Mayor
Dee Grimm
Councilmen
Dwayne Padalecki
Francisco Arevalo
Susann Baker
David Rakowitz
Doug Thomas
City Secretary
Barbara Pawelek
Minutes of the Regular Council Meeting
August 6, 2015
1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
Mayor Dee Grimm called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
2. ROLL CALL AND ESTABLISH A QUORUM
Roll call was taken. Members present were Councilman Dwayne Padalecki, Councilman
David Rakowitz, Councilwoman Susann Baker. Councilman Frank Arevalo and Councilman
Doug Thomas were absent. A quorum was established. Barbara Pawelek presided as City
Secretary.
3. READING AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes to approve were from the July 2, 2015 city council meeting. Councilwoman
Susann Baker moved to accept the minutes as written. Councilman David Rakowitz seconded
the motion. All were in favor; the minutes were approved.
4. READING AND APPROVAL OF THE FINANCIAL SUMMARIES
The first financial summary to be approved was for June 2015. Councilwoman Susann
Baker moved to approve the June financial summary. Councilman Dwayne Padalecki seconded
the motion. All were in favor; the financial summary was approved.
The next financial summary to be approved was for July 2015. Councilwoman Susann
Baker moved to approve the July financial summary. Councilman David Rakowitz seconded the
motion. All were in favor; the financial summary was approved.
5. REPORT FROM ST. HEDWIG FIRE DEPARTMENT
There was no report for the Fire Department.
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6. REPORT FROM PLANNING AND ZONING
Kathy Palmer was out of town and the report was tabled.
7. REPORT FROM CODE COMPLIANCE
Kathy Palmer was out of town but left a report for council. Mayor Grimm asked if there
were any questions regarding the report but there were none.
8. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
Mary Todd, 1207 Churchview, approached council to read a tribute to her son, SFC David
James Todd, Jr. who was a fallen soldier from our community. He died during Operation
Enduring Freedom on August 20, 2008. She asked council to consider naming our city park
after him.
Wanda Polasek, who resides in Churchview, brought back to council’s attention about the
street lights in Churchview, which 4 residents are currently paying for, and asked council to
consider the City pay for those street lights, since it is time for the budget.
Karen Andreolli, 1520 N. Graytown, wanted to know if there were any guidelines or
ordinances for keeping property clean. She said her neighbor has such high grass and junk
everywhere, its bringing snakes and mice. Mrs. Andreolli wanted to know if the City could do
anything about this.
9. OLD BUSINESS
A. ROADS
Councilman David Rakowitz gave the road report. Chris Respondek has been dealing
with stolen road signs in the Graytown/Miller Road area. He is ordering special tamper-proof
bolts and was trying to get an article written in the newspaper to try to discourage future sign
thefts. Councilman Rakowitz also recommended large “No Dumping” signs to be placed on
Abbott Road south of FM 1346 due to an ongoing problem, which appears to include the setting
off of fireworks.
Texas Road Repair did work on Pittman, Old Pittman, and part of Abbott Road west of Loop
1604. Due to significant cracks and therefore, significant repairs along Old Pittman (as well as
the recent work done on La Vernia Road), we reached the limit of the contract during this work.
Councilman Rakowitz spoke with Mayor Grimm, and we were allowed up to a 25% overage, as
per the contract, to finish this part of the project.
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Mayor Grimm explained the contract was for $75,000, and we did reach that limit, but with
all the rain we had in the spring, a lot more work was needed so we did go over the contract
but the Texas Local Government Code does allow for a 25% overage that the city can go
without rebidding the contract, even with going over the contract, the Mayor said we are
substantially under the amount that we allocated this year for road work.
Councilman Rakowitz has identified additional areas that need work, but such work will
depend on budgetary issues and the possibility of the interlocal agreement.
Councilman Rakowitz did further research on the issue of the Sullivan property near CR 352
and the cabinet shop and discussed his findings with Mayor Grimm regarding the drainage
situation. The problem that the owner had was with the culvert. He stated when it rained a lot
that his property tends to flood. His question was if it was the City’s responsibility to fix that
road or change it to where it would prevent flooding onto his property. Council said the culvert
has been there for many, many years, even prior to Councilman Padalecki on the council. It has
always flooded there when it rains.
Councilwoman Baker said it is not in the flood plain, which surprised her because it floods
there every time it rains. However, she said, it was the homeowner’s choice to position that
home where they did, with the knowledge that it floods when it rains a lot.
Councilman Padalecki said it is the same situation we had on E. Lupon, we spent lots of
money on attorneys and over two years of our time on that situation, and we were not held
accountable for that.
Mayor Grimm spoke to our legal counsel regarding the culvert, and based upon the property
owner knew of the low area that flooding occurred for a substantial amount of time, probably
even previous to the culvert being there, and have seen several episodes that flooding occurs
there when it rains a lot, and the property owner still chose to build there, it alleviates the City’s
responsibility to rectify the situation that was based upon the owner’s decision. We also bear, as
every City does, some immunity to these types of lawsuits.
Mayor Grimm said our position at this point and time, is that the City does not have to rectify
the situation, and we will be getting back with the property owner to let them know what our
position is.
Councilwoman Baker made a comment on the stolen signs. She contacted the Wilson
County News and they did an article on the stolen signs. She asked if we reported the stolen
signs to the Sheriff’s office. Deputy Plate, who was in attendance at the meeting said, we need
to mark the back of the signs, “Property of City of St. Hedwig” and anyone caught with one of
these signs is in possession of stolen property, unless they have a letter of consent. This is a
felony.
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Mayor Grimm said she will notify Chris Respondek, our maintenance man, to report the
stolen signs and start marking and stenciling our signs. Councilman Rakowitz will look in to how
we can stencil them.
1. Interlocal Agreement for Roads with Bexar County Update
Mayor Grimm said that Councilman Arevalo was not able to be here, but he is working on
an interlocal agreement with the County for road work and road repair. He did send the Mayor
an opinion letter with Bexar County Purchasing Department’s MOU. We have not only been
working with the Purchasing Dept but also with the Council of Mayor’s of Bexar County to get a
Buy Board, which allows us to work with all the other cities in Bexar County to collectively put
some of our contractors on the same board and perhaps take advantage of some of the
discounts that we get by virtue of bulk and distribution of commodities and services.
This is an opinion letter concerning the MOU between Bexar County Purchasing and the
City of St. Hedwig. It basically just says that they are proposing to have an MOU to allow St.
Hedwig to advertise through their Purchasing Dept to maximize competition for better pricing
and possible cooperative agreements with Bexar County. It gives us a broader scope of services
that we can go look at, and as you know, on this last road project, we had only one bidder.
This will give us more opportunities to have more bidders and companies so we can get the best
service for the City. This would perhaps give us better pricing because we would be going out
to more competitors and also on a buy board that folks are more willing to be more competitive
with than if we have limited bids. This is an MOU for one year. This is just another tool for the
City, and we are not obligated to use it. Mayor Grimm said she appreciated Councilman Arevalo
getting this to us.
Councilman Padalecki said the MOU is good, but unfortunately our goal this fiscal year
was to do 2 groups of roads, and because we were waiting for the interlocal agreement with
Bexar County, it looks like we are going to miss this, with our budget ending in a couple of
months. Mayor Grimm said we still do have funds in our budget to do some work for smaller
projects. Councilman Rakowitz said we still have some roads that need crack fill. Councilman
Padalecki said we need to start looking at what roads we want to do for next fiscal year. He
said we need to do at least 2 groups of roads before we lose our roads.
B. CITY PARK
Councilman Padalecki reported that he and Councilman Thomas were busy working in the
park straightening trees. Mr. Lowak finished the fence on the East Side. Councilman Padalecki
said he leveled out the ground so the fence would be nice and level.
Schematics for the next phase of the walkway for the city park were handed out to
council from Councilman Padalecki. He explained to council that we would need to do 2 phases;
one in this fiscal year, and we could possibly complete the walkways in the next fiscal year. The
park would then have almost a mile of walking path for our citizens.
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C. MONTHLY CRIME STAT REPORT
Councilwoman Baker read the crime stat report. It was for the period June 26th through
July 30th. There were a total of 2 crimes in the City. One on the 14700 block of FM 1346,
criminal mischief and the other a theft in the 16000 block of E Lupon Rd.
D. CITY LOGO
Mayor Grimm explained that since the City does not have an official seal, she had put
some designs of sample seals on the website for citizens to vote on. While working with an
artist on the design that was chosen by most, which was a crest of St. Hedwig, our local
historian, Alan Kosub, said there is not one Saint Hedwig, but two. They are both from Poland.
One is the Saint from Silesia, and then there is the Saint Hedwig of Poland, who is the
Queen of Poland. There is evidence that the crest we had chose was that of the Queen of
Poland, and not the one that our city was named after. So having discovered this, Mayor Grimm
put 3 new designs of a seal for council to look at, and then when they choose the two they like
the best, we will put them back on the website for the citizens to vote on.
After looking at the seals, council had suggestions, which Mayor Grimm will bring to the
artist, and then back to council. The seals consisted of the star of Texas, another with the
Polish eagle, and a third with the combination of both, including our Texas tree (mesquite)
branches along the side. Mayor Grimm said it is a work in progress and thanked council for the
suggestions.
9. NEW BUSINESS
A. BUDGET AMENDMENTS
Mayor Grimm explained that we had gone over some of the items that were budgeted
and we needed to do some budget amendments. Council looked over the budget amendments.
Councilwoman Susann Baker moved to approve the budget amendments. Councilman
David Rakowitz seconded the motion. All were in favor; the motion was approved.
B. TAX RATE FOR 2015-2016
Our budget accountant, the previous mayor, Mary Jo Dylla, did a comparison for city
council for the tax rate. She explained to council what the taxable values were for the last five
years. Also listed were the tax rates and what we collected. She explained that for 2015 the
taxable value spiked and because St. Hedwig is a Type A City, and limited to the amount of
taxation that it could produce per year, the Rollback rate is the correct rate to go this year.
Mary Jo showed what the City would bring in by collecting the Rollback rate. She said we are
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not going backwards; we will still bring in approximately $14,000 more in revenue, while
reducing the tax rate.
Per Carlos Gutierrez, Chief Appraiser, BCAD, if we used the higher rate, we would have to
have 2 public hearings before September because we cannot put the budget in place until we
have a tax rate, and if for any reason the citizens did not want the higher rate; the citizens
could sign a petition and if they got enough votes, then we would have to have an election in
November, and then it would be December before we could set a tax rate, and then we could
do a working budget.
Councilwoman Baker asked why we are first hearing about this now. Mary Jo explained
that we do not get the Effective Tax Rate Worksheets from Bexar Appraisal until the last week
of July, and then at the August meeting, we usually set the rate, and vote on the budget at the
September meeting. Mary Jo said that has not changed. What has changed is that this is the
first time that it has gotten to the point that we need to use the Rollback Rate because the
values have went up so drastically, we are no longer considered a Small Taxing Unit.
There was more discussion. Councilman Padalecki had a problem with going down on
our tax rate when we prided ourselves staying with the same rate for 8 years. We are lowering
taxes by 4 cents. He stated the City is losing $56,000 by not using the same tax rate as previous
years compared to 2014. There has also been a decline in taxpayers for single family
residences from 495 in 2014 to 455 in 2015. He said he does not want to continue going
backwards. He said he was fine with it this year, but he agrees with Councilwoman Baker, will it
drop again next year? Mary Jo said no, we should be fine and back on track. Councilman
Padalecki said, that was speaking as a council member, now speaking as a citizen, this is where
he has a problem with it. He said the citizens got hit hard with appraisals this year. Everyone
who protested them, lost. He continued, “we are having to pay all this extra money, ESD not
going down 10 cents, ECISD is not going down, they are not having a rollback, Bexar County is
not going down, so all this extra money we have to pay is now leaving St. Hedwig, that is my
problem.”
Mary Jo Dylla said she understands. She explained that even if the taxable values stay
the same, or go up slightly, we may be able to use the effective rate, which may be little higher,
depending on what the City’s spending is this year. In her opinion, going with the Rollback Rate
this year saves the City the possibility to have a rollback election.
Mayor Grimm said the concern that the council has, is not to tax the citizens to death, it
just that our city does not get income from any other source of substance, other than our tax
base with our property, we get no funding from other sources. The State of Texas ranks 49th of
the 50 States, in being that the amount of money that the state receives for the cities, meaning
we get no funding from the State or County, so our tax revenue becomes a very important
source of revenue to operate the City.
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C. BUDGET WORKSHEET FOR 2015-2016
A budget worksheet for 2015-2016 was passed out to council for them to look over for
next year’s budget.
D. HISTORICAL MARKER
Mayor Grimm said she received an email from our local historians, the Kosub’s, who were
working on getting some historical markers for the City of St. Hedwig. There is an application
that would need to be filled out along with a reasonable fee and must meet certain criteria.
There are about 6 buildings that would qualify for this; one is the old school, the Catholic
Church, the Baptist Church, Kosub’s store; where the café is, Dutch’s, and the location where
the city was named before it was named St. Hedwig, which is Cottage Hills, which was the stage
coach run. Mayor Grimm said she will get the list and forward it to council. They do look at the
historical significance and the story behind it. Mayor Grimm said she is just putting it out there
and if council is interested to let her know, she would be happy to work with the Kosub’s on
this.
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
11. AGENDA FOR BUDGET HEARING September 3, 2015 at 7:00 PM
1. Call to order
2. Roll call & establish a quorum
3. Questions from floor concerning 2015 – 2016 Budget
4. Adjournment
AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
following immediately after budget hearing
1. Call Meeting to Order
2. Roll call & establish a quorum
3. Reading and Approval of Minutes
4. Approval of Financial Summary
5. Report from VFD
6. Report from Planning & Zoning Commission
7. Report from Code Compliance
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September 3, 2015
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Citizens to be Heard
Old Business
a. Adopt Tax Rate for 2015-2016
b. Adopt Budget for 2015-2016
c. Roads
d. City Park
New Business
a. TML Board of Trustee Election
Announcements
Determine Agenda for next meeting
Adjournment
12. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 9:17 pm.
Mayor Dee Grimm thanked everyone for coming.
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