Min CC 11/02/2005 - Special CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING
CIBOLO MUNICIPAL BUILDING
200 S.MAIN
November 2,2005
2:30 P.M.
Minutes
1. Call to Order—Mayor Sutton called the meeting to order at 2:37 P.M.
2. Roll Call—
Councilwoman Hartman
Councilman Kelly
Councilman Ramcharan was absent
Councilman Troncoso
Councilman Campbell was absent
3. Consideration/Action by the City Council for the response to the recall petition presented to the City Secretary
on October 27,2005 to recall the Mayor and all City Council members.
Councilman Kelly moved to have Mayor Sutton read the attached statement into the Record and to the media and
all citizens present. Seconded by Councilwoman Hartman. For: All,Against: None.
4. Adj ournment
Councilman Kelly moved to adjourn at 2:48 P.M. Seconded by Councilman Troncoso. For: All,Against: None.
PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 8TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2005.
Johnny S on
Mayor
ATTEST:
Peggy Cimics
City Secretary
Public Speech Regarding
Recall Petition of Mayor and City Council
Presented to the Public on November 2,2005
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The city secretary has eceived a petition charging the entire city council, i the mayor, ale
the city managers incompetence. While citizens have every right to petition for change, they also must
accept the responsibility to present accurate and fair information in pursuit of their agenda.
I am malting this statement today to alleviate the citizens' concerns regarding the charges and how they
affect their community. In answer to the charges:
To the charge of incompetence—a few individuals led by our previous mayor, Charles Ruppert has decided
that the opinions and will of the voters at the ballot box should be overturned because they have a different
political viewpoint. If this is allowed to be viewed as incompetence then the rights of voters and the
citizenry at large have been trumped by the politics of deception This type of abuse of our
political system creates the apathy and feeling of impotence among our voters. To the specific
allegations:
Item 1 —The charge that Section 7.06 of the Charter was violated
Section 7.06 Proceeding Adoption on Budget- By only referencing one sentence in the section, Mr.
Ruppert conveniently edits the charter provision to gam the misinterpretation that he desires. The charter
states that we must pass the budget 10 days prior to the end of the year,however the next sentence provides
that we operate under the old budget until the new one is passed. It was passed before the end of the year
and we did not have to operate under the old budget.
Obviously,there is no violation. This charge is false.
Item 2_Allowed the City Manager to violate Section 7.10. The city Manager did not violate section 7.10.
The city manager shall submit a 5 year capital program as an attachment to the budget.
The current plan was adopted in 2002 under Mr.Ruppert's leadership.. The former did not update or follow
his own plan. Had this been such a legitimate concern of Mr. Ruppert, why did he leave such an
irresponsible and non-executable CIP in place when his administration left office. We were forced to use a
faulty plan inherited from Former Mayor Ruppert.
Items 3 and 4 The city council raised taxes less than 5 cents per hundred and provides $0 for street,
drainage,water,sewer,and capital improvements and$0 for capital replacement transfer—
Keep in mind that there were 7.9 million dollars worth of improvements planned in a budget that required
only an 4 cent tax increase that was torpedoed by Mr.Ruppert's l la'hour bond election.
Our public safety increases- fire, police, ems, and the school crossing guard program, which incidentally
Mr. Ruppert adamantly opposed, accounts for $391,600 in increased spending. The tax increase only
brings in 203,000 more revenuelVwill remind the public that this Council passed a tax rate increase of only
18%. While providing a balanced budget that is not a deficit budget.t•We are doing more with less.
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Item 5 —Adopted budget that raised taxes less than 5 cents and spends $0 impact fees on the 2002 Tax
Note. �L
I would say that I find it humorous that would be accused of incompetence for applying taxes to a
Tax Note.
.4+swt,to date there has been $584,000 of impact fees applied to Mr. Ruppert's previous Tax Note. Mr.
Ruppert's Capital Plan only allowed $250,000 of impact fee funding to be applied to this note. This
council has decided to end the previous administration's bad habit of kiclang tough decisions down the
road for someone else to pay. At this time I would also say that Mr. Ruppert's questionable
implementation of the impact fee program has required the city to return over I million dollars in impact
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fees and the city council has called for an independent audit of Mr Ruppert's impact fee collection
program. Could this be why he wants this council removed.
Item 6—Raised taxes less than 5 cents for a bond issue not yet decided by voters. I am very happy to
answer that question standing here in what many citizens refer to as Ruppert's Taj Majal. A 1 and a quarter
million dollar building built with bond money that Mr. Ruppert never asked the voters to approve. How
far would those funds have gone towards some of streets, drainage, and utility projects we are trying to
performN aW'c
Item 7 — Proposition 13. Mr Ruppert as mayor received a prop 13 tax freeze petition during his
administration. He refused to call for the election or even allow it to be placed before council. We
received the current petition and were informed by the Secretary of State's office and our city attorney that
the February election date had been eliminated by the 2005 legislature. May is the next available date.
Should this issue pass at the ballot box, regardless of a May or February election, it would still become
effective in September 2006.
Ladies'and Gentlemen,those are the charges of incompetence. My response...... PREPOSTEROUS.
In closing I would add that Mr. Todd Parton,the city manager has been accused of many things during this
trying time. The only act that Mr. Parton has been guilty of is to perform the duties and implement the
policies that this and previous council has charged hien with. In an outstanding fashion I might add.
Thank you.
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