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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/21/1994 City Council00 536, MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1994 The Special Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 6:45 p.m. on the 21st day of June, 1994, at City Hall with the following Council roll call: William W. Manning, Mayor Present Mike Lynch, Mayor Pro-tern Absent (arrived 7:05) Toby Pollard, Councilman Present Kay Hardin, Councilman Present Rob Burchard, Councilman Absent (arrived 7:00) John Dillard, Councilman Present Lynda Tate, Councilman Present and with five present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1. pI.I::.DGE OF ALIY:.GIANCE 2. CONSIDERATION AND ACTION REGARDING A CONTRACT WITH NORTH TEXAS MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT FOR WASTEWATER PLANT OPERATIONS Johnny Smith said NTMWD had agreed to the buy-out (of equipment) wording in the contract but that Sections 9 and 10 were standard in all their contracts used in 19 other cities and they do not wish to change them. Mr. Smith asked City Attorney, Pete Eckert to explain the position of the city if the contract is approved. Mr. Eckert referencing Section 9 said this is a standard indemnity provision in most, if not all of the NTMWD contracts. By this provision the city indemnifies them in all cases except where they are found to be negligent. Mr. Eckert said he has dealt with NTMWD for years, that they are fine folks and that they do a good job. He said they do want their own contract (wording) and that the City probably will not be able to change that. Continuing, Mr. Eckert said Section 9 creates a debt for which the city must lev3, a tax to make it valid. Since the city only levies taxes once a year, any contract extended over one year may not be valid if taken to court. Mr. Eckert said option one would be to insist upon a severability clause. He said he is not greatly concerned because he does not think any payment would ever be made under this section, going on to say that to his knowledge, this has never happened. He said in the cities he represents that NTMWD is capable and does a good job. Johnny Smith asked Mr. Eckert what we could do if NTMWD will not accept the severability clause, to which Mr. Eckert responded the city may want to consider other options. Mr. Smith then clarified, if they will accept the severability clause and any portion of the contract is found to be invalid, the other portions of the contract will remain valid. He went on to say however, if there is no severability clause and a problem arises, the whole 2 00 86 contract would be null and void. Councilman Burchard stated that municipalities are immune under the Tort Claims Act and asked if NTMWD is immune also. Mr. Eckert replied that they are because they are considered a governmental entity, stating also that the Tort Claims Act has been challenged (in court) and has been upheld. Councilman Pollard said he is not sure the city would be immune from the type of violations that might be filed by the TNRCC or the EPA and Mr. Eckert agreed those are Federal and State regulations. Mr. Eckert then addressed Section 10 of the contract, stating it refers to the final obligation of NTMWD. Councilman Burchard said the council needs to decide if the city wants the contract bad enough to live with the two sections in question. Councilman Pollard said we need to look at why the city wanted to make the changes. He said NTMWD is a large group and they are used to having their way, but he asked if they really meet our needs. Councilman Pollard said our plant is old but operates effectively and NTMWD says they can operate it for less. He went on to ask if NTMWD will defer maintenance to achieve that savings and allow the city to get hit by TNRCC or EPA. Councilman Pollard reminded everyone that we had learned about the toxicity problem in Frisco and that it had been explained and that there is no problem with how they run other systems but asked if it is how we want ours run. Councilman Pollard said he is not sure they are what we need and that he would be interested in looking at other firms and from hearing from city employees for new ideas. Councilman Lynch cited an experience in Philadelphia with private/public partnerships where city departments bid against companies. He said (with NTMWD) if anything goes wrong, the city will have to pay unless NTMWD is proven to be negligent and that could be very expensive. Councilman Burchard said he does not agree about the maintenance being deferred because that cost would be a pass through and the longer we would be on contract with NTMWD, the better it would be for them (NTMWD). He also said he has a problem with "low bidder" projects, referring to the public/private partnership experiment that the employees might low bid just keep from going with a contract and then cut corners, which would put the city in trouble. Councilman Burchard said NTMWD is able to share technologies with all the cities, they have a lot of experience, they are up on EPA rules and will keep us informed. He did agree with Councilman Pollard regarding looking at another company to see if anyone can do it for less money. Johnny Smith said, "We got a letter.. I think the Mayor got a letter...it just came in." Continuing, Mr. Smith said the person sending the letter stated they had called two weeks ago and that he had not returned his call. Mr. Smith said when he checked the Noteworks Log, he discovered the call had come in during June, that no message had been left and no phone number had been left but the caller indicated they would call back. Mr. Smith said this is a private sector firm who does this in other places and that when he called the gentleman today, he asked how he learned about The Colony. The gentleman said he was at ICMA when he made the call in June and had learned about our project from newspaper clippings. Councilman Lynch asked which company and Mr. Sm/th said he had the letter and would give to everyone. Patti Hicks advised the company is PSG. Councilman Lynch 3 00 86 said they are one of his company's competitors, a worldwide firm. Mr. Smith reiterated they --.. are private, not governmental, that he is willing to look at our plant. Mr. Smith said he does not antidpate (a savings) and that Glenn (Briesch) helped answer the question that night. The private sector can do it, but the private sector has a profit motive like your company is a for profit business. Mr. Smith continued stating that North Texas is not a profit business and that's the only difference. Councilman Lynch said it is a hungry world out thcre and a lot of companies are dropping down margins. Johnny Smith said that the letter just came in and wanted to let the council know about it. Councilman Dillard said he went to see the centrifuge today and it is quite interesting technology. Councilman Dillard said he is confused why NTMWD would recommend using the belt press, which is a less efficient method when the costs are about the same. He said the highest expense is sludge disposal. Mr. Smith said that NTMWD already had the belt press and that is why they want to use it. Councilman Burchard asked if PSG has experience with the boat, noting that NTMWD does not, which might be a downside to the contract with them, if we decide to go with the boat technology. Councilman Lynch said when we go with ultra violet, NTMWD cannot help and that he would like to see what PSG has to offer. Mayor Manning asked where we stand and Mr. Smith said if we do not approve the contract then the city needs to operate the plant and our people need to know. He said the only problem is the sludge costs may be higher than budgeted. Mr. Smith asked Kenneth Huffman what it will cost for disposal and hauling of sludge. Mr. Huffman stated it could be done for $80,000.00 and went on to say that he will not need to have a lab technician this next year. He said it would be less expensive to "farm it out". Mr. Smith asked if Mr. -- Huffman can operate the plant with a maximum of $500,000. and Mr. Huffman said he can. Mr. Smith said that staff has learned better ways to operate and have already lowered costs from $780,000 to $500,000 per year. Mr. Smith said his recommendation is to hold off (on contracting operations) if we cannot approve the NTMWD contract as is. Mayor Manning noted we can change anytime if we want to. Councilman Lynch said we need to keep track of progress and savings. Motion to reject the contract with NTMWD - Pollard; second - Dillard, carried with a unanimous roll call vote. 3. PUBLIC HEARING ON A PROPOSAL TO INCREASE PROPERTY TAXES BY 3.47 PERCENT Motion to open the public hearing - Burchard; second - Dillard, carried with all members voting Aye. Mr. Asa Fletcher'asked if the increase means a three cent increase in property taxes. Mayor Manning explained there is no increase in the tax rate, just an increase in the assessed valuation. Councilman Pollard further explained that a public hearing is required by State law if the increased valuation means an increase to the public of more than 3%. Mr. Smith stated that if property values did not go up then the tax bill will not go up. 4 Mr. Bill Bausticker said his value did go up, but he appealed it and got it reduced. Motion to close the public hearing - Pollard; second - Burchard, carried with all members voting Aye. 4. WORK SESSION TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET FY 1994-95 Mr. Smith advised that the final changes are ready for review and the final budget will be ready for the council to adopt on Monday night. Councilman Lynch asked that the racquetball court be put back in as a Capital Project in Parks & Recreation. All agreed to put it back in at the amount of $17,500.00 Mr. Smith said he thinks all changes are included in this version. Councilman Burchard asked to see duties of a normal city secretary to the duties of our city secretary. Councilman Burchard said he also wants to look at all fees regarding new development and wants to create a pool of money for beautification. All council praised the work done on the Paige Rd. entry, which was done by Sunbelt Landscaping in cooperation with our Public Works Department. It was noted that Sunbelt will maintain. Discussion followed regarding Centex or Cencor assuming some of the irrigation costs for the median at 423 and 121. Councilman Pollard said this process has been arduous for everybody and while he is not totally happy with it, stating that if somebody got all they wanted then somebody else didn't. He continued stating this had been a cooperative effort and that he appreciated that. Councilman Pollard said he would like a little better information between now and Monday on how well the merit increases are going to track those individuals who, according to the TML salary survey are under average pay...in other words, we're approving merit increases here, how well are the people who are paid under the average according to the TML survey, how well is the merit plan taking care of them. Councilman Pollard asked how it is distributed and if he could get that information. Mr. Smith asked him to please make his request a little clearer. Councilman Pollard said the merit is based on 3, 4 or 5% although that doesn't mean that the people who are paid under the average are necessarily the ones who will be getting the merit increases and that he would like to see how well that's tracking. Mr. Smith clarified, you want the ones that come under based on TML, you want to see what they get, 3, 4, or 5%. Councilman Pollard said he wants to see if....He said we are trying to pay on the merit now, but we have a certain segment of the employees who are paid under the average of the TML survey and that he wants to see how the merit increases are impacting that segment of our employee population that is paid under that average. Councilman Pollard asked if they are being helped significantly by the merit program. Councilman Burchard said the merit increases should be based on quality of work, regardless of what their pay is. Councilman Pollard said he would agree if the intent was to throw out the merit program, but since it is not the intent, then he wants to see if there is something else we need to address. He said he doesn't consider the process necessarily 5 005368 to be set in total stone and that we can make amendments to the budget in mid-year if we find the opportunity and means to do so. Councilman Pollard said he wants to see how well this merit program impact those who are paid under the average. Mr. Smith said I can give ' that to you but it will not give you what you want. Mr. Smith went on to say what is needed is from here forward to start working with the Personnel committee and look at this. He said Councilman Hardin had also expressed concerns about folks that are underpaid. Mr. Smith :aid his understanding was that we would be~n immediately to start tracking that and agreed it can be adjusted mid-year subject to income availability. Mr. Smith said he thought that is what was going to be done so we can identify those that we feel are still under that need to be adjusted. Mr. Smith said I can give you the information but all that information is going to show is what the salary is and what the total would be if they get 3, 4, or 5%. Councilman Pollard said that would be O.K., that basically all he needs is who is getting what kind of merit amounts so he can see how well this is tracking. Councilman Burchard asked if the intent would be to also bring those persons who appear to be over the average down to the average. Councilman Pollard said he is not suggesting a position audit, although some cities have done that. He said if there is some way he can find some money to address those adjustments that information would be helpful. Margaret Burkett, Personnel Director said at the first budget work session, the plan was discussed to monitor the merit system for the next 4 - 6 months, review all positions and come back to the council at a later date. Councilman Pollard said that would be O.K. With no further questions or comments, Mayor Manning adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. -' APPROVED: 1 Mayor <~ William W. Manning, ATTEST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC City Secretary [SEAL] 6