Agenda

Return

MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
May 12, 2020

A Regular Meeting was held by the Schertz City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas, on May 12, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. in the Hal Baldwin Municipal Complex Council Chambers, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Building #4, Schertz, Texas. The following members present to-wit:

Present:	Mayor Ralph Gutierrez; Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Davis; Councilmember Rosemary Scott; Councilmember Scott Larson; Councilmember Michael Dahle; Councilmember David Scagliola; Councilmember Tim Brown; Councilmember Allison Heyward
Staff present:	City Manager Dr. Mark Browne; Assistant City Manager Brian James; Assistant City Manager Charles Kelm; City Attorney Daniel Santee; City Secretary Brenda Dennis; Assistant to the City Manager Sarah Gonzalez

Call to Order – City Council Regular Session

Mayor Gutierrez called the regular meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Opening Prayer and Pledges of Allegiance to the Flags of the United States and State of Texas. (Councilmember Dahle)

Councilmember Dahle provided the opening prayer followed by the Pledges of Allegiance to the Flags of the United States and State of Texas.

City Events and Announcements

Announcements of upcoming City Events (B. James/C. Kelm/S. Gonzalez)

No announcements were provided.

Announcements and recognitions by the City Manager (M. Browne)

No announcements or recognitions were provided.

Announcements and recognitions by the Mayor (R. Gutierrez)

Mayor Gutierrez indicated that he had a few this evening:

First, Mr. Elon Musk and Tesla Board of Directors, it is cheaper to make cars in Texas, and we are a business friendly State. Our City is the perfect location for consideration for any future development. Stop by and visit our community and give us the opportunity to continue making your cars.

Other announcements were, during these uncertain times dealing with the COVID 19 virus Council has not been able to proceed as usual with our annual proclamations. We never want to forget the important message or work these groups are accomplishing on a daily basis. We have a few he would like to mention and read the following into record:

Community Action Month - May 2020

Community Action has made essential contributions to individuals and families across this Nation by creating economic opportunities and strengthening communities. Community Action insists on community participation and involvement ensuring that all sectors of the community have a voice and will be heard. We appreciate the hard work and dedication to our community.

Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month – April
Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Month – April
National Crime Victim’s Rights Week – April 19-25
These three proclamations are typically recognized and read together in April, but due to the COVID-19 and the limitation of outside visitors we are recognizing them in this venue.

Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month
Each year, hundreds of thousands of children across our country suffer from abuse and neglect, a fact that is both sobering and heart-wrenching. During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we condemn this horrific depravity and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to protecting our children and strengthening our families.

Sexual Assault Prevention & Awareness Month

Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment harm our community, and statistics show one in five women and one in 67 men will be raped at some point in their lives. Child sexual abuse prevention must be a priority to confront the reality that one in six boys and one in four girls will experience sexual assault before age 18. The goal of Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness month is to raise public awareness about sexual violence and educate communities on how to prevent it.

National Crime Victim’s Rights Week

We want to acknowledge the abuse and trauma that victims of crimes often experience, and to recognize the tireless work of dedicated advocates who have taken up the cause of supporting crime victims across our country. We wish to express our appreciation for those who support crime victims, and we reaffirm our strong commitment to reducing the trauma of crime for victims and their loved ones.

Municipal Clerks Week – May 3 – 9

The Municipal Clerk provides the professional link between the citizens, the local governing bodies, and agencies of government at other levels. The Municipal Clerks continually strive to improve the administration of the affairs of the Office of the Municipal Clerk through participation in education programs, seminars, workshops, and the annual meetings of their state. It is appropriate that we recognize the accomplishments of the Office of the Municipal Clerk.

Annual Police Week - May 10 – 16

From the beginning of this Nation, law enforcement officers have played an important role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms which are guaranteed by the Constitution and in protecting the lives and property of our citizens. It is fitting and proper that we express our gratitude for the dedicated service and courageous deeds of law enforcement officers for the contributions they have made to the security and well-being of all our people.

Public Works Week – May 17 – 23

Public Works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are vital to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life and well-being of communities. It is in the public interest for the citizens and civic leaders to understand and maintain a progressive interest of the importance of Public Works and Public Works programs.

Hearing of Residents

Residents who choose to watch the meeting via live stream, but who would like to participate in Residents to be Heard, should email their comments to City Secretary, Brenda Dennis, at bdennis@schertz.com by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2020, SO THAT THE CITY SECRETARY MAY READ THE PUBLIC COMMENTS INTO THE RECORD UNDER THE HEARING OF RESIDENTS. In the body of the email please include your name, your address, phone number, agenda item # if applicable or subject of discussion, and your comments.

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 meeting. Presentations should be limited to no more than 3 minutes.

All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body, and not to any individual member thereof. Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks while addressing the Council may be requested to leave the meeting.

Discussion by the Council of any item not on the agenda shall be limited to statements of specific factual information given in response to any inquiry, a recitation of existing policy in response to an inquiry, and/or a proposal to place the item on a future agenda. The presiding officer, during the Hearing of Residents portion of the agenda, will call on those persons who have signed up to speak in the order they have registered.

Mayor Gutierrez indicated that no one signed up on the sheet in the back and then recognized City Secretary Brenda Dennis and asked if anyone had provided information prior to the meeting. Ms. Dennis stated she had one resident email her and the following was read into record: Mr. Hernan Orellan, no address provided, but City Secretary has his email. He requested an Ordinance banning 5G technologies in Schertz due to 5G omitting ultra-high frequency microwave radiation. (A copy of Mr. Orellan's email was provided to Mayor and Council)

Consent Agenda Items

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 a Councilmember.

The following was read into record:

Minutes – Consideration and/or action regarding the approval of the minutes of the meeting of May 5, 2020. (B. Dennis)

Resolution No. 20-R-47 - Consideration and/or action approving a Resolution by the City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas authorizing a Schertz Main Street Local Flavor Economic Development Grant for 409 Main Street (Thirsty Joe's) and related matters in connection therewith. (B. James)

Moved by Councilmember Michael Dahle, seconded by Councilmember Allison Heyward to approve consent agenda items 1 & 2.

AYE:	Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Davis, Councilmember Rosemary Scott, Councilmember Scott Larson, Councilmember Michael Dahle, Councilmember David Scagliola, Councilmember Tim Brown, Councilmember Allison Heyward
Passed

Discussion and Action Items

The following was read into record:

Resolution 20-R-50 - Consideration and/or action approving a Resolution by the City Council of the City of Schertz authorizing the City Manager to enter into a Design-Build Agreement with F.A. Nunnelly for the Building 27 “Fleet Facility” Renovation Project. (C. Kelm/C. Hernandez/J. Gohlke)

Mayor Gutierrez recognized Assistant City Manager Charles Kelm who provided a PowerPoint presentation introducing this item. Highlights included renovations to the 14,850 SF building (Building 27 - Commercial Place), that was earmarked to be renovated into a state-of-the-art Fleet Maintenance Building. The renovations to the building include creation of office spaces, fleet shop area, exterior drainage and flat work. Mr. Kelm addressed questions from Council.

Moved by Councilmember David Scagliola, seconded by Councilmember Allison Heyward to approve Resolution No. 20-R-50.

AYE:	Mayor Pro-Tem Mark Davis, Councilmember Rosemary Scott, Councilmember Scott Larson, Councilmember Michael Dahle, Councilmember David Scagliola, Councilmember Tim Brown, Councilmember Allison Heyward
Passed

Roll Call Vote Confirmation

Mayor Gutierrez recognized City Secretary Brenda Dennis who provided the roll call vote confirmation for agenda items 1 through 3.

Workshop

Workshop Discussion regarding City Purchasing Policy - Discussion regarding proposed changes to the City Purchasing Policy. (J. Kurz/J. Gohlke)

Mayor Gutierrez recognized Purchasing & Asset Manager Julie Gohlke who provided a PowerPoint presentation regarding proposed policy changes to the Purchasing Policy and addressed concerns and answered questions from Council. The changes proposed are to align us with state law, state regulations, align us with benchmark cities, and increased efficiency all across the city for staff and projects moving forward. Highlights included:

Proposed Changes:

Eliminate the need to take cumulative purchases with a single vendor exceeding $50,000.00 for authorization.

Does not affect purchases/projects with an overall contract value exceeding $50,000 - would still require Council approval. (Reference Texas Local Government Code - LGC 252.041)

Modify the small dollar purchasing threshold from $1,000.00 to $3,000.00 to align with Texas LGC 252.0215

Small dollar purchases can be made without soliciting 3 bids.

Rationale

Alignment with Texas LGC 252
Alignment with Benchmark Cities
Increased efficiencies

Mayor Gutierrez stated it was the consensus from Council to proceed with the policy changes.

Workshop Discussion and Update (Ordinance 20-H-15) - Discussion and update regarding the COVID-19 virus and our current Ordinance No. 20-H-15 Declaration of Local Disaster. (M. Browne/K. Kong)

Mayor Gutierrez recognized Fire Chief Kade Long who provided a PowerPoint presentation outlining COVID-19 updates such as current cases in Schertz, City Services, current expenses due to the virus, enforcement, our cleaning contracts, additional openings allowed and services not allowed to reopen, and the status of future annual events in Schertz.

Mayor Gutierrez took a moment to thank Fire Chief Long and city staff for all their hard work on the COVID-19 pandemic and also thanked Public Affairs for communicating updates to our residents on Facebook.

Mayor Gutierrez opened the floor to Council for discussion. Mayor Gutierrez recognized Councilmember Rosemary Scott who provided information from her research and urged Council to resend the Emergency Declaration, Ordinance No. 20-H-15 due to Governor Abbott's speech on May 11 where he gave a directive to have mandatory testing for 100% of the residents and staff in nursing homes. With the mandatory testing in place in nursing homes, Councilmember Scott sees no reason to keep Schertz in the state of an emergency. Councilmember Scott gave additional statistics and data, nationally and statewide on COVID-19. Councilmember Scott made a motion to resend Ordinance 20-H-15.

Mayor recognized Councilmember Mark Davis who asked if the City Council of the City of Schertz had, in our emergency declaration, imposed any restrictions on any individual or business above and beyond what has been put out by the state of Texas through the Governor's office or our three county judges. The answer given was only solicitation. Councilmember Davis reiterated the emergency declaration we have in place provides Schertz two things. It allows the city to deal with enforcement at a local level and potentially recoup funding due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Gutierrez entertained additional questions and remarks from Councilmembers. Fire Chief Long addressed their questions/concerns.

Mayor Gutierrez shared some information regarding federal relief funds being given out from the federal government in Texas.

Mayor Gutierrez recognized Assistant City Manager Brian James who asked for clarification/direction on the Fourth of July Jubilee Celebration and gave specifics of putting on an event the magnitude of the Jubilee Celebration. The question was posed do we cancel the event completely or do we do separate events such as fireworks displays? The smaller annual city events such as the movies in the parks' event were also discussed. Discussion continued with Councilmembers providing their thoughts.

The consensus of Council is to work on possible fireworks displays in three different locations and that the Jubilee and parade will need to be discussed further with the staff's perspective in mind and the challenges that will be faced.

City Manager Mark Browne expressed his appreciation for Council's concern/support for staff and stated staff would work on a modified plan and bring their findings back to Council in two weeks at our regular council meeting.

Mayor Gutierrez stated there was a motion on the floor to resend Ordinance 20-H-15 and asked if there was a second. Mayor Gutierrez recognized City Attorney Daniel Santee who stated the item being discussed was not posted for action and the motion could not be acted upon. Motion was dropped.

Workshop Discussion regarding the Staffing Study - Presentation of Staffing Study Report (M. Browne/C. Kelm/J. Kurz)

Mayor Gutierrez recognized Human Resource Director Jessica Kurz who introduced Mr. Alan Pennington with Matrix Consulting Group who provided a PowerPoint presentation with the following highlights addressing questions from Council:

Project Overview:

Develop a staffing model for the City of Schertz that addresses:

- Current needs

- Future needs based upon projected growth (either in workload, population or some combination)

Staffing model to consider various elements including:

- Workload

- Performance

- Service delivery expectations

- Organizational structure

Project Methodologies

Develop an understanding of the City’s operating environment from interviews and data collection.
Develop a profile of operations to document processes, management, staffing, and organizational structure.
Employee survey to provide all staff opportunity for input regarding staffing and operational issues.
Analysis of staffing requirements to identify current and future staffing requirements, opportunities to streamline organizational structure and address operational requirements.
Review of interim deliverables with staff to provide additional opportunity to review for input and comment.

Staffing Recommendations by Department

City Manager’s Office

- Management Analyst – 2021

- 2021 – Instructor, Billing Specialist

- 2022 – Administrative Assistant

- 2025 – Asst. EMS Director, Logistics Officer, Administrative Assistant

Engineering

- 2021 – Admin. Assistant, Engineer Inspector, Engineer (2), Project Manager

- 2023 – Engineering Inspector

- 2024 – Engineer

- 2029 - Engineer

Finance

- 2021 – Municipal Court Deputy Clerk

- 2022 – Utility Billing Clerk

- 2024 – Municipal Court Deputy Clerk

- 2029 – Utility Billing Clerk

- 2030 – Municipal Court Deputy Clerk

Fire

- 2021 – Deputy Fire Marshall, Captain (3), Driver/Operator (3), Firefighter (3)

- 2022 – Emergency Management Coordinator

- 2024 – Driver/Operator (3), Firefighters (4), Lieutenants (3)

- 2029 – Driver/Operator (3), Firefighters (4), Lieutenants (3)

Fleet

- 2021 – Parts Clerk, Mechanic (2)

- 2021 – Database/Business Analyst

Human Resources & Purchasing

- 2021 – Purchasing Specialist

- 2025 – HR Generalist (1/2 time)

- 2030 – HR Generalist (1/2 time)

Information Technology

- 2021 – IT Supervisor, Client Services Technician (2)

Library

- 2021 – Admin. Asst, Library Clerk, Children’s Program Clerk, Library Asst.

- 2025 – Library Clerk

- 2030 – Library Clerk

Parks, Recreation & Community Services

- 2021 – Maintenance Worker I (3)

- 2025 – Maintenance Work I

Planning & Community Development

- 2021 – Senior Planner, Plans Examiner

- 2023 – Permit Technician

- 2026 – Senior Planner

- 2027 – Building Inspector

Police

- 2021 – Property/Evidence Clerk, Kennel Technician (4), Officer (2)

- 2022 – Officer (4), Detectives (2)

- 2023 – Detective Sergeant (1)

- 2024 – Officer (1), Detective (1)

- 2025 – Traffic Officer (1)

- 2026 – Officer (1)

- 2027 – Officer (1)

- 2028 – Officer (1), Detective (1)

- 2029 – Dispatch, Traffic Officer (1)

Public Works

- 2021 – Streets Worker I (2), Streets Worker II, Administrative Assistant

- 2025 – Streets Worker 1, Streets Worker II, Serviceman II, Serviceman I

- 2030 – Streets Worker I, Streets Worker II, Serviceman I (2), Drainage Worker II, Drainage Worker

Staffing Recommendation - Summary
Staffing analysis recommends the following position over the ten-year planning horizon:

Year	New Position	Annual Cost
2021	44	$1,632,181
2022	10	$452,920
2023	3	$131,373
2024	14	$800,033
2025	11.5	$517,149
2026	2	$89,523
2027	2	$106,162
2028	2	$120,150
2029	17	$995,577
2030	8.5	$323,787

Organizational Structure Recommendations

Several functional areas recommended for alternative organizational structure to enhance efficiency of services or more closely align with similar services:

Animal Control – move from Police and establish as stand-alone department.
Code Enforcement – move from Police to Planning & Community Development Department.
GIS – Merge with Information Technology
Civic Center – Move to Parks and Recreation Department
Fleet & Facility Services - Establish as a Division of the Public Works Department.

Requests and Announcements

Announcements by the City Manager.

No further announcements.

Requests by Mayor and Councilmembers that items be placed on a future City Council agenda.

No requests at this time.

Announcements by Mayor and Councilmembers
- City and community events attended and to be attended
- City Council Committee and Liaison Assignments (see assignments below)
- Continuing education events attended and to be attended
- Recognition of actions by City employees
- Recognition of actions by community volunteers

No announcements were provided.

Information available in City Council Packets - NO DISCUSSION TO OCCUR

2019 EMS Annual Report. (J. Mabbitt)

Mayor Gutierrez reminded Council of the informational item, agenda item 7 that was in their packet as well as can be found on line.

Adjournment

Mayor Gutierrez announced the following before adjournment:

We celebrate Memorial Day May 25!

On this day we remember the men and women who served with faith, courage and honor. We honor our fallen and those who sacrificed for this great country.

We remember ordinary people who truly did extraordinary actions.

We remember those who fought for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We remember those who fought for those who could not defend themselves.

We remember the tears and blood that was shed for this country.

But most important, We remember the death of our soldiers and patriots, who fought for our freedom.

God bless these men and women,
God bless America
God bless Texas

Mayor Gutierrez adjourned the meeting at 8:22 p.m.

_______________________________

Ralph Gutierrez, Mayor

ATTEST:

____________________________________
Brenda Dennis, City Secretary