There have been over 1,354,000 US war dead since to formation of the United States of America. Decoration Day as it was called dates back to May 30, 1868, when the graves of fallen Union Soldiers were decorated in remembrance and it coincided with what was being done in Southern states. In 1967 the name was officially changed to Memorial Day, even though it was unofficially called Memorial Day since 1882.
This is what this day means to me, SFC (Retired) James A Pierce, Jr. It is the day I remember the several personal and professional men that I have known that are no longer with us. They gave their lives so we we can go on as a free country. Three of the men I knew personally and the other two I was near them when they died. Those that know me should remember the phrase "Never Forget"! I live by that.
I have three combat tours in the almost 25 years of active duty Army service I gave to the United States.
1. Gulf War, 1 Jul 91-31 Jan 92 (Southwest Asia Ceasefire Campaign)
2. Operation Iraqi Freedom, 13 Aug 07-31 Jul 08 (Iraqi Surge)
3. Operation Enduring Freedom, 21 Dec 09-4 Dec 10 (Afghan Surge)
Here are the Soldiers that I remember on this day:
CPT Michael Norman form Killeen, Texas. He was KIA on 31 Jan 2008 on Route Oilers near Sadr City, Baghdad. He was on a MiTT with us and was traveling back to FOB Shield from FOB Loyalty when his combat patrol was struck by and EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile). These were supplied by Iran. He passed away on site. I had known him since April 2007. He is buried at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, Section 1, Marker 382. He was on MiTT 3/82 (Sharks). We won't forget wear he rests.
SFC John Norton was from Stanton, Kentucky. He was KIA on 15 Dec 2005, in Shah Wali Kot, Afghanistan. He was station with the 74th Long Range Surveillance, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Brigade. I was told that he had volunteered to go on the dismounted patrol when they were engaged in direct fire. I met John while we were in 25W ANCOC, in February 2005. He was an awesome guy to know! He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 60, where the KIA soldiers the Iraq and Afghanistan are located.
SSG Justin Decrow was from Plymouth, Indiana. He was KIA on 5 Nov 2009, at Ft Hood by the murderer Nidal Hasan. He was assigned with me at the 16th Signal Company. He was a Team Chief in 1st Platoon and I was the 2nd PSG. He had went to the SRP center one day early to see if his waiver had come in so that he could deploy with us. It would have been Justin's first deployment.
PFC Corey Hicks was from Glendale, AZ. He was KIA on 5 May 2008, on Route Predators going from FOB Hope (War Eagle) to FOB Loyalty then to BIAP. He was with 1/66 Armor, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and was hit by an EFP (Explosively Formed Projectile). They were providing security for my MiTT while in transit to BIAP to exchange out Up-Armor HUMMVs for MRAPS. We made it two mile when he was hit by two EFPs. I will not forget his sacrifice. We were about 200 meters from his RG-31 when it was struck.
MAJ Alan Rogers was from Hampton, FL. He was KIA on 27 Jan 2008, on Route Budweiser
en-route to Old MOD for a MiTT coordination meeting with MiTT counterparts when his combat patrol was struck by an EFP five minutes from Old MOD. He passed away at Old MOD. He was based out of FOB Rustamiyah in Southwest Baghdad.
Never forget these Soldiers and what they did for the Army and country.
Directors:
Adam Martin-Present
Marcie Lowery-Absent
Jeremy Tate-Present
Joey Acfalle-Present
Jay Jackson-Present (He is new)
Council Liaison:
Charlie Youngs-ABSENT
Here are the highlights of the Economic Development Corporation meeting that was held on Wednesday, May 22, at 12:00. They meet every 4th Wednesday at 12:00 at the Technology Center 508 South 2nd Street and it is open to the public. This is where the city council meets.
The first three agenda items were routine budgetary items dealing with payroll, unaudited financial report, and the quarterly investment report. Their numbers look very good, as reported. All three passed unanimously.
HOTDA Dir Keith Sledd briefed the directors on DEAAG and their priorities. The two main priorities he spoke about was expanding northbound SH9, so commercial and truck traffic can enter Ft Hood at Tank Destroyer instead of Clark Rd, and the doubling of the SE Bypass in approximately 2021. This was only a briefing!
Demolition for $32,000
The directors voted 4-0 to approve the bid to demo the EDC owned building (except for the slab) for $32,000. There were three bids ranging from 32,000 to 78,000. It will eventually make way for a new city administration building.
SOLD for $25,000
After several years of litigation, insurance, and repair attempts, Endevour purchased the lot and sign from the EDC for $25,000. Endevour will erect a new sign to advertise their stores at that location. The vote to approve the sale was 4-0.
There will be a strategic planning meeting with the city council on June 25, 2019, from 2-6pm. They will be discussing priorities for economic development for the city.
Joey Acfalle was approved by a vote of 4-0 to be the new Vice Chair of the EDC. It had been vacant since Chris Mulvey resigned from the EDC because of employment requirements. Marcie Lowery was also nominated but Chairman Martin declined to move it forward since Marcie was not present at the meeting.
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!
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.
James, Jeremy, and Ron want to ask the community a few questions pertaining to the "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove" blog. It is confidential so please take a minute and answer the 7 questions. It will be very helpful to us and Copperas Cove. We will share the results on this platform in about a week.
Quality of Life Board meeting for May 9, 2019 (Joe Brown's last meeting) The Board:
Adam Redmond- Present
Cheryl Kielman- Present
Marcie Lowery- Present
Jim McEvers- Present
Robert Sizemore- Present
Craig Foster- Present
Dustin Phipps- Present
Council Liaison:
Fred Chavez- Absent
The Agenda:
Citizens Forum:
James Pierce- He spoke about the continued absence of a council liaison from the QOL. This is the sixth month in a row that there has been no representation from the council. In early March, Council members Courtland and Chavez swapped positions with the permission of council. He has missed three in a row. He also thanked Joe Brown for all the years of service that he gave to Copperas Cove and the Parks Department.
Ron Nelson- He expressed concern that the Hike and Bike trail will not be a priority after Joe Brown leaves the city. He is working on a forum in the region that works with TNR programs for cats. He expressed farewell to Joe Brown and that he will be missed. He is worried that the condition of the parks will regress due to the lack of leadership and that cutting the parks budget any further is unacceptable.
Action Items: There were no votes taken during the Action Items.
Parks sent of via Facebook a Survey Monkey request and got 450 responses from citizens. They are still processing the responses. Editorial comment: If the council liaison was present then everything that was spoken about today at the meeting could be brought back to the council. This department has a yearly budget of over $2,000,000 dollars which should make it a priority to the city leaders. These board members volunteer their valuable time through out the month and every month to assist the city and parks department. The new Mayor of Copperas Cove (Bradi Dewald Diaz) needs to ensure that this happens and also that they brief the council on a regular basis.
This is the update briefing BSP gave the city concerning the Parks and Golf Course projects:
As you can see they are making progress except when the weather interferes with the work.
There is now a cat sub-committee consisting Marcie, Craig, Jim, and Adam. They asked Ron Nelson to join as a guest. Their first meeting will be May 31 at 0700 at the golf course. They will get organized at this meeting. Their goal is to come up with possible solutions for the feral cat situation at South Park.
The parks master plan should be complete by December and sent to Council, for approval.
Joe Brown informed the board that he is writing an executive summary for the Interim City Manager. It is currently over six pages long. He said thank you for all the support.
City Manager report:
Revenue is down for the month of April due to rain and may be like that for May.
Parks Status:
South Park- Little bit of trash available, about 40 cats are visible
High Chaparral Park- Looks good, the new 8 inch square drain seams to be working as designed
Kate Street Park- Needs to be mowed
Ogletree Gap Park-Needs to be mowed
Heritage Park-Needs to be mowed
Highland Park-Needs to be mowed
Rhode Park-Needs to be mowed
City-Park-looks good
The Winter Soccer Report
The last part of the blog is to show everyone how detailed the Parks and Rec Dept is in their record keeping. This is for Winter Soccer that recently concluded. There are lots of moving marts to this from players, coaches, referees, and staff. This takes lots of planning. I am including the entire report for your review.
Please read, share, and subscribe to "Speak Up!!! Copperas Cove"
Copperas Cove City Council meeting for May 7, 2019
Council members:
Joann Courtland- Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present
Mayor-Elect:
Bradi Dewald Diaz-Present
The Agenda:
There were no announcements from the council members.
Citizen's Forum:
Jacky from Freedom Lane wanted to inform the council that there is still time to make changes to the Business 190 plan. Copperas Cove previously had medians inside the city and they had been torn out. He also suggested that we need "On Demand" crosswalks along the long stretches of the road so pedestrians can safely cross. He ended with this statement for the medians "A Great Place For Weeds To Grow".
Jeremy Frew started his time off referring to a workshop item from today's City Council workshop. The council was discussing possibly getting on board with the Texas Film Commission. Part of the qualification for this would be to submit pictures of spots around town to film. One idea that Jeremy has is to invite the public to send in submissions. This would give the city more ideas to choose from as well as give the city pictures they could use for their own marketing. From there, he went on to express his disappointment in the city losing Joe Brown, Parks Director. Joe has a lot of great programs that he's put in place, and Jeremy would like to see the city keep those going. To close things out, Jeremy brought up that the council members are liaisons on several different boards and committees in the city. He would like to see the council members start giving reports on the meetings they've been attending. This would be a good way to let the citizens know what's going on around the city, but the council members could also keep each other in the loop on what's in the works around the city.
James Pierce Jr informed the city council of the eight day power failure at "Five Hills Apartments". That is an apartment complex for very low income people and home also to several disabled people located near the intersection of Business 190 and MLK. With the governmental assistance that the residents receive there should be absolutely no reason why they should be made to live in that environment. They should look into what happened and see what could be done the next time it happens. If that happened in the more affluent areas of town there would be a crowd of people out front demanding action.
Public Hearings:
-The city held public hearing #2 concerning property east of Highland Park containing 7.42 acres. The property owner (Mitchell Thompson) is asking to rezone the property from R-1(Single Family Residential) and B-4 (General Retail) to it being entirely R-1, which is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Mitchell is planning on building a single family home one day on the property, but it is split in half with the two different zones. The side that is currently zoned R-1 is under power lines which is required to be kept accessible for the power company. The side that is not under the power lines is currently B-4. This would solve that problem as well as bring things inline with the Comprehensive Plan. - PASS 6-0
-The city held the first of two public hearings on a budget transfer of $11,255 to the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) Fund to fund the Rabbit Fest Event. From the agenda: "For fiscal year 2018-2019, the application period for HOT funds began April 12, 2018 with requests due May 23, 2018. Applying organizations met with the Budget Committee on June 7-8, 2018 and presented to City Council on August 2, 2018. City Council approved on September 4, 2018 allocations for the HOT Fund within the operating budget. The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce did not submit a funding request application for the fiscal year 2018-2019 budget during the application process. Their request was submitted on March 21, 2019, which was presented and approved by City Council during the April 2, 2019 meeting.". There were no comments from the public (allowed, but nobody went up) during this hearing. Editorial Comment: Item #2 dedicates $1260 dollars of HOT funds for the registration of convention delegates. We would like to know who are these delegates for the "Rabbit Fest" and why they are receiving the $1260?
Action Items:
-The city reviewed action authorizing the Interim City Manager to execute Change Order No. 1 to Freese and Nichols Inc (FNI) for design of the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The city already approved FNI to design a second UV channel to the west side of the building at the cost of$143,212.00. Additional needed UV Disinfection System improvements include $20,952.00 for engineering services and $82,500 to be used towards a new overhead door installed on the west side of the building, a new concrete drive, and grading of the dirt with the addition of a retaining wall for the dirt. PASS 6-0 Editorial Comment: The council started asking questions about the agenda item without a motion on the floor. Robert's Rules of Order makes it clear that no discussion can go forward unless there is a motion and a second proposed for the council to consider.
- There is a vacancy on the P&Z committee and there was only one applicant to fill it. Dustin Dewald was nominated to fill the vacancy - PASS 6-0
-The EDC Board of Directors had an unexpired term vacancy for position 1. Norris Crook, Robert Sizemore, Darren Blair, Norman Mitchell, Jay Jackson, Sarah Kindler, & Amy Williams all applied for the position. Fred Chavez nominated Jay Jackson with a second from Kirby Lack, and Jay Manning nominated Sarah Kindler. With no other nominees, they put the names into the Excel name draw and Jay Jackson was selected. PASS 6-0 Editorial comment: The Council failed to suspend the rules and then went into the nomination process. The five other people that bothered to file for the EDC didn't even get a chance to serve. The city policy is that applicants go through the random sort process in a spreadsheet and get voted on until all vacancies are filled. -Bradi Diaz was officially declared the winner of the Special Mayoral Election held April 27th, 2019. The election turn-out was an embarrassing 3.86 percent.PASS 6-0
Last Council picture with out a Mayor
-Every year, Oncor tries to amend it's fee schedule with an increase, and every year it has been denied by the city of Copperas Cove. The current rate increase would increase their revenue by over $29,000,000. Copperas Cove is part of the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor (“OCSC”), who all work together to control how Oncor operates in the area. All the cities with OCSC have come together and deny the increase each time, which in turn sends things to negotiations with the Public Utility Commission, OCSC, and Oncor. This is also requiring Oncor to reimburse Copperas Cove for any expenses brought upon by fighting the rate increase. PASS 6-0
Reports:
Ryan Haverlah gave a few updates on the Texas legislative sessions. They're starting to hit their final stages, but there are likely to be special sessions for school finance.
Some bills that the city is watching right now: SB2 is regarding lowering property tax increases, and requiring votes if they try to increase over 3.5%. This one is likely to pass. HB422 helps maintain our ability when dealing with encroachment by the Federal Govt. It would ensure city rights can be maintained when in partnerships with the Federal Govt. HB634 allows extra relief payments to cities hit hard by the 100% Disabled Vet property tax exemption. The area covered would extend to municipalities that are up to two miles from a post boundary.
Recently, the city lost its Public Works Director. The selection progress for a new one is just about done.
Future Agenda Items:
Marc Payne - he would like to see tarps put on the roof of the Historic Post Office in Ogletree Gap. It has taken recent wind damage and there are now holes exposing the inside to the rain we're having. Ryan informed him that the repair procedure is currently in process and he would update the council about that.
Dan Yancey - he would like to have a workshop item about the large trucks parking within city limits. Charlie Youngs brought up that this was looked at in the past and he personally drove every street in Copperas Cove looking at the problem. His finding was that the problem with big trucks wasn't nearly as bad as everyone thought, but rather was with RV's. He would like to see the language changed to address over-sized vehicles.
Executive Session:
The council then broke off for Executive Session covering the City Attorney, City Manager selection process, and Public Works Director. NO ACTION TAKEN
The public has made it to the polls, and the unofficial election results are in! We'd like to extend an early Congratulations to Bradi Dewald-Diaz!She has re-claimed the position as Mayor of Copperas Cove. Bradi was elected Mayor of Copperas Cove from 2004-2006. She has the honor of being the youngest Councilman and the first woman along with being the youngest Mayor in the history of Copperas Cove.
Out of a population of about 32,700, Copperas Cove has about 19,000 registered voters. Of those 19,000 registered voters, 751 voters showed up to the polls. The election results will be made official during the May 7th city council meeting. Thank you to everyone that came out to vote.
Editorial Comment: Mayor-Elect Diaz was the only candidate to spend campaign funds in the paper, Bill board, Facebook, and signs. The other three did not campaign hardly at all and one of them was totally non-existent. Ms Weiand set example of what not to do when running for office (she received only 15 votes). The only way to turn the voter turn-out back up is to get candidates to actively campaign. This also means that they need to raise money from citizens. This is an investment in your future. If you don't then only wealthy and well to do people will run for office. The average citizen that would like to serve our great city will not be able to afford the price of campaigning. Less than 4% of registered voters just determined who will be the mayor of Copperas Cove for the next 2 1/2 years.
Committee:
David Wellington, Staff - Present
Brian Wyers, City Staff - Present
Catherine Sharbeno, Member - Present
Jenny Shotwell, Rescue Organization - Present
Ann Slanis, Resident Representative - Present
Veterinarian- Vacant
Loretta Bell, Resident Representative - Present
Council Liaison:
Kirby Lack -Absent
Mayor Candidate:
Ron Nelson - Present
Bradi Diaz - Absent
Joey Acfalle - Absent
Brandi Weiand - Absent
Welcome back for another update with the blog! Today, we were at the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee meeting. While this is a far lesser known about committee, they play an important part in managing the pets and wildlife that need help in our community. The meeting was about 30 minutes, but they covered a few good topics.
Agenda:
Reports: F1 - Brian Wyers gave an update on the new animal shelter project they have been working on. After the latest needs assessment, they came up with two quotes on two different types of shelters. They took the one that most accurately met the needs of the city up to City Council for approval. At first, it was approved, but then after further discussion it was shut down for being too expensive. After further research into what some other area shelters are looking like and other options are out there, they he came across a few observations. The first being that just because a shelter is advertised as being a lower cost, those are usually only preliminary numbers and only cover the structure. Once they factor in the things going in the building, the final cost always goes up within range of the quote that was originally taken before City Council. They did look at one shelter that did cost less like what the City Council wanted, but that one was the same size as the shelter we currently have. Our problem is our needs have outgrown our shelter so that won't work.
Secondly, it's hard to compare facility needs simply based on community size. For example, they were looking at another community that is far larger than ours in population, however our animal input/output rates are higher than theirs. So when we're looking at a new animal shelter, you can't really say "well Killeen (for example; I just pulled it off the top of my head because they're next door) is bigger than us, so why is our shelter going to be bigger/more expensive than theirs? It's not simply about population size and tax dollars. They're looking at the needs for the amount of animals coming and going that they deal with.
For one example, right now they're having to count on donations to transport animals out to be seen by a vet as needed. With this new building, they will have an area onsite where the vets can set aside time and come to them for medical issues as well as getting all their vaccinations. They would have to increase adoption rates a little bit to accommodate for these vaccinations, but then we would have a selling point of our adoptable pets being ready to go and current on vaccinations. They have people find out that their adoptable pets are required to be taken out for vaccinations by the new owner, and those people will say they're going to Harker Heights instead where the pets already come vaccinated. For now, he has a few more meetings scheduled with some other architects to see if they can come up with other designs to save costs but still meet our needs. Once they are done with those meetings, he will take this before the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee once more for a vote, and then back to City Council.
F2 - David Wellington gave a report on the effects and requirements of them transitioning to the three year rabies vaccination for dogs. Right now, this is still in the early proposed stage, so he was out doing some research on this. Vet Associations around the country are going by core shots and non core shots. Core shots being things like your Parvo and Distemper, and non core shots being more along the line of antibiotic lines of shots. So basically, Core shots are proactive, and Non Core shots are reactive as I understand it. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in the comments). They consider the rabies shot separate of both of those. So they consider a majority of the core shots to actually be good for 7 years, but prefer to have them renewed every 3 years. Rabies shots are good for 5 years, but they're starting to recommend either a 1 year shot or a 3 year shot and they're talking about going to a 4 or 5 year shot down the road. They're starting to find out that you can over-vaccinate your pets with the Core shots so they're trying to get away from that. Currently, the Veterinarian Association recommends 3 year rabies and core shots. Cat vaccinations have recently came to 3 year shots as well. Out of all the research David did on this subject, he could find no research against the 3 year shot. He did talk to the local vets in Copperas Cove and has their full support.
One of the resident representatives expressed concern over a beloved dog of hers who recently passed away almost a year ago. She took it in for it's recommended shots all the time and the vet never mentioned anything about over vaccinating, so now she's worried about what she may have done to her pup. David let her know that research on this is still in its early stages, and there are some vets who don't agree. Another resident representative asked if the city is currently enforcing rabies shots, to which the answer was no. When asked if they could, she was told they could by having a resident provide proof with vet records. Another resident representative asked where we can get tags renewed, to which she was told she could go to any local vet. She asked if there was a way to do this online, but was told there is not.
F3 - David Wellington provided a monthly report on statistics and activities of the Copperas Cove Animal Shelter. He said they have switched to a new program to pull this report together and it has a lot of great info, but they're also still working some of it out. This new system not only tells numbers, but it breaks down every species that they pick up or do anything with. So far this calendar year, we have had 153 adoptions, and 141 euthanasia's. Some of those euthanasia's have been animals that were in critical condition. We have had 4 animals who were sick to the point that they didn't make it, and 160 were deceased on the local roads. 153 animals have been returned to their owners, 15 rescues have been transferred out to local rescue centers, and 1 cat had escaped the compound. That happened when a visitor to the cat visiting area didn't properly secure the door and a cat found its way out. They have had 47 animals that were returned to the wild. They have a new vet volunteer at a local vet clinic who has been helping and has neutered two animals in January. They have been busy with classes these past few months, but are expected to be able to get back to helping out soon.
Upcoming Events:
June 20 and Aug 14 - there will be low cost shot clinics
Oct 26 will be Puppypalooza. All that is required to enter are donations.
Council:
Mayor: Vacant
Joann Courtland- Present
Fred Chavez - Present
Dan Yancey - Present
Jay Manning - Present
Kirby Lack - Present
Marc Payne - Present
Charlie Youngs - Present
Mayor Candidate:
Bradi Dewald Diaz - Absent
Joey Acfalle - Absent
Ron Nelson - Present
Brandi Weiand - Absent
Hello again Copperas Cove! It's great to have you back for another recap of the latest City Council meeting. We appreciate each and every one of you for checking in and sharing these blogs with your fellow residents. The more we can educate the citizens of Copperas Cove, the more educated people will be going to the polls and knowing what's going on in our little corner of Coryell County. If you haven't already - remember to subscribe!!
Breaking News for our concerned citizens!!!
Two weeks ago, Jonathan Haywood spoke during Citizens Forum about a shopping center entry way between the Laserwash and Valvoline that was very dilapidated with pot holes. The city and all the businesses in the responsible area thought the other entity owned the area so it was never repaired. James Pierce followed up a couple days later at the building department (they are responsible for business code enforcement) and filed a complaint against all the business' in order for the city to resolve the issue of ownership. Ryan Haverlah told Mr. Pierce Tuesday evening that the owner of the property where Lazerwash is located is in fact the rightful owner of that particular piece of concrete and has been notified by letter of the issues at hand.
The Agenda:
Announcements:
Ryan Haverlah: Parks and Rec has a Parks Improvement Plan survey out right now and they would appreciate all the input they can get. That survey can be found here: Survey Monkey Cove Master Park Plan . Also, the Easter Egg round up was postponed due to weather and is now going to be this Thursday (18 April, 2019), starting at 6pm at City Park.
Dan Yancey: Voting for our next Mayor is going on right now, so be sure to get out and vote!
Editors Note: Voting for the Central Texas College Board of Trustees will be starting next week (April 22-30). Technically, you can get out and vote Monday and Tuesday and be able to vote twice in one day! Copperas Cove Citizens can vote for the CTC Trustees at the new CCISD Administrative Building, next to Lil Tex/across from the Library.
Citizens Forum: Just a quick friendly reminder to our citizens - All citizens are allotted a 5 minute block of time for which to speak. There are 30 minutes set aside for the citizens forum. Additionally, by State Law, the Council Members and City Staff are not allowed to answer questions during citizens forum. Any questions asked will be met with helpless faces of "We wish we could answer, but we can't". However - you can show up early and ask council members questions, or stay late and ask them questions.
Nick: In reference to tonight's Action Item #1, he supports it and encourages the council to as well.
Wendy: Just showed up from Virginia, but owns property in Copperas Cove. She asked how is code enforcement enforced if violations are not addressed. She also asked is there a 5 year plan for Copperas Cove, and if so is it available for the public to see online or via email.
Terri: There will be a major disaster drill on May 7th. An application has just been released and she reviewed the general basis of it. She did mention that it says registration does not guarantee participation. Stay tuned for more on this in a future blog.
Siggi: Touched on the topic of transparency in government. There was a City Council Workshop on March 19th that was listed as "Presentation and discussion on a Downtown Transportation Feasibility Plan". When reading this, she took it as they were talking about a bus route or something to do with buses. She did not understand that it would be discussing road work that would possibly be going under the railroad tracks and she feels like it was intended to mislead the public so the City Council could push this through.
Public Hearing:
1. This hearing had to do with the applicant shutting down Kids World Daycare Center. The building has been a business for at least 50 years that she could track, and she's been running it for over 20. She shut the business down last July and the property has been for sale the past 4 years. She has been having problems selling it, and she thinks that's been in large part to it being zoned as B-2(Local Retail District) business in the middle of a residential (this is a house that was running as a business). She would like to have it rezoned to R-1(Single Family Residential) to make it easier to sell. PASS
2. This hearing had to do with rezoning from an R-3 (Multifamily Residential District) to a B-3(Local Business District). This will bring the lot in line with all surrounding lots. PASS
3. This hearing had to do with a local resident wanting to change his conditional use permit from a Commercial Office Building, to a retail store to put in a food mart. This has years of backstory and as well as a lot of recent events to it, so bear with me as I try to condense it down a little while still getting everything in here.
In mid 2013, the property owner, Mr. Amr Abdelazeem (we'll call him Mr A - with all due respect), requested the property be rezoned to R-3 (Multi-Family Residential) District with a Conditional Use Permit to allow for the construction of a commercial office building for a branch of his business office and an additional office space to lease to a future tenant. The item was passed through the P&Z Commission on May 28, 2013 and presented to City Council on June 4, 2013. The Conditional Use Permit was granted by Ordinance No. 2013-29 and was limited to the operation of certain conditional uses outlined in the Zoning Ordinance for two (2) professional office uses being Engineering Services and Architectural and Planning Services.
In addition to granting the Conditional Use Permit for them to run a business office, they presented Mr A a long list of standards that had to be met covering everything from numbers of parking spaces to the privacy fence in the back and lighting that couldn't leave his northern property line. Somewhere along the line, Mr A decided that the business office wasn't going to work out, but he wanted to put up a convenience store instead.
He took this to the P&Z Board and showed he had plans to meet all the criteria, and then some. However, upset citizens were taking notice as well and were also showing up as well as writing letters to show their displeasure. Eventually, the P&Z Board shot it down, which sent it to the City Council where it could only pass with a 75% vote in favor. Ryan Haverlah updated the council and showed that every specification asked for was met. They wanted 6 parking spots, he put in 7. They wanted a plan to show how the delivery trucks and trash truck would get in and out - he had it. They wanted a well let back area as an emergency exit, with privacy fence and a way to keep kids out from that back area - he had it all figured out. Then came the public forum.
Anna is a nearby resident and she spoke out against this. She and her neighbors are fine with it being an office space because then they would only be there during normal office hours, there would be no increase in crime, and traffic wouldn't be affected. The roads nearby aren't wide enough to handle big delivery trucks or a lot of traffic and they have had 5 hit and run accidents recently to prove it. There's not enough parking here, the building doesn't have enough square footage, and she saw mention of this needing a generator as an office building, so as a convenience store with all those cold beverages, it would need an even bigger generator which would be loud and smelly from all the gas they use! There's not enough room in the back for a privacy wall, bushes, and sidewalk as required by the city. There's not enough sidewalks in the area so kids would be walking in the streets being a hazard to traffic, or walking on peoples lawns, damaging property. Since 2013, there have been 31 code violations to this property and on average they take 1 month to resolve the issues. On top of that, the property is a construction mess that should be closed off because people are getting hurt on it as well as stuck, needing help from Cove PD to get them off the property. There's also a fire hydrant right next to the parking spots which isn't allowed, too small of a loading zone, and the city setback lines aren't met. Lastly, they have a fear of reduced property values, which their values have already been dropping in recent years because of this building.
Ginger is also a nearby resident and spoke out against this. Cove prides itself on being a community built on family living, so they need to keep citizens where they belong and businesses where they belong - not mixed together.
Mr A finally had his chance to speak up. He argued that they have complied with every city and ADA condition thrown at him. He's also on the corner of a residential, not mixed in it, and there's other convenience stores around town that are actually IN the residential areas, such as the Family Food Mart on S 23rd and Urbantke. Furthermore, there has never been any discussion about him needing an external generator for his business because they will be using city water, power lines, and everything else typically supplied to a business via service carrier. No shrubs will be needed in the back because of the fence he's putting up which leaves plenty of room for the sidewalk and fence. The fire hydrant not only isn't in the way, but he's already gotten the fire marshal to approve its location in relation to parking. The new building will be better than what was there before and will actually raise property values once it's done because it will look very nice and be nearby shopping. Trucks won't ever need to be on Megg Street, so the tight spots aren't a concern, and in fact his impact on extra traffic is 0%. Nobody is coming across town just to use a convenience store. They have met all city requests and have had no code violations, so he's not sure where this 31 number came from. When this is done, not only will the building be very clean, but it will also be run by a property management company - not him. So there should never be any code violations. This project complies with all ADA, Federal, and City codes. The sidewalk in the back will have a back door from the building as required by fire code, but there will be a gate with a one way latch on it so you can only open the gate from the inside to keep trouble makers out.
Dan Yancey said that in June 2013, this was approved for a conditional use permit issued for commercial office use - not a store. Why did you not complete that office space? Mr A stated he was told by the city planner that he could lease the space instead to make a store. He provided papers that I am assuming were backing up this claim.
Marc Payne proposed that the original use of the term "High Volume Generator" when describing the property may be where the generator confusion came from. The proposed parking use is doubling use of the loading zone/handicap zone. The area that should be allowed for vans to unload wheel chairs is also marked as a loading zone, so if a delivery truck is there, that driver may not be able to get in their van for at least 15 minutes. Mr A stated that the loading zone for vans is actually on the other side of the parking spot and is plenty of room, as dictated by the ADA standards.
Mr A's Son came up after some slight deliberation among council members and stated that he was also available for any questions they may have. Their family has convenience stores all around the area so they're used to doing things right.
Siggi spoke up and said she stands with the local residents. If they don't want it, she doesn't approve either. This sentiment was met with support from other Cove residents supporting the neighborhood residents directly affected. One resident stated "This store can't be there to support the community when the community doesn't support the store".
With that, this went to vote and was REJECTEDby the council - with no votes approving.
Action Items:
H-1 On the west side of town, the owner of the land by the SE Bypass and Dollar Tree wants to develop his land for commercial purposes. Before it can be developed, water issues need to be ironed out. The Certificates of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) belongs to KWSC (Kempner Water Supply Corporation) and they can supply the water for the Copperas Cove property but they can't supply the 1500gpm for for fire flow to fire hydrants. That is the city standard in order to supply fire suppression from hydrants. If it can't be provided then you can't build. The Interim City Manager offered three options to the council. Option one, let KWSC provide everything (they can't). Option 2, Let KWSC provide water and Copperas Cove provide fire suppression (many concerns of long term maintenance and right of way). Option 3, Copperas Cove purchases the entire CCN for $810 per acre and does it all. The council chose Option three, unanimously. This was a very wise vote because we needed this to spur development on the west side, of Copperas Cove.
H-2 Darrell, with The HOP presented a summary of it's operations the past 6 months, since the last time it was before the council asking for funding. This funding is to cover operational costs such as fuel, insurance, maintenance, salaries, etc... They have a goal of 10 passengers per service hour, and have been averaging out at around 11.5 passengers per service hour. They run Monday - Friday from 6:45 - 5:45 and recently had cut back an hour to adjust for this fiscal years budget. Jay Manning says he remembers them from their last presentation. It's not very often they get someone up there asking for 3x more than their normal asking funding like the HOP did last fall. With all these increases in funding requests, have they increased their fee schedule? Darrell stated they have not yet, but they are working towards that point. Jay responded with it's unfair to ask tax payers to increase how much they are funding the HOP if the HOP isn't going to reflect the raise on their riders. Right now, tax payers are paying about $4 per ride. Darrell responded that their fairs only cover about 4% of their operating costs right now. Additionally, the more business they get, the more federal dollars they can bring in. The less business they get, the fewer Federal dollars they bring in which in turn makes them rely on local communities more. So if they raise fairs up too much and people stop riding because of that, then that will affect how much they come to their local community for.
PASS
H-3Clarence with the National Mounted Warfare Museum presented a slide show and video showing how the new museum would affect the area, where it would go, and what it would look like. He then requested the $25,000 payment from the council. PASS You can find out more about the museum here: http://nmwfoundation.org/
H4 and H5 were both having to do with approving some new homes coming in off of Lutheran Church Road as well as approving ordinances to do with Water Conservation and the Drought Contingency Plan. Both of those were a solid PASS. REPORTS:
Fred Chavez was recently at an event in Killeen where they were discussing I-14 and it's entirety. Since I-14 passes through Copperas Cove, he started asking how Cove could be a part of this "14 Forward" initiative. He was told we should continue expansion, and look into these 5G efforts. Get with CCISD because they are looking to bring fiber optic into their schools and we could implement that into the city. One attraction for a lot of people these days is moving to areas that are fiber equipped. When it comes to the rail head - joint use can be difficult because the Army is known for taking what they want when needed. But, don't let that shy us away because this can be very good for the area. The feasibility study was easy, finding partners and funding is the hard part. This will bring rail access to the local area that we haven't ever had. Our relationship with the Heart O Texas Defense Alliance is good to have. Don't get so focused on only us that we isolate our community. We are encouraged to keep regional cooperation and awareness going.
Future Agenda Items
Marc Payne would like to see a workshop on purchasing of CCN's.
