L-R: Susan Garry, Barbara Piper, Jack Piper, Karen Marosko, Eldridge Tidwell, Susan Schmidt (September 12, 2013)

At its last regular meeting, the Coupland City Council addressed some major issues and continued to work on the administrative foundations that will affect Coupland in the years to come.

The City Secretary (Yours Truly) was absent but the digital secretary faithfully recorded the meeting. The Mayor and four Aldermen were present. Eldridge Tidwell was unable to attend.

Here are the highlights of the meeting:

• As of December 31, 2013, the City had a bank balance of $24,419.20. Mayor Piper noted that the City had receive a franchise fee payment from Oncor of $9,539.
• The Council reviewed a proposal for engineering services on an as-needed basis from Waeltze & Prete, Inc. This firm worked with the incorporation committee to draw up the map of the proposed city limits and ETJ of the City of Coupland before the City incorporated. The firm’s base fee is $220 with an hourly rate of $145. The proposal was unanimously approved.
• No action was taken on a plat application from a local land owner because a properly completed application had not yet been received by the City. There was some discussion about some of the potential issues of this first application after the adoption of Coupland’s Subdivision Ordinance. The Mayor asked the Aldermen to review the plat application form. Once a proper application is received and the associated fee is paid, the City has 30 days to act or the plat is automatically approved.
• The Mayor summarized a proposal for repairs to CR 458 from Naivar Construction. There was some discussion about whether or not the City should  approach the Williamson County Commissioners Court for help with the road and an assessment of the City’s limited political power to affect County policy in this situation.  Susan Garry discussed her findings on two companies that were recommended to her. She said the Naivar representative was concerned about other areas in need of repair. She said Naivar would work to get us in their schedule as soon as possible because of the serious condition of CR 458. A motion was made and seconded to accept Naivar’s bid and to authorize the Mayor to discuss other areas with them. The vote on that motion was unanimous. There was also some discussion on the responsibilities of TXDOT with regard to FM 1660 within city limits.
• There was a discussion about the process of amendments to City ordinances and the opportunity for the public to become involved in that process. One topic involved a potential grandfathering of family grants as an amendment to the new subdivision ordinance. It was noted that such a clause was in one of the subdivision ordinances that was reviewed by the Concerned Citizens Committee but it had been inadvertently left out of the ordinance that was finally adopted by the City. No formal action was taken but it appeared that the consensus of the Aldermen was that a proposal for such an amendment would be well-received.

There were no events or citizens recognized by the Council and no citizens signed up to address the Council. The Mayor noted that since there was no plat application to consider at this time, a second January meeting should not be necessary but would be scheduled if the situation changes. Otherwise, the next regular meeting will be on February 13.

[Publisher’s Note: I regret the delay in publishing this account. Other priorities have had to take precedence. I am sure readers have noticed a reduced number of published articles since December. I will continue to post articles as time permits with priority going to stories with the greatest potential to affect the citizens of Coupland. I welcome submissions from the readers, since editing submitted content takes much less time than creating original content. Thank you for your patience and for being a reader of the Coupland Times!]

At its regular meeting last week, the Coupland City Council revisited a few old topics and dealt with a few new agenda items.

Attending the meeting were Mayor Piper and Aldermen Garry, Piper, Schmidt, and Marosko. Alderman Tidwell was unavailable. No citizens attended the meeting.

Here are the highlights from the meeting:

• Mayor Piper presented the financial report. The City has a balance of $3,882. Revenue from property taxes is expected in January, according to the Mayor.
• A request for a variance on the Prinz Estates (see the previous meeting) was not received after all. However, the Mayor reported that despite their original offer to process the application, the County refused to consider their application to establish a new subdivision within the city limits because the City has no inter local agreement with the County. The Prinz family will have to submit their application to the City instead of the County. There was some discussion about the process.
• Getting back to the issue of road maintenance, the Mayor reported that the County has refused to assist with road maintenance. Apparently, the County might be willing to take on road maintenance in exchange for land on either side of the road. There was some discussion about the City’s options. Ms. Garry was charged with the task of investigating potential contractors for pothole repairs on CR 458. There was some concern about the potential of liability to the City resulting from deteriorating roads and the Mayor will check with the City’s lawyer regarding this.
• Following up on the sales tax election, the Mayor reported that according to the State Comptroller, the new sales tax becomes effective on April 1, 2014. He said the ¼% tax for road maintenance must be renewed by the voters every 4 years.
• There was a brief discussion about the process for amending ordinances. The Mayor submitted a form for the Aldermen to use to submit requests to have an proposed amendment added to future meeting agendas.
• In response to a citizen request, the Mayor initiated a discussion of the possibility of street lights paid for by the city. There was no interest on the part of any of the Aldermen to pursue the issue further. They noted that property owners are free to arrange to have lights installed on their own property, as some already have, at their own expense. It was also noted that there are no funds in the city budget to pay for street lights. There was also general consensus that a dark sky is one of the attractions of living in a rural setting.
• On the topic of events and recognition, the City Secretary (yours truly) reported that the Coupland Times has established a page on its website for the general public to access official city documents. (Click here to view the page.) At this time, only the subdivision ordinance is available. Other documents will be added as needed. Once the City’s official website is established, the page will be replaced with a link to that site.

The next meeting of the City Council will be on January 9.

L-R: Susan Garry, Barbara Piper, Jack Piper, Karen Marosko, Eldridge Tidwell, Susan Schmidt (September 12, 2013)