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.