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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/10/1997 City Council MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MAY 10~ 1997 The Work Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 9:05 a.m. on the 10th day of May, 1997 at City Hall with the following Council roll call: Mary Blair Watts, Mayor Present Bill Longo, Councilmember Present David Stanwick, Councilmember Absent (Personal) Wilma Avey, Councilmember Present John Dillard, Councilmember Present Dave Kovatch, Councilmember Present Also present were the following department heads: Patti Hicks, Joe Clark, Margaret Burkett, Van Morrison, Sam Chavez, Pat Dunlap, Joan Sveinsson, Pam Nelson, Tony Johnston, Dennis Watson, and Cliff Bormann; and with five council present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN COUNCIL AND DEPARTMENT HEADS -- Mayor Watts opened by stating that this was the chance for staff to yell at the council. Continuing, Mayor Watts stated that two years ago council had been directed to ask all questions of the city manager, who would then forward the question to the appropriate department head. Sometime ago, that direction changed and now council asks their questions directly of the department heads with the approval of the city manager. She said that seems to work well and advised the council should always try to speak to department heads and not a subordinate employee of the department to ensure the information is accurate and current. Continuing she stated that receiving council meeting packets on Thursday leaves little time for Councilmembers to study them. Councilman Longo said if it causes a problem with Councilmembers going directly to department heads then perhaps that should stop until there is a new city manager and then let the manager establish the policy. Councilman Dillard reminded everyone of the charter provision which states that no member of coundl shall give direction to an employee without going through the city manager, however, he stated he saw no problem with council asking questions of department heads. Chief Van Morrison said he prefers the council to call him because it helps communications and asked that this be expressed to the new city manager since it works well. Councilman Kovatch asked the staff to speak up, promising that their heads will not be chopped off. Library Director, Joan Sveinsson, also prefers council questions come directly to her 2 and she also advised that any librarian can help with research, which is confidential by law. Councilman Avey said she has spoken to department heads through the dty manager which is time consuming, and prefers to go directly to department heads. Councilman Kovatch asked how the answer will then be communicated to all seven Councilmembers. Sam Chavez, City Planner, said often it is not the question but the results of the question, i.e. research and suggested that pre-council briefing might be helpful. Mayor Watts suggested that the answer to any council questions (regarding agenda items) could be in the initial comments made by staff at the council meeting. Lengthy discussion followed regarding pre-council sessions, meeting times, televising the pre-council session, feasibility and benefits. Councilman Avey asked that at least the audio of the pre-council session and all board meetings be broadcast on Channel 6. Further discussion, after which there was consensus to leave the meeting times as they are, there will be no pre-council session, staff will continue to answer council concerns as they have in the past. Mayor Watts said she has been thinking of allowing questions on each agenda item for an unofficial time limit of 15 minutes per item. Brief discussion followed. Further discussion regarding the televising of council and all board meetings. Councilman Dillard said it appears that would involve many more hours and we may need to hire someone to do it rather than depend on volunteers. Mayor Watts said if the residents are really interested then they will volunteer to help. Further discussion followed regarding the scheduling of board meetings, committee meetings, etc and how they can all be televised. Councilman Longo suggested contacting the high school to see if there are students who might be interested in volunteering. It was also suggested that the Parks & Recreation Board meetings be recorded and shown at a later time, since they meet at the Recreation Center. Councilman Longo suggested that no radical changes be made at this time. Mayor Watts said she had drafted a "Council Consensus Sheet" to ensure there is no misunderstanding on how the council feels on items discussed during meetings. Council discussed how this sheet would be used. Patti Hicks stated that Pete Eckert, City Attorney, said the sheet could be used during open meetings, but '~e WOuld need to be cautious. Some Councilmembers expressed concern over being asked to sign a consensus sheet and Councilman Kovatch reminded everyone that during meetings, the council is often polled and the results are in the minutes. It was suggested that the mayor keep the consensus sheet at her place and reiterate the consensus after each item. At this time Mayor Watts reported the consensus from the first hour of discussion: 1. There will be no pre-council session 2. Councilmembers may ask questions directly of Department Heads, who will advise the city manager of the inquiry. The answer will be Part of the department heads' initial comments When the item is addressed on the agenda. 3. Volunteers are to be sought to help in televising council meet~gs, board meetings and committee meetings. If there is no response, then there .is no real interest. 4. There was not a consensus for the Finance Director to look into paying an employee to televise meetings. Joan Sveinsson suggested that Library Board meetings could be recorded and shown at a later time. Margaret Burkett said that committee meetings such as the Personnel Committee should not be televised. It was noted that it will be extremely difficult to arrange to have committee meetings televised due to their irregular occurrence. Patti Hicks advised that beginning with the next regular council meeting, two copies of the video tape of the council meetings will be kept at the Library for the public to check out. Mayor Watts then asked staff to tell the council what the council can do to make their (staff)job easier. Sam Chavez stated that cities take positions of either pro-growth, controlled growth or anti-growth. He advised that he, as planner, needs to know this city's position. Mr. Chavez said we are not out of control, we are getting quality growth, and that he is concerned about our direction. He said he sees it as controlled and therefore, he stops some projects that he doesn't think will fly. Councilman Longo said he is for controlled growth, that Sam needs some help and that we need to address that quickly. Councilman Kovatch agreed, but said he prefers not to hire an intern, but permanent staff. Councilman Avey also agreed. Continuing, Councilman Avey said what she envisions may not be what other Councilmembers want and, therefore, she believes the council needs to prepare a statement so everyone will know. Councilman Avey said EDC has a vision statement and the council needs to draft one also. Councilman Dillard said ail growth is controlled by our ordinances, etc. and agreed that Sam needs some help. He said we can't control who comes to the city to develop. Councilman Dillard said a mission statement would be fine, but that we need to be careful. Mr. Chavez said he thinks a council orientation would be helpful in defining for members planning, zoning, platting, etc. Continuing, Mr. Chavez advised that the Comprehensive Plan is the policy for development and the mechanism to make that happen is the zoning ordinance. Mayor Watts suggested a work session for Mr. Chavez to give this orientation to the council. Mr. Chavez then explained that his staff report which is prepared for council packets describes all aspects of any particular case coming before the council. He advised that it will be very short if the project conforms with ail laws, etc. Councilman Avey suggested a brief summary of that report to make it easier for council to understand everything without having to read the entire report. After brief discussion, there was consensus that Mr. Chavez will begin preparing a bullet sheet, in categories, on each item for the council packet. After further discussion, the date of June 9, 1997, was set for the orientation to be given to the council by Mr. Chavez. Mayor Watts advised that the previous discussion included items 1 and 2 on this agenda and moved to item 3. 2. DISCUSSION REGARDING COUNCIL PROCEDURES 3. RECEIVE INPUT FROM COUNCILMEMBERS REGARDING POSSIBI.~ -- 4 AGENDA ITEMS Mayor Watts directed that the name of the person giving the invocation and their affiliation should be placed on the agenda. Mr. Chavez requested that when a development is brought to the council, that staff and the presentation by the developer or business be allowed before any public input be received. All council agreed with this suggestion. Mayor Watts noted that a presentation track system is being ordered for the council chambers. Councilman Avey asked if items relating to one property can be brought to the council separately, i.e. preliminary plat, final plat, public hearing, zoning, etc. Mr. Chavez advised that separating preliminary and final plat is simple, but it may not always be simple to separate the SUP from the public hearing. Mr. Chavez said The Colony offers a personalized planning process which other cities do not offer. Councilman Dillard suggesting leaving the process as is and tabling items if there is too much to consider. Councilman Longo said it should not be in stone, but that he gets uncomfortable when things get approved before the council has the complete information. Councilman Avey requested that when items have to be on the same agenda, that recess be called so that any changes can be discussed with the developer before any further action is taken by council. There was consensus on the following items: * Spread out items coming before council whenever possible. * Mr. Chavez will prepare a bullet report for council on items rejected by him and those that are being pursued on at least a monthly basis. * Councilman Kovatch asked staff to look into an ordinance that would encourage occupancy of vacant buildings in the city. * Council agreed that there would not be joint meetings between the P&Z and Council. * A Planning Technician will be placed in the 97-98 budget. Recess 11:40 a.m. Reconvene 11:55 a.m. The agenda is to include announcement of roll call of council. An "Old Business" item is to be added to the regular agenda. Mayor Watts asked the council to name any items they wish to place on a future agenda. Following are those items: * Code of Ethics (old business) * 1/2 cent sales tax (old business) * Special Events Board (old business) Staff is to check into funding * Charter Amendments (new business) * Bond election for city wide street improvements (new business) * Billingsley property water and wastewater services (new business) * Review Tax Abatement Program (new business) * Status of Centrifuge installation (old business) ~'i~, :~',, ;~ '* ,'" SFR Licensing Ordinance Review (new business) * Alarm Ordinance Review (new business) * Right-of-way along. State Highway 121 (old business) * Carver Policy Board of Governance (old business) * Update new council on litigation (old business) * Joint meeting between the councils of The Colony and Frisco to work on the regional wastewater plant, and FM 423 (old business) * Home business ordinance regarding child care (old business) * .Vision statement from the council to all boards (new business) * Resolution regarding 121 Marina (new business) * Mutual Aid/Interlocal Agreements vs Joint Use for public safety (new business) * Update on advisory Boards (new business) * How does the city relate to the lake (old business) * 423/Josey Lane extension (old business) * Public Safety requirements as a result of future growth (old business) * Lime treatment update (old business) Mayor Watts explained how she plans to use the old business portion of the agenda. She added that she would like any correspondence sent to the Corps of Engineers should automatically be copied to Congressman Dick Armey's office. She also advised that she had discussed Roberts Rules of Order with our city attorney and that we will be adopting an abbreviated version of those rules in the near future. With no further business to address, Mayor Watts adjourned the meeting at 12:45 p.m. APPROVED: Miry Blair Wa~d Mayor --- - ATI'EST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC City Secretary 6