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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/24/1986 City Council 0024.!_ MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON JULY 26, 1986 The SPECIAL SESSION of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 8:00 a.m. by Mayor Pro-tern Don Amick with the following persons present: Don Amick Mayor Pro-tem David W. Dye,III Councilman Harvey Bradley Councilman Marlene Poole Councilman Mayor Larry Sample, Councilman Rick Harris and Councilman Tom Arrambide were not present at the time the meeting was called to order, however a quorum was established. Mayor Protem Amick at this time called for a short recess. Mayor Sample and Councilman Harris both arrived at 8:10 a.m.and Councilman Arrambide was absent due to business. At 8:15 a.m., Mayor Sample caleld the meeting back to order and the following items were addressed: 2. REVIEW OF THE PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET FY 1986/87 Mayor Sample said he felt the City needs to start looking at the budget in terms of long range revenues. The Council discussed the tax rate and how it should be reached, bringing into account sales tax revenue, and the combined tax rate of the City and M.U.D. Janice Carroll noted that is not new personnel adn no salary increases included in this budget as it is presented. Mayor Sample said he wants to see $60,000.00 added to cover the $50,000.00 expense of the North Texas Survey and $10,000.00 in various Council expenses. There followed a lengthy discussion regarding the IBM property south of 121 and their request to change the zoning from agricultural to business park. This action will increase the tax revenues from that peice of property. Councilman Amick said we need some_qUestions answered regarding the Billingsley property as to what the amount of tax revenue will be and also the projected $125,000.00 increases in tax income at the time of the M.U.D. merger needs to be accounted for. Councilman Amick said we need to know where that money is and how it will be used. Mayor Sample said we also need to know what the taxes will be on the White property and the Sahddock and Cook property and we need to be sure that amount is not included in this budget projection. Mayor Sample said the tax rate needs to be taken down to 40¢ or 40.5¢ and when that amount is reached then Janice Carroll needs to come back with the cuts to match it. After that point then any additions or more cuts to be made will be done. Councilman Harris said that would be a good way to handle the budget, leaving the cuts to the staff and not up to the Council to second guess the staff on needs. There was a duscussion regarding contract mowing versus staff mowing and the Mayor said each area to be mowed needs to be speced and then get costs for contract and staff mowing for each. Mayor Sample went on to say that contract mowing is not 60-70% of staff mowing cost then we should go with staff mowing, using those personnel the rest of the year in other areas. Councilman Amick suggested going through each section and looking at the highlights for the benefit of the new councilmen and giving the City Manager direction as to what they see right away that needs to be cut. At this time Mayor Sample suggested going to Agenda Item No. i before completing the budget review. 1. CONSIDERATION OF AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF THE COLONY CALLING FOR A BOND ELECTION IN SEPTEMBER 1986. Councilman Amick said that we need to check with Glen Brown regarding the total cost to build the crossover and to put the utilities underground. Councilman Poole moved to table this item until July 28, 1986 so that total costs and tax rate information onthe bond issues could be obtained. There was no second at this time. Councilman Amick asked what the amount for the park proposals would be. Mayor Sample said 2.2 million for the golf course and .5 million for Stewart Creek expansion, stating that we don't want to issue more bonds than the park fees can pay fo~ because we do not want to have to use tax money to pay for these bonds. Councilman Amick asked if the issues are proposed as 2.7 million for the golf course and Stewart Creek together and the gold course fails, what happens to Stewart Creek, going on to say that perhaps the issues should be two separate proposals. Mayor Sample agreed but stated that they should be flexible in their wording. Councilman Amick then said he felt we should go for 2.5 million for the golf course and .5 million for STewart Creek and word the propositions so that the money is interchangeable. The Mayor asked the City Manager to get the schedule on 2.5 and .5, and also .5 for the cross over. Councilman Amick said that if it was the concensus of the Council not to build the crossover then why have it on this bond election. There was a concensus not to build it. Councilman Amick then said that there is stil~L an obligation to the voters to spend $200,000.0 for the crossover and now there is not enough money to do so. Councilman Poole suggested that the City Manager come back to Council with a report stating to the effect that there is now not enough money to build it and that the money can go back into debt service, and that there is a concensus of the Council not to build it. Councilman Amick said he felt there should be a committee appointed to study the crossover for 2 - 4 weeks, gathering testimony from the Chief of Police, John Miller and Glen brown and then report to Council and then have Council decide whether to build or not to build. Councilman Poole amended her original motion, moving to continue until Monday, July 28, 1986 this item, directing the City Attorney to draw up the ordinance with two (2) issues, being the Golf Course and Stewart Creek Park and to remove the crossover from the ordinance for study by the committee. Councilman Amick seconded the motion which carried with alt members voting Aye. At this time the Council again addressed Agenda item No. 2 2. REVIEW OF THE PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET FY 1986/87 Council at this time discussed the city sales tax. Janice Carroll said that this had been figured by percentage. Mayor Sample said he felt comfortable with putting in a 10% increasein sales tax for the next year, if needed. The Mayor then asked for a concensus of Council to see the property tax at $1,996,713.00. All members agreed. Councilman Poole made note that $30,000.00 in grant money had been plugged in to the Library budget and she was not sure that should be in there at all, and suggested that perhaps it should be taken out. Councilman Poole said that this is Denton county funding and it is possible that the County won't be funding this next year. Mayor Sample said it should be left in for now, stating that before the budget process is completely finished we should have a feel for whether or not that funding will come through. Councilman Amick then asked a question regarding expenditures, wanting to know if Janice Carroll could explain to the Council the reasons for the increase in each departmet~t that showed a 20% or more increase. Ms. Carroll said yes, that could be done and would like to explain as the Council goes through each de- partment. That was agreeable to Councilman Amick. Genera 1 A dministration Janice Carroll stated that there is money in this budget for an Assistant City Manager and there is also money in the M.U.D. budget for Bill Hall, who will beocme an assistant city manager at the time of the merger, and perhaps the money in this budget should be taken out. Ms. Carroll also stated that the personnel person may not be needed after the merger. Ms. Carroll noted that most of the addition to this budget is due to the move into the new City facilities. there followed a lengthy discussion regarding putting the Inspections and Public Works Departments in the old City Hall after the building is vacated. Mayor Sample and Councilman Amick think those offices should be in the new City Hall. Ms. Carroll explained that there will not be ebough rooim for them int he new building. Councilman Amick said these are service areas and should be in City Hall. There were several ideas discussed regarding how this would be effective if these two departments were left in the old building, such as having a clerk in the new building and everyone else in the old building. Mr. Bill Hall, M.U.D. Director suggested that after the merger the empty office space at the M.U.D. building could be used by the Inspections and Public Works Departments and since utilities is already in that location it wuld be convenient for citizens to handle all those types of services at one location; i.e. permits, certificates of occupancy, water turn, etc. Mayor Sample agreed, but still feels there should be a clerk at the new City Hall to handle those persons who come in there as long as their needs are not too complicated. It was noted that if this action is taken it could feasibly save the City from $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 out of this budget due to being able to close the old building. Councilman Amick noted that a clerk would be needed at M.U.D. also. Mayor Sample at this time addressed Legal Services, stating that it is estimated much too high and asked if the $30,000.00 spent last year as a one time expenditure was included in this budget. Ms. Jane Barton said yes it is and should be taken out. There was some discussion regarding creating a new account for Council expenses. The Mayor said it should be approximately $100,000.00 to cover $50,000.00 for the survey, $30,000.00 for city promotion and $10,000.00 to cover various Council expenses. Some of the Council was not sure the survey should be done or not. It was finally decided that $90,000.00 should be added to Professional Services to cover the above mentioned expenses. Mayor Sample said that the over estimate in Legal Services can be taken to make up part of the $90,000.00 Councilman Amick questioned the large increase in the phone bill and wondered why the $6000.00 difference between the base line and the estimate was not included in the addition column. Janice Carroll explained that it was for new lines and 2 new phones, stating that the new phones and lines is $1600.00 which is included in the addition column, but that the $6000.00 is an increase of the cost of service so it is included in the base line budget. Councilman Amick said he really felt that amount should be in the additiona column. Janice Carroll agreed that is a vague area and could probably be done either way. Mayor Sample asked why the water consumption was up so much. Ms. Gar roll said that is due to the new facilities. City Secretary There was very little discussion regarding this budget. The Cour~c~l agreed that the computer, word processor should be purchased but the Mayor wondered is $4025.00 would be enough money to purchase what was needed. Mayor Sample also wanted to know if the P.C. now in use by the finance department could be used in this depart- ment since the City programs would be transferred over to the 1 arger computer now on line by M.U.D. Janice Carroll said that it was thought that computer could be used by inspections or the City Secretary. James England, Financial Director at M.U.D. said it would take about 6 months to convert all the information over. Mayor Sample then said perhaps there should be $5000.00 in this budget for the computer. There were no other questions. Finance There were no questions regarding this budget. Court Mayor Sample asked what the $2543.00 in Capital Outlay was for and Janice Carroll said it was for equipment for a new clerk which the personnel committee had already looked at and for new files if there is not enough money if F.F. & E. It is a possiblity that the clerk can be obtained through the merger. It was the concensus to take that money out of the buget but put into contingency to use only if needed. Park & Recreation Mayor Sample asked about the Capital Outlay in this budget. Janice Carroll said this was for file cabinets and a typewriter, a hand held radio and a P.A. system. Mayor Sample noted that it would probably be less expensive if all departments used the same kind of typewriters as far as service goes. There was after some discussion that the only departments that need word processing capabilities were City Secretary and General Administration and that all other clerks need typewriters, 'adding that General Adminis- tration should look into a Word Processor. There was a question regarding a new clerk for this department and Councilman Poole suggested that the Personnel Committee should meet before any new personnel was decided upon. Inspections Counciman Dye asked about the re-organization proposed for this department, stating that in his campaign for office, people had expressed a desire for the City to enfor~the Ordinances, in particular regarding high weeds and not just on a complaint basis. Mayor Sample said that had been tried and it did not work. There was a lengthy discussion on how to solve this problem. Councilman Amick said that hiring two more inspectors would not solve it since the inspectors now appear to miss some obvious violations. Councilman Dye said that he was not comfortable with this situation, and Mayor Sample said he was not either, but he doesn't agree with Councilman Dye's solutions either. Councilman Amick said he is not in favor of adding too many people. Councilman Dye then said that he had met with Glen Brown and Earl Brantley regarding th Standard Design Manual and in that meeting Mr. Brown had indicated that the City is missing out on fees, going on to say that someone needs to be watching the' construction projects or they may not be done to City specs. Councilman Amick requested' that the City get a list of fees from Mr. Brown; that maybe the fees would cover the cost of a construction inspector. Councilman Amick said this should not wait and should be included int his budget process. Councilman Dye suggested forming a Public Works Committe to study the procedures for engineering plans coming through the City. Mayor Sample that committee should be made up of Councilman Dye, Eric Stanton, and a member of Planning and Zoning. Fire Department Councilman Amick asked about the personnel base line and why the increase. Janice Carroll said it was due to step raises and over time. The Council also questioned Contractural Services. Ms. Carroll said this was due to several reasons, but mainly City insurance had gone up. Mayor Sample said that he does not agree with anything in the request for $34,875.00 in Capital Outlay. Mayor Sample also said that it seems there is a continual problem with overtime int he fire department, citing the sending of personnel to the A&M fire training school every year and then paying those persons left to cover overtime.. Mayor Sample wanted to know what was gained and if it was really worth it, also asking if there is a closer place. It was decided that Capt. Morrison of the Fire Department could better answer those questions, so the Fire Department and the rest of the departments would be discussed at the next work session on July 28. Councilman P°°le moved to adjourn this meeting and Councilman Harris seconded the motion which carried with all members voting Aye. Mayor Sample adjourned the meeting at 12:53 p.m. APPROVED: D. Samp e,×J~yor ATTEST: p at ti ~~~H i c~k s',~Ci't y~y