03022010 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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B. Deliberation on offers of possible incentives to entities considering locating or expanding • in the San Marcos community. 4. The Executive Session adjourned at 6:44 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. No action was required from Executive Session. 5. Update and discussion on the status of Lone Star Rail by Ross Millov, Interim Executive Director. Ross Milloy, Interim Executive Director introduced Sid Covington, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Lone Star Rail, who provided an overview, project history and rail district objectives for 2010 -2011. The rail district will have 12 trains a day to service 16 counties /cities along a 120 -mile stretch of I -35, from Georgetown to San Antonio. They want to provide predictable, reliable travel, improve mobility throughout the corridor, improve safety throughout the corridor, maintain the air quality status, create a seamless multi -modal transportation network, and create economic development opportunities. They are in the early phases of kicking off environmental and engineering studies on the passenger route. They are doing station location studies and a financing plan. They are also working with Union Pacific to relocate their freight outside the corridor. Objectives in 2010 -2011 include hiring a rail operations manager, reaching additional agreements with Union Pacific and TXDOT, securing CAMPO STP -MM funds for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, beginning the environmental process on freight by -pass, and public information activities. 6. Invocation 0 Pastor A.D. Dillard, with First Baptist Church NBC, provided the invocation. The City Council then observed a moment of silence in observance of the passing of former City Councilmember Earl Moseley. 7. Pledge of Allegiance Councilmember Bose led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. 8. Citizen Comments Daniel Scales, 516, Harvey, spoke against microchipping. He stated that he was here to represent 17 friends that could not be here because of election day duties and finds it very suspicious that this is being heard on Election Day when so many are focused on that. Lisa Marie Coppoletta, 516 Harvey, stated she has seen proof of animals being tethered and asked where are the animal services people. She has fought for an ordinance that addresses animal cruelty, and now she is here to fight against microchipping. She asked where is education on animal cruelty and assistance to pay for food for pets. She noted this is Texas Independence Week, and the City is proposing a data base on pet owners. The Animal Advisory Board purports there will be education, but there is no indication that there will be a public hearing. At prior meetings, the RSS feeds were not put up. Only a few days were allowed for citizens to • RM030210 Minutes Page 2