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