Mayor
Mary Jo Dylla
Councilmen
Francisco Arevalo
Susann Baker
Dwayne Padalecki
David Rakowitz
Walter Wyrwich
City Secretary
Barbara Pawelek
Minutes of the Regular City Council Meeting
September 06, 2012
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Mayor Mary Jo Dylla called the regular city council meeting to order at 7:08 pm.
2. ROLL CALL AND ESTABLISH A QUORUM
Roll call was taken. Members present were Councilman Frank Arevalo, Councilwoman Susann Baker, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki, Councilman David Rakowitz, and Councilman Walter Wyrwich. A quorum was established. Barbara Pawelek presided as City Secretary.
3. EXECUTIVE SESSION in accordance with the Texas Local Government Code 551.071, Seek advice of the city’s attorney on pending litigation and matters subject to the confidentiality provisions of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, to wit: City of St. Hedwig, Texas v. D.R. Barr, Individually and d/b/a Silver Saddle Arena and Party House, and Robby Vosburg.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:09 pm to go into executive session.
The meeting was called back to order at 7:18 pm. Roll call was taken.
9. Old Business
c. Discussion and possible action on approving a settlement agreement disposing of the lawsuit styled City of Saint Hedwig v. D.R. Barr d/b/a Silver Saddle Arena and Party House and Robby Vosburg.
The Mayor moved up the item on the agenda. The Mayor stated that council had a chance to look over the settlement agreement and asked if there were any questions or if someone wanted to make a motion.
Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to accept the settlement agreement concerning the D.R. Barr lawsuit. Councilman Frank Arevalo seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
4. READING AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Council read over the minutes of the regular city council meeting of August 2, 2012.
Councilman Dwayne Padalecki moved to accept the minutes as written. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; the minutes were approved.
5. APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The financial summary was for July 2012. Councilwoman Baker asked if that $3,500 was for the removal of one or more trees? Councilman Rakowitz said it was for the tree on Mergele Road which was very big.
Councilman Padalecki questioned if CK# 3167 included the gravel? The Mayor said no. It is on the August statement.
Councilman Frank Arevalo moved to accept the July financial summary. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; the July financial summary was approved.
6. REPORT FROM VFD
Fire Chief Larry Padalecki was unable to make the meeting but left a report which Councilwoman Baker read.
For the month of July there were a total of 33 calls. 10 Fire Calls, 2 of them were in the City, 8 in the County. There were 23 EMS calls. 15 calls were in the City, and 8 in the County.
In August there were a total of 28 calls. 7 were fire calls. There was 1 in the City and 6 in the County. There were 21 EMS calls. 17 in the City, and 4 in the County.
a) Approval for National Night Out
The Fire Department would like to get city council’s permission to hold National Night Out at the City Hall on October 2nd. Council was in agreement.
7. REPORT FROM CODE COMPLIANCE
Kathy Palmer reported for code compliance. There were 2 building permits issued in August.
Mrs. Palmer said she spoke to River City Waste and Tiger informing them that the dumpsters near Abbott and Graytown intersections needed to be moved off the City’s right of way.
A call concerning the park from someone who was outside the city limits wanted to reserve the whole park for a birthday party for her daughter and she wanted to have waterslides, tents, moon bounces and use the BBQ pits. Mrs. Palmer informed her that we are not set up for those types of activities at this time. Mrs. Palmer gave council ‘Park Rules’ from other parks that are of our size for council’s consideration.
There were a couple more inquiries for building permits.
A Broker called who is trying to sell the 26 acres across from Four Points and next to the proposed school. They wanted to rezone to commercial since its been for sale for 4 years and cannot sell it as residential. Mrs. Palmer explained the process but did not get the rezoning request as of yet.
Texas Pride BBQ is still claiming that they are annexed by St. Hedwig. Mrs. Palmer has informed Bexar County Health Department three times already from 3 different inquiries from 3 different individuals as well as Texas Pride that they are not in our city limits but in our ETJ.
Kathy Palmer said it has been an issue regarding the Energy requirement that was adopted by the City last year and actually has been a requirement in all IECC’s since 2000 in the building permit application. Kathy has updated the City’s website to the link of the Dept. of Energy website making it very easy for them to get to the information they need.
A call from Larry Brown, regarding the 54 acres he just purchased on Abbott just west of Graytown Road, wanted to know if he could relocate his truck shop and 8 of his eighteen wheelers to that property to run his commercial business. She explained the current A-1R district and what is allowed and what is not.
Ranch House will no longer be operating a restaurant. They received today a Certificate of Occupancy to operate as a hall rental facility.
8. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
Steven Blake with Blake Engineering introduced himself to city council. He would like to have an opportunity to do some engineering services on our city roads.
9. OLD BUSINESS
A. APPROVE BUDGET FOR 2012-2013
Mayor Dylla asked council if they had any questions regarding the budget. If there are no questions, she will entertain a motion to approve.
Councilman Arevalo moved to accept the recommended budget for the 2012-2013 with no changes. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; the budget was approved as written.
B. ADOPT TAX RATE FOR 2012-2013
The Mayor said we need to approve the tax rate for 2012-2013. The effective rate is .480833 and the rollback rate was .4968939, and our proposed rate is .479895. The Mayor asked if someone will entertain a motion to remain the same or listen to discussion otherwise.
Councilman Dwayne Padalecki moved to keep the same tax rate .479895 as we have for the last five years. Councilman Frank Arevalo seconded the motion. All were in favor; the tax rate was approved.
Next the Mayor read the Ordinance 1209, adopting the tax rate. Councilman Walter Wyrwich moved to approve the ordinance, Councilman David Rakowitz seconded the motion. All were in favor; Ordinance 1209 was approved.
Correction: The City has not gone up on taxes since 2005. We have kept the same rate.
D. ROADS
1. GENERAL ROAD MAINTENANCE
Councilman David Rakowitz reported for the roads. Charles Seiler did the second round of shredding for the year. He finished on August 21st.
Councilman Rakowitz wanted Ron Mills to begin a second round of spraying but was delayed and will start next week, weather permitting.
Inventory of street signs was taken and Councilman Rakowitz will have Texas Road Repair start putting up the missing signs as well as filling potholes. He will also get a bid from them for the culvert on LaVernia Road.
A local engineer gave Councilman Rakowitz a proposal for resurfacing and repairing the roads that were discussed last month: Mergele, E. Gable, and the SE stretch of Lupon Road. This was forwarded to city council. Councilwoman Baker would like to have at least another bid on the engineering services for the road work. The Mayor agreed.
Mr. Primeaux questioned who was putting tar in the cracks on Miller Road? Councilman Rakowitz said it was Cummings that was doing the repair work on Miller Road. Mr. Primeaux said he needs to add gravel to fill up the cracks because the tar isn’t enough.
Councilwoman Baker suggested when putting back the missing signs to look at the T-intersections like on Lupon and Gable and put the sign in the middle with arrows notating which road is what way, and perhaps a little taller or bigger sign. The Mayor added we have a couple of intersections like this. Councilman Rakowitz will check into.
E. CITY PARK
Councilman Arevalo brought back information on the health trails and workout equipment like the City of San Antonio has and the price involved. He gave council copies for them to look over.
F. CRIME STATS
Councilwoman Susann Baker reported for the Crime Stats in our area. This is the report from July 26 through August 23rd. There were a total of 7, and 3 of those were in St. Hedwig. There was an assault on Kusmierz, a burglary on Abbott, and an auto theft on Lupon Road. The crime stats are on the website.
G. UPDATE ON THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR THE WATERSHED PROJECT
1. APPROVE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR THE WATERSHED PROJECT
Kathy Palmer said we have the Interlocal Agreement for the Watershed Project. Bexar County had to make some minor changes to it per the request of the Bexar County Commissioner to have those items in there. She said copies were made for each of the council members to look at. Once this new interlocal agreement is signed by council they will begin work late September.
Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to accept the Interlocal Agreement for the Watershed Project. Councilman David Rakowitz seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
Kathy Palmer said she will notify Bexar County.
H. WASTE ORDINANCE
1. APPROVE THE AMENDMENT 1208 TO ORDINANCE 1107
Kathy Palmer explained the amendment that will repeal the mandatory participation that was inadvertently put in the original ordinance. This does not affect the exclusive part of the contract. Anyone who has residential trash service still needs to use our waste provider who at the present time is MD Systems. Those citizens who signed with Tiger or some other service provider since this ordinance has been in place are illegal. And those citizens can dissolve those contracts with Tiger or which one with no repercussions. Tiger should have never entered into those contracts in the first place. Tiger were aware of the exclusiveness of the ordinance for awhile now. There was discussion of who needs to inform the citizens. Kathy Palmer will check with the attorney.
Councilman Susann Baker moved to approve the Amendment 1208 to our Ordinance 1107 repealing mandatory participation in the waste agreement.
Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
10. NEW BUSINESS
a. EMINENT DOMAIN AUTHORITY
Our City Attorney notified us that we must comply with the Senate Bill 18 regarding Eminent Domain Authority in the State of Texas. They have attached all the forms and we just need to sign them.
b. TML BOARD OF TRUSTEE ELECTION
The Mayor said we have an official ballot for the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool Board of Trustees election for Places 11-14.
The Mayor read each Place and each candidate running for that Place.
For Place 11, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki nominated Kavon Novak. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; motion was approved.
For Place 12, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki nominated Larry Gilley. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; motion was approved.
For Place 13, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki nominated Byron Black. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; motion was approved.
For Place 14, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki nominated Cynthia Kirk. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; motion was approved.
Mayor Mary Jo Dylla signed the ballot with these candidates as our choice and will be mailed to them.
c. WEST NILE VIRUS MOSQUITO PREVENTION
The Mayor went to a meeting that Bexar County held at their Emergency Operations concerning the West Nile Virus. Basically they gave her posters to distribute. In the state of Texas, there have been 809 reported cases. Worse cases are in Tarrant, Dallas, and Denton counties. San Antonio, as of last Thursday, had 9 cases reported of the West Nile Neurological Disorder and it has resulted in 2 deaths. Symptoms are fever, body aches, headaches, and the headaches are unbearable. A lot more people have the virus, supposedly but it goes undetected and only have slight symptoms.
Citizens need to be made aware if they go outside or work outside, wear long sleeves and long pants. Pet water bowls should be rinsed out every day or at least every other day. This includes troughs for cattle. They said to please clean out your rain gutters because that is where they like to lay their larva. The Mayor said just to be careful and try not to have standing water around, and if you do just try to keep it cleaned out.
Bexar County is spraying with Larvicide, which is a chemical that is predominately mineral oil. They can only spray in public areas such as streams, ponds, culverts, sides of roads, etc. And this is just in San Antonio. Smaller cities have to hire their own private contractor that is licensed. The Mayor asked is anyone gets infected, to please let us know. Farmers are to contact AgriLife, they can give you information what you can buy at your local feed store.