Charlie Youngs Resignation Accepted, and Budgets Approved - 3 Sept 2019

Charlie Youngs Resignation Accepted, and Budgets Approved - 3 Sept 2019

Hello again Copperas Cove! Thank you for continuing to follow and stay on top of what's going on with YOUR City Council. At this meeting, we had service awards, a retirement, there were a bunch of budget approvals, and the Council Members gave updates on their committees.

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 - Resigned

Place 3 Candidates
Jayme Sigler- Present
Dario Eubank-Present

Place 4 Candidates
Matt Russell- Present
Benjamin Beck- Absent

                                                                                                                                                                    Place 5 Candidates                                                                         

Dianne Campbell- Present                               
Gary Kent- Absent

Place 7 (Unexpired Term) Candidates
COMING SOON

Workshop Items:

The City Council held a workshop recognizing several employees for service awards and one retirement.

-Jeff Davis was recognized for his 5 years of service as the Human Resources Director.

-Carol Ballesteros was recognized for 15 years of service and is currently serving as a Firefighter II/Paramedic.

-Gary Young was recognized for 30 years of service and is currently serving as the Deputy Fire Chief.

-Daniel Hawbecker was recognized for 40 years of service and is currently serving as the Water Superintendent. Ryan Haverlah had the following to say about Daniel:

-Daniel began his employment with the City of Copperas Cove on September

1, 1978 when he was hired as a Laborer for the Sanitation Department.

Throughout the course of his career he has served in numerous positions

within the Public Works Department and was promoted to Water

Distribution Superintendent on January 19, 2002, a position which he held

until retirement.

-Daniel was responsible for the overall administration and operation of the

Water Distribution Department and its facilities. He managed a department

of 12 personnel and was responsible for the performance of repairs and

maintenance on all pumps, fire hydrants, water storage facilities, meters and

water lines for the City of Copperas Cove.

-Daniel has always kept the City’s best interest in mind and his experience,

knowledge and expertise has saved us thousands of dollars over the course

of his 40-year career. He was nominated for the Unity Award in September

of 2013 for going above and beyond while he was on vacation by responding

to a citizen’s concern. Daniel also received the Noon Exchange Club’s City

Employee of the Quarter recognition in August of 2014 for his outstanding

service to our community.

-His supervisor commented on a recent evaluation that “Daniel is one of the

most knowledgeable and technically proficient Superintendents I have ever

had the pleasure of working with. His level of knowledge and expertise in

the City’s water distribution system is unparalleled.”

-Daniel Hawbecker has been an exemplary employee for the past 40 years, a

friend to many, and his presence will be missed by his co-workers. On

behalf of the City of Copperas Cove, I congratulate him on his retirement

and wish Daniel and his family only the best!

Following Daniels service award, he was retired from working for the City of Copperas Cove. He was given a copy of a painting from the 5 Hills Art Guild with the city coin embedded in the frame, and a gift card. He was joined by fellow co-workers past and present, and gave a speech to everyone after the presentation.  

Editors Note: Congratulations Daniel Hawbecker - we appreciate all that you've done for our city! 

The Agenda 

Regular Council Meeting:

Citizens Forum:
-George McMaster started things off by speaking about Fathom. He wanted to compliment our Utility Department on the ease in which he was able to sign up for an account by going in to see them face to face. He did want to touch on that there are problems with Fathom wanting to charge a fee if the city goes over a certain amount of calls per month. Copperas Cove is a transient city due to Ft Hood which opens us up to a higher than normal amount of people coming and going. He was curious if this was factored into the contract when that fee was written in the contract. Overall, he feels we should just drop Fathom and return control to our Utility Department. They have a grasp on things and are pleasant to deal with, so we really should drop Fathom.
-Terri Deans was next up to the podium. She opened up by pointing out that there has been a lot of craziness going on lately, as we've seen on the news. DART had one family member who was at the El Paso Wal-Mart shooting. Due to the training that member had received through DART, they were able to quickly assess the situation and get themselves to safety - taking other people with them. They refuse to be made public, because in that moment it wasn't about being a hero. It was about taking care of them-self and those people around them. That could be any one of us at any time. If you're caught in an active shooter environment, will you know how to react? Will you know the first aid to save other peoples' lives, or possibly your own? It's never too late and there's plenty of training opportunities to come. If you're interested in one of these opportunities, reach out to "Speak Up!" and we can get you in contact with her same day - possibly even the same hour. She's very responsive to helping her community.
-James Pierce followed her up with 3 agenda items he wanted to touch on. First and foremost, he encouraged the council to accept Charlie Youngs' resignation, unanimously. We don't need that type of disrespect representing our city. In regards to item H3, he doesn't think that the city should be giving away our facilities for free. The cost for the Civic Center has already been dropped from $800/day to $250/day to help out organizations that couldn't afford it. (Editors note: When the council dropped that, they said they would stop giving out breaks to organizations - this was said both times they dropped it. - Jeremy). On August 15, the Farmers Market was cancelled so the city could host a Military Affairs event in the Civic Center. He did a freedom of information request to inquire how many people attended and how much the building was rented for, and nobody could find the paperwork for the request. He has another FOIA request that he is still waiting on word back from. We are always falling short on our budgets, but here we are giving away things for free - he doesn't feel that's right no matter what the dollar amount is. He also noted that as of 1 Sept 2019, HB 2840 regarding the open meetings act has taken place. He highly encourages everyone to familiarize themselves with this piece of legislation. (Editors note: "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove" will be sharing this piece of legislation with our followers in a separate post, soon to come. -Jeremy)
-Alicia Menard followed up behind James Pierce to clarify that the use of the Civic Center last Thursday was due to a partnership between the City, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Military Affairs Events Group.

Public Hearing:
-The 2019 Certificate of Obligation  Funds require an overall revenue and expenditure increase of $8,321,901 for projects authorized under the issuance of the 2019 Certificates of Obligation on July 16, 2019. The Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget was adopted on September 4, 2018 and amended on January 03 and 15, May 21, June 4, and August 20, 2019. According to Section 6.02.1(a) of the Copperas Cove City Charter, in order for the City Council to amend the budget it must post such amendments in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Section 6.02.1(b) of the Charter also provides a requirement that when fund balance is to be used to fund increases in expenditures that two public hearings be held. The proposed budget amendment will not use fund balance for this amendment." - Ariana Beckman, Budget Director  /   No public comments - PASS

Action Items:
- The Council broke for executive session and then returned to vote on approval of Charlie Youngs' resignation. Councilman Jay Manning believes it's only appropriate to accept anytime someone submits their resignation. PASS 6-0     Charlie and the bird video 

-The Council then voted to approve of a NOV 5  Special Election for the replacement of Charlie Youngs. PASS 6-0 Applications for a place on the City of Copperas Cove Special Election Ballot may be filed from September 3, 2019 through September 26, 2019, Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. Candidate packets are currently available in the City Secretary’s Office and on the City’s website. The physical address for filing applications in person is 914 S. Main Street, Suite D, Copperas Cove; mailing address is P.O. Drawer 1449, Copperas Cove. Election information may be obtained by visiting the City Secretary’s page of the City website at: http://www.copperascovetx.gov/city_secretary/election_information/ . Questions or concerns should be directed to Lisa Wilson, City Secretary, at lwilson@copperascovetx.gov or (254)547-4221.

-Ryan Haverlah spoke on item H3 in regards to Consideration and action on authorizing the City Manager to execute an agreement with the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce for hosting and participating in Military Affairs Events. He went on to further clarify that the way the three work together is the City provides the location, the CoC in return provides seats for the Council Members at the event, and the CoC hosts the Military Affairs Events group. Ryan stated that they released the information to properly be evaluated by the Council a little late so he is recommending action not be taken and he will move it to the next council meeting for action. There was no further discussion. NO ACTION TAKEN Editorial comment: Our city government should not be be doing Quid Pro Quo (a favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something) for organizations. Where does it end? When do we start collecting for services from those organizations instead of on the backs of tax payers? Where is the transparency? - James

- Shortly after Ron Nelson took his position on the Planning and Zoning Committee, he had to step down due to "unexpected life events". The council voted to put Sarah Kindler in his position - PASS 6-0. Editorial comment: This appointment will probably need to be done again since there wan motion made to suspend the rules so a direct appointment was made and there were two candidates on the agenda. These are the rules the council set. -James

-The Board of Adjustments had two positions that were coming up for the end of their term and were requested to fill those positions. Jerry Cantrell and Charlotte Brown were both elected to take those positions. PASS 6-0

-The EDC Budget, Personnel Improvement Plan, Capitol Outlay Plan, Capitol Improvement Plan, City's Fee Schedule, Budget and Plan of Municipal Services, and Property Tax Rate were all a PASS 6-0 for each of them. Editorial comment: Part of this set of agenda items is the City Fee Schedule. The council raised both the water base rate and waste water base rate from $12 to $14 and the trash fee for residents from $18 to $19. Your water bill is going up $5 per month plus tax. -James

- The final agenda item was for the council to appoint Mayor Diaz as our representative for the Texas Municipal League business meeting on October 9-10, in San Antonio. Vote passed 6-0

Staff reports

From the Mayor

Audit Committee- They had an extensive meeting for the upcoming city audit and placed it on a calendar. It will take several months for it to be done by Weaver and Tidwell.

Central Texas Council of Governments executive committee- Serves 370,000 people in central Texas and seven counties. All their services in the region include equipment being provided and the operate the Texas Workforce Commission in the area.

HOP- Dan Yancey will comment on this.

Killeen Temple Metropolitan Planning Organization- KTMPO has 23 projects on it's list five of which are in Copperas Cove

Place 1

Citizens Focus Group- This group has not met since Andrea Gardner left Copperas Cove.

Youth Advisory Council- Ms Courtland said the the YAC has not met in the last couple of months. Editorial comment: She has never been to a YAC meeting even though the kids were always prepared for her to show up. -James 

Place 2

Quality of Life- Mr Chavez briefed the condition of the golf course, the width of the cart paths were brought up, restoration fee update, Food Truck Fest and its cancelled run, bylaw updates, and travel team concerns.

Adopt-A-Unit- There have be no meeting to attend.

Place 3

Hill Country Transit- HOP will have an updated Plan of Action to discuss soon with the council.

KTMPO- The bypass widening will be in the FY21 funding.

Place 4

Subdivision Technical Advisory Committee- There has been 36 two hour meetings with city and private sector involvement and has made a lot of progress especially with the fire code. Transportation work group- They have made several recommendations.

Place 5

Animal Shelter Advisory Committee- They meet once a quarter and Mr Lack just spoke to Mr Wyres. At the last meeting the ASAC discussed the 3 year rabies shot.

Ministerial Alliance- He said they meet regularly and it is a friendly environment.

Place 6

Cemetery Advisory Committee- Marc Payne said that they last met in October and several members have stepped down. Editorial Comment: There was one on May 21, March 6, March 27, and November 28. There are minutes for these. -James

Public Housing- He tried telling us what they did there but he was hard to understand.

City Manager Update

FATHOM will update the council on September 17. We have surpassed the 10% call volume every month since April 2017, but have never been charged.

Recycling Agreement- The city has been working on this for 6 years. It is presently in Conference Committee, in Congress. This will enable Copperas Cove to take recycles to Ft Hood instead of Taylor, Texas. 

City Community Events- Fall-O-Ween is still on.

Heartwood IV burn- There were no unauthorized items burned there. The fire chief is developing a plan to ensure this never happens.

FM1113 and FM116 is getting four miles of new overlay and reseal and will be completed this fall. It is a $1.4 million dollar project and is completely funded by TxDOT.

Future Agenda Item

The Mayor made a recommendation for the council to look at a code of ethics (totally supported)

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.

Mayor Diaz holds first City Council meeting May 21, 2019

Bradi Dewald Diaz is now the Mayor of Copperas Cove on May 21, 2019

Mayor Diaz

Council:
Mayor Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present

Fred Chavez-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.

From there, Ryan Haverlah went into the workshop with a presentation on a Street Maintenance Plan. There were a LOT of moving parts and different angles going on, but there were three points in particular to be aware of:
     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.

City Council for April 2, 2019

Copperas Cove City Council meeting April 2, 2019

Hello again Copperas Cove! Thankyou for checking in on another City Council Update! This one was rather short (Just over an hour long), but as always - there was some good info that was put out. So, lets get started!

Council members:
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present

Mayor Candidates:
Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present
Ron Nelson-Present
Joey Acfalle-Absent
Brandi Weiand-Absent

The Agenda:

Announcements:

Ryan Haverlah: 

-This Saturday, from 8:30-11am, there will be a "Texas Trash Off" taking place. Please meet "Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful" at the Library for step off. 

-Also on Saturday from 8am-Noon, there will be a Mayoral Candidate Meet & Greet at the VFW. There will be breakfast offered for $7. 

-That following Monday (April 8th), there will be a Mayoral Candidate Political Forum held at the CCISD Board Room (Across from the Fire Station, Next to Lil' Tex). This will start at 5:30 pm and go until 8pm. The first hour of it will be a meet and greet, so if work has you running late, you still have time to get in and catch the topics. 

-April 13th (Saturday), there will be an Easter Egg Roundup at City Park from 9-11am

Citizens Forum:

-Richard  Smith started things off with concerns about the neighborhood he lives in. He bought a house over near Courtney Lane, near SC Lee and JL Williams. He's noticed that there is a heavy amount of traffic in the area trying to merge out into and in from FM116 - and it will only be getting heavier as they add in more houses. He's requesting a traffic light be installed at the FM116/Courtney intersection. (Editors Note: This is a common problem brought up with the area, and Mr Richard is not the first person to bring this topic up. I wouldn't be surprised to see a traffic light in this area by the end of the year - Jeremy). He also brought up that the same intersection is starting to deteriorate and a dip is starting to form. He had brought this up to Councilman Marc Payne in the past and it was promptly filled in and road re-striped. He would like to see the city address this issue once again. To end, he brought up a concern that for his road, there's really only one way in and out, so if there should be an emergency that would block that road, he could find himself stuck in the area. There could be a second route out, but the second route has a locked gate blocking anyone from going through. (Editors Note: This may be a tough issue to have addressed. Technically, if the city were to add a second way out simply because a citizen brought up an issue with it, they COULD be opening themselves up to complaints from everyone living on a cul-de-sac street. Also, there usually isn't anything they can do without impeding on someones personal property - such as would be the case with the gated access that's locked up. I feel like Mr Richard brings up a valid point, but that may just be something homeowners have to pay attention to before we buy a house - Jeremy)

-Terri Deans brought up once again that the city is still experiencing problems with Fathom in regards to billing and customer service. She would really like to see the city address these problems. With that aside, she is an admin with Central Texas Disasters Response Team. They are currently planning a mass casualty drill on May 7th and are looking for as many victim actors as they can get. They need everyone - all ages. Also, if you have a group that could use some emergency preparedness training, they can send someone out to give that training. If you are interested in training, being part of the mass casualty drill, or joining the team - please give Terri a call at 254-238-1839. Please be aware that she does not answer phone calls from numbers she doesn't recognize (dang phone scammers ruined that for all of us - amiright), so just leave a brief voicemail and she will call you right back. 

-Alicia Menard: I believe she may have been with the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce. She was speaking about some other events going on in the area, but she was speaking so fast that I wasn't able to get most of it down. I did catch that there will be an Ambassador Garage Sale at the Cove Terrace Shopping Center on April 6th. (Editors Note: A little tip I recently learned for those of you who get nervous when you speak in front of groups like I do- talk slower than you think you should. Because things are going so fast and racing in your head, if you slow down slower than you think you should be, you generally wind up talking at a very good pace. I've tried it and it seems like it works. If nothing else, it calms me down - Jeremy)

-Jonathan Haywood closed things out by bringing up the driveway between the post office and the car wash. All of us locals know the one - it has MAJOR pot holes in it, and a lot of us drive in the grass to avoid it all together if we have to go that way. The problem with it is that is not a city owned road, and the business owner who owns that parking lot/driveway/road refuses to fix it. John realizes the city can't do anything themselves since they don't own it, but he asks the council if they could reach out to the business owner and help influence them to fix that road.

Consent Agenda:

All four items passed unanimously. They were for past minutes from previous meetings.

Action Items:

H1: The Chamber of Commerce came to the council with a request for HOT funds that was about nine months after the deadline for some of the expenses for the Rabbit Fest. The date of submission was March 21, 2019. Alicia Menard, the new president of  the CoC, is requesting $13,375 in HOT funds. Hotel Occupancy Tax funds are the extra taxes you pay to stay in a hotel or motel and can be only used to promote tourism in a city where it is collected. The deadline for this fiscal year was last spring. The Interim City Manager informed the CoC that only $3880 remain in the fund for promotion of Arts so that the total amount would be $11,255. Mr Yancey asked the Chamber president why the request was not submitted last year and she told him that there was no interest in requesting HOT funds with the prior Chamber President. However, she is new in her position and rather than linger on the past, she is trying to look to the future and make things better for everyone - including she wants to rebuild the relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and the City Council. All of the CoC members have been working hard at trying to get things in a better position, and she fully expects to be able to turn that relationship around between them and the city. She came into this realizing that the request was late and that it could very well be shot down because of that. But she wanted to at least try to get it late rather than never, and she fully plans on going for all the HOT funds she can moving in the future to help promote the arts. Councilman Youngs stated the the previous City Manager and Council destroyed the relationship between the city and both the EDC and CoC so he's all for this to help rebuild that relationship. Kirby Lack stated that he's trying to get away from bending rules for everyone, and the CoC has missed their deadline. Alicia stated she fully understands his point, and reiterated that she is trying to slide this one in with the intention of doing things right moving forward. To get the full $13,375, they would have to do some adjusting of the budget after the fact, so Jay Manning requested an amendment lowering the amount to $11,255. The amendment and the action item that passed lowered the request to $11,255 . 

Vote was 5-2. (Lack voted no based on principle/Youngs voted no because he wanted the full amount) PASS

Our question is that on the line "Registration of Convention Delegates" for $1260. 

Who are the delegates for the "Rabbit Fest"?

Side note: Mayoral Candidate Bradi Dewald Diaz is listed on the board of trustees for the Chamber of Commerce. 

H2: After many long, agonizing discussions regarding fee reductions at the Civic Center, the council voted to approve reducing the daily fee from $500 to $250 for everyone - again, with no discounts for any special groups. PASS

H3: For this item they were just making a few name changes with some positions and jobs. One of the bigger changes that citizens will see is the Planning Dept will now be called the Developmental Services Dept. PASS

H4: This was just Councilmembers Joann Courtland and Fred Chavez swapping some external board positions with each other. Nothing that 99% of us citizens will notice. Just like with H3, it was more of a formality. PASS

CITY REPORTS:

Ryan Haverlah gave report to staff on utility billing complaints and meter replacements. 

-With the recent update to the Fathom online portal, customers can set a payment date that is after the due date. A problem that has been coming up is some customers have been setting their online payment date for after their due date, and in some cases it has fallen on their water shutoff date. So, they think they are ok because they have an auto-draft, but don't realize that if the money isn't to Fathom by their shutoff date, that water is getting shut off. Additionally, all calls to Fathom or the city after 3 pm to turn water back on aren't processed until the next business day. This is because the final 2 hours is to allow employees to close out work orders generated during the day. Fred Chavez asked if the city can have Fathom get with whoever does their code and set calendar parameters so you can't select an auto-pay date that falls after your due date. Ryan explained that there are some complications with that such as if someone sets up auto pay today (April 2nd) to have it take effect May 1st, but then they don't pay their bill for the month of April manually and it's due on the 12th. Well, now it's going to be received very late and will most likely lead to water being shut off. Dan Yancey asked if we can have Fathom allow customers to set their own due date since some customers are on a monthly income. Ryan said he will look into both options. 

- There have been problems with multiple bills being sent out within days of each other. A lot of these have been resolved by now and most of those were due to either local meter reading issues that happened before all the meters were changed, or connectivity issues with the meters and data collectors that are placed around the city. There's been other cases that have popped up - one recent one being a customer who was VERY public about the fact that they were double billed and couldn't pay for other essentials because they had such a high amount to pay for their water bill. This was found to be that they were actually behind on payments. Several failed attempts have already been made to get in contact with this customer, but the city will keep trying to reach out and talk to the customer about this issue. 

-There have been concerns regarding high water usage alerts. Typically with these alerts, a fast leak (burst pipe, for example) will send you a notice after one day of continual leak, and a slow leak (leaky faucet) will send you a notice after two days of continual leak. You can adjust these parameters in your Fathom online account settings. If a customer can provide proof that the leak was professionally repaired, they can request a sewer use credit for the period of time that they had the leak. This will be based on normal usage. These are limited to 1 credit every 12 months. 

-One customer recently stated they had a bill showing 50,000 gallons of use. This was found to not be true both with an account search and in talking with the customer. 

-In regards to double billing complaints, there is a base rate that everybody with a water meter pays. This is just to have access to that water connection and for maintenance of the city water system. After that, you are charged $4.75 per 1,000 gallons used, and that is calculated down to 1/1000 of a gallon. The sewer rate is $6 per 1,000 gallons used. Seniors get a 20% discount on all charges up to 5,000 gallons used as approved by the city council recently. 

-Recently, a customer got two bills that were received two days apart. It was legitimate, and they were even for the same billing cycle. What happened was the first bill sent out was found to be incorrect, revised, and sent out again with an updated balance. But, nobody every reached out to the customer to let them know what was going on which put them into a panic - rightfully so. Everything was eventually straightened out, and I'm assuming this is an issue that has been addressed internally. 

- The city began installing meters in October 2016. They did a full swap of meter and sensors. There were originally about 1,500 unreplaced meters that they could not replace safely without interrupting service to surrounding areas. A lot of times, this was due to things such as someone pouring concrete all around the meter, preventing the city from replacing anything without breaking up the concrete. The city employees have been making significant progress in replacing those problem meters, but they do still have some that have not been replaced yet. There have been recent comments about only the sensor being replaced and not the meter, or vice versa (basically a retrofit). This simply is not true. 

Future Agenda Items:

Marc and Fred both would like to look at having their absences approved

Charlie Youngs would like to look at procedures for selecting EDC staff. He would like to allow the EDC staff to review applications and submit comments before sending to council. He explicitly stated the EDC staff would not be allowed to remove any applications - only provide their own comments on applicants. 

Thanks for sticking with us and staying in tune with your town. If you have any questions about something referenced or have something to add - please let us know in the comments! As always, please subscribe and share, share, share. Lets get this around so people can be in tune with what's going on in their city and have an opportunity to Speak Up!!! 

City Council Regular Meeting and Workshop - 19 Mar 2019

City Council meeting and workshop for March 19, 2019

The Council:
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Absent (Sickness)
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present

Mayoral Candidates:
Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present
Ron Nelson II-Present
Joey Acfalle-Absent
Brandi Weiand-Absent

Hello again Copperas Cove! As always, we appreciate you checking in - here's the recap from the latest City Council Meeting.

Announcements:
Ryan Haverlah (our Interim City Manger) started the night off with a few announcements.
-The city of Copperas Cove will be celebrating it's 140th birthday! March 25th at 5:30 pm at the City Library, there will be a proclamation, showing of historical photos, story telling, cake, cookies, punch, and other activities. Everyone is encouraged to show up!
-Copperas Cove recently was given an award from the United Way for showing the biggest improvements during the past year

Citizens Forum:
-Terri stepped up first and kicked things off with her continued disappointment in the Fathom mess. They are still conducting improper services with 30-45 min phone calls to fix an issue and there have been a lot of hard times in trying to get answers. She would really like to see these issues her tenants are having be resolved. Moving on from that, she is a volunteer with a local emergency response team and on May 7th, they will be holding a major  mass casualty exercise around Fort Hood. They are needing a lot of volunteer actors to help out with this and can use everyone from children to the elderly.
-Mari (hopefully I spelled that correct) Cruz is an 18 year citizen with Copperas Cove. She's recently had an issue with Fathom where they pulled a scheduled auto draft of her bill and disconnected it on the same day! Then, to add insult to injury, they wanted an additional $55 up front to reconnect it, wouldn't let her authorize it to be turned back on since she wasn't the account holder (although her husband tried to have her added as having permission twice in the past), and then told her that because it was after 3 pm, they wouldn't be able to reconnect her water that day. She added that she has Lupus, her husband is a disabled vet, and they need water for medical reasons. As a final touch, she also noticed added fees on her following bill that resulted from the water shutoff.
-Debbie spoke out about payment issues she's had with Fathom. They have a small family who have been taking measures to cut back on water usage in the past months, yet she see's her bill continuing to go up. This past one, it was over 5,000 gallons. She's noticed that there's two different water and sewage fees instead of one of each like normal and doesn't believe Fathom should be double dipping like that. Editors Note: I've sat in on discussions about this by the council. It's my personal belief that there is a misunderstanding in this case. The city applies a discounted rate for everyone if they use UNDER 5,000 gallons. Once you reach the 5,000 gallon mark, your rate goes up to the "normal" rate. Most of us don't use over 5,000 gallons so we will never see the difference. It is MY personal belief that what is happening with the two line items of water and two line items of sewer is one line item is the discount rate up to 5,000 gallons, and the second line item is the standard rate applied after the 5,000 gallons. If I have this wrong, feel free to let us know in the comments - Jeremy
-Linda with the Five Hills Art Guild is inviting the public to next weekends (May 30-31)Five Hills Art Festival - "Bridge the Gap!". It will have free parking and entry, dancers, art from all across the state as well as one artist coming in from New Mexico, and dance off competitions. It will be Saturday from 10 to 7 and Sunday from 11 to 4.

The Agenda

Action Items:

H1 - The Heart of Texas Defense Alliance came out and gave its quarterly report on activities and requested payments for professional services provided. Keith Sledd was not near the microphone and the A/C was kind of loud, so we missed some of what he was saying, but I did pick up a few things.  

The Department of the Army has approved a Recycling Inter-Governmental Support Agreement (IGSA) allowing Copperas Cove to use their recycling program. The lawyers looked into policy and it doesn't prohibit this type of relationship. To make things more secure, they are now moving to include language specifically authorizing a relationship like this, and then Fort Hood and Copperas Cove will work to put this in effect. 

The Governor is working on some actions to be more supportive of military spouses and families. In the second slide (GCSM Findings and Recommendations), check marks are next to items that are already in place, and the unchecked items are being worked on to be put in place. I also heard some talk about Fort Hood resources being used towards construction of a wall on our southern border, but I think it was something being worked on. PASS

H2 - The Five Hills Art Guild made a presentation discussing the expenses put into the "Bridge the Gap" going on this weekend, and they requested a reimbursement for $8,760 out of the $12,000 already allocated in the city budget. PASS

H3 - The council assigned three members to the sign committee. Two are locally recognized business owners and one is a commercial sign contractor licensed by the State of Texas. Douglas Aldrich (All American Signs), Teresa Lange (Lamar Advertising), and Jennifer Snelling (Quine and Associates) were selected. PASS

H4 - The Copperas Cove Police Dept is looking to get rid of a number of firearms that no longer serve a purpose in the Police Department. Since they legally can't sell them to the public, they are looking to trade them in towards new firearms through a certified dealer (85 used weapons for 15 new weapons) with no financial liability to the city. PASS

H5 - Weaver (the same company that conducted the FATHOM Audit) presented an FY2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. When conducting this audit, they look at cash disbursements, payroll, utility revenue, tax revenue, and capitol projects. In all the areas they reported on, there were no problems found. Jay Manning asks why is this late again? The auditor stated no blame on the city, all the city staff were very helpful and prompt. Weaver took extra time in making the report presentable. Charlie Youngs motioned to approve the report. Jay Manning stated he was just given this report, and it is quite heavy. He can't vote to approve acceptance of this report with so many pages and so little time to review it. He would like extra time to review it.  The rest of the council concurred with his thoughts. FAILED 5-1 with Charlie Youngs being the only one to approve. They will revisit during a special meeting at 5:00, next Monday (March 25th).

H6 - Joe Brown with Parks and Rec gave a presentation on the current fees being charged at the Civic Center. He reminded the Council that it used to be $800 a day and $400 for half a day with a $400 refundable deposit, $100 Kitchen use fee, $100 Audio equipment use fee, $100 Stage use fee, and $40 restoration fee applied to everyone. They were getting a LOT of requests for fee reductions, so  last year the council voted to drop the rental fee and get rid of the half day fee to make it fair for everyone and stop entertaining requests for reduced fees. Now, here we are again with the council requesting a report of the daily operating expenses for the Civic Center to see how much more we can reduce the cost and still cover operating expenses. He took the overall expenses of the Civic Center for the past 5 years, and for each year he divided the amount of expenses for that year by amount of rentals for that year. Then he took all 5 years expense costs and averaged them out. Expense costs are everything from toilet paper being used to the grounds employees being paid to set things up in the civic center, to the floor wax being applied and time to do it. He did not factor in electricity used for the lights and HVAC or administrative staff time which is used towards each rental as well. The number he came up with was $560 a day or $70 an hour to run the civic center. Marc Payne started asking a bunch of questions about how many A/C units the building has, and he noticed that as prices went up over the years, rentals went down. He then factored in the city and school district using the civic center and said that means that hardly any citizens are actually renting the building. Marc further stated that we should not be so tough on tax payers already paying for these buildings or Charities trying to help the community.

From there the council started making form adjustments to specify who can receive up to a 50% discount when seemingly out of nowhere, Charlie Youngs pulled out of thin air that he wants the rental fee to be a flat $250 for anyone and everyone, no discounts applied. Take it or leave it. Joann and Marc immediately agreed. Jay Manning said he would hate to see the city losing money on renting this building and thinks we should stay at cost. Charlie Youngs then said that he thinks the people that are going to rent it are mostly citizens who are already paying for it in their taxes, and he would rather drop the price now with the hopes that rentals go up, and if they don't go up then go back and raise the fee to make up for lost costs. With that, the council voted on the new fee of $250 a day, Sound/Kitchen/Stage usage are $100 each, $400 refundable deposit, and a $40 restoration fee applied to everyone.Editors Note: Why are we as a city renting OUR Civic Center to a customer for half of what it cost to operate it- James  PASS A future agenda item will cover applying the new fees to the schedule, so the fee isn't being applied just yet.

Reports from Staff:

Ryan had some reports for the council tonight. 

-With the ongoing Texas Legislative Session going on, several bills have been presented. SB1 and HB1 both are similar bills (SB- Senate Bill, HB- House Bill) They have to do with relief payments the state gives out to help offset veterans who don't have to pay property tax. With these bills, Copperas Coves budgeted relief would more than double from prior years. Attached to those are some bills - one would expand this to Central Texas College and municipalities that lie in counties that share a border with military installations. 

-SB1152 States that local governments can't use any public funding to lobby at the state level. The problem with this is most cities are part of the Texas Municipal League which goes and does lobbying for the different cities around the state. They play a big part in staying in tune with the Texas Government and fighting for the cities. If this bill passes, the Mayor would have to be the one who goes to lobby for their city, taking some of their attention away from events going on in their city or needs of the city. 

-The Business 190 project is now in its 60% review phase which is expected to be complete by May 1st. The report from the TxDOT public meeting should be ready by the end of April, and will be made available to the public when the city gets it. 

- City employees have recently gone to South Park and cleaned out all the cat shelters (over 70) that had been placed around the park. They then reached out to the local concerned citizens and assured them that this was not a preliminary step to removing cats, but rather a measure to clean up the park. The city would like to remind residents that personal property is not permitted to be left on city property. 

Copperas Cove Workshop Notes

The workshop consisted of a discussion of the Downtown Transportation Feasability Study and the Downtown Masterplan of 2008. Neither plan dealt with traffic flow cor Copperas Cove.

The next 12 million dollar project from KTMPO road project will be the FM 116 railroad underpass project. They plan to start it in 2022 and will need two years of planning with BNSF before that due to coordination of the project. It doesn't address the traffic flow issue or the continued growth on the north side of town. Here are the options the council discussed:

1. FM 116 Railroad Underpass

2. Shift Main St to FM 116

3. FM 116 Realignment

4. FM 1113 Realignment

5. FM 116 and FM 1113 Realignment

The council agreed to have the Interim City Manager plan for the study and bring it back to them. 

With that, the meeting was a wrap! We appreciate your stopping by - be sure to subscribe, comment, and share this blog with other Copperas Cove residents!