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 […]
BJ Gillespie Changes Position on Trash After Election
On November 12, 2015 the City Council agreed to a contract with Tiger Sanitation for 5 years of exclusive rights to provide trash collection service within the City of Sandy Oaks. The meeting was the first meeting of the new City Council since the general election on November 3rd. It was also the very first […]
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, […]
Earnest Gay Sets Bad Precedent In Exchange for Saving Money
The following transcript is taken from the October 8, 2015 meeting. That meeting included an opportunity for citizens to tell the City Council what they thought about contracting with a single trash collection service that would not allow any other trash companies offer services within the City of Sandy Oaks. The transcript is of the […]
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, […]
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 […]
Candidate for Office Becomes Violent at City Council Meeting
BJ Gillespie, who recently submitted an application to run for a City Council position, has developed the habit of attacking people verbally on social media and news websites. She usually doesn’t go out of her way to attack people first, but piles on if someone she likes is already attacking someone or being defensive to […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
City Council Holds Illegal Meeting; Violates State Law
The Sandy Oaks City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act on September 2, 2015 when it held a meeting without announcing its location to the public 72 hours in advance. 4 of the 5 Aldermen were present for the meeting which was led by Mayor Pro Tempore Earnest Gay. Accomplice to the illegal meeting […]
Budget Analysis: Pay Twice As Much For Less Services
For the first time since September of 2014, the City Council is going to look at a budget for the city. The only reason they’re doing so is because they are legally required to and because they plan on creating a new property tax that is going to nearly double what Sandy Oaks residents are […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
City Council holds meeting 8 miles outside of city limits
On August 13, 2015, the Sandy Oaks City Council held a meeting 8 miles outside of the city limits. The location of the meeting was the Braunig Lake RV Resort near the I37 and Southton Road intersection. The resort was the first location to have a City Council meeting besides the WPPOA clubhouse located in […]
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 […]
Without Authority, City Council Plays Favoritism With Businesses
The Sandy Oaks City Council has developed a habit of acting as if it has the authority to approve or disapprove what businesses do. The problem is that the City Council has never bothered to addresses zoning for residential and commercial entities and has never set up laws or approval processes for businesses to go […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
City Council Hires A Marshal Without A Background Check
On June 11, 2015 the Sandy Oaks City Council approved Jesse Gutierrez to be the City Marshal. Gutierrez is a resident of Waterwood and works in law enforcement in Floresville, Texas. He had volunteered to be City Marshal and work for free in December of 2014. At a previous City Council meeting on December 11, […]
City Council Selects Tax Attorney, Possibly Violated TOMA
For the City Council meeting on June 11, 2015, the Council had on the agenda to discuss documents needed by the Bexar County Tax Assessor Collector’s office and the Bexar County Appraisal District. Documents needed by the Tax Assessor Collector included who the City of Sandy Oaks had as a Tax Attorney. The City, however, […]