Devine City Council approves UTSA vision plan, amends budget

While Anderson St. is shown on maps as intersecting with Transportation Dr. and running parallel to Corley Dr., in reality, it is a small patch of pavement that dead ends. The City is taking steps to have Anderson St. removed from maps.

The Devine City Council amended and approved UTSA’s Vision of the Future for downtown Devine, and approved spending over the previously-approved amount of $3,000 for Incode software at the Regular meeting on Tuesday, April 18.
Both required amending the budget.
UTSA vision plan
Council members voted to approve the vision plan presented by UTSA on March 30, and to hold off on uploading the plan to the City website until the changeover to a revamped website is complete.
Gregory Boyd owns 21 acres behind Walmart off of IH-35 frontage road, and was unhappy that his property, which is for sale, was excluded from UTSA’s plan.
After fielding Boyd’s complaints, Council voted to amend the budget for $3,000 to pay UTSA to update the vision plan to include Boyd’s property.
Incode software
In a Special meeting held Thursday, March 30, Council approved the purchase of two Cardinal Tracking, Inc. handheld ticket writing units for the Devine Police Department and amended the budget for $18,780.30.
The units work with Tyler Technologies’ municipal government software suite Incode, currently used by the City’s Municipal Court, and Council also approved the purchase of an interface allowing the units to work with Incode for a cost not to exceed $3,000.
The cost for the software interface is actually a one-time fee of $4,000, plus an annual fee of $1,000 for maintenance.
Council approved amending the budget to purchase the interface.
Re-zoning
Council approved the Planning and Zoning Commission’s April 17 recommendation to change the zoning classification of approximately 154.632 acres of land between west of IH-35 and E. Hondo Ave, as well as create a Preliminary Report regarding changing the zoning from Class A Single-Family to Class H Commercial Business District.
P&Z will hold a Public Hearing on the Preliminary Report and will create a final report for Council at a public meeting scheduled for Monday, May 15 at City Hall at 7:00 pm. Council will then hold a Public Hearing on the final report during a public meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 23 at City Hall at 6:00 pm.
The proposed changes would allow single-family residences, multi-family residences, and commercial businesses to be built on both sides of E. Hondo Ave., from Triple C to Reyna’s Welding on one side of the street, and Walmart to Viva Zapata’s on the other.
General Election judges and clerks
Council approved Gilbert Fraga as Presiding Judge for the May 6, 2017 General Election; Jason Ozer as Alternate Judge; and Bill Schneider, Paula Christine Ozer, Elia Merritt, and Jack Merritt as clerks.
Tax collection agreement
Council voted to approve a tax collection agreement with Medina County Tax Assessor-Collector Melissa Lutz.
The agreement is a formalized written version of the delinquent property tax collection services the County has provided for the City in the past.
Medina County entered into a one-year renewable contract with McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen and local firm Huesser & Ireland for delinquent tax collection services on March 27, 2017.
Anderson St.
Anderson St. is shown on maps as a road that intersects with Transportation Dr. and runs parallel to Corley Dr. In reality, it is an overgrown dirt path that doesn’t function as a road. Council approved beginning the legal process to have Anderson St. removed from maps.
Other business
Council awarded the HMGP management services contract to Langford and Associates, and the HMGP engineering services contract to Garcia and Wright Consulting Engineers, Inc; rejected AEP’s Distribution Cost Recovery Factor (DCRF) filing and hired the law firm of Lloyd Gosselink to fight a raise in rates; and approved allowing City Engineer Raul Garcia of Garcia and Wright to survey the lease properties at Devine Municipal Airport.
Upcoming meetings
A Special meeting regarding improvements at the Devine Municipal Airport is set for Wednesday, May 6 at City Hall at 6:00 pm.
The next Regular meeting is scheduled for May 16.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer