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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/25/1985 City Council Minutes o£ the City Council of the City o£ The Colony held on 00194;) February 25, 1985 The 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 Poole Councilman and 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 of allegiance. 2. CONSIDERATION OF AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPOINT- MENT OF AN ALTERNATE MUNICIPAL COURT 3UDGE Mayor Sample read aloud the Ordinance caption as follows: AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING THAT THERE SHALL BE ONE OR MORE TEMPORARY OR RELIEF 3UDGES OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT OF THE CITY OF THE OCLONY, TEXAS; PROVIDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY, TEXAS SHALL APPOINT BY RESOLUTION SUCH TEMPORARY OF RELIEF 3UDGES SHALL POSSESS THE SAME QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED OF THE REGULAR 3UDGE OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT; PROVIDING THAT ANY TEMPORARY OR RELIEF 3UDGE OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT SHALL HAVE ALL THE POWER AND DUTIES OF THE REGUALR MUNICIPAL COURT 3UDGE WHILE ACTING AS MUNICIPAL 3UDGEi PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSEi PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. Councilman Dodds made the motion to approve the Ordinance as written. Seconded by Councilman Long, the motion carried with a unanimous roll call vote. 7. CONSIDERATION OF APPOINTMENT OF AN ALTERNATE MUNICIPAL COURT 3UDGE Councilman Dodds nominated Mr. 3ohn Hampton. With no other nominations, Mayor Sample closed the nominations and called for a vote. The Council unanimously voted to appoint Mr. 3ohn Hampton as the temporary or alternate Municipal Court 3udge until such time as Council appoints a regular 3udge. 3. CONSIDERATION OF AN ORDIANNCE AUTHORIZING COMMUNICATION SERVICES, INC. TO INCREASE THEIR BASIC RATE BY $2.00 PER MONTH Councilman Amick recommended the $2.00 increase in basic rates. He read aloud three letters from Communication Services, these are included as Exibits "A" , "B", & "C". Mayor Sample read aloud the Ordinance caption as follows: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NUMBER 123 OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY, TEXAS, GRANTING A CABLE TELEVISION FRANCHISE BY INCREASING THE BASIC CABLE TELEVISION RATE, WITH OR WITHOUT THE CONVERTER, BY TWO DOLLARS ($2.00); PRESERVING ALL OTHER PARTS OF ORDINANCE NUMBER 123; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY. With no further discussion, Councilman Amick made the motion to approve the ordinance as written. Seconded by Councilman Poole, the motion carried with the following roll call vote: Noes: Councilman Gray Ayes: A11 other members voted aye #. RECEIVE REPORT REGARDING A CITY WIDE FINE ARTS COMMITTEE Councilman Poole stated that she has been in contact with the President of the local Arts and Crafts Club. They are looking for ways to display their art work. They would be willing to supply art work permanently and/or on a rotating basis to the new City Hall and Library buildings. Councilman Poo]e went on to say this would be an excellent way to showcase local talent and further recommended the committee consist of five (5) members. After a brief discussion, Mayor Sample instructed the City Manager to look into how other Cities have established committee's such as this. 5. CONSIDERATION OF AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH BECHTOL, HOFFPAUIR & EHRLER, INC. TO PROVIDE PLANNING AND DESIGN SERVICES FOR THE B.B. OWENS PARK SITE After a lengthy discussion regarding the need of a firm such as this to do the planning and costs, Councilman Dodds moved to table this item. Seconded by Councilman Harris, the motion carried with a unanimous vote. 8. CONSIDERATION OF AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH THE COLONY BANK FOR THE PURCHASE OF TWO POLICE PATROL CARS AND ONE PUBLIC WORKS PICK UP Mayor Sample reminded everyone present that the Pick Up had been planned and budgeted for as an expense item and should there- fore be paid for out of the operating budget. City Manager, 3anice Carroll stated The Colony Bank is willing to finance the patrol cars for an interest rate of 11.50%. The total amount to be financed is $22,#22.50 for the two patrol cars. She went on to briefly review the other proposals for financing. The firms offering proposals were: Maryland National Bank, InterFirst Bank-Dallas~cThe Colony Bank. With no further discussion, Councilman Amick moved to enter into the contract with The Colony Bank at 11.50% for $22,#22.50 to finance only the two patrol cars. Seconded by Councilman Dodds, the motion carried with a unanimous roll call vote. 6. CLOSED DOOR SESSION AS AUTHORIZED BY ARTICLE 6252-17 OF V.A.C.S., SECTION 2g REGARDING PERSONNEL 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 Harris, the motion carried with a unanimous vote. Mayor Sample formally adjourned the meeting at 10:10 p.m. · St~mp~yor - Attest: 3a~add,' City Secret~-~y [SEAL] EXHIBIT A 0 01 95 "EXHIBIT A" COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES ASSOCIATES Serving: Copper Canyon, Double Oak, Flower Mound, Frisco, Highland Village & The Colony, Texas 5200 Highway 423; '['he Colony, Texas 75056 (214) 370-0445 February 22, 1985 The Mayor and City Council City of The Colony The Colony, Texas Dear Mayor and City Council: Communications Services proposes to add the following services to its programming line-up to The Colony Cable Television system. Channel 6 The Weather Channel Channel 22 Nashville Network Channel 26 Music Television (MTV) Channel 30 Christian Broadcast Network Channel 31 Financial News Network Radar Weather Service will move from Channel 6 to Channel 28. The Disney Channel will be added within the next 90 days. This is a premium service and will be available at an additional monthly charge. These channels will be activated in conjunction with the City Council's approval of our pending rate adjustment in monthly basic service. EXHIBIT B 0019 "EXHIBIT B" COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES ASSOCIATES Serving: Copper Canyon, Double Oak, Flower Mound, Frisco, Highland Village & The Colony, Texas. 5200 Highway 423; The Colony, Texas 75056 (214) 370-044,5 February 22, 1985 The Mayor and City Council City of The Colony The Colony, Texas Dear Mayor and City Council: Communications Services purchased the Cable Television system serving The Colony in January 1984. The system was previously owned by CATV Systems, Inc. of Lewisville, Texas. Communications Services is 80% owned by fifteen employee stock- holders and 20% owned by Tele-Communications Inc. of Denver, Colorado. Tele-Communications Inc. is the largest Cable Tele- vision operator in the United States. In addition to moving all underground vaults to above ground pedestals, we have made additional capital improvements to the system. We have installed a new satellite earth station to receive additional programming to complement our program line-up. We have also completed new cable construction to!homes which were previously without our service. Communications' Services plans to continue this new construction as the City expands as stated in Section 10(h) of the Cable Television fran- chise, Ordinance ~ 123. In order to continue to provide better service to our subscribers we plan to begin u~ing a live answering service to handle service calls after normal business hours. Service tech- nicians will be dispatched by the answering service via pagers and telephone. This service will be in effect in conjunction with the approval of our pending rate adjustment. Communications Services is a good corporate citizen em- ploying six local residents to maintain the cable system and operate the business office. We also purahase vehicle main- tenance and business office products from local merchants. Mayor and City Council -2- February 22, 1985 Communications Services is proud to be a member of The Colony Chamber of Commerce. There has not been a rate adjustment in basic service since the franchise was awarded in October of 1980. An adjustment was made for premium service when The Movie Channel replaced Home Theatre Network. This was necessary as The Movie Channel is a 24 hour service requiring higher license fees and Home Theatre Network provided programming only in the evenings. The Cable Television industry has a great deal of compe- tition, particularly in metropolitan areas. Home earth station antennas, movie theatres, and video tape rental stores compete for entertainment dollars. None of these businesses is regulated to the extent as is Cable Television by the Federal Communicatio~ Commission and local municipalities. While the telephone and electric companies enjoy approximately 100% penetration of their services to homes passed, the cable system services only 50% of the homes in The Colony. Our service is not a necessity. As we discussed at previous Council meetings, Communica- tions Services has invested a great deal of capital to upgrade and repair the Cable system which serves The Colony. My main concern is to provide the finest in Cable Television service to our customers. This proposed rate adjustment will assist in our ability to do just that. Regards, Edward L. Musser Regional Manager EXHIBIT C "EXHIBIT C" 00195; COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES ASSOCIATES Serving: Copper Canyon, Double Oak, Flower Mound, Frisco, Highland Village & The Colony, Texas 5200 Highway 423; The Colony, Texas 75056 (214) 370-0445 February 22, 1985 The Mayor and City Council City of The Colony The Colony, Texas Dear Mayor and City Council: During the Cable Television Public Hearing held at The Colony City Hall on February 18, 1985, three residents expressed pro- blems with their cable service. Service technicians contacted , each of these customers, and I would like to respond that the problems were resolved to the customers's satisfaction. Ms. Davis at 4933 Hackney was found to have three cable out- lets and the pictures on one outlet were somewhat grainy. A new converter box was installed and Ms. Davis personally advised me that she was happy with her service. No problem could be de- tected at the home of Rick Brown, 5713 Perrin. The low band (Channels 2-6) were noisey at the home of Jeffrey Small, 5652 Tucker, This problem was corrected with the replacement of a bad piece of cable and broken tap housing. Mr. Lynch at 4921 Roberts was concerned as to why he needed basic service before he could subscribe to the optional premium channels. The basic channels include local off-air network, in- dependent, and public broadcast channels. The premium channels include Home Box Office, Showtime, Cinemax, and The Movie Channel, and are scrambled for security reasons. It would be both cost prohibitive and technically undesirable to trap out all the basic channels and pass only premium channels at a subscriber's house. The customer would need both a cable connection, an external antenna system, and a method to switch between the two if we attempted to do this. I would like to address the problem of cable television outages which occur from time to time. The cable extends from our headend location on Highway 423 throughout the city. Am- plifiers are installed at various locations to boost the signal level. These amplifiers are powered by electricity and it is possible to lose electric power in one area of town causing that .amplifier to be inoperative. Customers on down the line from Mayor and City Council -2- February 22, 1985 that location will temporarily lose cable service even though electric service to their house has not be disrupted. Outages are often caused by contractors and other persons doing under- ground construction. Service personnel are dispatched to locate our underground cable if we are notified that some one is plan- ning to do underground construction. Far to often we are not aware of this until our cable has been cut and our subscribers notify our office their cable service has been disrupted. Very few service calls are needed to determine when an outage has occured and technicians respond as soon as the outage has been located. Regards, Edward L. ~us~er Regional Manager