Just a quick reminder to be sure to drop off your proxy vote at the TPOA annual meeting, Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 7 pm.  Might be a good idea to drop off 15-20 minutes early to keep from standing in line should you not want to stay for the meeting.  If you didn’t get a chance to send in your proxy, your vote matters both to elect the board members who will represent you and also to help establish a quorum in order to accomplish the business of tomorrow night’s agenda.

Please be sure to let your voice be heard and either plan to attend the meeting at the clubhouse, or drop by and cast your vote!  It does matter!

Early Voting has begun – started October 19 and runs through October 30.  Check for early voting places near you and cast your vote.  Some of the main issues on the ballot are outlined below:

Proposition One: The constitutional amendment which increases the amount of the residence homestead property tax exemption from $15,000 to $25,000 and also provides for a reduction of the limitation on the total amount of ad valorem taxes that may be imposed for those purposes on the homestead of an elderly or disabled person to reflect the increased exemption amount.

Proposition Two: The constitutional amendment which authorizes the legislature to provide for an exemption from ad valorem taxation of all or part of the market value of the residence homestead of the surviving spouse of a 100 % or totally disabled veteran who died before the law authorizing a residence homestead exemption for such a veteran took effect.

Proposition Three: The constitutional amendment which repeals the requirement that state officers elected by voters statewide reside in the state capital.

Proposition Four: The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to permit professional sports team charitable foundations to conduct charitable raffles.

Proposition Five: The constitutional amendment to authorize counties with a population of 7,500 or less to perform private road construction and maintenance.

Proposition Six: The constitutional amendment recognizing the right of the people to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife subject to laws that promote wildlife conservation.

Proposition Seven: The constitutional amendment which dedicates certain sales and use tax revenue and motor vehicle sales, use, and rental tax revenue to the state highway fund to provide funding for non-tolled roads and the reduction of certain transportation-related debt. This proposition does not raise taxes it appropriates already existing funds. About $2.5 billion from the state sales tax would be devoted to non-toll road projects, plus a varying additional amount would come from the motor vehicle sales and rental tax.

 

Please take time to vote!  It’s not only your right, but it allows your voice to be heard on many important issues.  I know there is an early voting location at the Parman Library located on Wilderness Oaks just off Blanco Road.  Be sure and cast your vote!

 

Local Neighborhood News:

Proxy ballots have been sent out for our annual Timberwood HOA meeting.  Be sure to vote in the upcoming election for 4 positions opening on the HOA board.  The Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 and begins at 7 p.m.  If you cannot attend, be sure to send in your proxy vote to let your voice be heard!

Brush collection/drop off:  I know everyone always wants to know about the fall brush drop off activity.  We received notice recently that the brush drop off for fall has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with the county who usually assists with the processing of our brush and debris dropped off.  The board citing a new date would be set for early spring 2016.

Have a safe and enjoyable Halloween!

 

BEXAR METRO 9-1-1 REOC  – Recently, the Bexar Metro 9-1-1 Regional Emergency Operations Center (REOC) broke ground for a new state of the art facility in our area.  The Bexar Metro 9-1-1 REOC will serve Bexar County, Comal County and Guadalupe County. The 79,000 SF facility will provide emergency operations, a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), and administrative functions and is budgeted at $39 million.  The  project includes two Tier III+ data centers and a 13,878 SF PSAP operations floor with 104 consoles. The facility is designed to provide uninterrupted 9-1-1 services during various emergencies, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.  The building is constructed to withstand an EF3 tornado strike and operate without any public utilities for an extended period of time.  In the coming months, I plan to provide you with additional updates and information as the project moves along.

NATIONAL NIGHT OUT – October 6, 2015.  Anyone participating in any activities in the neighborhood be sure to invite your neighbors to attend and get to know them better.  One of the best services we provide each other as neighbors is knowing what is “normal” for our fellow neighbors and our neighborhood. National Night Out provides a platform for neighbors to get together, learn more about each other, discuss any problems that their area of the neighborhood might be experiencing and provide each other with current contact information to keep in touch effectively should an emergency arise where neighbors need to help each other out.

TPOA OCTOBER BOARD MEETING – October 6, 2015 at 6 pm.  In order to accommodate the National Night Out events scheduled in our neighborhood, the board has moved the regularly scheduled TPOA meeting to begin an hour earlier than usual.  This meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and features an opportunity to meet the candidates who have agreed to run for office this coming electoral cycle.  It will be your only opportunity via HOA meetings prior to the December annual meeting, to meet the candidates.  Plan to attend if you can!

 

 

I understand we are nearing the 3 week or less version of when Borgfeld Road Phase I will be completed.  Don’t believe that?  Well, the construction team does seem to be getting ready for the final paving on the remaining side of the roadway…so maybe if we cross our fingers and toes it might actually happen.

There has also been a little more activity at the Slumber Pass entrance off Blanco, which indicates we may be getting closer to the start of the process of the signal at that intersection.  The bid process has completed, but I have not seen anything official about what company successfully bid the project at this time.

A quick reminder to anyone interested in running for a spot on the HOA board, the deadline for submitting a candidate profile, per the board, is today, September 15.

From a recent e-mail out to property owners: ” If you are interested in running for a Board Member position in the upcoming election at this year’s Annual Meeting, please fill out the Board Member Candidate Profile form and submit it by Tuesday, September 15, 2015, to ensure your name is included on the mail out Proxy/Absentee Ballot that will be included in the Annual Meeting notice, to be sent out at a later date. There will be no nominations taken from the floor; therefore, you must submit a Candidate Profile form if you are interested in running for a Board Member position. A portion of the October 6 Board Meeting will be dedicated for “Meet the Candidates”, so please plan to attend.”

“If you would like your candidate bio to be published in the October newsletter, all Candidate Profile forms must be submitted no later than Tuesday, September 15, 2015.”

If you are interested, I suggest you submit the profile and your bio to timberwoodnews@gmail.com before the end of today to meet the deadline published allowing you to participate this year in the electoral process.

It’s too bad that nominations are not allowed from the floor, seems like it’s early in the process to determine if an interested neighbor might want to run for the coming year and should they decide they are interested, or find that their calendars open up with an opportunity to provide community service, there should be an opportunity to do so including nominations from the floor the night of the annual meeting as was the practice in the past.

 

 

 

A note to each of you regarding the Bexar County Budget for FY2016 which was passed by a vote of 4 to 1 today.  The request for assistance to the Constables and our law enforcement to ensure we maintained services was heard and today the budget passed with Precinct 3, our Precinct for coverage by Constables, having their original budgets restored and their staffing intact losing no officers for FY2016!  Thanks to each of you who wrote or called into Commissioner Wolff’s office and/or Judge Wolff’s office in particular and further if you took your concerns to the other commissioners on the court to let them know you wanted to maintain the services which we currently receive via the Constables office with no cuts to law enforcement.

Kevin Wolff listened to your concerns and as those of you who wrote in know, you received a response back from his office indicating that he voted against raising salaries for elected officials.  Additionally, today he further voted no for approval of the budget as it stood citing the tax rates as a reason for not supporting the budget this coming fiscal year.  He has been a proponent of lowering our property tax rates, specifically in lieu of the raises to our property valuations this past year, some of which have been as high as a 50% increase.  He is however, only one vote at the table, and with 4 other votes to produce a quorum/majority, his vote did not carry a decrease to our ad valorem tax rates.  The court voted today to approve the budget by a 4 to 1 vote, and further to approve the ad valorem tax rate at  .3145 (.017 for flood control and .2975 for the general fund) for FY2015-2016.

Kevin’s efforts to support property tax reform should be noted.  He has worked on behalf of the property owners in our area.  Further, he  instructed Budget staff not to do anything that would have an adverse effect on the Constable or Justice of the Peace offices of Precinct 3, which along with Constable Mark Vojvodich’s presentation to the court and his personal efforts to inform our community that our services were at risk of being decreased because of proposed budget cuts, allowed the vote to pass today to fund Precinct 3 without loss of any officers and allows them to continue to fill the 2 unfilled positions for which they are interviewing at this time.  As a side note, the other precincts saw restoration of their services which were in jeopardy of being cut as well.  Additionally, as you may have heard on the news this evening, the court approved the funding to fully cover all remaining law enforcement with body cameras that may not currently have them, in an effort to continue transparency and improve accurate recording of events as they occur.

Thanks to each of you who took the time to respond to the call to support our law enforcement.  It was worth your effort!