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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 04/06/1981 - SpecialMINUTES CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING APRIL 6, 1981 2:00 P.M.. PRESENT: Mayor Luther Jones Mayor Pro Tem Edward L. Sample Council Members: Dr. Jack Best Jack K. Dumphy Leopoldo Luna * Betty N. Turner Cliff Zarsky City Manager Marvin Townsend City Attorney J. Bruce Aycock City Secretary Bill G. Read Mayor Luther Jones called the meeting to order in the Council Chamber of City Hall. The invocation was presented by Monsignor William Kinlough of Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, following which the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States was led by Mayor Pro Tem Edward Sample. City Secretary Bill G. Read called the roll of required Charter Officers and verified that the necessary quorum was present to conduct a legally constituted meeting. Mayor Jones announced the consideration of the following Election Orders: a. Canvassing returns and declaring the results of the General Election for the purpose of electing the Mayor and Council Members of the City of Corpus Christi held on the 4th day of April, 1981. City Secretary Read referred to his memorandum of explanation that had ' been presented to the Council regarding the Canvassing of the Election and explained the one error made in Precinct 79. He also explained the error of 100 votes in the report made by the Corpus Christi Caller -Times and stated that the correct total for Mr. Joe McComb who was a candidate for Place 5 on the Council indicated that he was not in the runoff because of the fact that he received 174 votes less than his nearest opponent. Mr. Read also informed the Council that two write-in votes had been cast as follows: 1 vote for Mr. Alton White for Council Place 1 and 1 vote for Mr. J. H. Mayberry for Council Place 2. *Council Member Turner arrived at the meeting at 2:08 p.m. City Secretary Read briefly explained the computer readout of the election returns which indicated that it will be necessary to conduct a runoff for the Mayor's race between Mayor Luther Jones and Mr. Berney Seal; in Council MICROF LMED Minutes Special Council Meeting April 6, 1981 Page 2 Place 1 between Council Member Leopoldo Luna and Mr. Bob Gulley; in Council Place 5 between Mrs. Donna Shirley and Mr. Herbert L. Hawkins, Jr.; and in Council Place 6 between Dr. Charles W. Kennedy, Jr. and Mr. Eddie Cavazos. Mr. Read then explained the law and the requirements for calling a Runoff Election. Mayor Jones then spot checked several General Return Sheets of precincts selected at random and compared them with the computer printout of the results. Motion by Turner that the results of the General Election as reported by City Secretary Read be approved, seconded by Zarsky and passed unanimously. City Secretary Read then presented the ordinance declaring the results of the election; polled the Council for their votes; and the following ordinance was passed: ORDINANCE NO. 16172 CANVASSING RETURNS AND DECLARING THE RESULTS OF THE REGULAR ELECTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF ELECTING THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS OF THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI HELD ON THE 4TH DAY OF APRIL, 1981; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. The Charter Rule was suspended and the foregoing ordinance was passed by the fol- lowing vote: Jones, Sample, Best, Dumphy, Luna, Turner and Zarsky voting "Aye." Mayor Jones called for consideration of the following election order: b. Calling a runoff election for the office of Mayor and Council Members in the City of Corpus Christi to be held on the second Saturday after this call of election, the same being April 18, 1981. City Secretary Read explained that State law governs the method of setting the date for runoff elections in cities in excess of 200,000 population and pro- vides that the runoff must be held within 30 days following the General Election; absentee voting is to begin not more than 10 days preceding the election; the City Charter was amended in April, 1980, to provide that the runoff election shall be held two weeks following the General Election; and he is recommending that absentee voting commence on Wednesday, April 8, 1981 through Tuesday, April 14, 1981, and that the City Secretary's Office remain open on Saturday, April 11, from 2:00 until 8:00 p.m. to provide additional time for absentee voting. Discussion followed in regard to absentee voting, and the Council concurred that the absentee balloting should be conducted during those hours on Saturday, April 11. City Secretary Read then presented the ordinance calling the Runoff Election; polled the Council for their votes; and the following ordinance was passed: «a ' Minutes Special Council Meeting April 6, 1981 Page 3 ORDINANCE NO. 16173: CALLING A RUNOFF ELECTION FOR MAYOR AND THREE (3) COUNCIL MEMBERS IN THE CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS, TO BE HELD ON THE 18TH DAY OF APRIL, 1981; DESIGNATING POLLING PLACE LOCATIONS FOR SUCH ELECTION; ENACTING PROVISIONS INCIDENT AND RELATING TO THE SUBJECT AND PURPOSE OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. The Charter Rule was suspended and the foregoing ordinance was passed by the following vote: Jones, Sample, Best, Dumphy, Luna, Turner and Zarsky voting "Aye." * * * * * * * * is * * * * * :': .. .. .. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mayor Jones called for petitions or information from the audience on matters not scheduled on the agenda. Mr. Benny Benavides, 2421 Cleo, expressed the opinion that during this election, there were a number of violations around the polling places. He cited in particular an official car with tax exempt license plates that was parked near a polling place occupied by a lady, which might have given the impression that one of the State Representatives was attempting to influence the voters. Mr. Benavides stated that this car was parked at Crockett School and the license plate number was 50140, which belongs to the State Representative of District 48A. City Manager Townsend explained that this just indicates that one of the State Representative has State license plates on his car; it could have been a State license plate; but not necessarily a State car. Mrs. Margot Sierra, 3323 Ocean Drive, stated that she contests the results of the Mayor's race and that she plans to file a motion to that effect because she feels that there was a conspiracy during the entire race to get Berney Seal elected. City Secretary Read reminded the candidates who were present that a letter must be presented to the City Secretary requesting that their names be placed on the ballot. He informed them that according to the State Election Law, that request must be in his office before 10:00 a.m. April 7, 1981. Mayor Jones expressed appreciation on behalf of the Council and everyone on the City Staff to the election judges who did everything possible to carry out the law and conduct the election in a proper manner. Mr. Read also commented that the Secretary of State's Office had an observer in the City on election day at the request of two of the candidates, and she made the statement that this was one of the best elections that she had ever observed. Minutes Special Council Meeting April 6, 1981 Page 4 Mrs. Sierra explained that her concern was not when the people voted, her question was the activities that occurred before the voting started. Mr. Benavides stated that he had been involved in the election process for ten years, and the people performing the illegal acts were prepared, noting that they did violate the law by placing signs on telephone polls and in ease- ments. City Manager Townsend agreed that that was a violation. City Secretary Read explained that the order of the ballot is prescribed by the Election Code, and the names on the Runoff ballot will appear with the candidate who received the largest number of votes in the General Election being placed first on the ballot, except if a party candidate is in the runoff, as is Mrs. Donna Shirley, who will occupy the first position on the ballot. * * * * * a * * .. * .. .. t * * * .. * * * * * * t. * ., .. .. * * * * City Manager Townsend referred to a discussion on the youth services program and advised the Council that the City has been notified that $301,817 has been allocated for this program. He suggested calling the Board Members to see if they concur with the utilization of these funds. Council Member Zarsky recalled that there was a great deal of discussion on this and suggested that a special meeting be conducted to consider this matter. Mr. Ernest Briones, Deputy City Manager, reminded the Council that they had requested that the advisory committee review this matter. Mayor Jones suggested that a meeting of the advisory committee be called for Tuesday so that the Council could act on it Wednesday. Mayor Pro Tem Sample stated that it was his understanding that it was the consensus of the Council that both programs should be funded, and in the interest of saving time, he moved that both programs should be funded with the excess money to go to the Youth Services Program; seconded by Dumphy; and passed unanimously. There being no further business to come before the Council, on motion by Sample, seconded by Best and passed unanimously, the Special Council Meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m., April 6, 1981.