HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/14/2000 City Council 8/14/00
CITY OF THE COLONY
DENTON COUNTY, TEXAS
August 14, 2000
The WORK SESSION of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 6:47
p.m. on the 14th day of August 2000, at City Hall with the following roll call:
William W. Manning, Mayor Present
John Gordon, Councilmember Present
Lewis Jue, 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 discussed:
1.1 Review and Discussion of the 2000-2001 Municipal Budget
Directors from each of the following departments presented their budgets:
City Secretary
City Council
Municipal Court
City Marshal
City Hall/Library Building Project
Inspections
Engineering
1.2 Review and discussion of proposed tree trimming program
Mr. Lambert presented several options to address the problem of tree trimming. The city has
received a proposal from Horton's Tree Trimming Service for trimming every tree in the city that is not in
compliance for an amount of $66,935.00. Mayor Manning said the council needs to decide if the city will
pay for all trimming or if it is going to be the homeowner's responsibility. Lengthy discussion followed
about options 'and which would be best and most equitable for everyone. Councilmembers expressed
concern about~ the city paying,, for having all the trees' trimmed, noting that would not be fair to those
residents that have already paid to have their trees trimmed. Options for how to assess the cost were
discussed. After council discussion, Mayor Manning asked the council to suspend the rules for a work
session to allow citizen input.
Motion to suspend the rules-Kovatch, second-Dillard, carried with all ayes.
Ms. Sue Walden and Ms. Betty Phillips, both residents on Avery Drive, advised that last year
they received blue cards from the Inspections Dept., asking them to have their trees trimmed. Both paid a
contractor to trim their trees to comply with the ordinance. Ms. Walden further advised that other
residents in her area also received blue cards, but that the trees still have not been trimmed and it appears
the city has done nothing to enforce the ordinance. Ms. Walden and Ms. Phillips said they believe
residents should pay for having their own trees trimmed and advised the council that this ordinance is not
being enforced.
8/14/00
After further discussion, council directed staff to implement a combination of options 2 & 3 as __
follows:
Option 2: Enforce existing ordinance, use contractor to enforce: We hire the contractor to cut the
trees and we file a lien against the property to collect our costs plus penalties. (This is the procedure for
high weed ordinance enforcement.)
Option 3. Enforce existing ordinance - make contractor available to homeowners: Trees will not
be cut at city's request, but at homeowner's request. (Some may not choose to use this option.)
With no further business to address, Mayor Manning adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m.
APPROVED:
William W. Manmng, Mayor
ATTEST:
Patti A. Hicks, TRMC/CMC/AAE