations 3 ,5 10
—These will be administered on Wednesday, March 3rd and Friday, March
5th.
-Civic Center Events Cancelled through June 15, 2021
— Provide adequate opportunity for current events to reschedule
— Minimize staff hours to set -up and take down vaccination clinic
EOC Activities:
Current Numbers
- Guadalupe: 11,763 with 10,932 recovered - -- 712 Active
Schertz 1,955 with 1,824 recovered - -- 109 Active
- Bexar: 183,436 with 155,698 recovered - -- 25,181 Active
- Comal: 8,571 with 7,714 recovered - -- 588 Active
Hospitalization rates for Guadalupe, Comal & Bexar Counties continue to
decline.
Executive Order - GA 34
- Governor Abbott issued Executive Order 34
— Relating to Opening Texas in Response to COVID-19
— Effective 12:01 am on 3/10/21
— Counties not in an area with a "high hospitalization" rate:
-No COVID -19- related operating limits for any business or other
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establishment (means can open businesses 100 %)
-No person may be required by any jurisdiction to wear or to mandate
the wearing of a face covering (lifting of the state -wide mask
mandate); however,
•Individuals are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings over the
nose and mouth wherever it is not feasible to maintain six feet of
social distancing from another person not in the same household.
-Nothing in the order precludes businesses or other establishments from
requiring employees or customers to follow additional hygiene measures,
including the wearing of a face covering.
-Executive Orders: GA -17, GA -25, GA -29 (Mask Mandate), & GA -31
Rescinded
Ms. Hall addressed questions from Council. Noteworthy for this week we will
hit our 10,000 vaccine given in the City of Schertz Clinics.
Mayor Gutierrez indicated that he had a proposal for Council that Ms. Hall
provide these briefings at least once a month at the first meeting of the month,
thus not taking her away from setting up the vaccination clinics. Mayor
Gutierrez received concurrence that going forward we will receive the briefings
the first of month, and council will receive information in their packet on the
weekly numbers.
City Manager Mark Browne came forward stating that due to the large number
of doses Schertz is receiving is why they are canceling next week's meeting, he
stated we are receiving three times the number as in the past, and it is a massive
effort by staff. Some things have to give, this is also why they have closed the
Civic Center, and we may want to go to two (2) council meetings a month
through June, just have to see how things go. It is difficult to plan week to
week, we may have 500 doses next week, or we may have 7,500, we may be
doing clinics Monday through Friday. At this point we don't know, and they
are not giving us any advance notice, this is what is driving some decisions that
they are making.
Regarding the mask mandate, he believes this is going to cause some issues
within the staff, and he would like to get feedback from the Council. Dr.
Browne read the following: "No person may be required by any jurisdiction to
wear or to mandate the wearing of a face covering ". He wanted to know that
effective next Wednesday to say that we are not requiring the wearing of masks
at City Hall, meaning our employees or our customers who come in.
Question from Councilmember Dahle who asked with the jurisdiction definition
he would interpret it as being the area that the City is within the corporate city
limits, and it's not dealing with the city staff. In answer, City Attorney Dan
Santee indicated that they push out information earlier this afternoon that they
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disagree, and they don't believe this impacts the cities' ability to dictate terms
on its own property. This doesn't take away that right. Councilmember Dahle
indicated that he would support what ever decision City Management makes.
Dr. Browne indicated he would like to speak to other cities in the county and see
as a group they are thinking. Mayor Gutierrez stated we can continue to wear
the face masks up until the 23rd when we meet again and make a final decision
as Council, but we can not mandate businesses on what their decision may be.
City employees and City property is what we are discussing.
Various members of Council provided their thoughts regarding the wearing or
not wearing of face masks. It was also discussed that whatever decision is made
will set an example for the city itself and for other businesses. Dr. Browne
indicated that there is value in getting opinions from other cities as they are in
the same position as we are, he will be discussing this with staff. Dr. Browne
indicated that by this time next week we will have a better understanding where
city staff and other cities stand on this issue.
Information available in City Council Packets - NO DISCUSSION TO OCCUR
Mayor Gutierrez mentioned agenda item 7 that was in the City Council packets as well
as the information could be found online. No action necessary.
7. Monthly update - on major projects in progress /CIP. (B. James/K. Woodlee)
Requests and Announcements
• Announcements by the City Manager.
No further announcements.
• Requests by Mayor and Councilmembers for updates or information from staff.
None at this time.
• Requests by Mayor and Councilmembers that items or presentations be placed on
a future City Council agenda.
No items requested.
*Announcements by Mayor and Councilmembers
• City and community events attended and to be attended
• City Council Committee and Liaison Assignments (see assignments below)
• Continuing education events attended and to be attended
*Recognition of actions by City employees
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Recognition of actions by community volunteers
Mayor Gutierrez recognized the following:
Mayor Pro -Tem Whittaker who attended Amy's All Star Dance Studio ribbon
cutting event, volunteered at the COVID -19 shot clinics.
Councilmember Scott who commented on the tremendous efforts of all staff who
assisted during the Winter Storm.
Councilmember Dahle who attended the retirement celebration for Jimmy Hooks
and Eber Busch. Stopped by over the weekend the Commons Market on Main
Street. They are open the 1 st Saturday of every month.
Councilmember Scagliola stated he attended the plaque presentation today at the
Chamber for Jamie King and forgot to mention last week that he attended Frost
Bank Chuck wagon breakfast.
Councilmember Heyward stated she attended Amy's All Star Dance Studio ribbon
cutting, volunteered at the COVID -19 clinics. Attended the retirement
celebration for Jimmy Hooks and Eber Busch, and attended the plaque
presentation today with the Chamber for Jamie King.
Adjournment
Mayor Gutierrez adjourned the meeting at 7:18 p.m.
ph utierrez, Mayor
ATTEST:
Brenda Dennis, City ._ ecretary
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