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 councilGary 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.
I was present at the meeting last night.
ReplyDeleteJayme Sigler