Last night’s Shoreacres City Council meeting started off on a positive note, with new Police Chief Troy Harrison taking the oath of office:
It was all downhill after that.
6.0 Citizen Comments
Patrick Stanton – Stanton was upset that no one on the council bothered to address his ideas for SMART goals and objectives for council and city employees. He noted that the city had paid a consultant to come for the workshop 18 months ago. He said that he was going to bring each one of them up at city council meetings until someone addresses them. He started with the goals for the Mayor and proceeded to talk about each one of them.
Chuck Haist – Haist said there was a coyote living on Meadowlawn. He also recommended using the current Parks & Rec Committee as the oversight committee for the planning of the Miramar waterfront.
Darlene Bays – Bays said that she had attended a presentation about the Ike Dike and urged council to get involved in the planning for protection of the coast. She also complained that she the city told her there was an ongoing investigation of the discharge of a firearm in a city vehicle but that the police department said there was not. She wants the truth about the incident and why the city told her false information regarding her PIA.
Charlotte Wells – Wells also urged council to get involved in the Ike Dike/Centennial Gate talks about the coast. She brought up the rumors about a FEMA buyout of property along Miramar and stated that after the last meeting when she brought it up, City Administrator Stall had approached her and told her that yes, there were discussions of a buyout but that he declined it. She wanted it on the record that he declined it without council’s approval or discussion. She said that the City Administrator should not be making decisions on his own.
Gerry Victor – Victor said that he was on council when the alleged buyout offer was declined by Stall and that council was not aware of it. Former Mayor Jayo Washington and former council member/Mayor Dolly Arons told Victor that they have no recollection of any buyout offered by FEMA.
7.0 Administrative Reports
General Activity – Stall noted that filing opens on January 29th for the May election for Mayor and two Aldermen.
Street and Drainage – Stall said that he had a meeting scheduled Tuesday morning for pre-construction meeting for the water main on Shoreacres Blvd but because of weather concerns it has been rescheduled for Feb. 11th. Contractors continue to make good progress on Oakdale and Forest street projects. Control valve issue for water plant one has not been resolved and is more complicated than he thought it would be.
Citizen Patrick Stanton was upset that an email about grass encroachment from Diane Victor has received no response whatsoever from the Public Works director.
Finance – The general fund has had two large deposits from property taxes. Sales tax collection for December was down but still above last year to date.
Citizen Gerry Victor asked about the status of contractor payments on Water Plant 1. The final payment has not been made.
8.0 Business
8.2 Postponed to next meeting
8.3 Election – passed unanimously
8.4 Designating officers for the Election – Stan Krause will be Election Judge, Phil Yovino the alternate judge, and Jayo Washington an election clerk and set the pay at $10/hour. Passed unanimously.
8.5 Postponed to next meeting
8.7 (moved in front of 8.6) – Schnell was unable to get a second on her motion to pass an ordinance eliminating automatically renewing employment contracts for city employees. All citizens that spoke to council supported this ordinance.Stall defended his contract No one on council made an argument against the ordinance or offered amendments to apply only to future contracts, they simply refused to take it to a vote. Mayor Webber said that he asked for an opinion from the City Attorney on the proposed ordinance and that the City Attorney said that as written it would terminate the contract of Stall.
Webber shut discussion down without hearing from all citizens and that was really upsetting to one, who abruptly left the meeting. Webber was confused because council started discussing the ordinance during citizen comments and he thought citizen comments had been closed. They had not and the citizen was correct to object.
8.6 This was Schnell’s attempt to modify the contract of City Administrator Stall. She believes that his contract is one sided and favors the employee over the best interests of the city. Many citizens spoke on this issue, with varying views of Mr. Stall and the contract. When it became clear that she was going to lose again, Schnell made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Commentary
I continue to be amused by Alderman Moses. He has changed so much in the short time he has been on council. Last year, when he was part of the citizens that wanted changes in the city government, he stated plainly that council should be listening to the people that show up to meetings. Now that he is on council, he continues to make reference to the fact that he has to listen to the people that do not come to the meetings. Who are these people that are running council in the background?
Beyond that, it is clear that Stall’s contract is dividing citizens and council. He should do the right thing and amend his contract, dropping the automatic renewal clause. Even though I support him and think that he is an asset to the city, the plain truth is that he hasn’t had a particularly good year and council should be able to review his employment with the city and set specific goals that he has to meet. The police department debacle, the water plant 1 delays, the reluctance of the city to release records – he should be counseled by the Mayor and improvement targets set. If Stall refuses to voluntarily amend his contract, Council should have the fortitude to step and and make the necessary changes – if it results in his termination and payout of five months salary, so be it. I do not think that would happen because let’s be honest, Stall has a pretty good job here and isn’t going anywhere.
But the most egregious thing about the meeting last night was when Charlotte Wells told the story about Stall unilaterally deciding that the city, and specifically the residents on Miramar, should not have a say in pursuing or not pursuing a FEMA buyout of waterfront homes. That is simply unacceptable and he should be forced to disclose publicly his role in that alleged discussion. There is simply no reason for Ms. Wells to lie about that conversation.
The fact that the entire council sat there, listened to her complaint, and did absolutely nothing says more about the current state of the council than any commentary I could make.
Nancy says
It’s Phil Yivano.
David Jennings says
Thank you! I couldn’t figure out how to spell it.
David Gerany says
Phil Yovino on Fairfield? I actually can shed more reliable information on the buy out offer.
Paul Croas says
They violated their own ordinance.
Sec. 2-101. Limiting employment contracts.
The city shall not enter into any contract of employment with any full-time or part-time employee for a period of time longer than 12 months. All new and renewal contacts for employment must be approved by at least a three-fifths majority of members of the city council in an open meeting.
(Ord. No. 97-02, § 1, 3-10-1997)
David Jennings says
Paul, the automatic renewal clause of Mr. Stall’s contract does not violate the ordinance. If you review the contract, it specifically states that it ends the day before and renews automatically only if council does not stop the renewal. The contract certainly favors the employee (Stall) but council could, if they chose to, not renew it.
Paul Croas says
Even though it automatically renews, it makes it a renewed contract, which means they would have to have a three fifths vote in an open meeting to confirm or drop the contract. My opinion of course.
Sara Andrews says
Does anyone know about the hcad map showing the circle of land above the pier that is labeled Shoreacres Hotel? Interesting…COUNCIL IS LISTENING TO A LONG TIME FRIEND AND CO WORKER….DICK GREGG…CONFLICT OF INTEREST! I encourage everyone to call another attorney and seek a second opinion!
David Jennings says
Sarah, there was high hope years ago that a hotel would be built in the circle – this would have helped the city’s finances tremendously. However, no developer could make the finances work and thus it remains empty and for sale. If you know someone that has the funds to build a hotel there and could figure out a way to make it profitable, then please let them know about it!
GerryV says
I doubt that the “employment agreement” between the City Administrator & the Mayor satisfies the requirements of the city code. The code reads: “All new and renewal contracts for employment must be approved by at least a three-fifths majority of members of the city council in an open meeting”.I could find no evidence that the “employment agreement” was ever approved in an “open meeting” by Council. The only open meeting that I am aware of occurred when Council passed a resolution to allow the Mayor to negotiate a contract. Here is the timeline of related actions:
• September 10, 2012 Mayor/Council Executive Session to discuss employment contract. Extent of discussion not available to public. Minutes-not available to public. Don’t know if City Attorney or who was in attendance during executive session.
• September 24, 2012 Mayor of Shoreacres entered into an Employment Agreement with the City Administrator. See page 1 of contract.
• November 20 or 30, 2012 the agreement was formally executed by the Mayor, attested by the Pro-Tem Mayor and agreed to by the City Administrator. See page 7 of contract.
• November 26, 2012 by Resolution No. 2012-100 City Council “hereby approves and authorizes the Mayor to execute a professional employment agreement with the city administrator”. See Resolution.
In my view the legality of this “agreement” is questionable and should go to the attorneys at the Texas Municipal League for interpretation.