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| Mayor Diaz |
Council:
Mayor Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-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.
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.
Look into the issues with city park bathrooms, swings, etc. The main city park with baseball area visited by many people. Bad conditions have been publicized & reflect badly on the the city. Image of city for families
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