RECAP June 3, 2014 City Commission Mtg.

This was newly elected Mayor Celeste Sanchez 1^st City Commission Meeting. It went extremely well and I am very proud of her. We must now move forward!

HIGHLIGHTS RECAP:

7) Consideration & action on appointment of the Mayor Pro-Tem for the year 2014-2015.

Commissioner JD Gonzalez jumped on the opportunity again to re-nominate Commissioner Tony Gonzales as Mayor Pro-Tem. Since this will be the third concurrent back-to-back nomination of Commissioner Tony Gonzales as Mayor Pro-Tem and in the “Spirit of Fairness”, Mayor Sanchez asked for any “other nominations”.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, the other commissioners approved the nomination 

without discussion. I would submit that the City Charter’s intent in selecting a Mayor Pro-Tem “every year” as approved by the voters at the last City Charter Amendment Vote in 2012 was to give "every member of the City Commission" an opportunity to serve as Mayor Pro-Tem. 

As it is, Commissioner Tony Gonzales has served as Mayor Pro-Tem for I believe 5 years in a row plus another year. IMHO, it should have been Commissioner Rene Villafranco’s turn to act as Mayor Pro-Tem. He has the experience and tenure. My guess is that he is not aware that he could have made a case and nominated himself. It is what It is!

8) Street Projects Update

City completed resetting or raising a section of the sidewalk on Reagan Street (not sure what section). They finished work on the 400 block of Stenger Street and began work on Line 17 road work.

11) Consideration & Action on approval of Resolution 2014-5: a resolution governing the procedure and rules of access to the services of the City Attorney by the City Manager or any member of the City Commission.

Resolution was approved! Basically, this resolution allows each member of the City Commission (Mayor included) to contact the City Attorney directly for legal advice related to City matters. Here is a link to the resolution. Previously, members of the City Commission relayed their questions or concerns re City legal matters thru the City Manager.

The truth of the matter is the City Commission did not seem to appreciate that Department Heads were permitted to contact the City Attorney directly while the members of the City Commission were not. I do not agree with this action but It is what It is!

13) Consideration & Action on authorization to auction Police Department confiscated vehicles.

Authorization was approved. This will again be an “Online Auction”. Revenue from the confiscated vehicles sold will go into the SBPD “Asset Forfeiture Fund” and revenue from city owned retired vehicles goes into the General Fund. 

The word is there is a Porsche Cayenne vehicle on the auction block so open up your wallets.  

 I am not positive if it will be the same auction company but the last online auction was Lone Star Auctioneers

BTW, if you are reading this you probably have access to a computer. But, if you know someone interested in bidding but don’t have access to a computer or the internet, the San Benito Public Library has a bank of computers with internet access available to the public during normal daily hours.

14) Consideration and action on approving the Comprehensive Plan Professional Services Agreement with Kendig Keast Collaborative. (approved contingent to accepting City’s amendments to agreement)

Action Approved! Finally, after 5 long years of talking about it and no action taken, the City will finally be conducting a city wide comprehensive master plan overview/revision. This revision will cover a complete city planning overview of ETJ, land use, mobility, etc. The price is a little steep but as Mayor Sanchez mentioned to the City Commission and the members of the public present, I think it is tax payer monies well invested to insure the future growth of the City of San Benito. 

15, 16, 17, 18, and 19) all related to the city problems with problems relating to Water Treatment Plants No. 1 and No. 2.

Items were tabled and a special workshop/mtg will be scheduled for next week at which time decisions will be made.

All in all, it was a very productive CC mtg and not very long.

Later!