City Council - Regular Meeting

Like I stated, it's 6 p.m. We're going to go ahead and bring this regular council meeting into session. And we're going to go ahead and start by the opening prayer and pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States and the state of Texas by Councilmember Guerrero. If I can get everybody to please stand.

Okay, everyone bow your heads. Lord, we ask for strength, courage, and wisdom for each one of us to make the best decisions for our city. Please watch over this entire city council meeting as we all work together towards resolution of existing challenges and or issues for the best interest of our residents. We worship you, Lord, as we accept Son, Jesus Christ as our Savior. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Under the Texas flag, I pledge alleg

Thank you, Councilman, Councilmember Guerrero. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and our first item is discussion and action items. Appointment of Mayor Pro Tem, discussion and consideration and or action regarding the confirmation appointment or election of the Mayor Pro Tem. Presenting will be our City Secretary, Sheila Edmondson.

Okay, are there any discussions? If there are no discussions, can I get someone to make a motion?

I make a motion that Councilmember Michelle Watson become the next Mayor Pro Tem.

Okay, I have a motion made by Council Member Robert Westbrook, seconded by Council Member Sarah Dietz. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Does she want it? Would you like to accept the Mayor Pro Tem position?

Having four yays, no nays, motion passes. If you'll go ahead and step down, I'll be more than happy to give the oath of office. Okay, if you raise your right hand, repeat after me. I'm Michelle Watson.

That I will faithfully execute the duties of.

of the United States, and of this state, so help me God. Congratulations. Okay, we're gonna go ahead and move on to employee introductions. This time we have EMS, we have Linda Castle, we have EMS Assistant Chief Tyler Boecker, we'll introduce staff.

Thank you, and welcome to the City of Sharks. Thank you. Next, we have our Police Department. Assistant Chief Phillip Waller will be introducing staff members.

Well, welcome to the city church. Look forward to having you. Next, we have police dispatch. We have communications manager, Felicia Campos, who will be introducing staff.

Well, we welcome you to the City of Church family. Thank you. Next up, we have Public Works and Water. We have Water and Wastewater Crew Chief Paul Lopez will be introducing staff.

Welcome to the Church family. Thank you. Next up, we have city events and announcements, announcements by upcoming city events. We have ACM, Sarah Gonzalez.

All right. Next up, we have announcements and recognition by the city manager, Steve Williams.

Okay, and then we have announcements and recognitions by the mayor. I do just want to address council and the city staff and a lot of the church residents who's kind of reached out and they've had my family and their prayers. My mom did fall ill and she ended up passing away this past Friday. So thank you all for all your condolences and your prayers and for kind of being there for us. So appreciate that. Thank you. Moving to the hearing of residents. This time is set aside for any person who wishes to address the city council. Each person should fill out the speaker's register prior to the me

Thank you. Next up, we have Kerry Flanagan. Okay. And then next up we have David Prestridge. You'll be given six minutes and she's forwarding her time to you. Four minutes and five seconds should be adequate.

Thank you. Next, we have Gordon McCleary.

Thank you. Next up, we have Othen Warner.

Thank you. Next up, we have Tony Rivers.

Thank you, that'll end hearing of the residents. Moving on to our consent agenda. The consent agenda is considered self-explanatory and will be enacted by the council with one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless they are removed from the consent agenda upon the request of the mayor or council member. Do I have any council members wishing to remove anything from the consent agenda? Having none, can I get someone to make a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Okay, I have a motion made by Council Member Guerrero, seconded by Council Member Watson, I mean Mayor Pro Tem Watson, I'm sorry, stand corrected. So if I can get everybody to cast their votes. Can I get the votes published, please? Having four yeas, no nays, motion passes. All right, moving on to discussion and action items. Item number four, resolution 26-R-089. authorizing an interlocal agreement with the City of Garden Ridge, sewer capacity, and Wieland. We have our Deputy City Manager, Brian James. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay, we have Council Member Westbrook. Yes, sir. So looking through the ordinance, I guess the resolution on page two down at the bottom, it's just a language. I just, you're seeing, here's the language that I read. Okay. Annual basis by March of each year, a fee equal to 34 cents per the estimated average daily gallons of flow for the prior calendar year. So we're just seeing 34 cents a gallon.

I don't have no impact on... Our ability to use the pipes whatsoever? No.

Yes, sir, it helps. Yes. Okay. Next we have Council Member Guerrero.

Mr. James, everything seems to sound smooth. You're saying they're gonna be paying 3% increase throughout the- On that 34 cents,

And then in addition to that, they're going to be paying the impact fees that any business would pay.

Okay, so they're willing to pay the 3% increase. They're willing to pay the fees. Everything looks good.

Okay. And also, you're saying this is a 20-year agreement, correct?

Yes, it does. Now, there's a provision, like you were saying. They extend it into five years, correct? Right.

Okay, so basically the ball's in their court. They can cancel up to five years. But what about if something happens?

Yeah, and that was my concern, Mr. James, because it seems like they have the opportunity with this provision to cancel. However, what about us? If something happens, it impacts shirts. That's right.

Yeah, I just want to make sure that Schertz has the opportunity to cancel if we have to.

No, understandable. I just don't want shirts to be – Yes, sir. Get the short end of the stick. If we need to cancel, I would like the opportunity to cancel. Yeah.

Okay, and just for clarity. If we decide to cancel the contract, they still need the five years.

Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Watson, you have a question?

I'm very familiar with this project, and I wanted to go ahead and motion that we approve Resolution 26R089. Second. Second.

Okay, we have a motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Watson, seconded by Council Member Dietz. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Can I get the votes published, please? Having four yeas, no nays, motion passes. All right, moving on to item five, Declaration of Emergency, July 15th, 2026. We have Fire Chief Greg Rogers.

Council Member Guerrero. Chief, I also agree with you. Our first responders, city staff, everyone did an amazing job during this crisis here. Is there any preparations that we can do to improve for the next time, for the next flood crisis? Anything that we can do better? Under...

If there are no other questions, can I get a motion to ratify the mayor's local disaster declaration in preparation for major flooding in the event in the city of Shirts?

Okay, I have a motion made by Councilmember Guerrero. I have a second by Mayor Pro Tem Watson. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Can I get the votes published, please? Having four yeas, no nays, motion passes. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you to you and your staff. Moving on to item six. Item six is ordinance 26-B-018. Consideration and approval of an ordinance by the City Council of the City of Church Texas authorizing the issuance of the City of Church Texas Combination Tax and Limited Pledge Revenue Certificates of Obligation, series 2026. And with us we have our finance director, James Walters.

Any discussions on Ordinance 26-B-018? Council Member Guerrero?

You're saying with a bond, we would pay 4.2% interest? Is that correct?

Okay. Well, I would prefer to pay no interest. Is there any way that we can pay from our additional sales revenue?

Well, I'm just saying because I don't want to pay. I would prefer not to pay interest. And if we do have the additional funds, I would prefer to pay cash.

And I'm not trying to do the wrong thing, but if it's going to benefit the residents of Schertz to pay cash, I'm all for it.

No further questions. Okay, Mayor Pro Tem Watson.

I wanted to make a motion. I move that the city council adopt the ordinance authorizing the city of shirts, Texas combination tax limited pledge revenue certificate certificates of obligation series 2026. Second.

Okay, I have a motion made to adopt ordinance 26-B-018 by Mayor Pro Tem Watson. I have a second by Council Member Westbrook. Can I get everybody to cast their vote?

Okay, can I get everybody to cast their votes? Can I get the votes published, please? Evan, three A's, one A. Motion passes. Yeah, three A's, one A. Motion passed. Thank you, Mr. Walters. All right, moving on to item seven. Item seven is ordinance 26-S-017. Conduct a public hearing and consider a request to rezone approximately 0.26 acres of land from General Business District, also otherwise known as GB, to Main Street Mixed Use District also known as MSMU, generally located approximately 50 feet southwest of the intersection of Main Street and Lindbergh Avenue, specifically known as Guadalup

Okay. Is a developer here tonight with us? No? Okay. Well, at this time, I'll go ahead and open it up for public hearing at 728. If there's anybody that would like to come up and speak on behalf of ordinance 26-S-017. Go ahead and come on up. You'll please state your name and your address, please, when you come up.

I believe it's going to be a parking lot.

Thank you. Do we have anybody else wishing to speak on Ordinance 26-S-017? Having none, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7.30. Any council members have any discussions on ordinance 26-S-017? We have Mayor Pro Tem Watson.

I have a question. So does rezoning help him finish his project faster?

Okay, any other questions? Having none, can I get a motion to accept ordinance 26-S-017? So moved. Second. Okay. I have a motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Watson, seconded by Council Member Dietz. Can I get everybody to cast their votes, please? Can I get the votes published? Having four yays, no nays. Ordinance passes. Item eight is in your city council packets. No discussion to occur on item eight and nine. Moving on to request by mayor council members for updates or information from staff. Do I have any council members needing any updates from staff?

Council Member Westbrook. Yes, Mayor. So I think we received a city manager sent us basically an email talking about maybe considering the possibility of being city council, trying to see how well we work as a city council, maybe city council of the year as awarded by the TML. And so our Texas Municipal City Managers Association. But I'm just, maybe we throw it out there, maybe we consider it. Just wanna see if, I think we work well as a group. And barring anything crazy, maybe we stand a good shot of achieving that, putting the shirts on the map.

Then we have Council Member Guerrero. You have something you want staff to address?

I want to know, what is the status on the coins?

I believe Mayor Pro Tem Watson is working on the council challenge ones. Okay. Okay. Okay. Council Member Dietz.

I would like more research and investigation to be done regarding the scenic hills issue and the findings presented back to us, please.

Okay. We got our deputy city manager. Going to head that up, so. And then... I'd like for our staff, if they can, to reach out to CCMA. I know that they're working on that sewer line on Bobolin Springs Road. And I know that there's some citizens that are extremely upset about a lot of the work that's going on back there because there's heavy machinery that is idling and running throughout the night that makes it pretty irritating to them. And trying to see also what kind of dust control we can do to help them out with their property because I know that kind of plays pretty heavy on the AC syst

Okay. Okay. So that takes us back to item six, which is ordinance 26-B-018. No, or is that it? No, that was item seven, correct? Item six? Yeah. Okay, going back to ordinance 20 on item six, ordinance 26-B-018, consideration approval by the city council, the city of Shirts, Texas authorizing the issuance of city of Shirts, Texas combination tax and limited pledge revenue certificates of obligations, series 2026, providing for the payment of said certificates by the levy of an add Valorum tax upon all taxable property within the city and further securing said certificates by lien on pledge of t

Does somebody want to make a motion to reconsider Item 6, Ordinance 26-B-018?

So do we have anybody that wants to make a motion to reconsider?

Motion that we reconsider ordinance 26. No, that's not the right one. Yes. 26 B 0 1 8. Second. Second.

Okay, I have a motion made to reconsider ordinance 26-B-018, seconded by Council Member Dietz. Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Watson. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Okay, can I get the votes published? Okay, having three A's, one A. The motion doesn't pass, is that correct? Because we need four?

Okay, so the item we won't reconsider and so this item, just note that item six, ordinance 26-B-018 will not pass because it's gonna take four votes with us only having four council members present, we need at least four votes for it to pass. So this will get pushed to the next council meeting, correct?

So just for clarity, if this doesn't pass tonight, does it cost the city of short taxpayers any money?

Council Member Westbrook, you have a question?

Yes. I guess this is for the attorney. Would we even have the ability to reconsider again a third time, a second time?

So, so, so this is, I'm not putting you on the spot council member, but this is all dependent upon your ability or willingness to change your vote. I mean, I understand you don't want, you know, to pay any interest rate, but, in the long term, the city of Schertz may be negatively harmed by this. So I don't, we gotta have, we all have to satisfy your reservations for moving forward.

That's why I'm gonna motion to reconsider.

So- Thank you. based on the information that we've received, do we want to go ahead and make a motion to reconsider? He did, yes. He did? Do we have a second? Second. All right, so we do have a motion to reconsider item six, which is ordinance 26-B-018, and we have a second by Councilmember Westbrook. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Can I get the votes published, please? Okay, having four yeas, no nays. Motion passes. Now going back to reconsider ordinance 26-B-018. Do I have a motion to approve ordinance 26-B-018? So move. Make a second.

Oh, I have to read the whole thing. I move that the City Council adopt an ordinance authorizing the City of Shirts, Texas combination tax and limited pledge revenue certificates and of obligations series 2026. Second.

Okay, having a motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Watson, seconded by Council Member Westbrook. Can I get everybody to cast their votes? Can I get the votes published, please? Okay, having four yeas, no nays. Ordinance passes.

Okay, moving on to city and community events attended or to be attended. We'll start with Mayor Proctor Watson.

ATTENDED THE COLISEUM TRADING CARDS RIBBON CUTTING AND ALSO THE GUAM LIBERATION EVENT.

YES, I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND THE OPENING OF THE COLISEUM CARDS OPENING. ALSO ATTENDED THE STATE OF THE DISTRICT FOR THE SHERT-SIBILO UNIVERSAL CITY INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT. THEY HAD A BREAKFAST AND PRESENTED NEW MATERIAL. ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO What are the, the farmer's market out at the Pickerel Park bought some pear butter. Pear butter is jelly. I don't know if everybody knows that. Pear butter is sort of jelly on a good biscuit. But anyway, I digress. And then I did have the opportunity to attend the Shirt Sybil Independent School District convocation for the feeder

I also went to the State of SCUC Breakfast, the Coliseum Trading Cards Ribbon Cutting. Last week, I attended the TML New Member Orientation Conference in San Antonio. And then this morning, the SCUC Convocation for the Clemens Feeder as well.

Fantastic. And I did also attend the 82nd Guam Conference liberation celebration that was held out at Pickerel Park. It was a fantastic turnout. It is the biggest Guam celebration that they do in the state of Texas. And being surrounded by all those people was very humbling and it was very awesome to be able to understand their culture and also to know that there are still survivors from World War II. It was amazing to be able to meet and greet them. Fantastic. So with all that said, this will end our regular council meeting at 747. Have a good night.