Charlie Youngs resigns from council!

Charlie Youngs resigns from council!

On the Council agenda for Tuesday is Charlie Youngs resignation letter as of 24 Aug 2019. The next item is the agenda is the Special Election on 5 Nov 19 for Place 7.

His resignation comes from comments and actions that he made over the last month while in city council meetings. One of which was caught on video. Charlie and the bird video.











Here is his letter to the City Manager:

Central Texas College to lower property tax

Central Texas College to lower property tax - 27 Aug 2019 

Central Texas Board of Trustees:
Rex Weaver, BG Retired
Jim Towers
Brenda Coley
James Pierce, SFC Retired
Don Armstrong
Charles Hollinger
Bill Beebe

During the Aug 27th Central Texas College Board of Trustees Meeting, the Board Trustees voted 6-0 to lower property taxes for those properties that reside in the KISD and CCISD taxing districts. The tax rate is currently set at .1386 per $100 and will be lowered to .1279 per $100, which is the Effective Tax Rate. To put that in perspective: if you own a home valued at $150,000, your current tax rate from CTC should be around $207.90 per year. With the new tax rate, that would drop to $191.85.

With this tax reduction, the College will be able to keep its cost for classes the same as it's always been at $90 an hour/$270 per class which is one of the cheapest tuition rates for the region.

This change will take effect September 1, 2019

A City Council meeting without Charlie Youngs, August 20,2019

A City Council meeting without Charlie Youngs, August 20,2019

The Council:
Mayor Bradi Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Absent

Place 3 Candidates
Jayme Sigler-Present
Dario Eubank-Absent


Place 4 Candidates
Matt Russell-Present
Benjamin Beck-Absent

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Where is Charlie Youngs?

Place 5 Candidates                                                                         Watch the video!

Dianne Campbell-Present                                     Young's unprofessional conduct during council
Gary Kent-Absent

The Agenda

Good evening, Copperas Cove. "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove" went to the second regular council meeting for the month. This was an exiting one to go to. There were eight public hearings, one of which lasted about 45 minutes. The big talk before the council meeting was where was Councilman Youngs. We attached a video at the top of our blog explaining what happened last week. Here we go!

All the items on the Consent Agenda passed 6-0. This includes the one allowing Dan Yancey to travel to San Antonio for the annual Texas Municipal League conference, from October 9-11, 2019.  Before August 6, the policy in Copperas Cove was no funds will be used by a councilman that is term limited or running for re-election. This was a result of what happened to former Councilman Pierce in 2015, when Mark Peterson used all of Place 2's training funds when he lost re-election and left no money for  Pierce to use at required TML training. Peterson used it to attend the AUSA in Washington.

Citizen's Forum:
Lynette Sowell- She recommended restoring the Allen House and Ogletree Gap Post Office and using it to promote tourism in the city. The last time Ogletree was renovated was 1976.
Dan Hall- He is from the Boys and Girls Club and recommended that the city continues to collect Bingo taxes.
Terri Deans-She wanted to thank the water department for restoring water pressure to her neighborhood. She also spoke to citizens about being prepared for emergencies.
Siggi Loe-She wanted to know if the city was aware of the trash burning in Heartwood IV to include paint buckets. The city should be focused on bringing in tourism and the appearance of the city. The city should never pay Fathom for excess service calls.
Matt Russell- Spoke about Charlie Youngs toxic conduct as a person and a councilman. He said he was disappointed that a former Army officer would act in that fashion. The Chamber started this several years ago never showing accountability of HOT funds dispersed by the city. They would not show receipts to the council. The council could not force the Chamber, which is a private organization, to have an audit. The needs of the city are paramount.

Public Hearings:
 The first public hearing was for the second public hearing for the proposed tax rate of .7865 per $100 of assessed property value. There were no speakers. The official vote will be September 3, 2019, at 6PM.

The second public hearing was for amendments to the FY20 budget.  The big thing was the 16.7% increase in the base water rate and $1 increase in trash rates. There were no speakers and no vote was taken.

The third public hearing was for amending the FY19 budget for $50320 in additional expenses. There were no speakers and the amendment passed 6-0.

The forth public hearing was for the new Boys and Girls Club location on Laura St. The Future Land Use Plan needed to be changed so they can place 2 temporary building on the property until a new building can be built. It is presently zoned B4. There were no speakers and the vote passed 6-0.

The fifth public hearing was to change the zoning of the new Boys and Girls Club property from B4 to R3. Again, there were no speakers and the vote passed 6-0.

The sixth public hearing was concerning two properties at the corner of Easy Street and Parnell Dr. The owner, Robert & Bonnie Herrings, would like to tear down the existing homes that they own, and put in place a nice looking Century 21 Premier Realtors office building. 

To open discussion, Bonnie Herrings wanted to address some questions she had come across when talking to different Council Members on face to face basis. Editorial Comment: Citizens and public officials alike need to know that no more than 3 council members can be involved is a discussion that is agenda related regardless if they meet together or separately. If they do so it can be viewed as a illegal walking quorum. James

1.Why do they need a B2 vs B1? Well, they aren't really particular on that. If having a B1 instead of  a B2 would help the process, they are ok with changing that. 

2.Why do they need a drive thru? Well, after some thought - they don't. They haven't needed one on their current building, and the majority of their customers are current with the times and pay their bills online. The few that do come to drop rent checks, they can come inside. So with that, they are actually having the blue prints re-done by an architect to take the drive thru out. 

3. In regards to questions regarding some plumbing, not having customers use the alley way, and keeping traffic off of Easy St, they are having the architect redesign the building with it moved towards Easy St so parking will have to be accessed from Parnell Dr and access to the alley way will be blocked off with a wall or fence. They are trying to do all they can to work with the City needs. After she finished her supporting statement, ten people came up to speak and only two of them support the project. The vast majority of the issues were about traffic problems especially when the Business 190 projects comes their way. Several of the families have been there for decades. Constable Shawn Camp, who owns and lives on Easy St, gave a very detailed traffic over view and the the area is historically a single family zone. The City Planner (Bobby Lewis) said traffic will not be a problem. The vote passed 6-0 to allow the amendment to the FLUP.

The next public hearing is for the rezoning the previous property from R1 to B2. It had previously passed the P&Z on a vote of 3-2. In terms of restrictions B1 is the most restrictive. There were no speakers. Councilman Manning the made the motion to amend the motion on the floor to change it from B2 to B1. Councilman Payne did not agree and was the only council person to vote no. The final vote to change the zoning of the properties to B1 passed 5-1.

Action Items:

The council selected the engineer group Utility Engineer Group (UEG) to design and bid out the Pecan Cove Rd rebuild. The professional Services Agreement is at a cost of $154,870. The vote passed 6-0.

The council voted to allow the City Manager to approve a grant with the city and county for "Less than lethal weapons program" Copperas Cove gets $8446 and the County gets $4001. The vote was 6-0.

The council voted to continue to collect the Bingo Tax. The vote was 6-0. The presenter thank the city for enforcing the gaming restrictions which allowed them to get more bingo players. The city collected $149,374 in bingo taxes last year.

The last action item was for allowing the Mayor and the City Manager to travel to the National Training Center, Ft Irwin to experience top level training that Ft Hood soldiers go through. The Mayor would go in April 2020 and the City Manager would go in November 2019. The cost to each person is $1800. One resident asked us why to they need to go when they can experience the same intense training at Ft Hood. The vote to pass was 6-0.

And the race begins to November 5!

And the race begins to November 5!
















It is now after 5:00PM and the city and school board period for filing for the November 5, 2019 local elections is over and the field is set. From Friday evening through today four people filed for city council and one person filed for the school board.

Everyone in the city election has an opponent and only one in the school board has one. The ballot draw for city council will be this Thursday at the City Secretary's office at 9:00AM. This will determine the order their name is placed on the ballot. The ballot draw for the school board election will be Monday, August 26, at 9:00AM.

Normally, the AARP Chapter, the Chamber of Commerce, and the VFW hold candidate forums for the candidates so be on the look out for their schedules. What would be good would be a town hall style debate for them, so that the issues can be discussed. We shall see if this happens.

"Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove" will be sending questions to all candidates and we will publish them for all to see. We also intend to request from the governing bodies all Campaign Finance Reports (30 days, 8 days, and Final Reports) throughout the campaign. Total transparency. As we go to city meetings and functions, we will to the best of our ability show the attendance of these potential future leaders of our city.

Good luck to all the candidates!

Copperas Cove City Council candidates

Place 3
Dan Yancey
Jayme Sigler
Dario Eubank

Place 4
Jay Manning
Benjamin Beck
Matthew Russell

Place 5
Dianne Campbell
Gary Kent

Copperas Cove ISD, Board of Trustee candidates

Place 3
Mike Wilburn is unopposed

Place 4
Joan Manning is unopposed

Place 5
Harry Byrd
Jeff Gorres

City Council and School Board elections filing status

City Council and School Board elections filing status

Election Day is November 5, 2019

If you intend to file for City Council or CCISD Board of Trustees, Monday at 5PM is the deadline to file for election and there is no filing fee. Jeremy and I know that many of you read “Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove” and we see your posts on Facebook and Next Door. We even talk to several of you every day about your feelings in Copperas Cove. We hear it every day. We are all busy and we all make sacrifices. Just like us with our blog, we sacrifice many hours every week keeping you informed. This is your chance to attempt to make a change for the better. How can we as a city allow our leaders to run opposed in the council and school board with all the complaints we hear on a daily basis. This is your chance to try. As we say in the Army, “RUCK UP!”

There are three places up for election in the Copperas Cove City Council.

Here is information about the City Council. http://www.copperascovetx.gov/files/city_council/UnderstandingCityCouncilMeetings2019.pdf

Place 3, Dan Yancey has filed for reelection and is currently unopposed. He was first elected in the 2015 Special Election to replace Councilman Gary Kent who resigned to run for Mayor and lost to Mayor Frank Seffrood. Yancey, in May 2016, voted in favor of bringing FATHOM to Copperas Cove. Last week he also agreed to raise your water base rates by 16.7%. For example, if your current water bill is approximately $62 without sewer and you use 5100 gallons of water your FATHOM water bill becomes $67 Dollars, with sewer would be $69 Dollars.

Place 4, Jay Manning has filed for reelection and is currently unopposed. Last week, he also agreed to raise water base rates by 16.7%. This is his first attempt to run for reelection. He owns Manning Homes in Copperas Cove and is married to Joan Manning (who is the current CCISD Board of Trustee President and also running for reelection).

Place 5 is currently held by Kirby Lack who is term limited. Dianne Campbell and former Councilman Gary Kent have filed for his seat. This is Ms Campbell first time to run for public office. Mr Kent is a former councilman and lost in an attempt for Mayor and 2 previous attempts for council.

This from the Board of Trustee Website: https://www.ccisd.com/21419_1

“The Board of Trustees derives its legal status from the Texas Constitution and the state legislature. Among its many duties, the Board of Trustees oversees the management of the public schools in Copperas Cove; levees and collects taxes and issues bonds; adopts the district's annual budget; has the district's fiscal accounts audited each year by a Texas certified or public accountant; adopts rules and bylaws; adopts policy to establish a district and campus level planning and decision-making process; and many other functions.”

“The Board of Trustees legislates and establishes general policies for the district but does not manage the day-to-day operations of the district.”

There are three positions open at Copperas Cove ISD.

Joan Manning is currently the Board President (Place 4) and has been in her position for over 20 years. Joan was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1995. She is the wife of Jay Manning, who is running for reelection for Copperas Cove City Council. 

In Place 3 is Mike Wilburn. He has been a CCISD Board Trustee since 2007. He is a very experienced educator.

Place 5 is held by Bob Weiss. He is a former Trustee and was appointed in 2017 to replace Trustee Doug Cook, who moved to Georgetown. Mr Weiss has not filed for election. He is being challenged by former Trustee Harry Byrd who was defeated in 2018 in his reelection bid.

CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS

CVB Debate, Public Hearing, HOT funds, and Utility rates

CVB Debate, Public Hearing, HOT funds, and Utility rates

Hello Copperas Cove! Tuesday, August 13th, the City Council held a Special City Council Meeting followed by a Special City Council Workshop. The items covered ranged from the Visitors Bureau, dispersion of the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Funds, and possibly raising the Utility rates 1%.

The Council:
Mayor Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Persent
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present

Place 5 Candidates:
Dianne Campbell - Present
Gary Kent - Absent

Special Council Agenda

Public Hearing: 
"The City Council took a record vote on August 1, 2019 at a Special City Council Meeting proposing to set the Property Tax Rate for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 at 0.7865 per $100 of taxable assessed value. At the same meeting, the City Council called for two public hearings on the proposed tax rate increase to be conducted on August 13 and 20, 2019." - Ariana Beckman, Interim Budget Director / There were no citizens to speak for or against this measure. 

The amount of Hotel Occupancy Tax that is available to the city every year is based on the total amount hotel/motel revenue times 7% tax. For example, if the total amount of hotel revenue in the city in one year is $2,000,000, then the total the city will have to disperse is $140,000. This means that if you pay $100 for a hotel room, you would pay $100+$7+8.25=$115.25 per night.

Action Items:

Each year, the City brings in funds from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT). Of those funds, the city is allowed to use less than 15% for "promotion of the arts". In order to determine where to spend these funds, the city opens up an application period where organizations can apply for the funds. This year, there were 5 applications to go towards the promotion of the arts, and 12 application for HOT funds overall. Of the 12, 1 was from the Five Hills Art Guild, 5 were from the Chamber of Commerce for various events, and 6 were from the Copperas Cove Convention and Visitors Bureau. The funding requests were originally brought before the City Council on August 1st, but due to some issues with some of the applications, the agenda item was pushed back to August 13th to allow for the applications to be cleared up. At the August 1st meeting, we heard from 5 of the applications. August 13th, we were informed that the issues with the applications were all cleared up and ready to move forward. Those were as follows:

Five Hills Art Guild: They were requesting $16,000 for "Art Fest at the Gap". In 2019, the Art Fest found a new location as well as new festival activities. For 2020, the Art Fest will be March 27-29, with the 27th being mainly for vendor setup. This will be their 5th annual Art Fest, and was recently awarded the "Copperas Cove Leader Press Best Community Event". They worked with News 25 for increased visibility, brought in more vendors and worked with the Boy Scouts, JROTC, and Police Explorers. The Scouts and JROTC helped the vendors find their spots and set up their canopies, and then set up tents and stayed overnight to help watch the vendors' canopies and trailers - earning some badges in the process. The Police Explorers helped guide parking and even helped stop unauthorized vendors who would stroll in and try to sell things out of their back packs. At the Fest, there was even an art scholarship given away. Some of the performers brought in ranged from competing step dancers to local belly dancers, and even the 1st Calvary Band who took turns serenading different people in the audience, and ended the show with a very romantic proposal. Youtube Proposal Link  They also touched on the fact that there was an increase in hotel stays during that weekend. Dan Yancey complimented them by saying the "Art Guild has a tremendous amount of energy" and "their application is so good, it should be used as an example for others to work off of".

Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce - Rabbit Fest: $18,375 . The Rabbit Fest will be celebrating it's 40th anniversary on May 14-17, 2020. They will be working with a budget of $101,139.57 - the funds requested from the HOT will go towards advertising, entertainment, and attractions to attract vendors and visitors which will impact the local hotel occupancy for the weekend. Last years funding allocated to advertising was $11,255, which brought in approximately 31,027 attendees. They are expecting to break 35,000 attendees for the 40th anniversary Rabbit Fest.
Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce - Kris Kindl Market: $17,400 - Total Event Budget: $41,943
This years 26th annual Kris Kindl Market with be December 6th-8th, and the location is still to be determined because they are trying to bring in a skating rink. Funding doesn't qualify them to bring one in with the way things currently are, so they may need to move the event to the City Park and Civic Center. Proposed activities for this event include food vendors, retail vendors, ice skating rink, snow slide, entertainment, lighted parade, sip and stroll, a downtown decorating contest, and more! They are expecting this to bring in approximately 14,000 attendees with approximately 600 + staying overnight. The skate and slide would be a $20 all you can skate and slide wrist band.
Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce - Jack Rabbit Run 5k and 10k: $1,417 - Total Event Budget: $7,254 - May 9, 2020 - Ogletree Gap - This USA Track and Field sanctioned race will be a Rabbit Themed race with health and race gear vendors onsite. For 2019, they had 221 race participants, 39 hotel rooms reserved, and 132 participants came from outside 76522.
Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce - HEB Summer Run to Fun 5k: $1,962 - Total Event Budget: $9,809 - June 20, 2020 - South Park - This USA Track and Field sanctioned race will be a 5k but also incorporate a blow-up obstacle course with slides. In 2019, they had 211 participants with 13 hotel rooms reserved, and 122 participants from outside of 76522.
Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce - Convention and Visitors Bureau: $103,221 The Chamber of Commerce is also requesting to take over the Convention and Visitors Bureau. If this happens, they will have 2 full time and 1 part time employees. Funding will go toward operations, equipping, and maintaining the Visitors Bureau, as well as advertising and promotions associated with the bureau. They will be making a new Copperas Cove visitors map, "Shop-Dine-Entertainment" brochures, a "Tourism and Visitor Guide" to send to outside Visitors Bureaus, and a new Visitor Center. They will also be soliciting for trade shows, Fairs, and Conferences to be held in Copperas Cove. They will participate in area trade shows/fairs such as "Hood Howdy", "Destination Texas", and TACVB summits and conferences. They aren't planning on just dropping city events - they will support, and/or host current Community Events which generate attendance from the Citizens of Copperas Cove and neighboring communities with no minimal or direct impact on the convention and hotel/motel industries without utilizing Tourism Funds. Those events include the Farmers Market, - Fall O Ween Festival - Tree Lighting Ceremony - Polar Bear Plunge - and Egg Hunt. When Fred Chavez asked if they are doing Visitor Bureau type things now, it was responded that yes, they are. When he asked what they plan on doing differently vs our current Tourism Bureau, he was told they will be trying to market Copperas Cove as a "Tourism Destination"

City of Copperas Cove Tourism & Events - Fall O Ween Festival: $11,080 Oct 19, 2020
This community enriching event is geared to give residents in and around Copperas Cove a variety of events and activities such as safe trick-or-treating, bounce houses, vendors, a petting zoo, pony rides, games, and much more. FY 18-19 saw between 3,500 and 4,500 attendees. Due to the last minute change of venue and venue layout, they were unable to lock in a more specific number or identify out of zip code guests.
City of Copperas Cove Tourism & Events - Tree Lighting Festival: $14,750
This years tree lighting ceremony will be bringing in pictures with Santa and Cookies with Hot Chocolate provided by our city departments. These lights are the only lights the city puts out during the holiday season.
City of Copperas Cove Tourism & Events - 5k to the Polar Bear Plunge: $8,325
5k run/walk followed by a Polar Bear Plunge into the City Pool. FY 18-19 had 186 runners and 50 plungers.
City of Copperas Cove Tourism and Events - Farmers Market: $3,400
The Farmers Market is set up every Thursday at City Park. It brings farm fresh foods and vendors to the community. They currently have 20 vendors who have applied. They have a $25 annual vendor fee as well as t-shirts and totes they are selling.
City of Copperas Cove Tourism and Events - Food Truck Festival and 5k: $21,290
Food Truck Competition this year with a Kid Zone, Yard Games, Market Vendors, Beer, Wine, Entertainment and More! 30 Food Trucks are scheduled to come out for this event in 2 weeks.
City of Copperas Cove Tourism and Events - Convention and Visitors Bureau: $75,543
The CVB covers costs for events and distributes publications for events.

After about 30 minutes of in depth discussion covering topics such as why last years Fall-O-Ween Festival was free, to where the money goes that the Tourism and Events brings in, to the city shouldn't be making off citizens and even why some events cost so much (like $8,000 for a Polar Bear Plunge). Fred Chavez asked both the City and CoC if they have mechanisms in place to safeguard the money and keep it with accounts allocated.

With that, the Council was ready to start talking about funds allocation. Before doing so, they decided to vote on placement of the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) - keep it with the city or let the Chamber of Commerce take over?? With a 7-0 vote, the measure to move the CVB to the Chamber of Commerce was PASSED

With that vote out of the way, they were able to automatically reject funding to the City Tourism Director, Approve funding to the Five Hills Art Guild, and work on bringing balance to the rest of the fund within the Chamber of Commerce.

Council discussion of funds allocation video.

Special Workshop Agenda

The Special Workshop wasn't quite as long. It was in regards to a request for the city to raise the Utility rates so the Utility Department could perform much needed repairs and maintenance in the city. Ryan Haverlah started the discussion with a question he's been asked - is a 1% increase enough for the Utility Department needs? He thinks so. However, it should be known that in the past year, there have been 3 emergency repairs to the Utility Water system. As he's reached out to all department directors for budget requests, he's let it be known NO budget increases have been authorized for this year. In fact, as far back as he can remember, departments have always been told to hold their funding amount or reduce it. From there, Scott Osborn stepped in and gave an update based on his research as the new Public Works Director. The first thing he wanted to touch on is no matter where you go, all water systems always need upgrades. The water-sewer business isn't cheap: Pumps can run 30k-50k, for example. All the components need to be maintained and replaced pro-actively which saves money vs emergency repairs. When an emergency repair is needed, you can't really price shop at that point, and a lot of places will raise the costs for it being a last minute repair. Additionally, there have been a lot of recent ramp ups with City growth which requires additional equipment  to accommodate the new neighborhoods. Plus, as equipment ages, it needs to be replaced. Deferred pro-active maintenance can lead to fines with TCEQ and/or emergency repairs, so from that stand point, it's cheaper to do the pro-active maintenance as it's needed. With those needs, he's seeing that his department would need to raise the rate to a 3% increase over the requested 1% increase - so 4%. With that 4% increase, he would be able to tackle: regular replacement/upgrade of water lines around Copperas Cove (if not done, we will see 1-2 go out per year based on the age of our current system), Another Operator: the system has grown and employees  are currently overloaded and always subject being called in while on-call. This would allow them to break up into teams and tackle twice as many problems at once. He would get one back-flow prevention employee who would allow improvements to the program, helping bring things into TCEQ compliance. He would also focus the funding on Pump Stations maintenance for a lot of the aging pumps. He would bring on a Development/Construction Manager for Sewer/Water. This person would specialize in "Horizontal infrastructure. Currently we have no employee dedicated to this. After some deliberation of how much a 4% increase would cost, Bradi Diaz said she's not a fan of this because she's tired of seeing costs go up around here. To this, pretty much the rest of the Council reminded her that if we don't address these problems now, they will only get more expensive with time. Marc Payne added in that "you gotta make hard decisions". The council decided to move forward with option #2 of the budget.

Whats happening at the Parks Department August 8, 2019

Copperas Cove Quality of Life Advisory Board August 8, 2019




The Board:
Adam Redmond- Excused Absence
Cheryl Keilman- Present
Marcie Lowery- Present
Rachel Baker- Present
Dustin Phipps- Present
Robert Sizemore- Present
Craig Foster- Present

Council Liaison:
Fred Chavez- Present

The Agenda:
Quality of Life Agenda

The Quality of Life board, which deals with the Golf Course and Parks and Recreation, met at the Hills of Cove Pro Shop, on Thursday August 8th. Everyone was present except for the Board Chair, who was at a job related event.

Kevin Keller (Copperas Cove PIO) was appointed the Interim Parks Director due the Solid Waste Director and Interim Parks Director Jamie Duncan resigning from the city to take another position, elsewhere. Deputy Chief Jeff Stoddard was also appointed the Interim Recreation Superintendent.

Keller also said that the Rec Sup spot will not be filled until a new Parks Director is hired, which may be another two months. Also, Ashley announced that she has given her two weeks notice to the city. She is the administrative assistant to the Parks Director.

Citizen's Forum:
Sandy Veigh wanted to congratulate Kevin Keller on his interim position. He went on to expand on the golf cart path. He wanted to let them know that 5 feet is to narrow for the cart path, especially by #1, #8, #10, and #14. The 90 degree turn at #2 should have had more of a curve to it.

Ashley informed all the board members during Citizens Forum of her intent to quit her position for a position in Killeen. She expressed concern that if the CVB is moved to the Chamber of Commerce the Brianna McGuine would be out of employment. The tourism department has made great strides since being brought back to the city. Please don't move it.

Discussion and Action Items: 

The board asked for a restoration fee update during the last Quality of Life meeting. Kevin Keller reported that $1700 on a new pool pump at South Park, which has two pumps and only needs one to operate the pool. As soon as the new pump was installed then the second one failed. Parks is now looking for an additional one. The Chlorine Hopper has failed and will need to be replaced. $7300 was spent on a replacement fence around the Maintenance Shop. The baseball and softball dugouts were fully renovated using only restoration fees. These are a few things that are able to be done at the parks with restoration fees.

Brianna gave an update on the upcoming Food Truck Festival. Bad news was first, the 5K was cancelled because only 7 runners had registered for the event and the city would have to pay over $1000 for the timing equipment. Now for the good news, there will be 18 food trucks with more expected to sign up before the event day. The are looking for 46 more volunteers to help out. SHe has been planning this for a year and will be bigger than last year. Also, if the CVB is moved this event will not take place next year. Here is the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/coveparksandrec/photos/a.424884514376706/1086692971529187/?type=3&theater. Robert Sizemore asked Councilman Chavez what was the priority of the council and that the city should fund as many of the projects as possible. Chavez said he was not going to be backed into a corner and didn't answer the question.

The Board ask for the By-Laws to be reviewed to correct the date, time, and place for the meeting. Also, clarification needs to be made to absentee policies in the By-Laws. Keller said he would put a proposal together.

Next meeting will be on September 12, 2019 at 1200. Robert Sizemore wants to discuss having abbreviated or suspended meetings until a new director is hired. Rachel Baker wants to discuss the sports aspect of Parks and Recreation and the sports program (IT WAS TOTALLY SUPPORTED).

What happens when a builder make a 3 1/2 inch mistake

Board of Adjustments meeting for August 8, 2019

The Board:
Joey Acfalle-Present
Cheryl Kielman-Present
Randy Stoneroad-Present
Sandy Veigh-Present

Sec. 211.009.  AUTHORITY OF BOARD.  (a)  The board of adjustment may:

(1)  hear and decide an appeal that alleges error in an order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of this subchapter or an ordinance adopted under this subchapter;

(2)  hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of a zoning ordinance when the ordinance requires the board to do so;  

(3)  authorize in specific cases a variance from the terms of a zoning ordinance if the variance is not contrary to the public interest and, due to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of the ordinance is observed and substantial justice is done;  and

(4)  hear and decide other matters authorized by an ordinance adopted under this subchapter.

(b)  In exercising its authority under Subsection (a)(1), the board may reverse or affirm, in whole or in part, or modify the administrative official's order, requirement, decision, or determination from which an appeal is taken and make the correct order, requirement, decision, or determination, and for that purpose the board has the same authority as the administrative official.

(c)  The concurring vote of 75 percent of the members of the board is necessary to:

(1)  reverse an order, requirement, decision, or determination of an administrative official;

(2)  decide in favor of an applicant on a matter on which the board is required to pass under a zoning ordinance;  or

(3)  authorize a variation from the terms of a zoning ordinance.

The Agenda:
Board of Adjustments Agenda

The Board convened at 6PM and adjourned within 10 minutes.

There was one public hearing on the agenda and it was for the new home built by Atkinson located at 522 Skyline Dr. The property has already been granted a variance because of the cliff behind the property. They were granted 19 feet from the street instead of 25 feet, as defined by ordinance.

When the foundation was laid out and poured, the contractor miss-measured. Instead of measuring the 19 feet from the curb they straight lined measured from only one point. The start point was 19.05 feet and the other point was 18.64 feet (about 3 1/2 inches).

 The board voted 4-0 to grant the variance. Mr Atkinson said that he was pleased with the ruling and told me there was no charge for the hearing and variance.

"Always measure twice"

Chamber of Commerce and the CVB discussion tabled until August 13

Chamber of Commerce and the CVB discussion tabled until August 13

Hello again Copperas Cove and thank you for your continued support! In the most recent City Council Meeting (6 Aug 2019), discussion covered topics such as adjustments to the FY 18-19 budget, a HOT Defense Alliance update, compensation from the Rabbit Fest, and whether or not the Chamber of Commerce should bring on the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Copperas Cove.

The Council:
Mayor Diaz-Absent (Sick)
Joann Courtland- Present
Fred Chavez- Present
Dan Yancey- Present - Mayor Pro Tem
Jay Manning- Present
Kirby Lack- Absent (Excused)
Marc Payne- Present
Charlie Youngs- Present

Place 5 Candidates:
Dianne Campbell- Present
Gary Kent- Absent

The Workshop Agenda

The City Council Meeting Agenda for 6 August 2019

During the Workshop, several city employees were recognized for their service and one for retirement. JD Hardcastle started working for Copperas Cove in 1990, He is a descendant of Robert Gray, who was the 3rd pilot in line during the "Doolittle Raid". JD was presented with a bomber's jacket with "Whiskey Pete" embroidered on it. That is the name of the B-25 bomber the Robert Gray flew over Japan, during World War II.

A major part of being a Firefighter is you are constantly in contact with carcinogens. Because of this, cancer runs rampant in the Firefighter community. They are always looking into new ways to help keep the amount of carcinogens that fire fighters come in contact with to a minimum. One way they recently came across was the donation of a "Hose Washer". As fire hoses are drug through a house, they pick up a lot of carcinogens, which the fire fighters then have to manually clean off. They now have an attachment that hooks up to the fire hydrant and they pull their fire hose through to wash the carcinogens off. With help from the Citizens Police Academy, they were able to get a donation from HEB in the amount of $1,182 for the purchase of 3 more fire hose washers.


The Council Meeting

During the announcements, Dan Yancey explained that the council went through an extensive process with the City Manager search. They started out with 26 applicants, which were then narrowed down to 10 applicants. After video interviewing the applicants, they were able to then come down to three finalists who were all brought in for in person interviews. It was at that point they realized they really had a gem right here in Copperas Cove - Ryan Haverlah's level of professionalism and knowledge allowed him to rise to the top and be selected as City Manager.

Citizens Forum:
-Terri Deans spoke up about the Centex DART program.
- Chamber of Commerce President Alicia Menard, Jennifer Cotter, Lisa Sherwood, and JT Stubbs all took turns at the podium speaking in favor of the Chamber of Commerce bringing on the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Copperas Cove. Topics were discussed covering
     -Extending Hours
     -Restructuring
     -Adding more signage and updating current signage
     -Providing info to local entities
     -Promoting the Civic Center, City Park, and other City Amenities
     -Working toward a partnership with Parks and Rec
     -Bringing Tourism to Copperas Cove
     -The thought that the City currently does a good job with tourism, but the Chamber of Commerce    is best equipped to become a master of tourism.
-James Pierce stepped up to the podium and expressed his feelings that the Chamber of Commerce has misled the city in some of their stats such as how many visitors come to the CoC per day. We were told that they had 8400 visitors in the Chamber last year (that would be 33 visitors a day for 252 week days a year. Since every time somebody comes into to the Chamber of Commerce there should be written logs showing the 8400 names. The council should request it to verify their information. They don't do enough now to try and get members to retain membership, and they should be in the business of bringing in new businesses. There are plenty of buildings along 190, both 116 North and South, Ave D, and Downtown that need filled. Let the city continue to build its presence in the tourism field and if the CoC wants to have a Visitors Bureau let them fund it with their own funds and not HOT funds other organizations can use.

Public Hearing:
"The General Fund requires an overall expenditure increase of $53,320 for land exchange with Fort Hood Corps of Engineering. The fee for processing the land exchange is $46,160 and it includes $16,000 for Environmental Documentation, $1,000 for Survey Review, $15,810 for Appraisals, $2,350 for Mapping, $5,000 for Office of Council, and $6,000 for Management and Disposal. The remaining $7,160 of the total amount will be used for land surveying services.
The Court Efficiency Fund requires an overall expenditure increase of $620 to purchase four (4) headsets for Municipal Court staff.
The Court Technology Fund requires an overall expenditure increase of $3,568 to purchase four (4) scanners for Municipal Court department use." - Ariana Beckman, Interim Budget Director 
Because of this expenditure increase, the city is required to hold two Public Hearings - of which this 
was the first. The second will be 20 August. No citizens spoke for or against this measure. 

Action Items:
-Keith Sledd with the Heart of Texas (HOT) Defense Alliance gave his quarterly report to the council 
along with request for payment of $4,250 for services. The big news of the report was in regards to
 the work that's been done to allow Copperas Cove to use Fort Hood for its recycling. In order to 
make this happen, there had to be some clarifications made with some legislation that was 
questionable. New updates have been made, approved by the Senate, and signed off by the 
President. Right now, we are waiting for the final version to be released as well as the Budget Act 
and Appropriations Act to be signed. Once all of that is cleared, they will be able to move forward
 with allowing Copperas Cove to partner with Fort Hood for its recycling needs. In regards to the 
Multi-Module project, that has been in progress as well. Right now, they're awaiting the DEAAG 
score to see where the project prioritizes as well as waiting to see what the final cost will be so 
they can make sure they have proper funding. They are currently planning on going forward with 
the project this fall. Reimbursement of $4,250 - PASS 6-0
Editors Note: Part of this project will include some new ramps being installed on the HWY 9 
bypass - unfortunately, none of those will be an exit/entrance for HEB. - Jeremy

-The Chamber of Commerce requested reimbursement in the amount of $11,255 for the 2019 Rabbit 
Fest. They gave a presentation on the money spent, advertising and outreach, attendance numbers, 
and new things brought to the Rabbit Fest. Marc Payne was questioning the allocation of the amount
 and asked if we could afford it out of the budget. There seemed to be some confusion from him 
about which FY budget it was coming from. Ryan Haverlah clarified that this was coming out of 
FY 18-19 and the funds were already allocated. PASS 6-0 Editorial Comment: How much did the
 city actually receive in Sales Taxes? The vendors that had to charge sales tax took it all back to 
their home towns and filed there. If there were 114 registrants why were there only 425 overnight 
stays? Don't most if not all carnival people stay with there rides. What would be great to show 
tourism proof would be a zip code log to show where people were coming from. Parks and 
Recreation uses one all the time.-James

Here are the financials slides that are from the Chamber presentation.

The Council voted 6-0 to place three city council seats on the November 5, 2019, ballot.

The Planning and Zoning Commission replacement for Ron Nelson was tabled until the first week in
 September. For some reason it was placed on the Council Agenda even though the filing period had
 not ended yet. The end of the filing period is August 11 if you are
 interested in serving the community.

-The Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful Commission has openings and 3 applications were submitted. 
The city is recommending that all three applicants be approved. Marc Payne verified that all the 
applicants were aware of how time consuming it really is to be on the KCCB commission, because 
we've had problems in the past with applicants dropping out once they see how much there really
 is to it. Roxanne Flores assured him that had already been covered and there should be no 
problems. PASS 6-0

-Consideration was given on approving an ordinance declaring the Chamber of Commerce as the 
official Convention and Visitors Bureau for Copperas Cove. Before Ryan Haverlah could get a word 
in on this item, Charlie Youngs rushed to motion that they approve this measure. Dan Yancey asked 
him to please let Ryan Haverlah speak on the matter before anything was decided. Ryan briefed the
council on the measure and added in that we have not set aside funding for this yet, so he
recommends that they hold off on voting until funding has been approved. Once he was done 
speaking, Charlie Youngs AGAIN motioned to vote in favor of this measure to which Fred Chavez
seconded. With discussion open on the floor, Charlie Youngs said in 2017 he came before the council, 
and they - as he called them "Darth Vader and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - were busy 
destroying and picking apart the Chamber of Commerce. Since coming on the Council, he's been 
working hard to help rebuild the Chamber of Commerce and they've come a long way. So he's 
completely for this measure.  Jay Manning asked what his rush was to push this measure through 
instead of wait on proper procedures that the council normally would follow. Marc Payne responded 
that he's ok with doing that, but he just wants to see this happen. If we need to wait on proper procedure, 
he's ok with doing that and he rescinds his measure. Fred Chavez said the reason he seconded the 
measure was to open discussion, so with that he's ok to wait as well. Marc Payne asked if waiting would
affect funding? Ryan Haverlah stated it would affect funding for the full time position come Oct. The 
City stepped up and filled in for the CVB when the need arose. It's not perfect, but it has been doing 
very good and he's happy with it. He re-stated that the city should wait to vote on 13 Aug after seeing 
how the budgeting comes into place. Jay Manning stated he's in favor of the motion, but not the timing. 
The council agreed to push the vote to the 13th after seeing the HOT funds allocations. 

-The PD requested to authorize the City Manager to execute an Inter local Government Agreement 
with the CCISD for policing services. Fred Chavez stated this a worthwhile deal, and the CCPD
 has been doing a fantastic job with this over the years. PASS 6-0

-The Library Director (Kevin Marsh) requested action on a resolution approving and designating 
the City Manager as the authorized person of the city of Copperas Cove to apply for, accept, reject, 
alter, or terminate, and close a Hancher Library Foundation grant in the amount of $31,000. 
PASS 6-0



Future Agenda:
Joann Courtland would like to see discussion regarding panhandling in Copperas Cove (Supported) Editorial Comment: The Chief told me about three months ago that it is a 1st Amendment issue.- James
Ryan Haverlah took a moment to say that he is "very humbled and energized" with his selection
of City Manager, and he thanks the City Council for his selection.