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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/01/2002 City Council 00763'i June 1,2002 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON JUNE 1, 2002 The Special Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 8:00 a.m. on the 1st day of June 2002, at 5151 N. Colony Blvd., with the following roll call: Bernetta Henville-Shannon Mayor Present John Gordon Councilmember Absent Lewis Jue Councilmember Present Joe McCourry Councilmember Present Lynda Bayliss Councilmember Present Perry Schrag Councilmember Present Joel Marks Councilmember Present and with six present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1.1 The Council will meet in a workshop format to discuss, provide direction and/or take action regarding the following issues: Health Insurance Mr. Cheatham introduce Mr. Tom Sawyer, with Financial Benefit Services, who gave the council a presentation regarding the future of health insurance for public employees. Mr. Sawyer advised that if consumer driven plans do not become the standard, then the only alternative may be socialized medicine. Mr. Sawyer presented a great deal of information regarding different types of plans available to employers. Susan Smith and Pat Doyle with TML Risk Pool, advised the council that TML exists for cities through the State of Texas. Ms. Smith further stated that our city's deductible this year is $1000, the out of pocket expenses are $2500 and the Co-pay is $25.00. Ms. Smith stated that health costs must be brought under control, going on to say that fight now, we are creating uninsured people because employees cannot afford to cover their dependents. She said TML tells providers they have to look at political subdivisions differently than other customers. She said employee education is crucial. Ms. Smith said there have been cities that left TML for other carriers and once they made the change the rates went up. She said now, most of those cities have asked to come back to TML. She said they plan to offer 2 different plans this year for dependent coverage in an effort to make the coverage more cost effective. 10:15 a.m. - Recess 10:25 a.m. - Reconvene Mr. Cheatham asked the council if they would be comfortable staying with the TML coverage this year instead of going out to bid. Councilmember Jue said he has an acquaintance that offers a unique and innovative plan that he would like the city manager to hear. After brief discussion the consensus of council was to allow the city manager to hear the presentation and then if the plan did not seem to meet our needs the city would stay with TML this year. 00763 June 1, 2002 Capital Items Eastvale Streets - There was a lengthy discussion regarding how to proceed with the improvements of the streets in the Eastvale subdivision. Council discussed the benefits of asphalt vs. concrete and the possibility of asphalt on all the interior streets and using concrete on Lake Highlands. It was noted that the council had previously approved going with asphalt and the project was about to get underway. Changing to concrete for one or all the streets would significantly delaythe project. Mr. Cheatham cautioned the council on how they state their plan for the future, reminding them that the next council may not agree (with the plan). There was discussion regarding requirement in the city's ordinances for concrete streets. Council also discussed the significant increase in the cost of this project if concrete is used. Mr. Cheatham advised that if they council changed Lake Highlands from asphalt to concrete, the money would have to be taken from some other project in order to cover the increase. Councilmember Marks stated it is not a good idea to take money from reserves or another project when the project has already been approved and funded. Mr. Dick Perkins, engineer with Teague, Nall and Perkins advised the council that the key to long life for asphalt streets would be enforcement. He said parking should not be allowed in bar ditches and the weight limits should be strictly enforced on those streets. Ken Leverich advised the asphalt would give the city the most "bang for the buck". After much discussion all council agreed to move forward with the project using asphalt, directing staff to pursue concrete on Lake Highlands sometime in the future. 12:15 p.m. - Recess 12:25 p.m. - Reconvene Mr. Cheatham advised the council that he had provided them with a list of possible capital projects. He said that there may be some funds left from the Paige Road project and if so, would the council recommend using those funds for improvements to residential streets or major thoroughfares. He noted that the residential streets are in worse condition, but the major thoroughfares affect the most people. Following brief discussion, council consensus is to focus on residential streets at this time. Mr. Cheatham then advised there is $500,000 not allocated and that some council have previously discussed adding a spray park to the Aquatic Park. Pam Nelson and Elise Knox gave a brief presentation regarding the systems available, ranging in cost from $120,000 to $270,000. After brief discussion council consensus was to pursue this type of project. The council then expressed their concurrence with the list presented by the city manager in their packet for possible capital projects. Debt Issuance- not addressed Boards and Committees - not addressed Council Priorities - not addressed Budget - not addressed Transportation - not addressed 00763d June 1,2002 Mayor Henville-Shannon said the other topics would be addressed at a later date. With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m.  ROVE : . ~ ATTEST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary