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03-03-2016 MinutesNortheast Partnership for Economic Development City of Garden Ridge 6400 Municipal Parkway City Council Chambers Garden Ridge, Texas 78266 MINUTES OF WORKSHOP MARCH 3,2016,6:30 P.M. I. Call to Order and Establish a Quorum. Mayor Carpenter called the workshop to order at 6:40 p.m. and a quorum was present. Members present were: Mayor Michael Carpenter, Schertz Al Suarez, Converse Mayor Tom Daly, Selma Mayor Nadine Knaus, Garden Ridge Mayor Pro -Tem John McCaw, Garden Ridge Mayor Bill Seiler, Marion Mayor Pro -Tem Nick Milanovich, New Berlin Mayor Hunt, Santa Clair Others Present: City Secretary Brenda Dennis, Schertz_ II. Introduction Mayor Carpenter welcomed those present. III. Old Business: 1. Alamo Area MPO Update/Issues. No report was provided. IV. New Business 1. Discussion regarding the request from Bexar County to be added as a Member City. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Knaus stated that she received an email from Bexar County requesting them be added as a Member City. Mayor Knaus explained the by -laws and how and what a member city is and it was the concurrence of the Mayor's present that Bexar County can only become an associate member and not a member city. Mayor Knaus will contact them and explain the situation. Mayor's present concurred. 2. Discussion and consideration regarding signing a letter of support for Bexar County regarding the Defense Economic Adjustment Assistance Grant (DEAAG) to purchase property next to Randolph. (Requested by Dwayne Robinson /Allen Castro). Mayor Carpenter provided the information and it was the concurrence of Mayor's present to provide the letter of support as requested. 3. Discussion regarding the appointment of a member to the Randolph Air Power Community Council to replace Pat O'Brien. Mayor Carpenter opened this up for discussion stating that Pat O'Brien has stepped down as he is now Father O'Brien and back with the Archdiocese of San Antonio and we need to have an active member of RAPCO and that we want to open this up for discussion and action of appointment of members at the next meeting for discussion and see if Nigel Davies wants to continue. City Secretary Brenda Dennis stated that she had received an email from Mayor Williams indicating he is in support of Nigel taking over RAPCO and also indicated that he would like to be vice chair to RAPCO. Mayor's discussed having Mayor Williams get with Nigel and also provide the information of the structure of RAPCO. IT was decided to open this up to the membership at next week's meeting for discussion and action of appointing someone. 4. Discussion regarding the appointment of a member to the Bicycle Mobility Advisory Committee to replace Pat O'Brien. Mayor Carpenter stated that Pat O'Brien has also stepped down from this committee and we should open this up for discussion and appointment of a member to replace him. V. Items of Interest by the Member Cities. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Bill Seiler, City of Marion who updated the Mayors regarding the loss of Councilmember but indicated that he does have individuals interested in serving and both of these positions will be filled by appointment. Mayor Seiler stated that he has spoken to Commissioner Cope and her roads and bridge individuals regarding their streets. He stated that they are going to help them with two of their streets and two water crossings. He indicated that all he has to do is pay for the materials. Mayor Seiler stated that Commissioner Wolverton sent a guy over to seal and repair the pot holes and cracks on streets that loop into Marion and in the County. Mayor Seiler stated that on the agenda for Monday they will be annexing the 125 acres where the new subdivisions to the south are coming. He stated there will be four separate annexations. He stated the new subdivisions are moving along and they are almost finished with the streets so that they can start building the model homes. Mayor Seiler reminded those present of Saturday, March 5, 2016, Marion Trade Days event at Schulz Nursery as well as being able to see the Beer Gardens which will be open soon. Mayor Seiler stated that they are starting their first strategic plan with Council. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Knaus, City of Garden Ridge who stated that they have a new CIP project starting on repairing their streets. She stated that they have done half of the streets in the older part of the City last year and the year before and this will be to complete the other half. Another big project is that they have drilled another well into the Trinity for new development coming in. She stated that they are getting about 500 to 550 acre feet GPM which equates to acre feet, once infrastructure goes in the City is pretty much meeting their water master plan for the build out of Garden Ridge. Mayor Knaus stated that several years ago the city did a strategic plan and they have been updating their normal plans, what they are planning on doing since they have many new members is starting up the strategic planning process with Council. Mayor Knaus drew attention to agenda item number five (5) on the draft agenda for next week discussion and action on setting aside funds to continue funding the activities of RAPCO. Mayor Knaus stated that a year ago initially when we all were paying $750.00, for dues $150.00 of that would go to our savings account which was set aside for RAPCO. We have since raised our dues and at that time RAPCO went into hiatus and stopped doing a lot of spending. It now looks like they are going to start asking for more money to do different things, like the Airman Appreciation project. Right now there is $5,000 in the savings account and she does not want to get it down to low, so what she is asking is to start thinking about is what we want to start spending with RAPCO in the next 12 to 18 months and make an allocation to that. Mayor Knaus does not know what that number would be but if we go back to the old formula we would be looking at about $1,500 to $2,000. Members discussed waiting until we get a RAPCO representative and they have a meeting with her to discuss their needs moving for. Members agreed to take if off the next agenda until they get more information on the needs of RAPCO. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Pro -Tem Nick Milanovich, City of New Berlin who stated that he will be filling in permanently as Mayor as no one ran against him, this will happen come May 7, 2016, and Gil will come on as Mayor Pro -Tem and fill his position. He stated they also are working with Guadalupe County as they have a few ditches and pot holes and minor repairs needed. They are talking to San Antonio and still dealing with the ETJ issues. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Tom Daly, City of Selma who stated that he is again running for Mayor with no oppositions, all the other council position also had no opposition therefore they will be able to cancel their election. Mayor Daly stated they have a new Police Chief David Padula, they have a new Assistant to the City Manager they stole from the City of Schertz Wyatt Agee. Mayor Daly stated they have a new City Manager, Assistant to the City Manager and Police Chief and they bring new and fresh ideas. He stated that he and the City Manager recently traveled to Houston to visit with Ben E. Keith and they will be breaking ground at the end of the year behind 0 Reilly's. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Al Suarez, City of Converse who stated there is a lot going on, they are managing the five bonds, $10.6 in streets, 8 subdivisions there is money left over. He stated that you may have read in the paper they have made an offer with Lakeview College to build another Fire Station, they met with Dr. Leslie and some of his Board Trustees and had very positive feedback and they are excited. They discussed not being charged for the land they are currently waiting for the City of Universal City to give them a border extension so they can build it, they cannot build it unless it is Converse. Another thing positive from this is that they can bring in VIA. Mayor Suarez stated that he does have an opponent for the May election. Mayor Suarez stated that they have broken ground on their neighborhood Walmart on Kitty Hawk, their MPO projects is going to start this summer 1516 expansion to five lanes. He stated they are fixing to annex a piece of land on 78 and 1604, on the corner of Randolph. This property has fireworks temporary buildings and Randolph has been complaining to them and as this is in their ETJ it will be a fast annexation. Mayor Carpenter recognized Mayor Hunt, City of Santa Clare who stated that since they were able to cancel their election they can afford to become a member city. They are working on voluntary annexations for those that want to be part of their city. Mayor Carpenter stated that they have an interesting legal item we are working through and that is one of our Councilmen was just won the Primary for the Tax Assessor Collector of Guadalupe County and no one ran in the Democratic Party so by default he will become the next Tax Assessor Collector. So the question then becomes, last fall in November we had a set of charter propositions, all of which passed, so we will be expanding our Council from 5 voting members to 7 voting members plus him, the Mayor. As a 7 member Council we ca not appoint anyone anymore, state law states that you are home rule you have seven members so you have to hold an election for any vacancy. The question then becomes because we deferred the start of the 7 members until November, a questions comes up if he was to resign soon can we appoint because we are not actually a 7 member Council yet, this is a question they have for the attorney. If he resigns in June in time for us to call a special election for his seat, which is not up this November we have a 4 -1/2 month period of being short on a five member Council, and if two members of Council were absent then he would fail to have a quorum. He is still unsure if they can do an appointment and if this is allowed. If he waits and resigns on the last Tuesday before he gets sworn in in January, then we only have a 3 -1/2 month period of being short, but we will have 6 Councilmembers, so it will take 3 absent to be in danger of not having a quorum. The best that about Tuesday's election is Guadalupe County is now changed forever. For the first time someone outside the Seguin area has been elected to a County wide job. Mayor Carpenter mentioned that Judge Richard daughter, Jessica Richard Crawford was elected State District Judge and represents four counties, and she lives in New Braunfels within the Guadalupe County border. It was a very different Tuesday. Guadalupe County has changed forever; it's been 130 years that someone has been elected a County wide election outside an immediate Seguin area. Having one of our Councilmembers elected to a County wide election and trying to figure out when he is going to resign and how we are going to manage his vacancy is a big issue and a lot of people are going to be watching. Mayor Carpenter also provided information on the Council recently changing the way they appoint /nominate the Mayor Pro -Tem position. VI. Establish a Date, Time, & Location of the Next Meeting. (Next up is the City of Converse to host). Mayor Carpenter indicated that next up to host the NEP Mayor's Workshop is the City of Converse. Mayor Suarez indicated that he was good with hosting the April 7, 2016, NEP Mayor's Workshop meeting. VII. Adjournment Mayor Carpenter adjourned the workshop at 7:21 PM. PASSE PRO ED THIS 14th DAY APRIL 2016. Mayor Michael R. Carpenter, NEP Chairman