2009-09-03

City water & sewer utilities – Nagel Clinic, $678; Silver Sage, $0,

By Judith Pannebaker

Despite protests to contrary, senior center pays city only for garbage collection services

Rhetoric during the Thursday, August 20, meeting of Bandera City Council sometimes resembled a smackdown between nonprofits doing business within the municipality.

Attorney Cindy Payne, who serves as president of the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic board of directors, asked the city to waive charges for potable water and wastewater services provided to the clinic.

To justify her request, she quoted a previously published statement by city attorney Monte Akers who advocated waiving utility charges for nonprofits that “accomplish a public purpose.” Akers made the observation during a July 16 meeting when, by a 3-2 decision, city council approved “continuing a previous agreement with the senior center,” that apparently included providing the facility with free water and wastewater utilities.

On the other hand, since opening in the spring 2008, the community health clinic has paid full price for its utilities.
At the July meeting, Councilman Maggie Schumacher noted, “This sets a difficult precedent that we may not be able to extend to other nonprofits.” Councilman Monica Halsey echoed Schumacher’s concern. Both women voted against the request.

Taking an opposing view, Councilman John Hegemier described the needs of the Silver Sage Corral as “exceptional” and pointed out free utility services would not necessarily be granted to other nonprofits.

“We don’t sponsor gambling junkets or arts and crafts classes,” Payne told council members at the August meeting. “We just provide medical services to the indigent of Bandera County who live within and below the 100 percent Federal Poverty Guidelines. No other facility provides these services except for an emergency room. Ninety nine percent of the people we treat have no alternative.”

According to Payne, while the majority of the clinic’s patients come from Bandera, others live in Pipe Creek and Tarpley. “They don’t attend galas and fundraisers and they rarely come up on the radar, but they live here and need help,” she added.

Noting “no one is getting rich at the Nagel Clinic,” Executive Director Dan Wise offered, “You would be surprised at the citizens who come to the clinic – professionals living in Bandera who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis. We treat a wide swath from across the county.”

He went on to say that medical personnel had discovered serious conditions such as cancer and heart disease in patients who could not afford healthcare previously.

After Payne and Wise rested their case, Hegemier mistakenly said, “The Silver Sage doesn’t get free wastewater and has an 8,000 gallon cap per month on free water utilities.” Gail Denkhaus, assistant director of Silver Sage, verified his statement. “We voted to continue the contract, which includes a cap of 8,000 gallons,” Hegemier reiterated.

However, despite the claims of Hegemier and Denkhaus, a later examination of utility bills paid monthly by the Silver Sage Corral showed only a charge of $170 monthly for garbage pickup. Due to a decision by a previous city council, the facility does not pay for water and wastewater utilities.

In 2001, council voted not to refund building permit and utility tap fees to the Silver Sage as requested, but to donate water and sewer fees through Sept. 30 of that year. Council added the proviso that, to continue to receive free water and sewer the following year, administrators with the senior center must submit a proposal to that effect by July 1, 2002. Despite the caveat, apparently no proposals were received regarding a continuation of the “contract” – until July 16, 2009.

During the meeting, Wise restated his appeal for a waiver on potable water and wastewater, commenting, “The agreement with the Silver Sage is not relevant to our request.”

“All nonprofits should be treated the same and the city should not be in the business of deciding which service is more worthy,” Schumacher said.

Several council members seemed loath to make a decision on the clinic’s request, however. Councilman Robert Koimn suggested putting a moratorium on granting further requests until a policy could be set.

“We expressed last time that this would be an issue and here we are,” Halsey said. “The clinic is here and they would like a decision.”

“So, the Silver Sage would benefit and we will have to wait?” Payne asked. “We have been paying full fare since the day we opened. The $678 that we have paid in utilities this year would have allowed us to care for another half-dozen patients.”

She asked council to “give us a break” while they deliberated a policy, noting that the clinic has had to cut back from being open three days a week to just two due to the struggling economy.

Mayor Horst Pallaske said, “We should have the right to give or take anytime an agency is helping (the community) and is in need. We must make the decision with an honest conscience.”

“If we don’t, there will not be an equal playing field. There’ll be hurt feeling and nonprofits will be pitted against one another,” Halsey said. “We need to have something done and that was my point at the last meeting. It needs to be fair, period.”

Correcting Halsey, Hegemier said the council had not opened a “can of worms” with their decision on July 16, but rather had just approved continuing a policy put in place in 2002.

“They’ve benefited for that long?” Payne asked.

Pallaske suggested scheduling a workshop to discuss providing free service for nonprofits operating within the city limits after a public hearing on the 2009-2010 budget, slated for Wednesday, Sept. 2.

A motion to grant the health clinic’s request for free water and wastewater utilities until the Sept. 2 workshop passed by a vote of 3-1-1. Schumacher abstained because she is employed as a part-time grant writer for the Arthur Nagel Community Clinic. Halsey voted against the motion.