Francisco Arevalo

Mayor

Mary Jo Dylla

Councilmen

Francisco Arevalo

Ronald Mills

Dwayne Padalecki

Walter Wyrwich

Susann Baker

City Secretary

Barbara Pawelek

Minutes of the Regular Council Meeting

March 6, 2008

CALL MEETING TO ORDER

Mayor ProTem Dwayne Padalecki called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. at the City Hall. Mayor Dylla was out of town.

ROLL CALL AND ESTABLISH A QUORUM

Roll call was taken. Members present were Councilman Walter Wyrwich, Councilman Ron Mills, and Councilwoman Susann Baker. Councilman Frank Arevalo was absent. A quorum was established. Barbara Pawelek presided as City Secretary.

READING AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Council read over the minutes of the regular city council meeting of January 10, 2008.

Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to accept the minutes as written. Councilman Ron Mills seconded the motion. All were in favor; the minutes were approved.

There was no February city council meeting.

APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL SUMMARY

Council had January and February financial summaries to approve. Councilman Ron Mills wanted the line item for shredding on both statements to be changed to tree trimming. He would like to keep these line items separated.

With those corrections, Councilman Ron Mills moves to accept January and February’s financial statements.

Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; the financial summaries were approved.

10.  NEW BUSINESS

a. ECISD Bond Referendum Presentation

Mayor ProTem Dwayne Padalecki introduced some of the East Central School District Dignitaries. He said we were honored to have them here. Present were Superintendent, Gary Patterson; Steve Bryant, President of the School Board and the representative for St. Hedwig; Harold Lamascus, School Board Member; Keith Moore and Noel White with the Facility Committee, and Bruce Cates, ECISD Public Relations.

Gary Patterson explained the need for renovating the high school. A bond referendum would need to be passed at the May 10th election, with early voting starting on April 28th. He said that the School Bells Times has more information on the renovations including maps. Mr. Patterson said the school is 40+ years old. Students would be moved into portables while the 42 buildings were torn down and 8 two story buildings would take their place. Security would be more effective by locking down 8 buildings instead of 42. Not all buildings would be torn down. We would keep the facilities that are in good shape that were built in the late 90’s such as the gym, science wing, the Band Hall, and Career/Technology building. By doing this, it would cut down the cost.

The bond to complete this project would be 49.8 million dollars. On an average home of $80,000, taxes would increase an average of $150 per year for the next 20 to 30 years.

For more information you can go to the school’s website at www.ecisd.net or you can call 648-7861.

The Mayor ProTem thanked the East Central School Board for taking the time to come and speak to us and said we appreciate all they do for our kids.

Steve Bryant added that if you go in last week’s Wilson County News, East Central was named the top 8 high schools in the State for graduation rate and use of the money the State gave East Central to increase the graduation rate. Mr. Bryant said this is one example that if you trust us with your money, we will do a very good job with it.

REPORT FROM VFD

Leon Nichols reported for the St. Hedwig Volunteer Fire Department.

He did not have a report from the fire chief.

Mr. Nichols said there was a Public Hearing on the Emergency Services District. Councilman Ron Mills asked if there was going to be another one. Mr. Nichols said no. Councilman Mills thought they should have one more. Mr. Nichols said he would let the board know. This issue will be voted on the same day the ECISD bond referendum. The election will be on May 10th at the city hall.

REPORT FROM PLANNING AND ZONING

Kathy Palmer reported for the Planning and Zoning Commission. She said they are still addressing the zoning map. There were some questions on the lighting ordinance, so the P&Z will do one more review before presenting it to city council.

There was a Board of Adjustment meeting held last Tuesday for Mr. and Mrs. Blocker, 13200 FM1346, who wanted to separate 5 acres off the back of the remaining 13 acres, and they were asking for a variance of the road frontage from 100 feet down to 40 feet. It was denied 5 to 0, so they must abide by the zoning ordinance and keep the 100 foot frontage.

The next Planning and Zoning meeting is next Thursday, March 27th at 7:00 pm.

CITIZENS TO BE HEARD

Duke Carlisle with MD Systems addressed city council regarding the Spring Cleanup Day. He said they would like to have it on Saturday, March 22nd from 8:00 to 5:00 next to the city hall on the base pad. Council agreed. Citizens could bring old appliances, furniture, etc. Hazardous materials excluded. MD Systems would send a flyer to notify citizens of the cleanup day.

Councilwoman Susann Baker asked if they do take hazardous waste. Mr. Carlisle said they like to do that on a one by one basis. Citizens can call with special needs like furniture, tires, old paint cans, etc. and they will handle individually. He said he is always willing to help out.

OLD BUSINESS

A.  ROADS

1. GENERAL ROAD MAINTENANCE

Councilman Ron Mills said the tractor and the tree trimmer that the City purchased was in need of repair. The cutting head lost a couple of teeth, the bushings are bad, and we broke a couple of hoses. Councilman Mills sent it to Ewald Tractor for repairs. He bought a new cutting head that cuts up to four inches in diameter compared to the one we have that cuts an inch and a half. Ewald will give us an estimate how much the repairs will cost.

a)  Tree Trimming

Councilman Mills hired Sharron Enterprises, who trimmed on Miller Road between the low water crossing and Paul Primeaux’s property. We had a lot of large limbs hanging over the road, which they trimmed and hauled off for $1,000. We will take care of the smaller stuff with our equipment once we get it back.

Sharron Enterprises will also give us a bid on trimming trees in the bar ditches in front of individual houses. Mills is afraid of how many complaints we would get if we chewed up the trees with our brush cutter.

Councilwoman Baker questioned if we could keep the mulch from the jobs. Councilman Mills said once the contractor accepts the bid, it is up to him what he does with the mulch. Council decided we had enough mulch.

b) Road Bids

Councilman Mills said there are several areas of our roads that are in need of repair. There is a bad spot on Gable Road, including a driveway that the culvert is buried, doing more damage than good, the low water crossing at the corner of Lupon and Gable, which needs to be concreted, and another driveway by the Church on Lupon that we messed up when we repaired Lupon Road. Graytown Road has several bad patches and he wants to redo the bar ditch, and the drainage on St. Hedwig Road.

The corner of Lupon and Gable would be dropped 6 inches and concreted. Once it is concreted, it will not wash out. We cannot put a culvert because of the green cable box and telephone lines buried there.

Driveways and roadwork will be saw cut and dug out and put in with 6 inches of black base, compacted and double seal coated. The concreted areas will be 8 inches.

Councilman Ron Mills took all these problem areas out for bid. It was published in the Wilson County News. Three bids came back. There were: Austin Bridge’s bid for the whole package was $205,766; Texas Road Repair does not want to touch the concrete crossing at Lupon and Gable, but gave a bid of $17,980.50 for the rest of the work. Finally, E.E. Hood came up with a total price of $78,500.

Councilman Ron Mills moved to accept EE Hood & Sons bid of $78,500 to complete all the work as listed in the specifications. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; motion approved.

Councilman Mills said this is still under budget, so as we start fixing the roads, we can add to it. Mills said for example, Pittman Road has a bad spot that needs to be cut out and repaired. If anyone else knows of any bad areas to let him know so we can get it fixed while they are out here working on the roads.

c)  Mowing

Councilman Mills also got bids for mowing. Two bids were received. They were asked to mow from 1346 to 10 feet behind the new building; from the gravel driveway to the fence. This includes weed eating.

One bid was for $125 once a month. The other bid was for $110 cutting twice a month. Council agreed going with the lower bid cutting the grounds twice a month.

2.  INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH BEXAR COUNTY

Both interlocal agreements with Bexar County have been approved at Commissioner’s Court and was picked up for signatures. This was for the interlocal agreement for roads and the vegetation control for spraying. Bexar County will start spraying at the end of March or beginning of April.

3. UPDATE ON TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR

Kathy Palmer said things have been quiet with the TTC35.

Stewards of the Range are working with the subcommittee that was formed by the 3 counties and other members of the EPA and they have drafted an intent to sue TexDot for utilizing a draft environmental impact statement that was not legal.

Mayor ProTem added the Governor spoke on our local radio stations a few times in the last month saying he was in favor of this going to a public vote.

Kathy Palmer said as she hears things she will let everyone know.

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B.  CITY PARK

We are getting ready to plant the trees that were donated by CPS Energy.

Councilwoman Susann Baker received some information from Kevin Stanush who worked on the LaVernia park grant. She got a copy of a catalog for park benches, etc. What we need to work on is a new layout of the park. We missed the deadline for the ACOG grant, but the deadline was so short and we will have it ready for next year. We need to get everything in order.

Councilman Mills asked the root plowing was done and if we could get someone to level it up and plant some seed and do some tree trimming. Mayor Pro Tem Padalecki said the Mayor is working on that. She will be contacting Mr. Real.

C.  LIGHTING ORDINANCE

Tabled until next month.

D. ZONING MAP

Kathy Palmer reported at the last P&Z meeting, it was decided to present the zoning map to council with the 2 ½ acres and also a layered format with the 2 ½ acres and also the commercial part of the zoning map. The intent is to provide to council, the whole picture first, and determine if that is acceptable or if council would prefer a layered format with multiple maps. Councilwoman Baker suggested an incremental in implementation; a long range plan, step by step, not done all at once. For instance, do the commercial rezoning. When you do that, you could potentially get a lot of commercial development over the next couple of years that might change what you look at for rezoning residential and ag. Councilwoman Baker said start with the commercial, we need commercial development to increase our tax base, and do it in stages, not all at once. Kathy Palmer said the feedback from council is very valuable. Councilwoman Baker said overall it is a good plan and P&Z did a very good job on it. Such a big change may need to be done in layers or stages. Planning and Zoning will not take anything to a public hearing that council does not approve. P&Z will discuss this at their next meeting.

They probably won’t present anything to council until after the elections, since council may change.

NEW BUSINESS

a.  ECISD BOND REFERENDUM PRESENTATION

Was moved up at beginning of meeting.

b.  CORRESPONDENCE WITH AT&T CONCERNING INTERNET SERVICE

Councilwoman Baker said she put this on the agenda because Ted Dziedzic at the last meeting questioned if there was anything we could do to get faster internet service out to our area. Councilwoman Baker said she wrote a letter to AT&T stating that just because we live in a rural area doesn’t mean we don’t use the same technology like everyone else. She said she vented for a whole page and asked they reply to our letter.

c.  BEXAR COUNTY FLOOD PLAIN – BEXARFLOODFACTS.ORG

The FEMA maps are on the website at www.BexarFloodFacts.org If you do not agree with the maps, you will have to protest the map.

The San Antonio River Authority will hold a meeting here at the City Hall on Tuesday, April 1st at 7:00 pm to discuss the maps and give citizens more information on how to navigate through the website and what to do if you do not agree with the maps.

d.  WASTE RENEWAL CONTRACT

Our waste services agreement will be up for renewal in July. Mayor ProTem Padalecki said we were fortunate enough to lock in our rate for 3 years, but unfortunately it is inevitable the rates will go up because of fuel and land fill charges. We will put the contract up for bid and open at our May meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

·  PWC (People Who Care) will hold a fundraiser on May 3rd at Bexar Hall. This is a big fundraiser for kids to help with the stock shows.

·  April 12th will be Casino Night at the American Legion Hall from 7:00 – 10:00 pm

·  Sign up for city council seats: Place 2, Place 4, and Mayor’s positions until Monday, March 10th at 5:00 pm