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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/18/1999 City Council MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON JANUARY 18, 1999 The REGULAR SESSION of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:30 p.m. on the 18th day of January 1999, at City Hall, with the following council roll call: Mary Blair Watts, Mayor Present Bill Longo, Councilmember Present Bemetta Henville-Shannon, Councilmember Present David Stanwick, Councilmember Present A1 Garcia, Councilmember Present John Dillard, Councilmember Present Dave Kovatch, Councilmember Present and with seven present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: ITEM DESCRIPTION SOURCE STATUS 1.0 ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECOGNITIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS: Call to Order Watts Invocation - Raymond Salinas, Colony Park Baptist Salinas Presentation of the Colors and Pledge of Allegiance Watts Presented at 1.1 Mayoral Proclamation declaring Dr. Martin Luther King, Henville- 1-18-99 MLK Jr. Day Shannon Day 1.2 City Manager and Staff Reports Celebration 1.3 · Chief Joe Clark updated the council on several issues: Lambert 1.4 New brochures, recognition in a national magazine, Watts "Beat the Heat" vehicle, arrest of 3 burglary suspects, Officer Assigned Districts, Citizen Survey and employee survey. · Mr. Lambert advised council of an irrevocable letter of credit for $1 million from Henry Billingsley, received as part of the agreement on the Austin Ranch Development. · Water rate increase will be on the 2-1-99 agenda. The consultant went out of town and was unable to get the needed information to staff in time for this meeting. · The article in The Leader on 1-5-99 regarding trench safety was misleading. The City adheres to all OSHA regulations. Employees have attended training and we have rented equipment when needed. · We need to analyze the problem with one of our wells. Cost and analysis of the problem will be brought to the council at the 2-1-99 meeting for their consideration. Mayoral Comments · Mayor Watts called Tom Coughlin with Wal-Mart OO?i2u regarding the signal light at Memorial Drive and 423. Equipment should be in this week and the project complete in 3-4 weeks. · The first meeting of the new Youth Advisory Council will be held January 27, 1999 at the Boys & Girls Club. · Denton County Day is February 22-23, 1999. Mayor Watts asked council to let the City Secretary know if they plan on attending. · Mayor Watts asked the council for permission to attend the Legislative Update in Austin on February 1, 1999. The cost is $95.00 plus travel and hotel expenses. Consensus was to allow her to attend. Citizen Input · Wayne Bullard, 6075 Dooley, invited everyone to attend the Friends of the Library Murder Mystery Dinner on January 23, 1999 at 6:30 p.m. · Jerry Rooney, 5301 Sagers Blvd., said the council does need to raise the water rates slightly, but that the increases suggested by the consultant are too high. · Kellie Wilcox, 5544 Gates, representing citizens in her area, asked the council to consider closing Gates Drive to through traffic because of the heavy amount of high-speed traffic. · Kim McGinty, 5540 Gates, also spoke in favor of closing Gates Drive to through traffic. · Councilmember Longo said a group is starting in The Colony named "Yellow Ribbon", aimed at helping to prevent suicides. Persons should contact him if they are interested. 2.0 CONSENT AGENDA 2.1 Consideration of approval of the minutes of the council Hicks meeting held January 4, 1999 Motion to approve as presented-Longo; second- Kovatch; carried with all ayes. 2.2 Consideration of acceptance of letter of resignation from Council Dee Hughes from the Planning and Zoning Commission Board Motion to approve as presented-Longo; second- Kovatch; carried with all ayes. 2.3 Consideration of approval of a replat as requested by Persaud P.Hrng Ridgepointe Office park, a 1.726 acre tract located east of 14-99 F.M. 423 and south of Cougar Alley Motion to approve as presented-Henville-Shannon; second-Kovatch, carried with all ayes. 2.4 Consideration of approval of a resolution authorizing a Sveinsson application by the Library for a Technology Advancement Grant from the Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Board Motion to approve as presented-Longo; second- Kovatch; carried with all ayes. 2.5 Consideration of acceptance and award of bids to C & G Sparkman Wholesale for the purchase of uniforms for city departments and approval of an ordinance authorizing contract for same Motion to approve as recommended (does not include jeans and jackets for Public Works or Parks & Recreation)-Kovatch; second-Dillard; carried with all ayes. 2.6 Consideration of acceptance and award of bids to Triple D, Lambert Inc. for repair of the Iola Lift Station in an amount of $64,000, and approval of an ordinance authorizing a contact for same Mayor Watts asked what happens to the sewerage while the pump station is down for repairs. Mr. Lambert advised a temporary pump would be in place during that time. He will see if time can be reduced. Motion to approve as recommended-Henville-Shannon; second-Garcia; carried with all ayes. 2.7 Consideration of authorizing increasing the amount of Lambert water purchased from the City of Dallas to 3 million gallons a day Motion to approve as presented-Longo; second- Kovatch; carried with all ayes. 2.8 Consideration of a renewal of a contract with Cowles & Johnston Thompson for delinquent tax collection (Item addressed following action on item 3.2) Motion to approve as presented-Kovatch; second- Dillard; carried with all ayes. 2.9 Review and consideration of approval of monthly council Council expenditures Motion to approve as presented-Longo; second- Kovatch; carried with all ayes. 3.0 REGULAR AGENDA: 3.1 Public Hearing regarding the proposed installation of stop Lambert signs at the intersections of Turner and Independence and Turner and Underwood Motion to open the Public Hearing-Kovatch; second- Henville-Shannon; carried with all ayes. Mr. Lambert reported that he had reviewed this issue with the Police Chief and City Engineer and the locations are found to be "traffic neutral", meaning they do not warrant a three way stop according to traffic engineering regulations. The floor was opened to the pubic and the following persons spoke in favor of putting in the stop signs: Sim Hanson, David Williams, Cindy Swinney, Charles Davis, Mike Brodas, Wayne Bullard. Ms. Debbie Laudermilch spoke against installing stop signs but suggested that centefline markings might be helpful. Several other persons filled out citizen input sheets but did not wish to speak, they did, however, want their opinions noted. Those in favor are as follows: Christine Gillick, Kathy Vaughan, Brenda Stefancik, Jennifer Fallon, Vicki Wright, Robert & Pamela Chesney, Greg & Sharon Henry, Debi Carroll and Michael Sherwood. The following persons are not in favor: Amy Henson Tommy Thompson, Bach Thompson and Arthur F. Thompson. Councilmembers discussed the possible effects installing stop signs would have at these two locations and agreed that the main problem seems to be with speeders on Turner Street. Speed humps were suggested as an alternative to stop signs. Chief Joe Clark advised that stop signs are to address traffic flow, but they won't stop speeders. He said the two issues are being confused. He said speed humps often cause complaints too. Chief Clark said the council needs to decide which way to go with this issue. Mr. Lambert advised the council that the city engineer is advising the council that the traffic does not justify stop signs, but he is not telling the council not to put the stop signs in place. Abel Saldafia suggested Children at Play signs might help in this situation. This item will be on the council's February 1, 1999 agenda for action. Motion to close the public hearing-Dillard; second- Longo; carried with all ayes. 3.2 Consideration of staff recommendation regarding city Lambert attorney contract services Mr. Lambert advised that proposals had been received in November and four firms were interviewed earlier in January. Hayes, Coffee and Berry from Denton have been recommended by the staff to represent the city. Mr. Byron Berry introduced members of the staff from his firm and thanked the council for the consideration. Mr. Berry and his staff fielded a few questions from council. Mr. John Hill, with Cowles & Thompson (current city attorney) addressed the council stating that his firm would like to continue representing the city. After further discussion a motion was made. Motion to accept Hayes, Coffee and Berry as city attorney-Garcia; second-Stanwick; failed with the following vote: Ayes - Stanwick, Garcia No - Longo, Henville-Shannon, Dillard, Kovatch, Watts Motion to retain Cowles & Thompson with a one year contract to be reviewed in January of each year- Stanwick; second-Longo; carded with all members voting aye, except Councilmember Garcia, who voted no. 3.3 Consideration of approval of a proposal from Hunter Lambert Postponed Associates for engineering analysis and recommendations From at the intersections of Hwy 121 and Paige and Hwy 121 1-4-99 and Main Street Motion to postpone to February 1, 1999-Kovatch; second-Dillard; carded with all ayes. I 3.4 Consideration of approval of a proposal from Hunter Lambert Associates for engineering services with regard to the construction of a water tower in The Legends subdivision. Mr. Lambert advised this project will take approximately 16 months to complete Motion to approve as presented-Stanwick; second- Dillard; carried with aH ayes. 3.5 Consideration of approval of an amendment to The Colony Telecomm. Governmental Television Policy as recommended by the Board Telecommunications Board Motion to approve as presented with new form attached-Henville-Shannon; second-Longo; carried with all ayes. 3.6 Consideration of authorizing a 5% across the board market Personnel Kovatch/ adjustment for city employees Committee H-Shannon/ Motion to approve as presented-Dillard; second- Longo Henville-Shannon; carried with all ayes. Mr. Lambert noted this does not include the city manager or department directors. 4.0 DISCUSSION ITEMS: 4.1 Receive report regarding the Hwy 121 Task Force Kovatch Councilmember Kovatch gave a brief status report regarding improvements to Hwy 121 within the city. They are not as high on the list as we had hoped, but the task force is working on moving them up. Acquisition of right- OU'7!bu of-way will help. 4.2 Water Meter Technology - This item will be addressed at Lambert the February 1, 1999 meeting. 4.3 Other - None With no further business to address, Mayor Watts adjourned the meeting at 10:40 p.m. APPROVED: ATTEST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary