486 Alderman Joel Ortega Absent

Alderman Joel Ortega’s Absence Ignored

Alderman Joel Ortega was absent from half of the City Council meetings in 2015. Texas law says that 3 consecutive absences of an Alderman makes the position vacant.  Chapter 22 of the Local Government Code says this: Sec. 22.041. VACANCY ON GOVERNING BODY IS CREATED. (b) If a member of the governing body is absent […]

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486 history repeat

History Repeats Itself After Ignoring Past Mistakes

History repeated itself in the 2015 general election when 4 City Council positions were filled without there ever being an election and without there ever being a campaign for office.  Candidates didn’t even need to produce political platforms or state what they were running for. Alderman Places 1, 3, and 5 were up for reelection, […]

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486 house fire

Marshal’s Wife Suggests Burning Down Houses

On October 8, 2015, the City Council discussed how to address properties within the city that have overgrown weeds, disabled vehicles, and “other unsightly or dangerous properties.”  Alderman Earnest Gay, who had placed the item on the meeting agenda, said I’m sure everybody out there has somebody that you, within a stone’s throw, that you, […]

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486 trash collection

Council Chooses City Wide Trash Company

On October 8, 2015, the City Council decided to contract with a trash collection service and to allow only that service to collect trash within the City of Sandy Oaks. The decision follows a  “Community Meeting” on September 26th where different contract proposals were discussed Alderman Earnest Gay gave a summary of the fees and […]

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486 house money approved

September 8, 2015 Budget Hearing

The City Council held a second Budget Hearing on September 8, 2015.  The first Hearing was held on September 2nd, but the Council postponed a decision on the budget after legal questions were brought forward about the budget and Mayor Pro Tempore admitted he made up the numbers in the budget without researching them. Related: […]

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486 no election

November 2015 Election Cancelled

The City Council has cancelled the election planned for November 3, 2015. The election was for 3 different Alderman positions and a replacement for the position of Mayor. The following 3 Alderman Places were up for reelection: Alderman Place 1: David Tremblay Alderman Place 3: Joel Ortega Alderman Place 5: Earnest D. Gay Related: November […]

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486 house money reject

Budget Hearing Ends Without Acceptance

The City Council held a Budget Hearing on September 2, 2015.  The location of the meeting was planned as the meeting hall at the Braunig Lake RV Resort, however it was changed without warning to a cafeteria approximately 100 yards away. Related: City Council Holds Illegal Meeting; Violates State Law The meeting was open for […]

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486 control puppet

Who Controls the City Marshal?

A dramatic episode has erupted on social media regarding an invitation to the Sandy Oaks City Marshal, Jesse Gutierrez.  The invitation was sent by Catherine Rendahl, who helped organize the Good Neighbors group, and invited Gutierrez to come speak to the group. The people upset about the invitation include Gutierrez’ wife Heather Leal, Alderman Micki […]

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486 budget 2015

2015 Budget Hearing Announced

The Sandy Oaks City Council has announced a budget hearing for September 2, 2015.  The hearing will start at 6:30 pm and will be held at the Braunig Lake RV Resort Meeting Hall, 13550 Donop Road, Elmendorf, Tx, 78112. Texas law requires cities to produce an itemized budget to “cover the proposed expenditures of the […]

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486 streets 2

Who Owns The Roads: City Council Tasks Attorney

After being in office for over a year, the members of the Sandy Oaks City Council admitted on August 13, 2015 that they still don’t know who owns the roads. Mayor Pro Tempore Earnest Gay introduced the topic at the August 13th City Council meeting. There’s always been some contention as to whether certain streets […]

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486 pool

The Mess We’re In

The current state of the Waterwood community is worse than it was a little over a year ago when the area incorporated into a city. Before incorporation, Bexar County and Waterwood Development Company were taking care of the roads.  It’s true they weren’t doing the best job in the world, and that the roads often […]

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486 titan

Titan Factory Direct Caught Posting Signs

Since the transfer of maintenance responsibilities transferred from the Waterwood Development Company to the WPPOA, the Waterwood community has had an increase in signs that have stayed posted at intersections and on poles throughout the neighborhood. Jim Clement, who claims to be the WPPOA president, did not retain any of the Waterwood Development Company’s workers […]

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486 dollar general

Dollar General Now Open

At the corner of Priest and Mathis, the newly built Dollar General opened at 7:30pm July 15, 2015. The convenience store is the first business to move to the area since Mr W Fireworks moved in a stand in the summer of 2014. Salina Morales, the temporary general manager of the store, told Sandy Oaks […]

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486 money trash

Ball Wants Property Tax to Cover Trash Collection

Alderman Micki Ball stated on July 9, 2015 that city wide trash collection should be paid for with property taxes. She said trash collection would be one of the “services provided through property tax.” The idea didn’t sit well with Aldermen and audience members alike.  One woman in the audience loudly responded “I don’t think […]

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486 Grant

Community Development Block Grant Update

At a meeting on June 11, 2016 the City Council received an update on the CDBG process by Alma Perez, a Community and Housing Development Manager. Perez was invited by Alderman Doug Tomasini. She handed out a power point presentation and a timeline of the process for the city to get a Community Development Block […]

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486 Mayor Jim Clement

Jim Clement Resigns as Mayor

At its July 9, 2015 regular meeting the City Council accepted the resignation of Jim Clement as Mayor of Sandy Oaks. Clement was not present at the meeting, but had given his letter of resignation to Alderman Earnest Gay, who read the letter to the Council towards the end of the meeting. Before reading the […]

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486 Mayor Jim Clement

Mayor Clement Says Budget Hearing Not Necessary

Mayor Jim Clement told a citizen of Sandy Oaks on July 1, 2015 that it wasn’t necessary for the City Council to have a Budget Hearing.   The reason Clement gave for not needing a Budget Hearing was that the city’s revenue would be less than $500,000 Texas Tax Hearing Law With regards to a […]

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486 books

Community Book Exchange Started

A book exchange has been started in the City of Sandy Oaks. The first exchange was held on June 27, 2015 at the home of Catherine Rendahl. Rendahl is one of the organizers who helped create the Good Neighbors group, an organization in Sandy Oaks with the goal of building a stronger community in the […]

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486 paperwork

Paperwork Pride

The success of the City of Sandy Oaks is going to ride on the success of the city government.  That government will need to be diligent in many things to accomplish what it needs to and one of those is paper work. Sometimes there will be typos with a document that aren’t going to be […]

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486 neighbor houses

The Good Neighbors

Catherine Rendahl, one of the organizers of the Good Neighbors group, submitted the following article with regards to the new community organization in Sandy Oaks. We have had two community meetings thus far, and both have been successful.  At the first meeting, we were able to start identifying issues of interest to our community that […]

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486 2015 election

November Election Planned for 3 Council Positions

On June 11, 2015, the City Council approved an election for 3 Alderman positions. The election will be part of the general election held on November 3, 2015. The 3 positions include Alderman Places 1, 3, and 5. At the start of becoming a city, the City Council had decided the elections of Council positions […]

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