Loading...
09-19-2018 MinutesMINUTES REGULAR MEETING September 19, 2018 A Regular Meeting was held by the Committee of Committees Advisory Board of the City of Schertz, Texas, on September 19, 2018, at 3:00 p.m., at the Hal Baldwin Municipal Complex Council Chambers Conference Room located at 1400 Schertz Parkway, Schertz, Texas. The following members present to -wit: Chair Richard Dziewit Board Member Fae Simmons Board Member Tim Brown Board Member Shonale Burke Board Member Earl Hartzog Absent: Board Members Glen Outlaw and Sue Boissoneault Staff Present: Acting City Manager Brian James Executive Director Dudley Wait Assist. Police Chief Marc Bane Call to Order Asst to the City Mgr. Sarah Gonzalez Deputy City Secretary Donna Schmoekel Chair Richard Dziewit called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m. Discussion and /or Action Items 1. Minutes. Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of June 20, 2018. Chair Dziewit recognized Board Member Hartzog who made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Board Member Brown. The vote was 4 -0 -0. Motion passed. Boardmember Burke had not arrived yet. Reports/Updates/Discussion and /or Action 2. Boards, Committee, Commission report/updates. Boardmember Hartzog stated the BOA had a meeting in July in which they addressed the placement of storage sheds on the sides of residences in Northcliffe. They conferred with the Fire Department and it was deemed this was a very unsafe practice to start so the board denied all four requests they had for this item. The August meeting discussion was about the hotel being built off of Schertz Parkway. They gave the applicant all that they had asked for. Boardmember Brown had nothing to report for EDC. 9 -19 -2018 Minutes Page - 1 - Boardmember Simmons stated the Parks Board has named the ball park after Johnie McDow. Mr. James added that there will be a dedication/ceremony with the spring baseball kickoff. Chair Dziewit stated TSAC had several things going on, such as painting center lines, etc. A lot of things are coming up like roadwork and speed limits. He referenced the recently held HOA Board Presidents meeting with Council which focused on what is important in each of their specific communities. He mentioned the PowerPoint presentation on the Crime Mapping Data/Statistics given by the Police Department was very informative. Boardmember Burke arrived at 3:09 p.m, Boardmember Burke stated she had nothing to report from the Library, but they did have a very busy summer. Acting City Manager Brian James spoke on behalf of the Historical Preservation Committee who is dealing with the landmark/historic designation properties in the area. The language for those is found in the Unified Development Code (UDC), which effectively is our zoning ordinance. It is supposed to be an honorary designation but because it is in the UDC, it does create some issues, so they are going to amend that by pulling it out of there and modify the program. Staff is working up a draft of this to take to the Planning and Zoning Board (P &Z) and then to Council. Mr. James also spoke about the P &Z Board who has been dealing with the storage shed issues. They had a joint meeting with Council last time. P &Z is going to work up some options (regarding the regulations) for Council to look at. They also had a couple of SUP's come in for a gas and convenience store. 3. Acting City Manager report/updates. (B. James) Acting City Manager Brian James stated City Staff and Council have concluded the process of establishing the FY 2018 -19 city budget/tax rate. He updated the board members about staff's recommendation of raising the tax rate due to funding needed to begin catching up on some maintenance issues with city parks, facilities, vehicles, etc. He spoke about the decline in city revenue from court fines and disabled veteran's property tax exemptions, the cost of producing the Schertz Magazine, the Civic Center rentals, services versus costs, re- evaluating our programs /projects, looking for more efficiencies to save money and time and timelines for when things need to -happen. Chair Dziewit moved to Item S of the agenda. Discussion, review and field trip of the Animal Services Adoption Center -800 Community Circle Drive. (This Item Requested by Fae Simmons) Assistant Police Chief Marc Bane stated the Police Department was charged with overseeing the operations of the city's Animal Services as of approximately 30 days ago. He provided a 9 -19 -2018 Minutes Page - 2 - PowerPoint presentation covering the following items: number of authorized/budgeted staff positions, the ongoing building and HVAC problems, cleaning services not previously available, needed building repairs, landscaping maintenance, etc. He stated they are making some changes in their work processes, including establishing specific procedures regarding paperwork, new hours of operation and staff working schedules, improved animal intake processing, veterinary care, public access to certain areas only, signage on aggressive animal cages, transfers of animals in and out of the facility, working with rescue groups and the- Palo Alto Veterinary Program, future community events /adoptions, more public education and other services. He also spoke about the monetary donations previously offered by the general public. They used to go into the general fund but now they will,be a designated line item and these funds will now be used directly by the adoption center. He also gave a brief update /pictures of Mila (cat) and Ruby (dog) who were two animals of concern by a volunteer /citizen who had been inquiring about their welfare. Executive Director Dudley Wait stated the overall goal is not to euthanize animals due to lack of space. He also spoke briefly about the feral cat program and our long term (20) year relationship with Palo Alto Veterinary Program, which they want to continue with. Chair Dziewit moved hack to Item 4 of the agenda. 4. Future Agenda Items Requested — This is an opportunity for the Board members to request that items be placed on a future agenda. No discussion of the merits of the item may be taken at this time. Boardmember Simmons suggested that citizens could maybe come forward to this board directly with some of their issues rather than going to Council. Mr. James stated since the board has now changed their meeting dates to a quarterly schedule, he feels that there will likely be some items of interest that Council has addressed but would also like to have this board's feedback on. Boardmember Hartzog asked about possibly discussing the Schertz Magazine next time. Mr. James spoke briefly about the cost to design and mail out the publication, which is of a high quality. It is also free and a lot of people in Schertz read it to keep themselves informed. He suggested the members think about the quality of the publication and the number of readers. Members confirmed the next meeting date to, be Wednesday, December 19, 2018. Boardmemhers and City Staff left the Council Chamber meeting room at 4:40 p.m. and re- grouped at the Animal Services Adoption Center for a tour at 4:46 p.m. 9 -19 -2018 Minutes Page - 3 - ADJOURNMENT: After touring the adoption center, Boardmember Hartzog made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Boardmember Brown. The vote was 5 -0 -0. Motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m. Richard DZiewit, Chair ATTEST: Donna Schmoekel, Deputy City Secretary 9 -19 -2018 Minutes Page - 4 -