By Linda Byrne
Editor

Some 27 days after the Boerne City Council approved the Esperanza Development Agreement, the city manager had not signed the document.

And the delay has at least one city resident questioning the fairness of the process.

The agreement was approved at a City Council meeting on Feb. 12, 11 days after being released on the Web for public view. The Feb. 1 Web posting was done in advance of a Feb. 6 special called City Council meeting to consider the agreement, but the matter was tabled at that meeting.

Residents on Feb. 6 and Feb. 12 asked the City Council for more time to study the agreement, but the City Council approved it on a 3-2 vote.

Pamela Bransford, Boerne communications and information coordinator, said no changes are being made to the document.

“(The agreement) is final,” Bransford said. The City Council, in its vote, authorized the city manager to sign the agreement that was posted on the Web site, with the only change allowed being one that Councilwoman Judy Edmondson put in her motion.

According to the minutes of the meeting, that motion was “to amend the main motion to add language to the development agreement where appropriate that specifically prohibits the WCID from converting to a Fresh Water Utility District and removing “for irrigation from section 5.1(A)(2)e(VI) on page 17.”

Marlin Atlantis spokesman Howard Falkenberg said that Marlin Atlantis chief executive officer John Marlin signed the document late last week “on behalf of the legal entity.” He said chief operating officer Jim Baker was out of town following the Feb. 12 vote, then became ill.

The document was being sent back to Boerne City Hall at View press time.

Liz Davis, a Boerne resident who spoke against the agreement at the public hearing on Feb. 12, said she is disappointed with the chain of events.

“There were problems with the process in the Esperanza Development Agreement.  There were numerous questions and concerns, which were brought up by many well-intended and informed citizens, and unfortunately, they were left unanswered,” Davis said.

“We had Councilmen (Ron) Warden and (Jacques) Dubose voting against even six additional days for public scrutiny, and later (Judy) Edmondson joined them in ending public input despite a large turnout of concerned citizens and request for more time.”

Bransford said if any change is made to the wording of the agreement before it is signed, the City Council would have to vote on it again.

But that is not the case, Bransford said.

“We were notified late yesterday, that MA Boerne has signed the DA and they are shipping the documents back to us (from Dallas) for the city manager’s signature,” Bransford wrote in an e-mail on Friday.

Davis believes city officials did not offer residents a level playing field.

“Someone apparently has had plenty of extra time before the agreement was signed. Who and why is that? This is a leadership style that is not supportive of developing community consensus,” Davis said. 

Staff Writer Jonathan Nolte contributed to this report.