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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/06/1994 City Council005332 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON September 6, 1994 The Work Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 6:30 p.m. on the 6th day of September, 1994 at City Hall with the following Council roll call: William Manning, Mayor Present Mike Lynch, Mayor Pro-Tem Present Toby Pollard, Councilman Present Kay Hardin, Councilman Present Rob Burchard, Councilman Present John Dillard, Councilman Present Lynda Tate, Councilman Present and with six present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1. RECEIVE PRESENTATION FROM TML REPRESENTATIVE REGARDING LONG TERM DISABILITY Becky Reeves with TML Risk Pool addressed the council stating that many cities now offer long term disability and it has become more important in recent years, especially among high risk employees. She went on to say it does effect all employees and handed out statistics regarding the coverage. Ms. Reeves said it provides a reasonable accommodation clause for disabled persons which does comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This policy also provides for training in another field if needed. She said TML cannot provide life insurance or long term disability so they bid the coverage each year and this year the carrier is Provident. General discussion followed covering several available options, short term disability, long term disability and how this policy would coordinate with our current sick leave policy. Ms. Reeves discussed the 90 day elimination period vs the 180 day elimination period, noting the longer the elimination period, the less the premium. Partial disability is also part of the plan as well as a residual benefit, which allows an employee to return to work part time. If they find they are not ready to be back at work and have to be out again their elimination period does not start over. Ms. Reeves was asked by council to provide information on a 120 elimination period and if employees can pay the difference for a shorter elimination period. 2. REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF DEPARTMENTAL BUDGETS FOR THE PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET FY 1994-95 2 005333 LIBRARY Ms. Joan Sveinsson discussed her personnel requests stating that the full time temporary summer clerk is the most important of her 3 requests. She said the support services clerk would be shared between the 3 librarians doing clerical work. There was a brief discussion regarding the collection of fines, retrieval of material and pursuit of such in court. 7:35 Recess At this time, Mayor Manning announced the WORK SESSION would be recessed and the SPECIAL SESSION of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas to be held at 7:30 p.m. on the 6th day of September 6, 1994 at City Hall, was called to order, at which time the following items will be addressed: 1. CONSIDERATION OF ACTION CALLING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR A TAX INCREASE OVER 3% OF THE EFFECTIVE TAX RATE Johnny Smith explained that an increase in the $.80 tax rate is not proposed, but because of the increase in the evaluations, that same rate of $.80 means a .0037% increase in what the tax payer will have to pay, which is 3% over the effective tax rate. Mr. Smith said that increase requires a vote of the Council, to either lower the tax rate to $.7963, which would require no public hearing or to stay with the $.80 tax rate, which does require a public hearing. Mr. Smith said lowering the tax rate to $.7963 would mean a loss of approximately $20,000 in the General and Enterprise Funds combined. The council discussed the effect this loss would have on the budget. After brief comments the following motion was made. Motion to call a public hearing for September 21, 1994 to discuss the proposed tax increase - Burchard; second - Dillard, carried with a unanimous roll call vote. With no further business to address, the Special Session was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. At this time, Mayor Manning called the Work Session back to order and addressed the following items: LIBRARY (continued) Capital Projects: Ms. Sveinsson said the foundation repair estimate received last year was $15,000.00. Council directed her to get new up to date estimates on this repair. Capital Equipment: Ms. Sveinsson said she would like one of the computer work stations to be a lap top 3 005334 if possible, but if not a desk top would be sufficient and would cut the total by $2800.00. She said the video projector is necessary because the 16mm films are being discontinued and if we want to continue to offer this program we will need another means to do so. The video projector would enhance this program greatly. Line Items: Ms. Sveinsson highlighted items with significant changes. There was very little discussion. Councilman Dillard noted that the amount for books was decreased from last year and Ms. Sveinsson said she thought last year was a one time increase in that account to supplement the non-fiction collection and that she did not want to assume the same amount would be allocated for books this year. PARKS AND RECREATION Personnel Requests: Pam Nelson went over a proposal for changes in her department which also involves changes in the Public Works Department. The changes include: 1. Moving the operation and maintenance of all parks under Parks & Recreation. 2. Contracting the mowing of Bill Allen Memorial Park and all pocket parks. 3. Transferring 1 employee from Public Works to Parks & Recreation. 4. Hiring 2 full time seasonal maintenance workers. Ms. Nelson said these changes would make a much more efficient operation and would mean better maintained parks and athletic fields. Ms. Nelson said the Athletic Coordinator position was cut two years ago and requested that it be reinstated, stating this would allow expansion of programs, which would mean more revenue. She said this person might also be used in maintenance if needed. Capital Projects: Renovation of Racquetball Courts Ms. Nelson said if this is approved, she recommends implementing a user fee for all persons who use the courts and that the fee for reservations be slightly higher. Lengthy discussion followed. All generally agreed the courts are long over due for renovation. Discussion regarding replacement of light poles at the athletic fields. Ms. Nelson recommends phasing out the use of wooden poles and going with either concrete or steel. 4 005335 AQUATIC PARK - Capital Projects, Personnel and Line Items: General discussion regarding the Aquatic Park budget requests with brief comments and questions. Ms. Elise Knox advised that she is requesting a person to work 19 hours a week, which will help in the operations of the pool. She noted that it takes a lot of time to keep the pool functioning properly and efficiently. STEWART CREEK PARK Council agreed that we need to check into adding more gate coverage. Ms. Nelson said they are looking into a meter type system to place at the gate which would be used when the gate is not manned. Councilman Lynch said the $50,000 left over in this budget should be spent to improve the park. Ms. Nelson said there is major maintenance needed at the park on the road and cabling. All agreed the Parks & Recreation Board should make recommendations regarding the expenditure of these funds. PUBLIC WORKS Capital Expenditures: Tom Cravens said Ken Leverich is currently driving an old police car and that he really needs a pick up. He said they are requesting a replacement for a 1983 vehicle (851) which has high mileage and is in bad shape, noting it is normally used 6 days a week by the concrete crew. Mr. Cravens said the 1984 is a Chevrolet 1/2 ton and is also in bad shape. Councilman Lynch suggested replacing the 1986 (853) due to high maintenance costs. Ken Leverich said the 1984 is a 1/2 ton and has to do heavy hauling which should really be replaced by a 3/4 ton. It was noted the 1/2 ton could be kept for back-up but the body is in terrible condition. Mr. Cravens said after further research, he is deleting the request for a gradall this year. He is requesting instead to purchase a chipper and hire a crew to operate it. Mr. Cravens recommended the city offer to do tree trimming on site for an nominal fee. He said when the crew is not chipping they can work on the crack sealing program. Lengthy discussion followed. Mr. Smith said the $83,000 to buy a chipper and hire employees can be used to rent a chipper for 46 weeks, indicating that he is not sure this purchase would be cost effective. Councilman Pollard said Tom talked about using this crew on crack sealing too and that he and Mr. Smith talked several weeks ago about what it will take on a long term basis to maintain infrastructure. Mr. Smith said when crews share duties, one always seems to suffer. Councilman Pollard said he is not advocating sharing duties, but that we need to know what it will take to keep programs in place. He said several wastewater employees are being transferred and that he wants a report and synopsis on where they are going, what they did before and what they are doing now. 005336 Capital Projects: Mr. Cravens said $8,000 has been included for the next 5 years for irrigation of medians and that he is requesting moving $30,000 from 1995-96 to 1994-95 for street repair in the Eastvale subdivision because Mr. Jim Skinner is getting ready to develop some property on Veterans Point and he has offered to share in the cost of asphalt overlay on W. Lake Highlands, which is estimated at a total of $50,000. Line Items: Brief discussion regarding these items. Mr. Cravens suggests contracting of all mowing and using that crew for street maintenance. Mayor Manning asked if there were any other questions or comments, and Councilman Pollard said he wants to know what it is going to take on an on-going basis to keep the streets up before we pour money into them. He said he wants a program, a plan. Mr. Smith said there is no way that can be provided before the budget is due. He said Councilman Pollard is asking for a multi-year program and that something like that just cannot be asked for and provided immediately. Mr. Smith said it will be provided, but there is no way staff can do a complete inventory and costs to repair all the streets by October 1. Councilman Pollard said then we don't know what we're getting. Mr. Smith disagreed, stating it will be done just like last year, the council will approve money in the budget for a work program but that a long range plan, such as has been asked for, cannot be generated in such a short period of time, whether it is for personnel or maintenance. Councilman Pollard said you could give me a report on line feet of streets to be repaired and line feet of pipe to be laid. Continuing, he said we ought to at least know what we are buying, even though he said he understands a program cannot be complete by October 1. Mr. Smith said we have to prioritize the streets and if council puts money in the budget, we will spend the money according to that priority list. He said when the money runs out, we stop repairing the streets. Mr. Smith said no matter how much money is put in the budget, all the streets cannot be repaired and there is no way to say exactly where the money will be spent until the priority list is prepared. Mr. Smith said once the council approves the priority list, they will know what streets will be fixed first. ATI'EST: William W. ~~~~~ Manning, Mayor ~ Patti A. Hicks,TRMC, City Secretary