Category: Lytle City Council Meetings

By Anton Riecher
Lytle is again searching for a city administrator after the city council voted Monday to approve a transfer for current administrator Matthew Dear back to police duty with the rank of captain.
“First and foremost, it’s been a great honor to work with you all in the position here,” Dear told the council. “But I think my heart still lies in the police department. That’s where my skill set is.”
The council approved the transfer by a 4-0 vote with District 3 Alderman David Emery absent.
Mayor Ruben Gonzalez said Dear “stepped up during a difficult time and we appreciate him doing that.”
Dear said he pursued the city administrator job as an opportunity for advancement within the city not expecting the captain position to be vacant in the near future. That position is now open due to retirement.
“If I’d have known the captain at the time was leaving I’m not sure I would have made this leap over here,” Dear said.
Dear took over as city administrator in May 2022 after training to qualify for the job. The transfer represents a reduction in salary and benefits.
“The great thing for us is he’ll still be around,” Gonzalez said. “I know that like anything else he always steps up and helps out no matter where we need him within the city.”
Gonzalez said he hoped that the transition could be made no later than the end of the year. However, District 5 Alderman Charles Cate, who made the motion in favor of the transfer, said he was concerned that finding a new city administrator would likely become a lengthy process.
“Devine has had an interim city administrator for several years now,” Cate said.
Dear said it was not his intention to leave the city “high and dry.”
“That’s never been the way I’ve operated,” he said. “Obviously, I would like to transfer as soon as possible but I understand the importance of the position I hold.”
Cate’s motion in favor of the transfer made it contingent on finding a replacement city administrator first.
Gonzalez and Cate agreed that the city administrator job is demanding.
“Whoever fills the role it’s not just about showing up and sitting behind a desk,” Gonzalez said. “This is a job where you’ve got to be out and connected.”
In other business, the council approved donation of $10,000 from hotel-motel tax revenue to the city’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post to promote local tourism.
“The new Lytle VFW hall is not even open yet and we’ve already started putting people in hotels,” said post commander Chris Clouser.
The post is planning several events involving local musicians to draw guests to the area, Clouser said. The money would also go to construction of a corn hole field with proper lighting to bring competing teams to Lytle, he said. Barbecue competitions are also in the planning stage.
Action on a request by the VFW to support its annual Patriot Day Freedom Walk was tabled for further consideration.
At the request of Mayor Gonzalez the council voted to permit Dear to survey council members on priorities for the 2023-2024 budget with Dear compiling the results and reporting back to the council.
“I asked everybody to take a look and see if there are any projects that we need to take into consideration as a way for us to go ahead and minimize going back and forth with staff,” Gonzalez said.
For example, Gonzalez listed two of his own priorities as work on the Benton City Road and developing a city capital improvement plan to help pursue grant funding.

By Anton Riecher
A motion to further investigate the financial impact of a proposed property tax freeze for city residents either over 65 or disabled was approved by the Lytle City Council Monday by a 4-1 vote.
The motion was made by District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez, seconded by District 3 Alderman David Emery, to delay taking any immediate action on the tax freeze. District 5 Alderman Charles Cate who placed the item on the agenda, opposed that motion as he wanted to move forward with the freeze.
“We’re going to have the same figures in six months that we will have in two weeks,” Cate said. “We’re only hurting our residents.”
Michelle Berdeaux, chief appraiser for Atascosa County, told the council that fast action to approve the ordinance would be necessary since the appraisal district is scheduled to certify the tax roll by July 21. Values must be presented to the taxing entities by July 25 to start budget workshops and rate hearings.
“We’re getting ready to start the tax rate calculations,” Berdeaux said. “If you don’t move quickly it will not be on the tax roll before we mail bills.”
In Atascosa County which carries the largest portion of the city’s taxable value almost 200 property tracts or nearly 13½ percent would be eligible for the tax freeze, Cate said. Rodriguez expressed concern that until certified values are available the financial impact of the tax freeze remains unknown.
“I don’t see the rush in trying to get this done by this timetable,” Rodriguez said.
Cate noted that many Texas municipalities have implemented similar measures to stem the impact of rising property taxes on the elderly.
“It does not exempt them from paying taxes,” Cate said. “It freezes their tax value once they turn 65. We’d still be collecting taxes but it would just help alleviate the folks who may be on a fixed income.”
Berdeaux explained that the freeze does not apply if the property owner either acquires more adjoining property or expands their home.
“Then the freeze would be adjusted by the amount of tax that was added,” she said.
Lytle has previously implemented a homestead exemption for property owners over 65 who received a $10,000 exemption, Berdeaux said.
“What you are talking about will freeze that tax amount at the (age 65) level, whatever is established,” Berdeaux said. “If it goes down, the property owner automatically pays less.”
Cate said that Devine passed a similar tax freeze for its eligible taxpayers in June, Cate said.
“While it is able to help the residents I think it also makes the city an attractive place for people to move to,” he said. “If one city has this in place and we don’t they might go there. I just see it as a means for us to help folks out and take care of our own people.”
The council also voted to conduct a workshop to discuss a proposed tax abatement program at 6:30 p.m. July 25.
In other items added to the agenda by Cate, the council voted unanimously to develop plans for replacing and upgrading the city’s water distribution lines. However, action on a proposal to upgrade and improve city road and streets to accommodate future development was tabled.
The council voted to award a $5,046 contract to Advanced Water Well Technologies to remove the wellhead and pump from long dormant City Water Well No. 1 to accommodate the Edwards Aquifer Authority in its plans to use the well to better monitor the aquifer.
City Administrator Matthew Dear reported that the authority had agreed to cover half the cost of the wellhead and pump removal.
Dear reported to the council that the city had received a violation notice from the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality regarding the need to complete mandatory water quality testing for copper and lead in its newest water well.
Mayor Ruben Gonzales stressed that the violation was not based on findings but due to a testing oversight.
Dear explained that the new water well required a specific set of tests to be performed quarterly during its initial year of operation. The tests are performed both at the well and again at where water goes into the distribution system.
Ordinarily the testing is only done three times a year, Dear said.
“We did one and were expecting to do it like we normally do but we missed one in between,” Dear said. “We’ve already done the missed test so we can go back to the normal routine.”
During the information items portion of the agenda District 2 Alderman Richard Hughes asked if additional lighting could be installed at the city park baseball fields for evening hours. Dear said that plans to improve the lighting had been postponed due to other city issues.
“We started down that path a while back but had to put the stop to it because of some major improvements needed at the sewer plant,” Dear said.
He said the city staff has been investigating the use of hotel occupancy tax money to fund the ball field lighting improvements. However, that can only be justified if it can be shown that the park had effectively generated funds for the hotel industry.
The estimate on improving the lighting is nearly $300,000, city finance director LaNet Hester said.
Mayor Gonzalez reported that the Veterans of Foreign Wars is planning the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new post on July 19, the 100th birthday of local Pearl Harbor attack veteran Gilbert Meyers. Meyers, to whom the post is dedicated, also contributed the land for the new building.
Gonzalez also gave an update on Texas Department of Transportation improvements to Interstate 35. Beginning Tuesday new stripping will be added to convert access roads from one-way to two-way traffic.
Improvement plans also call for closing down FM 3175 lanes crossing beneath I35 for extensive repair.
“It’s the only way to get that road done before school starts up again,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to hurt for several weeks.”

By ANTON RIECHER
Scheduling of public hearings on proposed zoning amendments restricting the use of recreational vehicles and modular buildings in downtown Lytle received a go-ahead from the city council during its regular session Monday.
Regarding modular buildings, the council voted in February 2020 to create a new zoning district along Main Street that restricted the placement of mobile homes to certain areas, City Administrator Matthew Dear explained. However, that ordinance did not include modular-type buildings.
Extending the ordinance to include that type of construction requires again notifying residents potentially affected and conducting a new set of public hearings on the issue, Dear said.
If re-zoned, any pre-existing modular structure would be classified as “non-comforming,” meaning it would be allowed to remain but could not be expanded or enlarged, city attorney Jessie Lopez explained. If replaced, the new structure would need to comply with the ordinance.
District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez asked that any new ordinance be exact in defining the difference between a modular structure and a pre-fabricated building that would be allowed. On a motion by Rodriguez, seconded by District 3 Alderman David Emery, the council approved allowing the legal work to move forward on the amendment.
District 1 Alderman Joseph Morrow was absent from the Nov. 14 meeting.
With respect to recreational vehicles, Dear explained that a 2019 amendment to the zoning ordinance prohibited the use of mobile homes in certain commercial areas along Main Street. But the amendment did not specifically prohibit the use of recreational vehicles in those same areas.
As with the modular building issue, a revision defining zones RVs can be used along Main Street would require notification of affected businesses and public hearings to discuss the proposed changes before the council could vote.
Again, on motion by Rodriguez, the council approved moving forward with the proposed changes.
The council also voted to proceed on developing an amendment to the Lytle zoning and subdivision codes to establish requirements for on-site parking and garage requirements. Dear said the action would be aimed at “bigger, masterplan communities.”
Subdivisions without requirements for garages and ample driveway parking for at least several vehicles tend to develop problems with parking that blocks sidewalks and forces pedestrians into the street, several council members remarked.
“Do we want to paint the picture of what we want our community to look like or do we just want them to come in and build whatever they think we need,” Dear said.
In other action, the council voted to approve updating the city’s building regulations to adopt the latest editions of various national and international codes governing electrical, plumbing and construction work.
The code update comes several months after the council voted to update the local fire code to agree with the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code, Dear said. The city had previously been using the 2006 edition of the code.
“The building code and all the other codes we use for construction here in the city were based on the 2008 editions,” Dear said. “That’s pretty outdated so we needed to bring that up to the 2021 model.”
In certain ways, the updated codes are more lenient than the codes that had been in place, Dear said.
“I can tell as to the fire code what I saw in certain things allowed in the 2021 code weren’t allowed in the old 2006 version,” Dear said. Improvements in technology allowed the changes, he said.
The old codes adversely affected the Insurance Services Organization (ISO) rating which determines the cost of fire insurance for local homes and businesses, Dear said.
“Once we get these (updates) adopted we can contact ISO and they will bring our rate down,” he said.
On a motion by Emery, seconded by District 2 Alderman Sam Cortez, the council approved adopting the updated standards.
On a motion by Rodriguez, seconded by Emery, the council voted to award a $34,900 administrative services agreement with the grant management firm GrantWorks to obtain a Texas Community Development Block Grant.
The grant would be used for flood mitigation and drainage planning, Dear said.
The council also voted to authorize Dear to negotiate an engineering services agreement with San Antonio-based Kimley Horn for development of a drainage master plan for the Lake Shore Estates Subdivision.
Some council members questioned if it would be better to include the Lake Shore drainage plan under the overall city drainage plan under discussion.
“I do believe that if we fix drainage issues in Lake Shore it’s going to cause issues downstream,” Dear said.
However, Emery urged immediate action on the Lake Shore issue rather than wait an additional two years or more to complete the overall city plan.
“They have been waiting and suffering for this for years,” Emery said.
Dear was also authorized to negotiate with Kimley Horn for engineering services to establish a municipal storm water utility in Lytle. Added to the monthly utility bill of Lytle residents, the storm water utility is something common to most cities, Dear said.
“Once we get the utility established by ordinance everyone gets to pay into it monthly,” he said. “It’s an assessment on your property. Then we can use those funds to mitigate storm water and do drainage in the city.”
The Lytle Chamber of Commerce asked for the city’s annual participation of $35,000 in a proposed visitor center to offer information about lesser known offerings and events within the community. The presentation by Dear said the center would “offer a feedback mechanism from the community and visitor to help improve appeal.”
Total cost for the visitor center is estimated at $72,669 annually. Cost of one employee to staff the center is estimated at $52,525.
Dear said the city staff is frequently too busy to assist visitors seeking out tourist information. Funding the center would be on a year-by-year basis just as the city’s participation in Little League.
“Our staff is already busy doing other things such as processing bills and taking care of customers,” Dear said.
On a motion by Emery, the council approved participating in the project using monies from the hotel occupancy tax.
After a brief executive session to discuss pending litigation and purchase of property the council voted to allow the city administrator to acquire property discussed in closed session.

By Anton Riecher
The Lytle City Council voted 3-1 Monday to adopt a proposed 2022-2023 tax rate of $.3643 per $100 valuation to support a $16.7 million city budget for the same period.
Precinct 5 Alderman Charles Cate, a reservist currently deployed to an unspecified location, voted against the tax rate and budget via Internet connection during the meeting. Precinct 1 Alderman Joseph Morrow was absent.
Cate said he was concerned about using money from the recent sale of $8.5 million in certificates of obligation to cover approximately $700,000 in annual debt in the near term. That large of a boost in property taxes revenue in the next four or five years is unlikely, he said.
“My concern is future years,” Cate said. “Where is that increase going to come from?”
City Administrator Matthew Dear said that incremental increases in utility rates will bring them in line with what is paid in surrounding communities and would create some of that income.
However, Cate speculated that further investment in infrastructure would also be needed. The $8.5 million bond sale is largely going to water and sewer improvements.
“As we are aware, these aren’t the last projects the city is going to need,” Cate said.
The $.3643 tax rate is expected to produce a 10.6 percent increase in revenue due to higher property valuations. The rate for the current tax year is $.3905. The new rate proposal was approved on a motion by Precinct 3 Alderman David Emery seconded by Precinct 2 Alderman Sam Cortez.
A call for speakers at a public hearing on the proposed 2022-2023 city budget of $16.6 million drew no response from the audience for the council meeting. The meeting was closed after one minute.
Another public hearing on the budget will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 11 before final approval, Mayor Ruben Gonzalez said.
BOIL NOTICE
Lytle public works director James McGrath gave the council a detailed report on a water outage Sept. 18 that resulted in a notice to boil all drinking water through Sept. 20.
The initial problem that led to the breakdown was a contractor who broke a three-inch water line, he said. One day prior to the break, public works was called to the scene to locate several lines in the area.
“It was hard to locate,” McGrath said. “We located one line by about 5 p.m. and promised to locate the other first thing in the morning.”
Unfortunately, the contractor arrived at the work site before the public works department returned.
“He told his crew to lay one more joint of pipe and busted a three-inch,” McGrath said. “We lost water pressure.”
However, in the course of making the repair to the three-inch line, a 12-inch valve “broke loose” several miles upstream. Replacing it and another valve required draining the water system, so work was scheduled for late Sunday evening.
“We turned off the water at 10 o’clock,” McGrath said. “There was no water above ground in any of the overhead storage tanks. Anyway, you wouldn’t believe it but it took until 3 o’clock before the water stopped draining at the creek.”
The crew got the two 12-inch valves installed and repaired the broken three-inch line before daylight, he said. But rescinding the boil notice required the approval of the Texas Department of Environmental Quality.
“We couldn’t get an answer until about 10:30 a.m.,” McGrath said. “They told us where to take our samples. We got them into town about noon.”
It was 11 a.m. the next day, Sept. 20, before TDEQ gave permission to rescind the boil notice.
City officials were forced to post a notice requiring residents to boil their tap water. Water in the area was still safe to shower and clean with according to the issued release, but residents in Lytle could not use the water for consumption.
“To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use for drinking water or human consumption purposes,” the release added. “The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes.”
SIDEWALKS
On a motion by Emery, seconded by Cortez, the council approved a $440,000 advance funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to build more than 11,000 linear feet of sidewalk near local schools.
The project involves 1,600 linear feet of 6-foot-wide sidewalk on both sides of Prairie Street from Cottage Street to Laredo Street, including the front of the primary school. On Cottage Street, the project covers 2,650 linear feet of sidewalk on both sides of the roadway from FM2790 to Prairie Street.
On FM2790, 2,200 linear feet of 12-foot-wide shared path will be built on the west side of the roadway from Blume Drive to Lytle High School. Also included is 1,200 linear feet of six-foot-wide sidewalk on the east side of the roadway from Cottage to Laredo.
Seventy-five linear feet of sidewalk from the southeast corner of FM 2790 and Laredo to directly connect with Lytle Elementary is also included in the project. The project also covers assorted detectable warning surfaces, crosswalks and signage, city administrator Matthew Dear told the council.
“It’s going to give our kids someplace to walk safely on either side of that road (Cottage Street),” Dear said. “It’s quite scary already with kids walking in a bar ditch with the drainage and mud. Or you get up on the roadway and take a chance on getting hit.”
Cortez said he considered the project a necessity “especially right there when it rains pretty hard and gets flooded.”
The TxDOT Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program provides funding for a variety of alternative transportation projects. TxDOT’s Public Transportation Division administers TASA funding for population areas of 200,000 or less.
Funds for the project will come from the sale of $8.5 million in certificates of obligation approved by the council earlier this month, the majority of which will be used to finance water and sewer improvements.
BRUSH PICKUP
On a motion by Cortez, seconded by Emery, the council approved an annual contract for municipal brush pickup. Hector Barrera & Son, the company currently handling brush pickup, was the only bidder, asking for $5,225 per month.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
On a motion by Emery, seconded by Precinct 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez, the council approved a $1,000 a month increase in the amount it pays the non-profit Lytle Volunteer Fire Department to provide fire protection for the city.
Dear said the added money will allow the department to increase its budget for paid personnel.
“The department went from two paid personnel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to three paid personnel 24/7,” Dear said.
The department also received an increase from the other entities it contracts with – Medina County Emergency Service District No. 5, Atascosa County ESD No. 1 and Bexar County ESD No. 5.
LAKESHORE ESTATES
In the wake of complaints about the potential for flooding in the Lakeshore Estates development, Dear recommended that the council have an engineer review the entire drainage situation and come up with an overall fix.
“The problem is if we throw a band-aid on one thing what is the effect on others downstream,” Dear said.

By Anton Riecher
The Lytle City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the sale of $8.5 million in certificates of obligation, the majority of which will be used to finance water and sewer improvements.
On a motion by District 3 Alderman David Emery, seconded by District 2 Alderman Sam Cortez, the council voted to sell the certificates amortized over 20 years at a 3.94 percent interest rate. The sale closes on Sept. 28.
To see full video of the latest Lytle City Council session visit the Devine News channel on YouTube at youtube.com/channel/UC5NvVUNwMPeR-VVmLSKY-Ng.
Andrew Friedman, representing SAMCO Capital Markets, the city’s financial advisor, told the aldermen that the sale required establishing a credit rating for the city.
“We went through a rating process with Standard and Poor’s,” Friedman said. “They look at not only audited financials but also want to get a sense of who Lytle, Texas, is on top of what you can read on paper.”
As a result, the city attained a strong AA- credit rating, the highest rating possible is AAA, followed by AA+, AA and AA-, Friedman said.
“When you drop below that you have to go out to pay for municipal bond insurance,” Friedman said. “We were able to avoid that.”
City Administrator Matt Dear told the council that $6.1 million of the certificate sale will go toward water system improvements, including building a water tower to feed a new looped water system. The certificates will also finance a $1.4 million sewer plant project.
Aside from utilities, $1 million will be designated for streets and sidewalks, Dear said.
A portion of the debt will be paid from the interest and sinking (I&S) portion of the city tax rate, Friedman said. However, the $7.5 million going to water and sewer improvements will be repaid from revenues generated by the city’s utility system rates.
Emery questioned Friedman about whether the debt could be refinanced if interest rates improve in the future. Friedman replied that the current rates would be “locked in” until February 2031 when the certificates can either be purchased from the investors using cash or the interest rates can be renegotiated.
In other business, the council voted to table action on proposals to address traffic issues on Lytle-Somerset Street, including the use of speed humps to slow vehicles. Dear informed the council that state law requires an official study by a traffic engineer.
Without state sanction, anyone who damages their vehicle going over a speed hump could potentially have a legal claim against the city, Dear said. In 2021, a plan calling for six speed humps and appropriate signage was estimated to cost at least $10,000, he said.
With inflation, that price is now calculated to be at least $15,500, Dear said.
A motion by District 4 Alderman Michael Rodriguez to table the matter until public sentiment about adding speed humps passed 4-1. District 5 Alderman Charles Cate, a reservist presently serving overseas, monitored the meeting by internet and voted against tabling the action.
Lake Shore Estates resident Trace Joyce once again addressed the council regarding flooding in the subdivision. Joyce reported that his home flooded in 2010 and has been threatened by rising water several times since.
Dear said he has filed a request for quotes from engineering firms in hopes to negotiate a price for the project. It is also under legal review, he said.
“Realistically, this project will probably take a year or two,” Dear said. Resolving drainage issues that stretch back to the beginning of the subdivision is not going to be cheap either.
Joyce asked if the city might have legal recourse against the engineering firm that developed the initial drainage plan for the subdivision.
Action on the item was tabled pending further research into the exact cause of the flooding.
On a motion by Emery, seconded by Rodriguez, the council voted to enter into an amended and restated solid waste contract with Waste Management, Inc., a waste and environmental services company.
Also on a motion by Emery, seconded by Cortez, the council voted to enter into a one-year extension of the CPS Energy gas systems contract.

Lytle increases rates
At the September 12 meeting, the City of Lytle voted to increase water/sewer rates. See details in public notice on page 13 this week.