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Home My WebLink About07/09/1984 City Council MINUTF£ OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY, TEXAS JULY 9, 1984 A Special Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 7:30 p.m. with the following members present: Larry D. Sample Mayor Rick Harris Councilman Noel Long Councilman Helen Gray Councilman Don Amick Councilman Charles Dodds Councilman Marlene Peele Councilman with all members present, a quorum was established. 1. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Sample led the Council and members of the audience in the pledge to the United States Flag. 2. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A NEW MAIN LINE EXTENSION RATE APPLICABLE TO MAIN LINE EXTENSIONS BY LONE STAR GAS COMPANY Mr. Randy Roper, Manager of Lone Star Gas' local office in Frisco was present to answer any questions and give a brief explanation of the request. He said Lone Star Gas feel like the residential customers shouldn't have to subsidize the commercial users. Councilman Amick asked how customers already in The Colony would benefit from this request. Mr. Roper explained that the cost of laying the pipe would go into the rate base. He went on to say that The Colony rates stand alone and are reviewed every six months. Following a brief discussion, Councilman Peele moved to approve this request provided the Ordinance include a Section C to read $5.40. The motion was seconded by Councilman Dodds. Mayor Sample then read the following Ordinance Caption: An ordinance establishing a new main line extension rate applicable to main line extensions by Lone Star Gas Company within the City of The Colony, Denton County,Texas, and providing an effective date. Councilman Amick opposed the proposed ceiling on the request. Mayor Sample said he felt it. would benefit some of our citizens. ~ouncilm~n Amick asked if a ceiling would enccur.~ge or- r'es~.rJc% development in our clty. Mr. Roper said a dev~!oper is mostly interested ;n ~i~= kind of return they ar'e to amend the [~,s,:ior -.> r~move Sect]on ~. Th~, mo*:::~n was seconded by Councxlman Amick. 'This m,,_ion~ died with the following '?o : Ayes: r"ounc:l ..... '~ -'z, 5mick h D<,,~d,n The original motion was voted on and passed with the follow- ing roll call vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None 4. CONSIDERATION OF CALLING REVENUE SHARING HEARING FOR THE PROPOSED USE OF FUNDS FOR THE 1984-85 BUDGET YEAR City Manager, Janice Carroll, said the City is expecting to receive and estimated $60,000 during the 84/85 budget year. Councilman Amick then moved to call a Revenue Sharing Hearing , Monday July 23rd at 7:30 p.m. Seconded by Councilman Dodds, the motion passed with the following roll call vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None 5. CONSIDERATION OF RECEIVING CITY MANAGERS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE 1984-85 FISCAL YEAR Ms. Carroll stated that the budget document should be something the Council as well as the citizens can read and understand. She went on to say that large unexpected and/or major repairs are not budgeted for. She intends to use the contingency reserve for this sort of thing. The goal has been to increase reserve and lower line items. She briefly reviewed anticipated'building permit revenues, major capital items and the anticipated amount to be applied to contingency reserve. These proposed amounts are as follows: Building Permit Revenues 140,000 Capital Items 69,950 Contingency 70,050 She said she is recommending a 1¢ tax increase. This year, 1¢ of our 37¢ tax rate represents $34,146.59. She highlighted certain items in each departments proposed budget. Following her comments, Mayor Sample announced the Council would move on to agenda item #3 and then come back to this item. 3. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE APPROVING RATE SCHEDULES TO BE CHARGED BY TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC COMPANY AS RECOMMENDED BY TEXAS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE Mr. Price Robertson was present representing Texas Power & Light Company in The Colony. Ms. Carroll advised the Council that they had two Ordinances in their packets. One Ordinance is the TP & L's proposed ordinance and the other is TML's proposed ordinance. She then recommended the Council pass TML's ordinance. Mr. Robertson first explained how these requests were handled in the past. He said that all cities must act on this request by July 12, 1984. He went on to say that TP&L's request would charge all cities in the system the same rate. Councilman Amick asked why rural and residential customers would be charged the same rate. Mr. Robertson replied, it would benefit the customers to have a uniform rate. He then recommended the Council approve TP&L's ordinance. He said their ordinance states that they support whatever decision the P. U. C. makes. He said no rates would be put into effect until the PUC makes its decision. He added, all costs incurred in these hearings, TML's and the PUC's will go back to the customers. Councilman Long said supporting TML would help to make them a stronger entity. Mr. Robertson said they can't cut costs anywhere else without hurting customer service. He said that they were trying to regain their AA Bond Rating. Councilman Gray asked what advertising does for the power company. Mr. Robertson said it provides information to its customers regarding conservation measures. Following a brief discussion, Councilman Dodds moved to recommend the TML Ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilman Peele. Mayor Sample read the following ordinance caption: AN ORDINANCE APPROVING RATE SCHEDULES TO BE CHARGED BY TEXAS UTILITIES ELECTRIC COMPANY IN THE CITY OF THE COLONY, TEXAS, PROVIDING FOR SCHEDULES, CONDITIONS, SEVER- ABILITY; REPEAL OF CONFLICTING ORDINANCES. The Council then passed the ordinance with the following roll call vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None 5. PROPOSED BUDGET (CONTINUED) The Mayor gave each Council member a chance to comment on the proposed budget. The overall opinion was good. Some of the concerns expressed are as follows: Mayor Sample- Questioned any additional personnel in the Library. Suggested that any increase of 10% or more be justified, that office supplies fall under one department, upgrade building permit fees now and put additional funds into the contin- gency fund. He was pleased with the 1¢ tax increase and liked the idea of funds to improve parks and Public Works. He would like to see two parks. Councilman Amick- Has a problem passing a budget without reviewing it in detail. Doesn't like the Library budget being equal to the Park and Recreation budget. Doesn't agree with additional personnel for the Library. Wants more clarification of the line items with significant increases. Councilman Long- Suggested that capital expenditures be looked at very closely. There may be something that would eliminate the need for additional personnel. Councilman Gray- Expressed her concern over the proposed Library Budget. Councilman Harris- Felt the office supplies figures be looked at with more detail. He felt the figures were too high. He said the Miscellaneous Supplies account is confusing and asked for more detail. Councilman Peele- Said a bond package needs to be considered along with this budget because certain items on the bond package could impact this budget. Councilman Amick recommended funds be set aside for future lease/purchases of vehicles so that these types of purchases wouldn't have so much impact on the budget. The Council took a brief recess before addressing agenda item #6. 6. CLOSED DOOR SESSION AS AUTHORIZED BY ARTICLE 6252-17 SECTION 2G TO DISCUSS CITY PERSONNEL FOR THE 1984-85 FISCAL YEAR Upon reconvening in open session and with no further action to be taken by the Council at this time, Councilman Dodds moved to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Councilman Poole, the motion passed with a unanimous vote. Mayor Sample adjourned the meeting at 12:05 a.m. ~~ar~ D.~ple, Mayor Attest: [SEAL]