Mayor

Dee Grimm

Councilmen

Francisco Arevalo

Susann Baker

Deborah McInerney

Dwayne Padalecki

Doug Thomas

City Secretary

Barbara Pawelek

Minutes of the Public Hearing

January 5, 2017

CALL MEETING TO ORDER

Mayor Dee Grimm called the public hearing to order at 7:00 pm.

ROLL CALL AND ESTABLISH A QUORUM

Roll call was taken. Members present were Councilman Dwayne Padalecki, Councilman Frank Arevalo, Councilman Doug Thomas, Councilwoman Susann Baker and Councilwoman Deborah McInerney. A quorum was established. Barbara Pawelek presided as City Secretary.

COMMENTS FROM FLOOR DIGITAL MARQUEE SIGNS WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF ST. HEDWIG

Mayor Grimm explained this Public Hearing is to discuss the City of St. Hedwig’s Sign Ordinance, specifically the Changeable Electronic Variable Message Sign. We had conversation in the past about making some changes to the sign ordinance since it does not allow for CEVMS or Electronic Signage. This hearing is to get some input, feelings, and where you would like to see the City go regarding the signage.

Mayor Grimm stated that the council is not allowed to engage in conversation at this time, but just to get input from the citizens.

Citizens signed up to speak were:

Rosalie Schaefer, 1205 FM 1346, was opposed to changing the sign ordinance because it is a rural community and she does not like the lights. However, she is not opposed to a monument electronic sign like ECHS has.

Neil Martin, 3190 Pittman Road, was opposed to the electronic signs because of light pollution. He was glad council followed the Master Plan, because he lives with someone who helped put it together, which took over one year, and we should stick to it.

Louise Martin, 3190 Pittman Road, was opposed to the digital signs, she echoed everyone else, and said like it says in the Master Plan, the lights needs to be turned off by 10:00 pm, who will enforce it.

Beth Jones, 14764 Felix Road, was opposed to the digital signs, as well as the decorative lighting in our downtown historic area because of the light pollution and is very distracting.

Justin Jones, 14764 Felix Road, was opposed to the digital signs, because of the light pollution. He said the brightness of the light is distracting, and he liked to go outside at night and look at the stars, and its getting harder to because of all the lights.

Kathy Palmer, 690 N. Lupon Rd, was opposed to the digital signs because of the light pollution. She said that is why she moved out here to be in a rural area, and our Master Plan was approved by council was to keep our town unique, and different from the Schertz, Cibolo types, to keep the dark sky, where we didn’t have the lights and signs, and things of that nature. She said we cannot enforce it.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 p.m.

1