Rockwall City Council 18 April

It's a two-fer! Posting 2 on same day, so don't miss the meeting from April 4th right here.

Executive Action.

1. 380 Agreement between city and Murphy Building Ltd. 7-0. Read about 380 agreements!
2. Harbor Heights investor (I think that's what I wrote) agreement. 7-0.

III. Proclamations.

1. Sons of the American Revolution. Three guys gave out some awards:

Law Enforcement Commendation to Sgt Jeff Welch.

Fire Safety Commendation to Ariana Hargrove.

And ________ _________ awared for EMS service. (Missed name, former councilman running for mayor distracted me.)

James Cullins for proper flag etiquette.

2. Little girl raised $5000 for American Heart Association. Read about it here.

3. Rockwall Environmental Action Day (aka Hazard Waste You Can Stop Putting Down The Drain or Burying Day) is April 30th. More here.

IV. Consent Agenda.

1. Passed 7-0. (Minutes)

2. Ramp closure off I-30 east of SH-205 for the Classic Rock Rotary Sprint Triathalon on May 15th. Won't be as inconveniencing to citizens as the event last year was.

V. Appointments.

1. P&Z Chair Herbst. One item withdrawn, voted to allow winery in Harbor, first change in plan to first building at PD-32.

2. Former councilman Stephen Straughn introduced the new Chief Professional Officer for the Rockwall Boys and Girls Club. Lots of upcoming plans to make the club more educational and cannot do without the city's $$help$$.

3. Issue about parking in Meadowcreek Estates, no show.

4. Extension of SUP for BigTex Trailers for 3 more years. Passed 7-0

VI. Public Hearing Items.

1. Winery coming to the Harbor. Will be making some wines (all from Texas grapes) and selling all Texas wines. Passed 7-0 with one councilmember offering "Congratulations." for the applicant getting the SUP passed by council.

2. Change to first office building going up at PD-32. Proposed change includes a restaurant on the top floor. Passed 7-0.

3. Front yard fence built without permit from city or permission from council. Contractor said "all would taken care of" but all wasn't - he got a citation. Neighbors ok with fence. Passed 4-3 (Scott, Sevier, and Farris opposed).

4. TIF stuff changing on PD-32, waiting on meeting with TIF board to be held on May 2nd. Tabled.

VII. Action Items.

1. Show cause hearing to demolish house at 470 Nicole. Onwer has failed to respond to certified letters and has 90 days or blammo. Passed 7-0.

2. Long discussion about adding congregate care facilities. Seemed to be a lot of confusion from council on what congregate means and who wants what and when they want it and what is already in the code and how it works. (Hard to hear when you don't listen.) Anyhoo, city has had some inquiries into this type of facility, and code must be changed to allow it.

Motion made to allow this type of facility with SUP passed 5-2 (Sevier opposed - didn't want to force SUP, wanted in code along with already allowed uses like Nursing homes, assisted living, etc. Russo also opposed.)

3. Airport Road bond issuance. Passed 7-0.

4. Tabled to May 16th when the voting pool will be favorable to passage. (Some council were either expected to be absent at this meeting or the next, and the theory was if the super majority wasn't present, the motion would have failed. "Vote stacking" was a term used.)

For the people!

Rockwall City Council 7 February

III. Proclamations.

1. February is black history month. The proclamation explained the civil war started in 1861 when confederates attacked Ft Sumter.

Yep, it was just that simple.

The theme for this year is “African-Americans and the civil war” and “contributions of blacks during the civil war.”

IV. Open Forum.

1. Fellow from the Zoo spoke in anger about the upcoming water rate increase for Lake Rockwall Estates. (Should push mine to about $150-160.00 a month.)The mayor said the city was in the process of looking into the rate increase and that the request had to be approved by city council.

V. Consent Agenda.

Mayor Pro Tem Farris pulled item 1.

Councilman Scott pulled items 2 & 4.

1. Minutes from meeting Mr Farris missed. Passed 5-0-2. Sevier and Farris abstained.

2. Mr Scott wanted a bunch of wording changes for youth sports agreements. Passed 7-0.

4. Final approval for Christian Brothers. Pulled for basic showboating. Passed 7-0.

VI. Appointments.

1. P&Z Vice Chair Connie Jackson filled in for Mr Herbst. Recent actions by P&Z:

-Petty micromanagement of the looks of a new McDonalds, a company that would be unsuccessful if not for the meddling of the unqualified or incompetent.

-Best Buy lighting changes for outside signage. Denied because P&Z was afraid other businesses would also want lights to help promote business.

-Enlargement of accessory building in the Zoo. Passed 7-0.

-Expansion of SPR Packaging, lots of variances needed. Passed 7-0, with the added note from Ms. Jackson that she was “thrilled someone is expanding in this economy.” A comment that is strangely contradictory to those from the Mayor and some council who claim the economy is Rockwall is essentially immune from the economic problems plaguing the rest of the world.

2. Folks want the fee waived at the Harbor for an event to raise money for a non-profit organization. City waives fee for 501.c3s and Ms. Nielsen suggested they get the actual organization to make the request to keep more in line with the requirement. Will return next time.

Mr Farris opposed support as the event happens the same day as Founders Day. Recommended they pick a new date.

2. Jerry Archer back again. See previous blogs for more info.

Needs an SUP, but the unified development code for Downtown does not allow any auto repair facilities, not even with an SUP.

City will have to change the code in order to allow SUPs for auto repair and then Mr. Archer can make application for the SUP.

After some risk management lessons from the Mayor and Council, motion was made to have staff make changes to allow auto repair facilities in the downtown district with an SUP.

4. Lady wants to talk about changes to trash service. She seemed to be for it and against it. But not really.

Mr. Scott explained there was much “misinformation” about the upcoming changes:

-Councilman Clifford Sevier, Councilman Mark Russo, and Mayor Pro Tem Glen Farris are the ones on the subcommittee and Councilman Clifford Sevier, Councilman Mark Russo, and Mayor Pro Tem Glen Farris were the ones who came up with the idea to change current garbage and recycling service. Councilman Clifford Sevier, Councilman Mark Russo, and Mayor Pro Tem Glen Farris were sitting around one day and they decided without any input from Allied Waste or anyone else, the best thing in the world be for Councilman Clifford Sevier, Councilman Mark Russo, and Mayor Pro Tem Glen Farris to propose to council that we change garbage and recycling service.

-No one will have to use both types of 96 gallon trash cans.

-If you want to continue to recycle, you will have to have at least the 96 gallon trash can.

The Mayor vigorously defended the proposal.

Mr Sweet explained that recycling is “good for the earth”. (Although he does oppose the changes – that’s good. Gaia will be pleased and angry all at once.)

Item will be back to council.

VIII. Action Items.

4. LRE water rate increase. Council will require a “show cause” from AquaTexas to justify the rate increase. Rate increases by private water providers in city limits must have council approval.

VII. Site Plans.

1. McDonald’s new store design has a rounded roof. Building standards have no provision for rounded roof. That’s the only reason for the variance request. Passed 7-0 without meddling.

2. Best Buy has had some lights illuminating the store for the last three years that do not comply with code. City noticed problem after three years and now wants Best Buy to not have those lights. Best Buy would like to change those lights - that no one notice or complained about for three years - for some projection lights to illuminate the blue field around the main sign on the building.

Mayor Pro Tem Farris wanted Best Buy to justify in dollars how this would increase the business of Best Buy. He also stated that the new light would not increase Best Buy’s earning power. He continued his opposition stating that not having the lights would not hurt Best Buy. He was also concerned other businesses would want similar lights.

Ms Nielsen agreed with Mr Farris.

Councilman Sweet took the other side of the issue stating that he wants the businesses in Rockwall to be their own experts. This wasn’t an unusual request and if other businesses made the same request that could go through the process just like Best Buy is doing.

Mr. Farris made a motion to deny the request which failed 5-2. (Nielsen also supported the motion.)

After the motion to approve was made, Mr Farris wanted to add a punitive requirement for a “photovoltaic study”. P&Z Director LaCroix said it would not be necessary. Motion passed without the punishment 6-1. (Farris opposed.)

3. LRE fella needs an accessory building to hide all the crap he keeps in his yard that the city keeps complaining about. He wants to enlarge an existing metal building, which will not meet the masonry requirement. A bunch of belly-aching ensued after a motion to deny failed, the motion to approve passed 5-3. (Sevier, Farris, and Scott opposed.)

4. Expansion of SPR Packaging and variances. Lots of discussion. Passed 7-0.

VIII. Action Items.

1. CIP task order contracts approval. Despite continued economic troubles plaguing the USA, the city is gearing up to promote bond passage in November. Baseball fields, downtown stuff, historic park, one other I think. Floating around the $40,000,000 mark I think. Possibly more.

Keep repeating: “Debt is sustainable.” “Debt is sustainable.” “Debt is sustainable.”

Works for Wisconsin. And Dallas. And Rockwall ISD. And the Federal Government. And Texas.

2. Electronic sign won’t go away. Pointless and expensive. Does anyone other than city or council really care about this waste?

Just stop already.

3. Change in the bum ordinance. You can still be a bum, but can’t set up temporary lodging on public land.

Passed 7-0.

Rockwall City Council 7 June

III. Swearing in of Elected Officials. (The swearing of elected officials is behind closed doors, I am told.)

The mob has spoken and the .05% who showed up to vote have re-elected Mark Russo, Cliff Sevier and Margo Nielsen.

IV. Selection of Mayor Pro Tem - Probably gonna be Glen Farris, but was moved to executive session at the end of the meeting. Will have to wait til next time.

This is where the legally posted agenda diverges from the agenda used by council for this meeting. I am told it is ok to rewrite the agenda for 2 reasons:

1. No action taken on the item
2. "It's for a good cause" (Following the law is obviously not a good cause. After consulting with an attorney who is an expert on the Open Meetings Act, he did say it was probably ok since there was no action, but would have advised against changing the agenda since the law was a little murky. I took looked through the law and could not find an exception for "it's for a good cause.")

V. Distinguished Citizen Award "Beyond the Horizon"

Marilyn Mock the "Foreclosure Angel" received the award. She has helped 70 families stay in their homes.

She got a big plaque and an statue of an eagle.

VI. Open Forum

1. Fella who put in solar panels a while back wanted to give council an update. Thanks to "incentives" from the government (aka your's and my tax dollars"), 98% of the costs were covered. All his bills have dropped from $150 to $40.

He thanked the city for "all it did". Does obstructing count?

However, he did not thank anyone else for funding this project via tax dollars.

Your welcome.

VII. Consent Agenda.

None pulled.

#4 had something to do with changing the speed limit on 3097, but no one said what it was going to be. I can't imagine it being slower than 55 mph as everyone seems to drive 35 mph on it.

VIII. Appointments.

1. P&Z Chairman was a no-show!

2. Fella wants to break the world record for the "World's Largest Community Workout". Texas has a lot of fat people and the most cities on the "fattest cities in America" list.

The event will be at the Harbor and expects 3,000-5,000 people to participate.

This is associated with the "Get Fit" program introduced by Councilman Russo a while back, and Eclipse Fitness on the lake.

The organizer would like "support" from the city, specifically bathrooms, facilities, personnel and money - $5,000.

Glen Farris liked the idea as it would have a positive economic impact on the Harbor. He did not support the idea of giving away the $5,000 requested.

The other associated costs the city would be giving away would total about $1,000.

David Sweet then commented saying "tremendous", "absolutely no question", "struggling", "take me through the process", and "help me out". (If you have never been to council, he says those words a lot...)

City staff had already researched and "found" $5,000 in the general fund that the city could give for this event. (Didn't say if they had researched for grant money, more on that later...also didn't hear if the organizers had contacted local businesses and rich folk for the money.)

If he can't get the money, the event won't be as great as the organizer would like, e.g. no "free" T-shirts to give away.

And if the event brings in over $19,000, the organizer would give back the $5,000.

Margo Nielsen made the motion to approve the $5,000, noting that the city had committed to the Get Fit program and we must now support it.

Motion failed 5-2, Mayor Cecil also supported.

Glen Farris Asked for the item to come back to council in 2 weeks.

IX. Action Items

1. Lady in the Zoo wants to put up a carport to replace one that had fallen down. P&Z approved, 7-0. Council approved 7-0.

2. The "can't be tamed" expansion of city limits via annexation - procedures initiated to annex 4 areas.

3. Councilman Russo wants to get a citizen committee started to help find outside monies (private grants, sponsorships, etc) for various projects.

Glen Farris asked why not make this a staff directive. Mark Russo explained it would increase citizen involvement and save money. Mr Farris said staff does it well enough (fyi, staff did mention looking for any grant or outside money for the Get Fit item above. The $5,000 was "found" in the budget) and no need to get citizens to do this. Mr Scott agreed with Mr Farris' objections.

(Are they against citizen involvement or saving money?)

Mr Scott also expressed concern that people would commit to a civic position, and then "not show up".

This would be like a councilman showing up late, missing meetings, or coming and going during the meeting as he pleases, and that would be unacceptable.

4. Councilman Russo wants to form a volunteer program to get citizens to help out mowing right-of-way the city won't mow but a couple times a year. If any citizen also followed that model, he would be cited and fined by the city.

Basically, everyone hated the idea because high grass on city property = not dangerous, high grass on your property = dangerous and mowing is "risky" if citizens do it, too much liability if a rock goes flying into a windshield.

A while back the city had cut back on mowing some areas, unbeknown to the Mayor and others.

For the time being, the city thinks it best to do nothing and let the grass just be high. Who cares if another dog gets bit from a snake hiding in the city's high grass. Tethering is far more dangerous than snakes anyway, and that issue was already addressed.