Shouting, threats of arrest, a Bexar County Sheriff Deputy, and a Univision news crew were all part of a City Council meeting held on April 13, 2016. The City Council is supposed to meet every second Thursday of the month, which would have been April 14th, but the meeting was cancelled and the April 13th […]
The Sandy Oaks City Council has violated another state law by not having had an audit conducted and by now having a financial statement recorded with the City Clerk. The state law is specifically for municipal governments. It requires cities such as Sandy Oaks to hire an auditor every year to audit the city’s finances […]
Tiger Sanitation held its first city wide bulk trash pickup on March 19, 2016. The collection skipped over a large portion of the city, leaving heaps of trash all along city streets. Quarterly bulk pickup was part of the contract Tiger Sanitation offered the city in the fall of 2015 when the City Council accepted […]
At the March 10, 2016 City Council meeting the Council went into a closed session and forced audience members out of the cafeteria room where the meeting was being held. While outside the building, people chatted about various topics to pass the time. Included among them was Pedro Orduno, the Chairman of the Committee to […]
The City of Sandy Oaks has a new Mayor, but Micki Ball seems just like the previous Mayor Jim Clement. The similarities between the two are striking. Both Clement and Ball Work In Secrecy Both of them kept the salary of Art Martinez de Vara, the City Attorney, private for half a year. As a […]
At the February 11, 2016 City Council meeting Mayor Micki Ball slandered a citizen, falsely accusing her of representing the city and making threats. The agenda item the Council was supposed to be discussing was listed as Mayor’s Comment: Comment on commencement services by Tiger Sanitation to City residents and businesses The Mayor didn’t have […]
The people claiming to be in charge in the City of Sandy Oaks have established a habit of wanting things to work “both ways.” They want all the credit of success and all the power of position, but don’t want the responsibility and work that comes with it. For example, Jim Clement is upset that […]
Mayor Micki Ball announced on February 11, 2016 that the City of Sandy Oaks lost a $75,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). According to Mayor Ball, HUD changed the guidelines on how they judge income levels. She told the City Council that an economic census was mailed out to the community and that not enough […]
On January 14, 2016, the Sandy Oaks City Council unanimously decided to take over the CPS energy bills of the Waterwood Park Property Owner’s Association (WPPOA). The city will take on the WPPOA’s CPS accounts and will also pay money currently owed to CPS. The City Council claimed that Jim Clement, as WPPOA president, could […]
On January 14, 2016 the City Council discussed the transfer of vehicles from a Bexar County parking location to the City of Sandy Oaks. The item was not on the agenda, which didn’t stop Mayor Micki Ball, Aldermen Douglas Tomasini and David Tremblay, and City Marshal Jesse Gutierrez from discussing the topic. The City of […]
The Sandy Oaks City Council filled a vacancy on the Council on January 14, 2016 at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The position, Alderman Place 4, originally belonged to Micki Ball until she become the Mayor last November and the position became vacant. At a previous meeting on November 12, 2015, the City Council decided […]
On December 15, 2015, the Sandy Oaks City Council banned the sale and storage of fireworks. Before approving the ordinance regarding fireworks, the Council heard a presentation from Julio Martinez, a part owner of the Mr W Fireworks company that operates a fireworks stand at the corner of Waterwood Pass and Priest Road inside the […]
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 […]
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 […]
On March 28, 2015 the City Council held an Animal Control Hearing at the WPPOA clubhouse. The meeting had originally been planned at a prior City Council meeting to be be an Animal Control Workshop. At that same meeting, Mayor Clement was tasked to hold a public hearing on fireworks. Clement has not yet planned […]
March 21, 2015 the City Council met for a special meeting after having cancelled the meeting it had planned for Thursday, March 19th. The 12th item on the agenda was to “Discuss and consider a proposal from the WPPOA on the transfer of assets of the WPPOA to the City Of Sandy Oaks, Texas.” The […]
On March 14, 2015, City Attorney Art Martinez de Vara announced what the City of Sandy Oaks was paying him as City Attorney. Martinez de Vara was hired as the City Attorney back in August of 2014, but his pay had never been released to the public. Because payment comes from public funds, the Texas […]
On March 7, 2015, Alderman Micki Ball met with citizens at the WPPOA clubhouse in a City Council sponsored meeting. Alderman Ball was directly asked what the City Attorney, Art Martinez de Vara, was being paid. Her reply was That was discussed in executive session and by law I can’t reveal that. According to Section […]
Sandy Oaks News began taking detailed records and recordings for the community directly after incorporation and before there was even a city government. The desire to keep solid records came after the Committee to Incorporate promised the community that it would announce the deadline for people to apply for office, but instead kept the deadline […]
On February 26, 2014 the City Council met to fix the tax debacle they created when they created an illegal amount of sales taxes. The issue was that the city could only create up to 1.5% in sales taxes and instead created 1.75%. The only reason it was 1.75% and not 2% is because someone […]
At the City Council meeting on February 12, 2015, the City Council was handed an Open Records Request from Don Hormachea. He handed the Request to each of the 5 Alderman, the Mayor, the City Clerk, and the City Attorney. The Public Information Act gives people the ability to access information that the government has. […]
The Sandy Oaks City Council held a special meeting on February 26, 2015 to discuss the illegal amount of sales taxes they created last fall. In their first official meeting, the Council created an election for 3 new sales taxes that, if approved, would equal more than the amount allowed by Texas law. The voters […]
By Texas state law, the maximum sales tax that can be imposed is 8.25%. Of that, the state collects 6.25% which means that local municipalities and transit authorities can only impose an extra 2% of sales tax. The Sandy Oaks City Council, however, went beyond the legal limit. The Council Wanted The Maximum Above is […]
Alderman Micki Ball has been one of the more proactive members of the Sandy Oaks City Council. She is the only one of the 6 who pushed for the creation of, and took charge of, the only committee to address problems. She’s also one of the few who shows up to meetings prepared and is […]
The following was written by Alderman Micki Ball and sent out October 12,2014. During the special meeting held on Monday, October 6, a committee was established charged with working to develop a comprehensive plan to present to Bexar County for clarification of services required by the City of Sandy Oaks. I was nominated to […]
Last night the Sandy Oaks City Council met for a budget hearing to discuss revenue and expenses. The meeting was less formal than a usual City Council meeting and allowed questions and comments from the audience. Mayor Jim Clement, whose job it is to create a budget, presented a budget that included over $300,000 in […]
Last night the Sandy Oaks City Council voted in favor of of a resolution thanking the Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks (CISO), the group that pushed for the creation of the new city. On the issue of creating the city, Mayor Jim Clement stated “We worked hard to get this done. Its called perseverance!” But […]
The Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks (CISO) worked for 3+ years to get the community of Waterwood and the surrounding area to be released from San Antonio’s ETJ and to incorporate into its own city. But the process of incorporation hardly involved the community and even now people are realizing that the “City of Sandy […]
The very first City Council of Sandy Oaks, Texas was elected August 9, 2014. 2014 Candidates Political games started the same month that Sandy Oaks incorporated. The Committee to Incorporate Sandy Oaks had said at a public meeting before incorporation that they would announce the deadline for application for people to run for city office. […]
On July 22, 2014, candidates running for City Council met for a 3rd and final time before the election. The event was hosted by Catherine Rendahl and her husband Don who rented the Waterwood clubhouse and set up tables and chairs for people. “Air Conditioning!” said Rendahl. “It should keep people calmer than last time.” […]