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Home My WebLink About05/16/1988 City Council MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MAY 16, 1988 The Regular Session of the City Counci3 of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 7:30 p.m. on the 16th day of May, 1988 at City Hall with following Council roll call: Don Amick, Mayor Present Rick Harris,Mayor Pro-rem Present Johnny Spears,Councilman Present Michael Robinson,Councilman Present Steve Glazener,Councilman Present Dick Weaver,Councilman Present Joel Marks,Councilman Present and with seven members present a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Amick ]ed the Council and the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America 1. ADMINISTER THE OATH OF OFFICE TO COUNCILMEN PLACE 3, 4, 5, AND 6 Mayor Amick administered the oath of office to Michael Robinson, Councilman Place 3, Steve Glazener, Councilman Place 4, Dick Weaver, Councilman Place 5 and Joel Marks, Councilman Place 6. 3. CITIZEN INPUT Cliff Black, 4933 Watkins, addressed the Council regarding a continuing problem with Animal Control. Mr. Black said the city has grown tremendously and the animal population has grown at an alarming rate, going on to say that it seems that some pet owners have little regard for their neighbors and a lack of responsibility for the animals they own. Mr. Black state that for 3 months he has been dealing with a situation in which 3 dogs bark continuously "at his back door", and that he has called Animal Control 12 times and the Police Department 6 times, as well as speaking with Councilman G]azener and City Manager Bi]] Ha]].. Mr. Black urged the Council to look into this problem and see if it warrants a stronger ordinance% Mr. Hall said that when a patrol officer or the animal control truck responds to a barking dog complaint, either the dog isn't barking or every dog in the neighborhood is barking when they arrive. Mr. Hall went on to say that if they can confirm the complaint then they will try to contact he owner and sometimes a citation is issued, going on to say that he would get with Mr. Black later regarding alternate methods of dealing with this problem. Dick Weaver, 4940 Hackney, Thanked his wife for helping with his campaign and all his constituents for their hard work, as well those who made phone calls to get the vote out. Mayor Amick said his biggest disappointment was when he ran for the Place 4 position and worked so hard to see a very small voter turnout. The Mayor then congratulated the winners in the election. 4. RECOGNITION OF THE SPLASH 'N' DASH CREW Bill Hall explained that the Splash 'n' Dash race was started 4 years ago by the City of Dallas as a kick off to "Clean Water Week", stating that each customer city can enter by building completely home-made, man-powered rafts. Mr. Hall said the trophies are also home-made. He said The Colony had won the 1st and 2nd years and did not enter the 3rd year, but this year they did enter and won First Place in Theme with their inverted barricade raft named, "Barricada" Mayor Amick then presented the crew with certificates: Tom Hutson, Charles Vance, Jim Bell and Doug Peach. 5. CONSIDERATION OF THE APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS HELD ON MAY 2 AND 9, 1988 Councilman Glazener abstained for the May 2 meeting due to his absence and Mayor Amick noted that the minutes reflected he was present at May 2 meeting but he was r,o~. Councilman, Ha~$ ~',(~¥ed tc approve the minutes with the correction and Councilman Spears seconded the motion, which carried with a unanimous roll call vote. 6. MAYOR'S BUDGETARY REPORT Mayor Amick said that last year the Council and staff worked to keep the tax rate the same and would like to reduce the tax rate in the future, but he stated he doesn't know if that future is here. The Mayor said he had been approached by many citizens regarding various needs of the City and based oD that input, be does ~ot believe i~c~ease oI a decrease. The Mayor addressed the needs as follows: 1. Striping of streets throughout the City. The Mayor noted this is very costly and gave an example of 423 to Stewart Creek Rd on N. Colony Blvd. at a cost of $30,000.00 2. Repairs to streets, alleys, curbs. Mayor Amick said Public Works is constantly making repairs. 3. Beautification - Mayor Amick said that he and Mr. Hall had discussed long range plans to irrigate the medians. He said now that the parks are irrigated the City can begin planting trees. 4. Recreation - Football fields for little league, soccer needs more facilities, softball needs more facilities, the Rec Center usage is phenomenal, and people' want more, additional park equipment. 5. Traffic cont.~ol - S. Colony and Paige wi]] need a ]~gbt. Blair Oaks and N. Colony is a bad t~affic problem and needs to be addressed, as well as Blair Oaks and Arbor Glen, a potential problem due to the high school. 6. Animal Shelter is in need of improvement. 7. Personnel - Every department will have its perception of needs, stating we do need more Animal control officers, as Mr. Black addressed earlier. 8. Public Works - obviously more personnel is needed for street repair, mowing, park maintenance, drainage area maintenance, etc. 9. Additional operating costs have become apparent in the last year: Jail maintenance, higher utilities, use of the rec center means more personnel, the library needs more open hours. The Mayor said our city is growing up and we ne~d these r:,eeds J.r, the up(:or.J],9 , ( 0()2, 7 7. ELECTION OF MAYOR PRO-TEM Mayor Amick opened the floor for nominations. Councilman Spears nominated Councilman Harris. Councilman Weaver said he understands that some cities rotate that office and then nominated Councilman Spears, stating that he feels Councilman Harris is good but would like to give someone else the opportunity to serve. The Mayor asked for a show of hands for Councilman Harris, who received four (4) votes. Mayor Amick declared~Councilman Harris the Mayor Pro-tem due to his receiving the,majority of the votes. 8. APPOINTMENT OF ADVISORY BOARD LIAISONS Mayor Amick said that in the past, if a councilman was appointed as a liaison he remained in that position, but beginning with this year, those offices will be rotated every year following the election of council. The Mayor then directed the City Secretary to remind the boards to elect a new chairman in the near future. Mayor Amick then made the following appointments as Board Liaisons: Park and Recreation - Councilman Johnny Spears Planning and Zoning - Councilman Dick Weaver Library - Councilman Mike Robinson Youth Advisory - Joe] Marks The Mayor encouraged the liaisons to attend board meetings to get acquainted with the members and to ~familiarize themselves with the function of the board, but he cautioned them not to attend too often, causing the board members to feel uncomfortable. 9. CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF A CONTRACT WITH MERRILY MOORE FOR THE COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT TAXES Bill Hall said that for the past 3 years, M.U.D. and the City have hired an outside consultant to collect delinquent taxes, using the Moore Law Firm of Austin, at no cost to the City. Mr. Hall said that cities can impose a 15% penalty to delinquent taxes and that 15% is the amount that the consultant keeps as their portion. Mr. Hall said staff does recommend approval of the contract. Councilman Weaver said he has had occasion to speak with Ms. Moore and is very impressed with her, then moving to approve the contract. Councilman Harris seconded the motion which carried with a unanimous roll call vote. Mayor Amick directed the City Secretary to schedule a session for interviewing the current P & Z members whose terms are expiring in May, noting that there is still one opening and that the Council is looking for Civil, P.E., or E.E. engineer. With no further business to address Councilman Harris moved to adjourn the meeting and Councilman Spears seconded the motion which carried with all members voting Aye. Mayor Amick adjourned the meeting at 8:15 p.m. and invited all present to attend a reception for the new Councilmembers being held immediately following the meeting at the Rec Center. APPROVED: Don Amick, Maybr 00297,3 ATTEST: ..~.....~..~...~.O~ks, City Secretary