Memorial Day 2019

Memorial Day 2019

There have been over 1,354,000 US war dead since to formation of the United States of America. Decoration Day as it was called dates back to May 30, 1868, when the graves of fallen Union Soldiers were decorated in remembrance and it coincided with what was being done in Southern states. In 1967 the name was officially changed to Memorial Day, even though it was unofficially called Memorial Day since 1882.

This is what this day means to me, SFC (Retired) James A Pierce, Jr. It is the day I remember the several personal and professional men that I have known that are no longer with us. They gave their lives so we we can go on as a free country. Three of the men I knew personally and the other two I was near them when they died. Those that know me should remember the phrase "Never Forget"! I live by that.

I have three combat tours in the almost 25 years of active duty Army service I gave to the United States.

1. Gulf War, 1 Jul 91-31 Jan 92 (Southwest Asia Ceasefire Campaign)
2. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 13 Aug 07-31 Jul 08 (Iraqi Surge)
3. Operation Enduring Freedom, 21 Dec 09-4 Dec 10 (Afghan Surge)

Here are the Soldiers that I remember on this day:

CPT Michael Norman form Killeen, Texas. He was KIA on 31 Jan 2008 on Route Oilers near Sadr City, Baghdad. He was on a MiTT with us and was traveling back to FOB Shield from FOB Loyalty when his combat patrol was struck by and EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile). These were supplied by Iran. He passed away on site. I had known him since April 2007. He is buried at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, Section 1, Marker 382. He was on MiTT 3/82 (Sharks). We won't forget wear he rests.

SFC John Norton was from Stanton, Kentucky. He was KIA on 15 Dec 2005, in Shah Wali Kot, Afghanistan. He was station with the 74th Long Range Surveillance, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Brigade. I was told that he had volunteered to go on the dismounted patrol when they were engaged in direct fire. I met John while we were in 25W ANCOC, in February 2005. He was an awesome guy to know! He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 60, where the KIA soldiers the Iraq and Afghanistan are located.

SSG Justin Decrow was from Plymouth, Indiana. He was KIA on 5 Nov 2009, at Ft Hood by the murderer Nidal Hasan. He was assigned with me at the 16th Signal Company. He was a Team Chief in 1st Platoon and I was the 2nd PSG. He had went to the SRP center one day early to see if his waiver had come in so that he could deploy with us. It would have been Justin's first deployment.

PFC Corey Hicks was from Glendale, AZ. He was KIA on 5 May 2008, on Route Predators going from FOB Hope (War Eagle) to FOB Loyalty then to BIAP. He was with 1/66 Armor, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and was hit by an EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile). They were providing security for my MiTT while in transit to BIAP to exchange out Up-Armor HUMMVs for MRAPS. We made it two mile when he was hit by two EFPs. I will not forget his sacrifice. We were about 200 meters from his RG-31 when it was struck.

MAJ Alan Rogers was from Hampton, FL. He was KIA on 27 Jan 2008, on Route Budweiser
en-route to Old MOD for a MiTT coordination meeting with MiTT counterparts when his combat patrol was struck by an EFP five minutes from Old MOD. He passed away at Old MOD. He was based out of FOB Rustamiyah in Southwest Baghdad.

Never forget these Soldiers and what they did for the Army and country.

SOLD and DEMO at the EDC meeting on May 22, 2019

SOLD and DEMO is the subject of their meeting!

Directors:
Adam Martin-Present
Marcie Lowery-Absent
Jeremy Tate-Present
Joey Acfalle-Present
Jay Jackson-Present (He is new)

Council Liaison:
Charlie Youngs-ABSENT

Here are the highlights of the Economic Development Corporation meeting that was held on Wednesday, May 22, at 12:00. They meet every 4th Wednesday at 12:00 at the Technology Center 508 South 2nd Street and it is open to the public. This is where the city council meets.

The first three agenda items were routine budgetary items dealing with payroll, unaudited financial report, and the quarterly investment report. Their numbers look very good, as reported. All three passed unanimously.

HOTDA Dir Keith Sledd briefed the directors on DEAAG and their priorities. The two main priorities he spoke about was expanding northbound SH9, so commercial and truck traffic can enter Ft Hood at Tank Destroyer instead of Clark Rd, and the doubling of the SE Bypass in approximately 2021.  This was only a briefing!

Demolition for $32,000

The directors voted 4-0 to approve the bid to demo the EDC owned building (except for the slab) for $32,000. There were three bids ranging from 32,000 to 78,000. It will eventually make way for a new city administration building.

SOLD for $25,000

After several years of litigation, insurance, and repair attempts, Endevour purchased the lot and sign from the EDC for $25,000. Endevour will erect a new sign to advertise their stores at that location. The vote to approve the sale was 4-0.

There will be a strategic planning meeting with the city council on June 25, 2019, from 2-6pm. They will be discussing priorities for economic development for the city.

Joey Acfalle was approved by a vote of 4-0 to be the new Vice Chair of the EDC. It had been vacant since Chris Mulvey resigned from the EDC because of employment requirements. Marcie Lowery was also nominated but Chairman Martin declined to move it forward since Marcie was not present at the meeting.

Mayor Diaz holds first City Council meeting May 21, 2019

Bradi Dewald Diaz is now the Mayor of Copperas Cove on May 21, 2019

Mayor Diaz

Council:
Mayor Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present

Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present






Hello again Copperas Cove! At tonight's City Council Workshop, Bradi Diaz was formally sworn in as Mayor of Copperas Cove. After a short congratulations by the attendees and City Council, Mrs. Diaz kicked things off to normal business. Joe Dyer, Acting Superintendent of Parks and Rec, then held a ceremony remembering our late Mayor, Frank Seffrood and all of the undeniable support and dedication he had given to the Parks and Recreation department. They presented his wife with a ceremonial baseball bat from P&R.

From there, Ryan Haverlah went into the workshop with a presentation on a Street Maintenance Plan. There were a LOT of moving parts and different angles going on, but there were three points in particular to be aware of:
     1. The Streets Department does not currently have a team dedicated to street repair. The council agreed to allow funding for the creation for a 3 - 4 man crew who's sole focus would be street maintenance such as potholes, crack seal, and killing weeds. There's still procedures for the city staff to go through, but this is now in the works.
     2.The city has identified some of the more known problem spots in the city, and has ranked them on a CPI Index to identify which ones are worse than others. A CPI index of 100 - 70 is where we want our roads to be, and anything under a 70 is when the city starts looking at different levels of repair that is needed. Right now, the city has identified $10,887,336 in needed street repairs/replacement. Unaddressed, that number will continue to grow every year, so they need to get started on street repair to try and get a handle on that. Charlie Youngs said that he went back looking at CIP's for the past 10 years and has noticed an on-going trend where we always identify that these roads need to be repaired now, and then they get pushed off until next year. We need to get a game plan going to figure out how to address this problem. For now, the top two roads that have been identified as needing repair (Pecan Cove will need to be replaced - different budgeting) are Constitution Ave, and Robertson Ave. The city currently has Constitution Ave as the first one to get a major repair, but they are waiting on core samples to be performed June 10th. Editorial Comment: The only problem with this proposal is if Constitution goes forward first will it interfere with the proposed Business 190 median project. All this road construction needs to be planned carefully so our city is not crippled by the road construction. The council would like to wait and see what those core samples show before deciding to move forward with that project, or do the Robertson project first. Fred Chavez brought up that he would like to see a lot of public awareness made to these projects when they start so the public can see this is one area that tax dollars are being used to make improvements. Once the core sample results come back, this will be coming back before the council.
     3. As mentioned earlier, the city has a history of pushing street projects further and further down the timeline. In an attempt to stop doing this and be able to focus on street projects, Ryan said we need an increase in Street Maintenance Funds. To do this, a Street Maintenance Fee has been presented. It would be applied to our utility bills and would work the same as the Drainage fee. All of the funds from that fee would be completely applied to street repair. The proposed fee would be $3/month for single family homes, and a lot of variations applied for everything from major businesses like Wal-Mart to apartment complexes. The proposed street maintenance fee would bring in an additional $400,000 per year, approximately. This has not been decided on yet, but if you have an opinion about it, we encourage you to make it known at City Council Meetings. Editorial comment: A street Fee would increase your utility bill by about another 5-8% per month. A Bond Election, which would need voter approval, would increase our already high property taxes along with already increased property appraisal rates!

The Agenda:

http://www.copperascovetx.gov/city_secretary/council_packet/

Citizen's Forum:
Chamber of Commerce President - Alicia thanked the council and citizens for all the Rabbit Fest support last weekend. We had 6,992 carnival riders, 31,027 attendees overall, and 34 parade entries. She would really like some new ideas on how they can make the parade grow. There were 114 vendors set up and 425 hotel check ins. She was very adamant about wanting some fresh ideas in for Rabbit Fest. She's asked the public to either email her at president@copperascove.com or you can even call her at 254-449-2047.

James Pierce- Asked the city council about the search for a new city manager. He said that the council on November 20, 2018 (his last council meeting), approved SGR (Strategic Government Resources) for 26,500 to find a new city manager. He showed them that in chapter 5 of the SGR packet that it should be over with by week 15, which would be the week of March 5. It never happened. James asked the council to give all the citizens some sort of update because they are overdue with the selection.

Consent Agenda:
All items passed unanimously. They dealt with approving minutes from previous meetings, and approved the mayor to travel for the Municipal Fundamentals Seminar, in Bastrop.

Public Hearings:
G1. This was the 2nd public hearing to approve Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funds to the Chamber of Commerce for the Rabbit Fest. The city gave them $11,255. There were no public speakers. Vote was 7-0 to approve.

G2. This was the 1st public hearing for amendments to the 2018-2019 city budget. It was very long list of adjustments. This is normal procedure in order to close out the previous years budget. There were no public speakers. No action is required since it requires 2 public hearings.

G3. This was for a public hearing dealing with Liberty Star edition to amend the Future Land Use Plan. Manning Homes wants to change it from High Density to Low and Medium Density. Councilman Manning recused himself from the public hearing. Only one public hearing was required. There were no public speakers. Vote passed 6-0

G4. This was for a public hearing dealing with Liberty Star edition to rezone it. Manning Homes wants to change it from R-3 (Multi-Family Residential) to R-2 (Two Family Residential) and R-1 (Single Family Residential). Only one public hearing was required. Councilman Manning recused himself from the public hearing. There were no public speakers. Vote passed 6-0

Action Items:
H1. The city council appointed the following people to the Library Advisory Board:
John Gallen, Vote 7-0
Margie Holt, Vote 7-0
Edmundo Munguia, Vote 7-0

H2. The city council appointed the following people to the Quality of Life Board:
Position 1. Rachel Baker - Recommended by Fred Chavez, Vote 7-0
Alternate 1. Jeremy Tate - Recommended by Kirby Lack, Vote 7-0
Alternate 3. Michael Watson - Recommended by Joann Courtland, Vote 7-0

H3. The Planning and Zoning Commission sent to council the Final Plat of Persimmon Springs Phase 1, which is a housing area (39 lots) along Ivy Gap Rd (FM 116 South) because it is in the ETJ. The discussion that ensued was about fire water pressure from Kempner Water Supply Corporation. KWSC can supply 250 gallons per hour for 2 hours and Copperas Cove can supply 1000 gallons for one hour.  Vote passed 7-0

H4. Copperas Cove amended the city fee schedule. Vote was 7-0 to pass
Here is summary of changes:
Police Department

Delete Fee: 

Bicycle Registration - $2.00

Fire Department
Delete Fee:
Government Entity - No charge
Youth Groups (per 4 hour block) $20.00
Non-Profit Organizations not affiliated with the COCC (per 4 hour block) $20.00
Private Organizations (per 4 hour block) $30.00 

 Parks and Recreation

Revised Fee:

Athletic/Recreation Fees - Youth Sports Fee - Football - from $120.00 to $150.00

The youth tackle football program has changed to a Pop Warner league. The change requires an increase in the league cost and expands the league competition to more regional teams.

City Secretary
Delete Fees:
Poolroom, gameroom (more than 1 video game) $60.00
Domino hall license $60.00
Gameroom (with only 1 video game) $25.00
Gameroom (eight liners only) $2,000.00
Video/electronic game license fee (each) $15.00

New Fees:
Gameroom License $350.00
Coin-operated Machine Occupation Tax $15.00
Coin-operated Machine Sealing Release Fee $5.00

H5. The Mayor was informed of her right to appoint an Emergency Management Coordinator and a Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator.

H6. Copperas Cove Fire Chief Neujahr asked the city to declare certain fire equipment surplus to be destroyed. In the past CCFD donated the equipment to the fire department in Matamortos, Mexico, but got no response from them. The equipment is over 10 years old and in very poor condition. Vote passed 7-0

H7. Councilman Youngs asked for the council to revise the ordinance dealing with the eligibility and section of people to serve on city boards and the EDC. No vote was required and it was supported by several council members.

H8. EDC Director Jonas Titus invited the council to a joint EDC and City Council Workshop to discuss goals and priorities. It was supported by the council. The meeting date will be June 25, 2019 at 2pm.

Councilman Youngs proposed an agenda item that would move the Copperas Cove Visitor's Bureau from the Parks Department to the Chamber of Commerce and allow them to operate it. Several members of the council supported it.
Editorial Comment: We would pay them to operate it and open the Chamber up to receiving more funds from the city. This is what happened several years ago and caused the city to take it from the Chamber of Commerce.

Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey

James, Jeremy, and Ron want to ask the community a few questions pertaining to the "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove" blog. It is confidential so please take a minute and answer the 7 questions. It will be very helpful to us and Copperas Cove. We will share the results on this platform in about a week.



https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/83PPPHX

Parks Meeting on May 9, 2019

Quality of Life Board meeting for May 9, 2019 (Joe Brown's last meeting)

The Board:
Adam Redmond- Present
Cheryl Kielman- Present
Marcie Lowery- Present
Jim McEvers- Present
Robert Sizemore- Present
Craig Foster- Present
Dustin Phipps- Present

Council Liaison:
Fred Chavez- Absent

The Agenda:

Citizens Forum:
James Pierce-  He spoke about the continued absence of a council liaison from the QOL. This is the sixth month in a row that there has been no representation from the council. In early March, Council members Courtland and Chavez swapped positions with the permission of council. He has missed three in a row. He also thanked Joe Brown for all the years of service that he gave to Copperas Cove and the Parks Department.
Ron Nelson- He expressed concern that the Hike and Bike trail will not be a priority after Joe Brown leaves the city. He is working on a forum in the region that works with TNR programs for cats. He expressed farewell to Joe Brown and that he will be missed. He is worried that the condition of the parks will regress due to the lack of leadership and that cutting the parks budget any further is unacceptable.


Action Items: There were no votes taken during the Action Items.

Parks sent of via Facebook a Survey Monkey request and got 450 responses from citizens. They are still processing the responses.
Editorial comment: If the council liaison was present then everything that was spoken about today at the meeting could be brought back to the council. This department has a yearly budget of over $2,000,000 dollars which should make it a priority to the city leaders. These board members volunteer their valuable time through out the month and every month to assist the city and parks department. The new Mayor of Copperas Cove (Bradi Dewald Diaz) needs to ensure that this happens and also that they brief the council on a regular basis.

This is the update briefing BSP gave the city concerning the Parks and Golf Course projects:

As you can see they are making progress except when the weather interferes with the work.

There is now a cat sub-committee consisting Marcie, Craig, Jim, and Adam. They asked Ron Nelson to join as a guest. Their first meeting will be May 31 at 0700 at the golf course. They will get organized at this meeting. Their goal is to come up with possible solutions for the feral cat situation at South Park.

The parks master plan should be complete by December and sent to Council, for approval.

Joe Brown informed the board that he is writing an executive summary for the Interim City Manager. It is currently over six pages long. He said thank you for all the support.

City Manager report:
Revenue is down for the month of April due to rain and may be like that for May.

Parks Status:
South Park- Little bit of trash available, about 40 cats are visible
High Chaparral Park- Looks good, the new 8 inch square drain seams to be working as designed
Kate Street Park- Needs to be mowed
Ogletree Gap Park-Needs to be mowed
Heritage Park-Needs to be mowed
Highland Park-Needs to be mowed
Rhode Park-Needs to be mowed
City-Park-looks good
The Winter Soccer Report

The last part of the blog is to show everyone how detailed the Parks and Rec Dept is in their record keeping. This is for Winter Soccer that recently concluded. There are lots of moving marts to this from players, coaches, referees, and staff. This takes lots of planning. I am including the entire report for your review.

Please read, share, and subscribe to "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove"

Copperas Cove City Council meeting for May 7, 2019

Copperas Cove City Council meeting for May 7, 2019



Council members:
Joann Courtland- Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present

Mayor-Elect:
Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present

The Agenda:

There were no announcements from the council members.

Citizen's Forum:
Jacky from Freedom Lane wanted to inform the council that there is still time to make changes to the Business 190 plan. Copperas Cove previously had medians inside the city and they had been torn out. He also suggested that we need "On Demand" crosswalks along the long stretches of the road so pedestrians can safely cross. He ended with this statement for the medians "A Great Place For Weeds To Grow".

Jeremy Frew started his time off referring to a workshop item from today's City Council workshop. The council was discussing possibly getting on board with the Texas Film Commission. Part of the qualification for this would be to submit pictures of spots around town to film. One idea that Jeremy has is to invite the public to send in submissions. This would give the city more ideas to choose from as well as give the city pictures they could use for their own marketing. From there, he went on to express his disappointment in the city losing Joe Brown, Parks Director. Joe has a lot of great programs that he's put in place, and Jeremy would like to see the city keep those going. To close things out, Jeremy brought up that the council members are liaisons on several different boards and committees in the city. He would like to see the council members start giving reports on the meetings they've been attending.  This would be a good way to let the citizens know what's going on around the city, but the council members could also keep each other in the loop on what's in the works around the city.

James Pierce Jr informed the city council of the eight day power failure at "Five Hills Apartments". That is an apartment complex for very low income people and home also to several disabled people located near the intersection of Business 190 and MLK. With the governmental assistance that the residents receive there should be absolutely no reason why they should be made to live in that environment. They should look into what happened and see what could be done the next time it happens. If that happened in the more affluent areas of town there would be a crowd of people out front demanding action.

Public Hearings:
-The city held public hearing #2 concerning property east of Highland Park containing 7.42 acres. The property owner (Mitchell Thompson) is asking to rezone the property from R-1(Single Family Residential) and B-4 (General Retail) to it being entirely R-1, which is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Mitchell is planning on building a single family home one day on the property, but it is split in half with the two different zones. The side that is currently zoned R-1 is under power lines which is required to be kept accessible for the power company. The side that is not under the power lines is currently B-4. This would solve that problem as well as bring things inline with the Comprehensive Plan.  - PASS 6-0

-The city held the first of two public hearings on a budget transfer of $11,255 to the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Fund to fund the Rabbit Fest Event. From the agenda: "For fiscal year 2018-2019, the application period for HOT funds began April 12, 2018 with requests due May 23, 2018. Applying organizations met with the Budget Committee on June 7-8, 2018 and presented to City Council on August 2, 2018. City Council approved on September 4, 2018 allocations for the HOT Fund within the operating budget. The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce did not submit a funding request application for the fiscal year 2018-2019 budget during the application process. Their request was submitted on March 21, 2019, which was presented and approved by City Council during the April 2, 2019 meeting.". There were no comments from the public (allowed, but nobody went up) during this hearing. 
Editorial Comment: Item #2 dedicates $1260 dollars of HOT funds for the registration of convention delegates. We would like to know who are these delegates for the "Rabbit Fest" and why they are receiving the $1260?

Action Items:
-The city reviewed action authorizing the Interim City Manager to execute Change Order No. 1 to Freese and Nichols Inc (FNI) for design of the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The city already approved FNI to design a second UV channel to the west side of the building at the cost of $143,212.00.  Additional needed UV Disinfection System improvements include $20,952.00 for engineering services and $82,500 to be used towards a new overhead door installed on the west side of the building, a new concrete drive, and grading of the dirt with the addition of a retaining wall for the dirt. PASS 6-0
Editorial Comment: The council started asking questions about the agenda item without a motion on the floor. Robert's Rules of Order makes it clear that no discussion can go forward unless there is a motion and a second proposed for the council to consider.

- There is a vacancy on the P&Z committee and there was only one applicant to fill it. Dustin Dewald was nominated to fill the vacancy - PASS 6-0

-The EDC Board of Directors had an unexpired term vacancy for position 1. Norris Crook, Robert Sizemore, Darren Blair, Norman Mitchell, Jay Jackson, Sarah Kindler, & Amy Williams all applied for the position. Fred Chavez nominated Jay Jackson with a second from Kirby Lack, and Jay Manning nominated Sarah Kindler. With no other nominees, they put the names into the Excel name draw and Jay Jackson was selected. PASS 6-0
Editorial comment: The Council failed to suspend the rules and then went into the nomination process. The five other people that bothered to file for the EDC didn't even get a chance to serve. The city policy is that applicants go through the random sort process in a spreadsheet and get voted on until all vacancies are filled.

-Bradi Diaz was officially declared the winner of the Special Mayoral Election held April 27th, 2019. The election turn-out was an embarrassing 3.86 percent.  PASS 6-0

Last Council picture with out a Mayor

-Every year, Oncor tries to amend it's fee schedule with an increase, and every year it has been denied by the city of Copperas Cove. The current rate increase would increase their revenue by over $29,000,000.  Copperas Cove  is part of the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor (“OCSC”), who all work together to control how Oncor operates in the area. All the cities with OCSC have come together and deny the increase each time, which in turn sends things to negotiations with the Public Utility Commission, OCSC, and Oncor. This is also requiring Oncor to reimburse Copperas Cove for any expenses brought upon by fighting the rate increase. PASS 6-0


Reports:
Ryan Haverlah gave a few updates on the Texas legislative sessions. They're starting to hit their final stages, but there are likely to be special sessions for school finance.
Some bills that the city is watching right now:
SB2 is regarding lowering property tax increases, and requiring votes if they try to increase over 3.5%. This one is likely to pass.
HB422  helps maintain our ability when dealing with encroachment by the Federal Govt. It would ensure city rights can be maintained when in partnerships with the Federal Govt.
HB634 allows extra relief payments to cities hit hard by the 100% Disabled Vet property tax exemption. The area covered would extend to municipalities that are up to two miles from a post boundary.
Recently, the city lost its Public Works Director. The selection progress for a new one is just about done.

Future Agenda Items:
Marc Payne - he would like to see tarps put on the roof of the Historic Post Office in Ogletree Gap. It has taken recent wind damage and there are now holes exposing the inside to the rain we're having. Ryan informed him that the repair procedure is currently in process and he would update the council about that.
Dan Yancey - he would like to have a workshop item about the large trucks parking within city limits. Charlie Youngs brought up that this was looked at in the past and he personally drove every street in Copperas Cove looking at the problem. His finding was that the problem with big trucks wasn't nearly as bad as everyone thought, but rather was with RV's. He would like to see the language changed to address over-sized vehicles.

Executive Session:
The council then broke off for Executive Session covering the City Attorney, City Manager selection process, and Public Works Director. NO ACTION TAKEN