Mayor
Mary Jo Dylla
Councilmen
Francisco Arevalo
David Rakowitz
Dwayne Padalecki
Walter Wyrwich
Susann Baker
City Secretary
Barbara Pawelek
Minutes of the Regular City Council Meeting
May 3, 2012
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Mayor Mary Jo Dylla called the regular city council meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
2. ROLL CALL AND ESTABLISH A QUORUM
Roll call was taken. Members present were Councilman Walter Wyrwich, Councilman Dwayne Padalecki, and Councilwoman Susann Baker. A quorum was established. Councilman Frank Arevalo and Councilman Justin Jones were absent. Barbara Pawelek presided as City Secretary.
3. SWEAR IN CITY OFFICIALS
We will be canceling the city election this year due to no one running against the incumbents; therefore the Mayor and City Secretary swore in the city officials. The Mayor swore in Councilwoman Susann Baker, Place 2 and then the Mary Jo Dylla took the Oath of Office for Mayor.
Councilman Justin Jones did not run for office this term, and since David Rakowitz signed up in his Place 4 and no one else signed up to run, the Mayor appointed him and Mr. Rakowitz took the Oath of Office. The Mayor and Council welcomed him.
4. EXECUTIVE SESSION in accordance with the Texas Local Government Code 551.071, Seek advice of the city’s attorney on pending litigation and matters subject to the confidentiality provisions of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, to wit: City of St. Hedwig, Texas v. D.R. Barr, Individually and d/b/a Silver Saddle Arena and Party House, and Robby Vosburg, as well as related legal issues involving the use of property at 291 FM 1518, St. Hedwig, Texas.
The city council meeting was adjourned at 7:34 pm to go into executive session.
The city council meeting was called back to order at 8:10 pm.
5. READING AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Council read over the minutes of the April 5, 2012 city council meeting.
Councilman Walter Wyrwich moved to accept the minutes as written. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; the minutes were approved.
6. APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL SUMMARY
The financial statement was balanced for March 2012. Councilman Dwayne Padalecki moved to accept the March financial summary. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; the March financial summary was approved.
The next financial statement was for April 2012. There were no questions. Councilman Dwayne Padalecki moved to accept the April financial summary. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; the financial summary was approved.
7. REPORT FROM VFD
Fire Chief Larry Padalecki gave the report for the fire department. In April, there were a total of 21 calls. 9 were Fire calls. 5 were in the City, 4 were in the County. There were 12 EMS calls. 5 were in the City, and 7 were in the County. No burn ban yet.
8. REPORT FROM PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
Kathy Palmer reported for the Planning and Zoning Commission. They had a Public Hearing last week for the rezoning application submitted by D. R. Barr for his property at 395 FM 1518 S. After approximately 30 minutes of discussion, 2 citizens present at the meeting were in favor, and Mr. Barr gave a presentation of what he was intending to do. Council has binders that were handed to the Planning and Zoning Commission for your further consideration so you see exactly what the commission sees. Mrs. Palmer said there were about 30+ letters in favor of the rezoning. And we just received today an updated map forwarded from our city attorney with support from adjacent properties. Ultimately the Commission voted to recommend to Council to rezone the 2 acre property from residential to commercial by a 3 to 1 vote in favor. They recommend to Council to move forward to the next step which is holding a Public Hearing that is required by law for Council to have. Mrs. Palmer said we can discuss the date under item 14 on the agenda.
9. REPORT FROM CODE COMPLIANCE
Kathy Palmer spoke on Code Compliance. She gave a report to Council. Most calls were regarding acreage that were smaller than 5 acres and the building permit process.
One hundred percent of those this month that called had supporting documentation that they were less than 5 acres prior to the zoning ordinance. So they will be grandfathered in but they still will have to abide by the setbacks.
Mrs. Palmer said she had a call from MD Systems concerning Tiger Sanitation putting out flyers. MD Systems right now is our exclusive provider for residential trash service. She spoke with several individuals from Tiger including Rick letting them know that the flyers need to be removed. We do have a residential contract with MD Systems through July 5, 2013, and after that they are more than welcome to participate in the bidding process if they so choose.
Tiger did bring up the dumpsters for commercial use. We do not have a contract for that, so right now commercial businesses can choose who they want for dumpsters. Dumpsters are not allowed in residential areas and are certainly not allowed in the right of ways. Mrs. Palmer said if we know of someone to let her know.
There was a citizen who called about a private road wanting it to be taken over by the City so the City can maintain the road. Mrs. Palmer explained they have to bring it up to Bexar County specs before the City would consider accepting it and at time each property owner would have to deed the road to the City.
Kathy Palmer spoke to Mike Anderson, the San Antonio manager of United Bilt Homes, and explained that there were signs put up at every intersection in St. Hedwig over the weekend, which were in violation of our sign ordinance and they needed to come down.
10. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
There were no citizens to be heard.
11. OLD BUSINESS
A. ROADS
Councilman Justin Jones left his final report on the roads so the Mayor read the report to let our new council member, David Rakowitz, who will be taking Councilman Jones’ place, get use to sitting up here and not putting him on the spot for his first council meeting.
The report said that spraying is currently under way with the majority of the roads complete, and Mr. Mills should be completed by next week.
Mowing is scheduled to begin the end of this month by Charles Seiler. There will be an increase in his fees due from $68 to $70 dollars an hour due to escalating operating expenses for equipment maintenance.
The Miller Road Culvert replacement project is now complete. The finished width between rails is approximately 19’6”. A request was made that we inquire about the cost of expanding the width of the rails to match the full width of the culvert in order to accommodate agricultural implements and generally safer traffic flow.
Mr. Payne provided proposals to expand the width of the guard rails and road bed using two different methodologies. The 1st would be to utilize the same type of guard rail material to build a retaining wall that would allow for the expansion of the road bed. The cost would be $19,000. The second method would be to construct the retaining walls out of formed concrete to allow for the expansion of the road bed. The cost for this would be $23,500.
Councilman Justin Jones wrote: “I would like to express my gratitude to the citizens of St. Hedwig for providing me the opportunity for serving two terms on the City Council. It has been a humbling and enlightening experience. I would like to thank all of the people that voluntarily serve our community in various capacities including my fellow council members, Mayor Dylla, the P&Z Commission, Board of Adjustments, and the St. Hedwig Fire Department. I would also like to extend my thanks to the city staff; Barbara Pawelek, Kenneth Mihalski and Kathy Palmer for their dedication and hard work that keep the technical side of our community functioning.”
The Mayor said it was very pleasant to have Justin on the city council. He did a fine job and we appreciate his hard work. The Mayor continued to say we welcome David Rakowitz, and Justin said any time he needs to call with questions, he is welcome to do so.
Councilwoman Susann Baker said someone had told her that there had been a tree down at the curve on Old Pittman Road and someone pushed it off the road, but it needs to be picked up.
B. CITY PARK
Councilman Dwayne Padalecki wanted to thank Leslie Mihalski for voluntarily digging the holes for the new trees for the city park and for Catholic Life Insurance for their donation towards the trees.
The fence has been completed.
C. TRASH CLEAN UP
Councilwoman Susann Baker talked to Duke Carlisle from MD Systems about road side cleanup. He said he had a tough enough time to get his employees to pick up the residential trash service and was reluctant to provide road side pickup.
They also talked about hazardous waste disposal. He explained to her that it is so stringent in terms of licensing and handling that he couldn’t even collect it and take it somewhere. Mrs. Baker said so you are back to the Bexar County resource, which is on the City website. Like we said last month, when you call Bexar County will give you one bag to put your hazardous containers in. But she encourages citizens to call and maybe they will do it more often or even have a commercial resource that we can pay someone to do a cleanup for hazardous waste. Councilwoman Baker will continue to pursue this further.
Mrs. Baker said that Mr. Carlisle said disposing of this in your residential trash is dangerous. Someone on Pittman Road threw away a cylinder from either chlorine or some type of acid for swimming pools and when the truck compacted it, it exploded and one of his employees had to be taken to the hospital. That is an example of why it is so critical not to put this type of stuff in your trash. Another example is people throw away oil in bags, and then the truck leaks oil once it is compacted.
Mr. Carlisle said he will take dried up paint cans but they must be dried up. He said you don’t have to wait till a Clean Up Day to pick up big items. He will work with you, just give him a call.
We didn’t make any progress on the roadside cleanup, unless we get some activist to put up some Adopt-a-Highway signs and get these roads adopted, which may be the only way to do it. For now we have a dead end.
D. ELECTION NEWS
1. Cancel May City Election
a. Order of Cancellation – Resolution
The Mayor read the cancellation of the May 12th, 2012 city election.
Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to accept Resolution 1204 to cancel the May city election. Councilman David Rakowitz seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
b. Certification of Unopposed Candidates
The Mayor read the Certification of Unopposed Candidates. Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to accept the Certification of Unopposed Candidates. Councilman Walter Wyrwich seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
E. CRIME STATS
Councilwoman Susann Baker updated council on the crime statistic report from March 17th thru April 15th. There was 1 violent crime and 22 property crimes in the whole area. The City of St. Hedwig area had 5. It is posted on the city website: www.sainthedwigcity.com
F. UPDATE ON THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR THE WATERSHED PROJECT
Bexar County has our signed copy of the interlocal agreement. They do not have a date yet when they will be starting but Mrs. Palmer did say they need a contact to communicate and work with. The contact appointed will be Councilman Walter Wyrwich.
12. NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business at this time.
13. ANNOUNCEMENTS
· The American Legion Picnic will be held on May 20th at the American Legion Hall.
· The Mayor wished everyone a Happy Mother’s Day!
· Kathy Palmer announced there has been an increase in mail theft. Do not leave mail in your mail box. If you are mailing something important, bring it to the post office.
14. DETERMINE AGENDA & DATE FOR NEXT CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Council discussed when to determine the Public Hearing. Kathy Palmer explained by law we can have the hearing no sooner than 15 days, and can have it on the 16th day after the notice is run in the paper. Council decided to have the Public Hearing prior to the city council meeting starting at 7:00 pm, and vote on it at the July council meeting. Kathy Palmer will put the notice in the paper.
AGENDA FOR PUBLIC HEARING 7:00 pm on June 7, 2012
1. Call Meeting to Order
2. Roll call & Establish a Quorum
3. Public Hearing for Rezoning Request by D. R. Barr for property located at 385 FM 1518 S. Request to rezone from E-1R/A-1R Residential/Agriculture to Commercial
4. Adjournment
AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING June 7, 2012 immediately following the Public Hearing.
5. Call Meeting to Order
6. Roll call & Establish a Quorum
7. Reading and Approval of Minutes
8. Approval of Financial Summary
9. Report from VFD
10. Report from Code Compliance
11. Citizens to be Heard
12. Old Business
a. Roads
b. City Park
c. Crime Stats
d. Update on the Interlocal Agreement for the Watershed Project
13. New Business
a. Agreement-Community Development Block Grant Program Coop Agreement
14. Announcements
15. Determine Agenda for next meeting
16. Adjournment
15. ADJOURNMENT
Councilman Walter Wyrwich moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilwoman Susann Baker seconded the motion. All were in favor; the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 pm.
1