STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

Mayor Art Martinez de Vara

Febuary 16, 2011

My Fellow-Citizens, Members of the City Council and Staff,

You and I are privileged to serve this great City in what will certainly be the most decisive decade in its long history. The choices we make, for good or ill, will shape the state of the City for generations yet to come. This month we begin anew our joint efforts to build the future of our beloved City of Von Ormy. And in doing so, we must remain true to the original intent of our founding.

During that three year struggle to become a city, time and again we articulated to others why we sought independence and self-government. One such occasion occurred on April 4, 2007 when Sally Martinez, our current city councilwoman, testified before the 80th Texas Legislature. She stated boldly, "What we, the citizens of Von Ormy, desire is our own municipal government so that we may bring desperately needed services to our community, services that the City of San Antonio and Bexar County are unable and/or unwilling to provide…A City of Von Ormy can potentially provide these services, such as sewage service, trash pickup, public parks, local police, municipal fire department, libraries, a community center, street lighting, assistance to the elderly or sick and many others."

Today, a little over three years later, this vision is becoming a reality. We have implemented trash service, as well as, the only rural curbside recycling program in Bexar County. We have established the Office of the City Marshal, with two operating vehicles and a municipal court. We have adopted a park master plan which includes a future community center. We have assisted the Jarret Volunteer Fire Department with a grant to build a new fire station in the city. Our city street lighting is nearly complete and the aging electric infrastructure has been improved. We have resurfaced three of our previously unpaved streets and began other road improvements. We are currently in the final stages of our infrastructure master plan, including designs for our sewer collection system. We have adopted a program to offer low cost pharmaceuticals for our seniors who have no insurance.

In addition to these services, we have dedicated ourselves to be responsible stewards of the tax revenue entrusted to us. In this year of economic hardship, we are the only taxing entity in the County to lower property taxes by 10% to give relief to our residents. With the current fiscal year budget, we have built an emergency fund of $100,000.00, which represents a reserve equal to 1/3 of our annual expenditures. Furthermore, we currently have no debt. In these tough economic times government should be finding ways to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn. Frankly, people need it. Our 2011

budget and tax cut reflect our policy of focusing on essential services and cutting back on all the extras, just like our residents have to do with their household budgets. The power to tax is a tremendous responsibility entrusted to us by our residents and therefore we should use it sparingly and only for what is necessary. Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation.

In 2011, we must continue our focus on essential services, especially those which improve the quality of life of our residents. We must complete the enactment of our animal control program, which will begin to address the stray animal problem in the city. We will develop a program to address the litter and graffiti problem in the city, because we all deserve to live in a clean city. We will begin construction of a city park for recreation and public space. In consultation with the City Marshall, we shall set a minimal goal of tripling the number of Deputy City Marshals patrolling our city to deter crime and provide wider coverage. We shall work with our water companies to increase the number of fire hydrants in the city, to lower insurance rates and ensure that our firefighters have the water they need when called to duty in our city.

This year the city dedicated itself to providing better communications. We began a quarterly newsletter to inform residents of events and meetings. We developed a modern website to provide 24 hour communications. We are bringing city government to the people, by continuing our neighborhood meetings and hosting our first National Night Out. We also hired a full time city administrator to ensure professional and consistent level of services in the city.

In 2011, we must continue building the legal and physical infrastructure for our future growth and economic development. We will establish a zoning ordinance to limit industrial uses in the city and promote commercial retail uses which will grow our sales tax base. We will implement our commercial and residential building codes with inspections to ensure safe construction and uses in the city. We will complete our infrastructure master plan and began seeking funding for our various road, drainage, sewer and water projects. And we will continue our negotiations with the City of San Antonio to acquire extra-territorial jurisdiction of our own to fend off predatory development and allow our neighbors the choice of voluntary annexation into our city. We will seek partnerships with our neighbors to promote regional planning and mutual assistance.

With limited resources we continue to find creative and resourceful ways to enact services in our community. Frankly, we cannot afford to wait. This is our opportunity to take the reins of government and do what is just for our community. History will be our judge if we lived up to the standard established in our Petition to Incorporate which was signed by over 100 of our residents in 2008. "We, the residents of Von ormy, citizens of Texas, a free and independent State, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, wish to exercise our God given and constitutionally enshrined right to local self-government…We believe that all free governments are founded on the authority [of the people], and instituted solely for their benefit." With thanks to Almighty God for seeing us through our journey to this point, I humbly invoke His continued blessings for our City, and our efforts to govern for the benefit of the people.

Dios y Tejas,

Art Martinez de Vara

STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

Mayor Art Martinez de Vara

February 3, 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the City Council and staff,

Our beloved community was founded nearly 174 years ago by our forbearers in the aftermath of the Texas Revolution. Those original settlers had risked everything, including their lives and property, to stand up against tyranny. That generation sacrificed so much for the ideas of constitutionalism, democracy, and self-determination.

In their darkest moment, during Christmas of 1835, as they nervously waited for the arrival of Santa Ana’s Army, Francisco Ruiz, then serving as a Senator in the first Congress of the Republic of Texas, wrote home to his family here in Von Ormy. "Be not afraid, never waiver, for our cause is just and Texas shall remain forever free…" We gather here today as evidence that Francisco Ruiz was correct. The cause of Justice is always right and Texas continues to be a place where we enjoy the blessings of freedom and liberty.

It is truly humbling to me to address you today as the first Mayor of Von Ormy because that very statement embodies the fulfillment of the hopes and dreams of that dark night in Columbia, Texas, that inspired Senator Francisco Ruiz to write home. Tonight we gather together to exercise our constitutional right of self-government, which is enshrined in our Texas Constitution. Tonight we decide the future course of our city in this hall because of the brave actions they took so long ago.

And since that first generation of Von Ormians, our city has survived and thrived on the principles of hard work, faith in God and caring for your neighbor. Each and every generation has faced its own set of challenges and through them all they maintained their strong families, strong faith and strong understanding of the value of liberty. Those challenges began almost immediately.

In 1842, the Comanche ravished our town and in response that generation formed Ranger companies to patrol the frontier and permanently end the threat.

In 1854, the hateful Know-Nothing Party took over Bexar County Government and that generation stood with our German and Irish neighbors to defend the rights of Tejanos and Catholics to participate in American political life.

In 1860, when our Country fell into Civil War, that generation refused to fight in the Confederate Army to defend the injustice of slavery. Instead we organized a company of Texas militia, the Medina Guards, to protect our homes and families during this time of upheaval.

The 1870s generation began the process of Reconstruction after the long war. They built our first public school, our first post office, our second church, and re-established the ferry at Paso de las Garzas.

The 1880s generation saw the arrival of the Great International and Northern Railroad and they adapted the local economy to cash crops such as cotton and winter vegetables.

1918 was a destructive year. Many of our boys were in Europe fighting the last days of WWI and Von Ormy was devastated by the influenza. In the fall of the same year, the Great Hurricane caused the largest flood ever recorded on the Medina. Survivors were found 20 feet in the trees and much of our city was washed away, including the Santisima Trinidad Church.

In the 1920s they rebuilt. Modern infrastructure included our first paved roads and motorcars.

In the 1930s, during the lengthy Great Depression, many were forced to abandon their agricultural professions and seek work in San Antonio.

In the 1940s many marched off again to fight a World War and secured the blessings of freedom for ourselves and countless others throughout the world.

The 1950s generation established Southwest High School to provide better education for our children.

The 1960s witnessed a new breath of liberty and civil rights, while many of our boys fought bravely in Vietnam.

In the 1970s our community nearly doubled with the development of Von Ormy Heights.

In the 1980s we fought the plans of San Antonio to dump their waste in our community.

And again in the 1990s we survived San Antonio’s plan to construct a dam that would have flooded much of our area.

In 2005, we faced a new challenge. We knew at that time that we could no longer sit idly by and allow others to determine the fate of our community. So we began a three year struggle to incorporate our community into a city and secure for ourselves and our children the right to determine our collective destiny.

And so last year, after achieving our goal of creating the City of Von Ormy, which received over 90% support of the voters, we took up the challenge of our time, the challenge of self-government – to build a city from the ground up.

I am proud to say that after one year of construction, the State of the City is strong. The City Council and I have begun building a foundation for the future that will benefit countless generations of Von Ormians.

In our first year as a City we have been hard at work. Some of the major advances we have taken include the following.

We have established the legal infrastructure for the operation of our city.

We have designed and implemented a tax infrastructure that minimizes the property tax burden of our residents by maximizing our sales tax, which is mostly paid by non-residents in our I-35 corridor businesses.

We have established a low property tax rate, in fact the second lowest in Bexar County. While we could have set a much higher initial tax rate without the need for an election, we purposefully set it low to establish a precedent of low property taxes in our city. We did this with full knowledge that any future City Council who wishes to drastically raise the property tax will only be able to do so by first getting the consent of the people via a public election.

We have ended over 20 years of exploitation of our residents by the VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority who had taxed us for years without providing service.

We have established a policy of fiscal responsibility by first passing a conservative budget, followed up by spending even less than that budget allowed, and in the end saving over 50% of our tax funds and establishing a permanent reserve fund, which can be used in a time of need and to minimize the need for public debt in future.

We took immediate steps to place heavy restrictions on sexually oriented businesses to ensure that our community would not be plagued by such establishments.

We took immediate action to begin the process of planning the future of our city by applying for grant funds to undertake a Master Plan. We were successful and have secured $75,000 for that effort through the CDBG program with the help of our County Commissioner "Chico" Rodriguez.

Additionally, we have also established the practice of holding monthly neighborhood meetings to bring City Officials into our neighborhoods to listen to the concerns and needs of our residents. Only by actively listening to the residents will our city government be responsive to their needs.

We have taken strong actions to limit the ability of predatory developers by placing strict limits on the placement of billboards and firework stands.

We have established the Office of City Archeologist to preserve our unique historic heritage for future generations. We demonstrate our dedication to this cause by being only the second city in Bexar County to establish an Archeology Department.

We have created the Office of the City Clerk to ensure that the business of our City is efficiently managed and property recorded. And from day one our City Clerk has insisted that our City staff develop a culture of friendliness, helpfulness and efficiency.

We have created the Office of City Administrator whose main focus will be grant writing. As a community with many needs and few resources we must be aggressive in locating outside sources of funding to bring needed services into our community.

One of the essential functions of City government is to ensure the availability of fire protection and rapid response to our residents during a time of medical crises; therefore, we, along with our Fire Department applied for and received preliminary approval for a USDA grant to construct a new fire station in our city.

In order to promote economic development and community pride we established an annual Von Ormy Jalapeño Festival.

We have established curbside trash pickup and reduced the average cost to our residents by 10%. In doing so we have reduced the wear and tear on our roads, established a single uniform day for trash pickup, and now provide two city wide dumpster days per year.

We have established the first curbside recycling program in our area, so that we may contribute to a cleaner environment for future generations.

We have approved and ordered street lighting on all residential streets because greater night visibility is a deterrent to crime, will make our community safer and gives greater night-time accessibility to our seniors and those with vision disabilities.

We have established a Sister City Program with Marin, Nuevo Leon, Mexico to provide cultural exchange opportunities and give us an advantage in the area of international economic development.

We have cleaned up several illegal dump sites, over 20 tons of trash from the public rights-of-way and over 450 tires from our community.

And we are currently in the process of establishing the Office of City Marshal and the Von Ormy Municipal Court to provide a greater law enforcement presence in our city.

We have even larger plans for 2010. This year we will focus on completing our Master Plan. We will study in depth the current state and future needs of our city, in areas such as roads, sewer, water, education, senior services, historic preservation, law enforcement, fire protection, economic development and others.

We will be systematically addressing our health, safety and building codes, including animal control.

We will develop a long-term street maintenance plan, which will not only include a recommended timetable for repairs and improvements but also a plan on how we will fund these projects.

We will implement the City Marshal’s Office and Municipal Court.

We will oversee, along with Jarrert Volunteer Fire Department, the construction of the new Von Ormy Fire Station.

We will engage the City of San Antonio and seek our own Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction, and if successful, will allow voluntary annexation into the City of Von Ormy.

We will apply for grants to construct a sewer system, pave Oussett Lane and Torres Lane, build a community center, construct fair grounds, establish a library and begin after-school programs to help our students succeed.

In 2010, I will submit a budget that includes a 10% reduction of the property tax.

Ladies and Gentlemen we are facing our challenges head on. We are looking for innovative ways to bring needed services to our community. I would like to commend the City Council and city staff for all of their hard work, sacrifices and ideas over the past year. All of our accomplishments to date have truly been a team effort.

Our needs greatly outweigh our resources and we have much work to do. But we know from our past that in challenging times Von Ormians rise to the challenge and we are seeing this today throughout our community. In 2009 our city operated mostly on volunteer labor and supplies and we have seen active resident participation on all of our task forces and projects.

To all of you who will continue to work with us in 2010, I ask you to remember the words that Francisco Ruiz wrote in 1836 because they ring true today, "Be not afraid, never waiver, for our cause is just…"

May God Bless each one of you and our City of Von Ormy.

Thank you.