Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/10/2002 City Council 6/10/2002 MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON JUNE 10, 2002 The Special Session of the City Council of thc City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 6:05 p.m. on the l0th day of June 2002, at City Hall with the following roll call: Bemetta Henvillc-Shannon Mayor Present John Gordon Councilmcmber Present Lewis Juc Councilmembcr Present Joe McCourry Councilmember Present Lynda Bayliss Councilmember Present Perry Schrag Councilmembcr Present Joel Marks Councilmcmbcr Present and with seven present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1.1 Discussion and consideration of appropriate action regarding city council appointed boards, commissions and committees Mayor Henville-Shannon opened thc meeting by stating that council should consider the following five questions when discussing each of the boards: 1. Define goals and objectives of each board clearly 2. How can council make the board more efficient? 3. When should we start the interview process? 4. Should some boards be eliminated? 5. Should there be council liaisons? 6. Overlapping duties of some of the boards. Mayor Henville-Shannon stated that council does not have to be on every board. She began discussion with council appointed committees. Animal Shelter Standards Advisory Standards Committee - This committee was formed several years ago to comply with State law. Since the city contracts with the SPCA for animal control services, the committee is no longer required. Council consensus is to eliminate this committee. Finance Committee - Tony Johnston explained that the original purpose of the committee was to review sensitive issues before bringing them to the full council. He said that it is no longer necessary and that staff can do without the committee if that is council's desire. Mayor Henville-Shannon stated that there would still be a staff committee but council would no longer serve on that committee. Patti Hicks explained that if there are not council members appointed then there is not a "committee." Personnel Committee - Councilmember Jue explained that one purpose of the committee is for the members of council to be able to brief other members of council on personnel matters. Ms. Hicks explained that the primary focus is budgetary requests, not "personnel matters." Councilmember Marks said staff should handle personnel matters without council. Councilmember Schrag disagreed, stating that personnel is an asset and that council should participate in discussions regarding personnel, going on to say it might help morale to let employees know that council is interested. He did say, however, that if council is not welcome then they should not participate. 007646 6/10/2002 Councilmembers McCourry and Bayliss said staff should handle these matters. Councilmember __ Gordon said one member of council should continue to serve on this committee. Mayor Henville-Shannon said it is important for council to stay abreast of personnel matters. She said the committee receives the complete budget request, reviews it, makes adjustments and then the adjusted package is presented to the full council. The mayor said if the council no longer serves on the committee, the full council should be given the complete budget package so they can see everything that has been requested, not just what the committee recommends. Mr. Johnston advised council that the city manager is very good at keeping all council informed of issues and that he is sure they would be kept up on all pertinent information. Ms. Hicks reminded the council that if there are not Councilmembers appointed to serve, then there is not a committee. There is only staff doing their duties. Councilmember McCourry said if there is no longer a "committee", then one member of council could attend the staff meeting where these matters are discussed. Ms. Hicks further explained that there is a difference between a committee appointed by the mayor and~or council and a meeting of staff members. The committee meeting is open to the public and must be posted. Staff meetings are not open. Councilmember Marks said we have qualified staff and we should let them make decisions and come to the council when necessary. Councilmember Gordon reiterated that Councilmembers are an asset and that he believes they should continue to serve on the committee to advise and help staff. The mayor stated consensus of council is that there will no longer be Councilmembers on the Personnel Committee, only staff. The following committees were kept in place: Voting Member of COG Metrocrest Hospital 121 Task Force Wynnwood Development .. 423 Task Force Solid Waste At this time, there was general discussion regarding council appointed boards. Mayor Henville- Shannon said we do get applications and those people should be given consideration. She stated that she had heard comments that it was hard to get appointed to the boards and that council should give consideration to new people who apply. The mayor noted that last year 14 applications were received and of those only two were appointed to serve on a board. She stated that all the current, sitting board members (who wanted to be re-appointed) were re-appointed to serve another term. Councilmember McCourry suggested limiting the terms of board members to no more than two consecutive terms. There was a brief discussion regarding limiting terms. Councilmember Marks said council has authority to remove, reappoint or not reappoint so there is really no need for limits. Councilmember Gordon said he did not think there were any problems with the boards, and "if it isn't broken, then we shouldn't fix it." He went on to say that if there is a problem then we should address those problems. He asked the mayor if there was a problem with BOAA or the Library Board and if not, then we should just move on. Mayor Henville-Shannon advised there was not a problem with those two boards, but there were problems with some other boards. Councilmember McCourry expressed concern that Section 3 of the "First Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation for The Colony Economic Development Corporation" included language that did not allow council to remove board members at will. Pam Nelson and Ms. Hicks assured the council that these board members serve at the will of council just as other board members do and that this amendment did not change that. 2 00764;,.; 6/10/2002 BOAA - Harry Persaud said that training for these board members is not mandated, but it is encouraged. He said the board has a very limited scope and only meets one or two times a year. Councilmember McCourry said this seems to be a very important board with a lot of power and recommended that we require training for its members. Mr. Persaud suggested that an ordinance be written that sets out exactly what the board can do. CDC- Pam Nelson gave an overview of this board She said the board has a good variety of members now and that is very important and helpful. Ms. Nelson said the boards' focus is on improving parks and the quality of life in The Colony. Councilmember Gordon said this board does a great job and that he sees no problems with it. Councilmember McCourry asked about the apparent overlap of projects between this board and the Parks & Recreation Board. Tony Johnston explained that the CDC is funded through the ½ cent sales tax and the Parks & Recreation Board works on projects funded by the General Fund. Ms. Nelson said that consideration had been given to combining the two boards and our attorney had given an opinion that it could be done if the council would grant authority to the CDC Board to advise Council on parks and recreation matters. Councilmember Jue said he did not believe the council should appoint new people just "because." He said if the current members are doing a good job then they should be allowed to continue to serve. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked how we would know if someone else could do a good job if they were not given the chance. Councilmember Gordon stated that the Council does interview applicants and gives them consideration in that process. Ms. Hicks explained the interview process. ED¢ (4A) - Tom Terrall gave a brief overview of this board, stating the function is business recruitment and business retention for the City, citing Home Depot and Pizza Inn as businesses that have come in and have helped ease the (ad valorem) tax burden for citizens. He said the biggest effort is in marketing the city. He advised that the council has to approve any significant incentive packages. Councilmember Marks said the Council could help by being aggressive to new development that's in the best interest of the city. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked Mr. Johnston to provide all council with a briefing on the meeting with developers along FM 423. She went on to say that we have to overcome negative opinions of the developers outside The Colony. Councilmember Gordon said he thinks we are overcoming that image, noting that being ranked # 1 in quality of life by D Magazine, means we are doing something right. Library - Joan Sveinsson gave a brief overview of this board, stating she has some very good, long time members on this board, who are an asset to the city. She said they would like to see others interested in serving. Ms. Sveinsson said the board advises council and makes recommendation on policies, planning and acts as a sounding board. She said efficiency is not a problem for this board. Parks & Recreation - Para Nelson gave a brief overview of the board, stating that they too act as a sounding board; they review requests, and make recommendations regarding policies and planning to the council. She said she has some long time members who don't want to be replaced. They have a pride of ownership in seeing projects come to fruition. She said the long time members bring value to the board. Unfortunately, she said the board has been plagued with vacancies this year and have not been able to meet regularly. Mayor Henville-Shannon advised that this board has been given the task of worldng on beautification of the city. The mayor asked Pam how the members would feel if this board was combined with the CDC. Ms. Nelson stated she thought there would be some hurt feelings. Ms. Nelson said she hopes the focus on beautification may help generate some interest on this board. Councilmembers Marks and Gordon asked what would happen if the CDC and P&R boards were combined and then the focus of CDC changed from park improvements to something else. 3 00764i 6/10/2002 Consensus was to let P&R stay as they are and a chance with the new focus before making any .. changes. P&Z- Harry Persaud gave a briefing on the commission. He said they are the plat approval authority of the City; they make recommendations to the council on zoning and SUP requests. He said the council could help by filling the vacancy. He also said the council could monitor their work and let P&Z know when changes are needed. He said the commission has discussed holding a joint work session with the council. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked that an updated training record and an attendance record be provided to council. Mr. Persaud advised some members have enrolled in the next training session. Special Events - The mayor said Mr. Cheatham has recommended eliminating this board, however some Councilmembers think it can be salvaged. Councilmember Jue said it makes more sense to combine this board with P&R that to combine it with CDC. All council agreed with that idea. Mayor Henville-Shannon said she would like to see another annual event. David Swain, staff liaison, said they are happy to plan as many special events as the council will budget for. David said two of the members would probably be willing to fill the two vacancies on the P&R Board. Pam advised that staff has discussed combining these two boards before. Council consensus is to combine the Special Events Board with the Parks and Recreation Board. Pam Nelson noted that the Special Events fund in the budget could be changed to a line item in the Parks and Recreation budget. Telecommunications - Clark Switzer advised council he had been on the board since its beginning 5 years ago. The board was formed to advise council on all telecommunications issues, primarily cable ... television. He said this is a working board and that if the board is kept, then people are needed who are willing to work and who know how to operate the equipment. Mayor Henville-Shannon advised that Mr. Cheatham's recommendation is to eliminate this board. Councilmember Gordon said he does not want to eliminate this board. Councilmember McCourry said we need to expand, migrate computer technology into telecommunications, and add an IS department. He said we should use as many methods as possible to keep the public informed. Councilmember Marks said we should keep the board, and suggested letting Clark Switzer and Walter Gillett conduct interviews with applicants to ensure appointees know how to work with the equipment. Consensus of council is to keep this board and to fill the vacancies as soon as possible. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked the Councilmembers to look over the list of council committees and let her know if they want to serve on a particular committee. She will make committee appointments at the June 17th meeting. With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. ATTEST ~ Bemetta Henville-Shannon, Mayor Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary 4