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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/03/2001 City Council 12/3/2001 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON DECEMBER 3, 2001 The REGULAR SESSION of the CITY COUNCIL of the City of The Colony, Texas was called to order at 7:03 p.m. on the 3rd of DECEMBER 2001 at City Hall with the following council roll call: Bemetta Henville-Shannon, Mayor Present John Gordon, Councilmember Present Lewis Jue, Councilmember Present David Stanwick, Councilmember Present A1 Garcia, Councilmember Present John Dillard, Councilmember Absent (Arrived 7:15 p.m.) Dave Kovatch, Councilmember Present and with six present, the following items were addressed: I 1.0 I ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECOGNITIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS: I Call to Order Invocation - Councilmember John Gordon Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag Salute to the Texas Flag Mayoral Comments The signal light at Morning Star and Hwy 121 should be complete by the end of January 2002. The Christmas Parade and Christmas Tree Lighting were wonderful. Thanks to all who made it a success. 1.1 Citizen Input John Klaiber, Waste Management. His company is interested in the city's recycling contract 12.0 I CONSENT AGENDA I 2.1 Consideration of approval of the minutes of the council meeting held November 19 and 20, 2001 (Hicks) Motion to approve the minutes as written - Stanwick; second- Garcia carried with all ayes. 2.2 Consideration of approval of an ordinance authorizing the 2001-2002 annual administrative contract between the City of The Colony and The Colony Economic Development Board (4A) (Terrall) Motion to approve the ordinance as written - $tanwick; second - Garcia carried with all ayes. 2.3 Consideration of appointment of Norman Lang to Place 4 of The Colony Economic Development Board of Directors (4A) (Council) Motion to appoint Norman Land to the EDC Board- $tanwick; second- Garcia carried with all ayes. 12/3/2001 13.0 I REGULAR AGENDA: I 3.1 Public Hearing on application of Center Stage, requesting approval of a Specific Use Permit to allow for a dance studio within the Shopping Center "SC" zoning district classification, located in the Lake Ridge Plaza Shopping Center and situated at Suite #131, 6700 Main Street, The Colony and consideration of approval of an ordinance granting the Specific Use Permit (Persaud) 7:15 p.m. Councilmember John Dillard Arrived Mayor Henville-Shannon opened the public heating. Harry Persaud gave a brief presentation regarding the request. There were no comments from the public or the council. Mayor Henville-Shannon closed the public heating. Motion to approve ordinance with staff and P&Z stipulations - Stanwick; second - Kovatch carried with all ayes. 3.2 Review and consideration of appropriate action regarding proposed amendments to be placed on the ballot in an election to be held February 2, 2002 (Council) Gordon Hikel, city attorney, reviewed the changes he had made since the council last discussed the charter amendments. Mr. Hikel advised that the changes he made to 11.04 (d) would allow the deletion of 11.05 completely. He further stated that 11.04 (d) now requires the abstention from discussion at any public meeting. Councilmember Kovatch noted that 11.05 (b) states that Councilmembers are not to influence other Councilmembers to try to get their vote. Mr. Hikel said the charter cannot take away a Councilmember's tight as a citizen to speak to -- others. Councilmember Stanwick said he understands the intent (of that section) but said it would be hard to determine what constitutes "lobbying" and that he believes limiting the discussion to public meetings is sufficient. He said all Councilmembers should be able to determine what to do if approached by someone who is attempting to lobby for votes. Councilmember Dillard said the council should not be that worried about one person influencing another member. Councilmember Kovatch said if the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) still applies then he is not so worried about that section being included. Mr. Hikel assured him that TOMA does apply when there is a quorum, but not when the conversation is between one Councilmember to another Councilmember. Consensus of council is to amend section 11.04 (d) to read as follows and to eliminate 11.05 from the propositions. (d) Required Filing of Affidavit & Abstaining. An official who has a "substantial interest" in a business entity or real property must do two things: (i) Immediately upon the matter in question being filed or submitted to the City for formal consideration, file an affidavit with the City Secretary revealing the nature and extent of the interest with the governing body; and (ii) Abstain from further discussion of the matter at any public meeting. Councilmember Stanwick stated that he has serious reservations about section 11.03 which would require Councilmembers, city officials and their relatives to disclose ownership or equitable interest in property within the city. He went on to say that with everything else that will be in place, this is not needed. -- Mayor Henville-Shannon said this serves two purposes. She said real property ownership is already public information. Councilmember Stanwick agreed, but said equitable interest information is not necessarily public. The Mayor said this would protect members who have 12/3/2001 inadvertently forgotten to file the affidavit required in 11.04. She went on to say that due to our history, this should be included in our charter. Councilmember Jue disagreed. He said all the Councilmembers are adults and should be responsible enough to file the property documents He said if this is in place, he would have to file his business information and that has nothing to do with the city. Mayor Henville-Shannon said the committee had recommended adding this section. Councilmember Gordon reminded the mayor that the majority of the committee had not been in favor of this section and that he did not believe it was needed. Councilmember Kovatch asked if this could be broken out as a separate proposition? Councilmember Gordon asked if this section is based on State law. Mr. Hikel advised that it is not, this section was taken from another city's charter. Councilmember Stanwick requested a consensus on this section. The following Councilmembers indicated they did not want to include this section as part of the proposition - Gordon, Jue, Stanwick, Garcia and Dillard. Consensus is to delete section 11.03 from the proposition to be placed on the ballot. Councilmember Stanwick noted that some propositions needed to be grouped together on the ballot to ensure continuity and compliance with State law. One example is 2.02 and 2.06. Both need to pass in order for the charter to be compliant. After brief discussion, council agreed to place 2.02 and 2.06 on the ballot as Proposition No. 1 and to leave 2.06 as a stand-alone proposition also. That would mean that if the terms of office proposition failed the method of election could possibly be amended anyway. Council also agreed to change the number of days allowed to call a special election from 120 to 60. There was consensus from council on all propositions as follows: Proposition No. 1 - Parts A & B as amended Proposition No. 2 - As presented Proposition No. 3 - As presented Proposition No. 4 - As presented Proposition No. 5 - As presented Proposition No. 6 - As amended Proposition No. 7 - As presented Proposition No. 8 - As presented Proposition No. 8 - As presented Proposition No. 9 - As presented Proposition No. 10 - As presented Proposition No. 11 - As amended - deleting sec. 11.03 and 11.05, amending 11.04 (d) 3.3 Consideration of a resolution ordering an election to be held in The Colony, Texas on the 2nd day of February 2002 for the purpose of submitting to the qualified voters of the city certain proposed amendments to the existing city charter (Council) Motion to approve the resolution as written - Gordon; second - Kovatch carried with all ayes. 4.0 CITY MANAGER AND STAFF REPORTS ] 4.1 Receive a report and discussion regarding the adoption of the International Residential and National Electrical Codes (Persaud) Harry Persaud and Larry Homes gave the council a report on the proposal to adopt the International Residential and National Electrical Codes. Staff reported that HB 365 adopts the IRC for one and two family dwellings as the municipal residential building codes for the State of Texas. Cities have until January 1, 2002 to make the transition and enforce the new code. Specific amendments to the IRC have been made by NCTCOG. Staff proposes that those additional amendments to the IRC be made which are applicable to our city and that the city council 12/3/2001 approve the National Electrical Code as adopted by NCTCOG. Staff is also recommending that new administrative procedures be adopted. -- Following the presentation, Councilmember Jue asked the inspectors if they could foresee any problems if the city adopted these codes as presented. Mr. Bob Hutchison said he saw no legal problem, and that he is in agreement with most of it, but noted there are very few amendments to what we are already doing. He recommended adopting the 1999 Electrical Code. Councilmember Dillard said he doesn't think we have to do this and stated it is the State trying to force cities to something they don't need to do. At this time, Mayor Henville-Shannon advised council that Mr. Richard Boyer had signed up to speak under item 3.2 and she had failed to call on him. The council agreed to hear Mr. Boyer's comments. Mr. Boyer said he is against placing the 3-year terms on the ballot. He said people are not concerned about this, noting the current system works fine by keeping the council on their toes. He said stability is not a problem and when the citizens want change they create change by voting. (in council elections) With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. APPROVED: Bernetta Henville-Shannon, Mayor ATTEST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary