Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/19/2002 City Council 007700 MINUTES OF REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON AUGUST 19, 2002 (Before calling the meeting to order, Mayor Henville-Shannon congratulated Master Juan's Karate on a recent award they received.) The Regular Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:07 p.m. on the 19th of August 2002 at City Hall, with the following roll call: Bernetta Henville-Shannon Mayor Present John Gordon Councilmember Present Lewis Jue Councilmember Present Joe McCourry Councilmember Present Lynda Bayliss Councilmember Present Perry Schrag Councilmember Present Joel Marks Councilmember Present And with seven members present a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: I 1.0 [ ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECOGNITIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS: Call to Order Invocation - Councilmember Lewis Jue Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag Salute to the Texas Flag Mayoral Proclamation declaring National Payroll Week (Carroll) Charmyne Crowe accepted the proclamation and thanked the council for the recognition. Citizen Input Mr. Robert Medigovich representing CWD presented the city with a plaque received by the Denton Cooperative Recycling Council recognizing the city and CWD with the Environmental Vision Award. 12.0 I CONSENT AGENDA 2.1 Consideration of approval of the minutes of the council meeting held July 1, 2002 (Hicks) Mayor Henville-Shannon pulled this item. She requested that the video and audio tapes of the July 1, 2002 meeting be archived. She further stated that the word "not" should be inserted at the bottom of page 10 in her statement regarding the designation of right of way. Motion to approve as amended- Marks; second- $chrag carried with all ayes. 2.2 Consideration and approval of an ordinance amending Chapter 19, by deleting in its entirety Section 28, Blair Oaks Drive as a one-way street (Clark/Hicks) Motion to approve the ordinance as written - McCourry; second- Bayliss carried with all ayes. 2.3 Consideration of approval of an Amendment to the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with TxDOT regarding maintenance and operation of signal lights by adding two signals in Hickory Creek and removing one signal light in the City of Highland Village (Hicks) August 19, 2002 1 00770: Motion to approve the agreement as written - McCourry; second- Bayliss carried with all aye. 2.4 Consideration of acceptance of a settlement agreement with TXIJ Gas and Electric for underpayment of franchise fees (Koo) Mayor Henville-Shannon pulled this item and asked the city attorney if accepting this settlement agreement meant the city is also accepting a rate increase within the next three years. Mr. Hikel explained that approximately $14,000 of the amount of money the city would receive through this settlement is for underpayment of gas franchise fees. He went on to say TXU is asking to come back to the city and asked for a rate increase to recoup that amount of money, passing it on to the consumer, to be amortized over a 3- year period. He said the amount it would affect a consumer's monthly bill would be miniscule. Mr. Hikel went on to state that whether the city accepted this agreement or not, TXU would go to the Railroad Commission and the Railroad Commission would approve their request. He stated further that the $14,000 the city will receive for underpayment of electrical franchise fees will not be passed on the consumer, but noted that TXU has asked that we agree not to oppose a rate increase request. Mr. Hikel said TXU agreed that certain miscellaneous fees should be used to calculate gross revenues, which will increase the amount of money the city receives from franchise fees. Mr. Hikel explained that was the crux of the law suit and this settlement is ultimately good for the cities. He also reminded the council of an outside audit the city had commissioned, stating that the amount of money revealed by that audit as being owed to the city is not nearly as much as the $28,000 this settlement agreement will bring to the city. He said the only rate increases we are agreeing not to oppose are those through December 31, 2001. Again he stated the agreement states that we will not oppose their request to increase their gas rate to recoup the amount they are paying the city. Mr. Hikel explained the history of this lawsuit for newly elected officials. Councilmember Gordon said to participate in the suit would have cost the city around $14,000 to $15,000 and this settlement is bring the city $28,000. Councilmember Schrag asked if declining the agreement would keep customers from having a rate increase. Mr. Hikel said it would not, because approval of rate increases is a function of the PUC or the Railroad Commission. He said if we did not accept agreement then the consumers would not see an increase to recoup the amount, which would have been paid to the city. Councilmember Schrag asked if TXU wants the fight to recover the amount that they are paying out (under this agreement). Mr. Hikel replied yes. Councilmember Jue reiterated that the city can only express an opinion, but the city cannot stop a rate increase. Mr. Cheatham explained there are two issues. The council denied a July 1 rate increase request and that is not the same as this issue. This agreement is to settle a lawsuit regarding payment of franchise fees. Councilmember Schrag asked if this money is what was originally owed to the city. He stated his concern is that TXU wants to go 'back to the customers to repay their settlement. Mr. Hikel reminded the council that the amount the city will received through this settlement is approximately 92% more than what we would have received based on our outside audit. Richard Kuether, 4109 Driscoll said on the surface this looks good, but the citizens will end up paying for this settlement. Mr. Hikel again reminded the council that the amount that would be passed on to the consumer would be very small. Mr. Cheatham agreed, stating it would be no more August 19, 2002 2 than a few cents a month. Councilmember Gordon said he does not see any negatives to accepting the agreement. Councilmember Bayliss asked Mr. Hikel what would be best for the citizens. Mr. Hikel advised that whether the council approves the agreement or not, there is no guarantee the citizens will not see a rate increase because the city has no control over that. Continuing, he said accepting the agreement means the city receives $28,000, franchise fees go up to 4% and TXU will recoup the $14,000 for the gas portion (of the payment). He said he does not see a negative in accepting this settlement. Motion to accept the settlement agreement as presented - Gordon; second - Jue carried with 6 ayes; Councilmember Schrag voted no. 2.5 Consideration of approval of an ordinance amending Chapter 6, Article I, Section 6- 7, "Fees", approving a schedule of fees for building inspection services and permitting (Persaud) Councilmcmber Schrag pulled this item, stating a fee is just another tax. He asked if it could be tabled to give him time to discuss it further with Mr. Persaud. Mr. Persaud advised council the last across the board increase in fees was 5 years ago. He said other cities are in thc process of raising their fees and we will still be lower even with this increase. Councilmembcr Jue suggested re-visiting thc residential fees, noting he does not want to make it too expensive for residents to keep up their property. Mr. Cheatham also advised against waiting. Councilmember McCourry said it could be approved and then certain items that council questions could be amended later. Motion to approve as presented- Marks; second - Bayliss carried with the following vote: ~4ye- Gordon, McCourry, Bayliss, $chrag, Marks, Henville-Shannon No - Jue 2.6 Consideration of approval of council expenditures (Council) Motion to approve as presented- McCourr),; second- Bayliss carried with all ayes. I 3.0 I REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS I 3.1 Public hearing to discuss the proposed Municipal Budget FY 2002-2003 (Koo) Ms. Rebecca Koo, Finance Director advised the council that state law requires the city to hold a public hearing regarding the proposed budget. The mayor opened the public hearing. Janice Rose, 4801 Hetherington asked the council if there is any money in the budget for the cultural arts center. Mayor Henville-Shannon advised that issue would be addressed in item 3.7 of tonight's agenda. Tony Seller, 5961 Carroll addressed the council about the budget for the Senior Citizen center, stating the center must look to the future. He said the center needs a projector and screen and reminded the council that 49% of the residents of The Colony are over the age of 46. Mayor Henville-Shannon said she has heard a rumor that the city is getting rid of SPAN, and that she wants everyone to know that is not true. Lori Hill, 5949 Carroll asked if the city is looking for alternate ways to water the fields at the new 5-Star complex. Mayor Henville-Shannon advised that staff is researching other alternatives. She said council had also asked for a 5 year projected operating budget for 5-Star. Richard Kuether, 4109 Driscoll expressed his concern about the projected cost of watering the 5-Star fields also. He said he would like to see an operating budget and asked how it August 19, 2002 3 00771_' (the complex) will be maintained. He also asked when the dredging of the pond at Scout Park __ would be done. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked council if another work session should be called to discuss 5-Star. Ms. Hicks reminded the council that they have a special session on August 28 to discuss the tax rate. Mr. Cheatham said there is only one outstanding issue and that is in regard to 5-Star and asked if they want another meeting for that purpose. He said watering information won't be ready until after the budget is in place, however the O&M budget projections will be ready in a few days. He said there is a possibility the city can charge less for water than our normal rates. If we can, then the cost of water will drop between $75,000 and $100,000. With no further comments, Mayor Henville-Shannon closed the public hearing. 3.2 Discussion of the proposed tax rate, record vote, and schedule a public hearing on the proposed tax rate (Koo) Ms. Koo explained that state law requires the council to take a record vote and call a public hearing to discuss the proposed tax. Motion to call a public hearing to be held at 6:30 p.m. on August 28, 2002 to discuss the tax rate and to state the tax rate will not exceed $. 725 - Gordon; second - Jue carried with all ayes. 3.3 Public hearing and consideration of approval of a resolution approving land use assumptions to be used to amend a capital improvements plan under which impact fees will be imposed (Persaud) Mr. Persaud advised council that state law requires amendment to the impact fees every 5 years. He said staff has worked with Hunter Associates to determine appropriate land uses and that staff is asking council to approve those uses tonight. He said the process should be complete in October 2002. Mr. F.M. Carroll with Hunter Associates presented a summary of the Land Use Assumptions for the Capital Improvements Projects Impact Fee Analysis 2002-2011. He covered the projected service areas, population forecast, dwelling unit densities and other information pertinent to this process. Mayor Henville-Shannon opened the public hearing. Councilmember Gordon asked if drainage impact fees are included in this proposal, noting he doesn't want us to be caught short later. Mr. Persaud said those impact fees can be added later for specific areas, such as we had done for the Office Creek Drainage Study. He said we could look at other watersheds to see if impact fees would be appropriate, noting the engineers would have to review it and come back to council. Robert Parker, city engineer said he would have to define the scope of services, and then determine which areas to be studied. Mr. Persaud further explained that the city might not be able to collect impact fees on other watersheds because most of the land is already developed. Councilmember Gordon said he would like to see something by the first of the year. Mayor Henville-Shannon closed the public hearing. Motion to approve the resolution approving land use assumptions to be used to amend a capital improvements plan under which impact fees may be imposed - Gordon; second - Marks carried with all ayes. 3.4 Consideration of approval of a Site Plan for the Parks at Austin Ranch Phase III located on Lot 1,2, & 4, Block B, Parks of Austin Ranch, being a 18.917 acre tract situated on the B. Martin Survey, Abstract No. 827 (Persaud) August 19, 2002 4 00771 Mr. Persaud gave the background of this case. Mr. Lucillo Pefia with Billingsley Company presented the proposed plans. After brief discussion the item was approved. Motion to approve as presented with six stipulations - McCourry; second - Jue carried with all ayes. 3.5 Receive report on Police/Courts facility needs assessment (Clark) Representatives of Wiginton, Hooker and Jeffry Architects presented the results of a study they performed on the needs of the police and court departments and work facility. The firm was asked to analyze alternatives and recommend a solution by performing the following tasks: Determine the space needs, determine parking requirements, analyze existing building and site, determine if existing site is capable of future growth, develop conceptual design and budget. Thc study delved into the cities population, the departments' staffing, crime reports, court caseload, existing space and site usage. All the staff was interviewed during the process. Based upon the research and analysis, the consultants recommended the following: Keep police and courts in their present location and renovate to enhance security and efficiency; design and build to projected 10 year needs, provide approximately 9,000 square fee within the existing building for court and approximately 4,000 square feet for police; change public access point; build a two-story addition of approximately 30,000 square feet for police; add parking; modify existing ball fields to accommodate parking needs; provide secure parking for city vehicles; increase frequency of court to reduce size of crowds; phase in construction, which should begin as soon as possible. A conceptual design was discussed. A total budget of $7,730,000 is estimated to complete the project as presented. Chief Clark explained that the increase in the crime rate noted in the report was due to a change in reporting procedures, which caused a false "large" increase. He did state that the increase over the last two years is 35%. The community is changing and there is more activity. 3.6 Receive report on Fleet Services facility needs assessment (Johnston) Tony Johnston noted this report is due to some concerns raised by the council when the report was presented in June. Mr. Johnston said hc and Fleet Maintenance staff have contacted 11 surrounding cities to compare services. Items compared included in-house jobs such as preventive maintenance, light maintenance and repairs, special repairs/installation/heaving maintenance and repairs and jobs that are out-sourced. Mr. Johnston said in many cases they found it is less expensive to perform the tasks in-house than it is to send the jobs out. Items that should continue to be sent out include specialized and heaving maintenance and repairs. Don Owens presented information from the 11 cities surveyed to the council. He noted that his staff is unable to work on the fire engines because the facility is too small and that sending it out is very expensive. The recommendation is to build a new facility for not only Fleet Maintenance, but also public works and water distribution. The estimated cost for the entire facility is $2.3 million. Mr. Johnston said staff suggests this be phased in, beginning with expansion of the yard. He advised that currently there is not enough room in the yard to park all the vehicles at one time. Mr. Johnston also noted that the amount estimated for just the fleet services is $900,000. 3.7 Receive report from the Arts Committee and consider any appropriate action to be taken as a result of the report (McCourry) August 19, 2002 5 0077!,:, Councilmember McCourry served as the chairman of this committee and presented to the __ council the summary of what the committee had discussed in their meetings. Key Points of his presentation included: · Liaison and chairman are partners in the success of the project · Dual reporting authority from the liaison and A&E chairman to the council and/or the Dir. of Parks & Recreation. · A&E Board is made up of representatives from various groups to insure the broadest usage of the facility. · Allows for overlapping coverage of personnel to insure the facility is open and staffed during all events. · Leverages the use of scheduling software and equipment already in place at the Rec. Center · Provides for the growth of the Arts under the umbrella of the city, until it can become self-sustaining. Councilmember McCourry displayed a conceptual plan for proposed renovations to the library building. He said he believes this plan would give the city an opportunity to bring in revenue (by use of the old library building). He requested that council give staff direction to prepare a resolution establishing the board and that the council discuss finding a source for funding this venture. He also said the newly formed board should meet in a work session with the council to discuss the direction to be taken. Councilmember McCourry said the city's support of this program is very important. Councilmember Jue said it sounds like the board positions are more like paid staff and that at some time in the future a program such as this would need staff. Councilmember McCourry agreed, stating he believes a revenue generating department needs a department head and that he believes this will grow and become it's own entity. Councilmember Jue asked if the group had thought about establishing this program without the city in order to take advantage of grants. Lori Hill, committee member, said being associated with the city shows an investment by the city. She said grants are not usually given until the program has been in existence 2 to 3 years. Mayor Henville-Shannon stated the proposed organizational chart indicates the liaisons would be a voting member of the board and she noted that is not usually the case. She also stated that the proposed membership of the board seems to be heavily weighted to the arts. She asked if the facility was planned to be multi-purpose. Councilmember McCourry said it would have multiple functions, but reiterated the board needs to be set up first. Councilmember Gordon said the building must be multi-purpose. He said he wants the arts to have a portion of it and that he has no problem with forming a board, but he does not want to give full control of the (old library) building to the arts. He went on to say The Colony is only 27 years old and the tax base needs to be increased. Councilmember Gordon said he is sure other cities did not accomplish something like this in their first 27 years. He advised that (the arts) might have .to share the building. Councilmember McCourry asked the council to establish the board, make appointments and hold a work session to discuss these matters. He said the estimated costs to run the facility is $50,000. He said staff is looking at the recent bond issue to see if any of that money can be used for this project. Going on, he said once the uses are identified, we could see how much hotel/motel tax can be used for this purpose. Councilmember Jue said it would be fine to form the board, but said he would like to see projected costs. Councilmember Marks thanked the committee but said he thinks they should have identified the needs and then considered the "what ifs". He said it appears the committee assumed August 19, 2002 6 they would have the use of the old library building and they should have looked at altematives in case that building has to be used for another purpose. At this time, Mayor Henville-Shannon asked for a synopsis from each committee member present. Pam Nelson said they would do whatever the council requested. Sue Walden representing the senior citizens said they realize the need for the building to be multi-purpose. She said the senior citizens should be put in the old library building and the arts could then use the current senior citizen center. Ms. Walden further stated she does not like the name of the board. Helene Parker Chamber of Commerce representative said they had assumed they would be using the old library building. She said they want a place for meetings, noting the facility would be multi-purpose. Lori Hill, said arts is multi-purpose and needs support from the whole city. She said the old library building is the perfect location. Councilmember Marks said he is not against this plan, but noted that they need to have a contingency plan. Christi Martin, 5904 Madison asked Councilmember Marks to poll the people in Place 6 and see how they feel. Councilmember McCourry said the committee members are flexible and dedicated. He said if the city works hard, then they would all help out. He reiterated that tonight, the committee is asking council to direct staffto prepare a resolution creating the board and to set aside $1.3 million till we can determine what can be spent on this project. Councilmember Gordonsaid O.K. to the board, but advised that the public should not be mislead in thinking 100% of the funding (focus) will be for the arts. Mayor Henville-Shannon realizes that one group cannot have exclusive use of the facility. It must be shared. She said the council would interview for board appointments September 9. She said this board should look at the following: · Operations & Maintenance · Letting the chamber have use · Setting aside 1.3 million · I.D. sponsorship Motion to direct staff to create the resolution, which would create the Arts & Enterprise Board - Jue second - Marks carried with all ayes. With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 11:40 p.m. APPROVED: ATTEST: Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary August 19, 2002 7