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Home My WebLink About12/16/2002 City Council MINUTES OF REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON DECEMBER 16, 2002 The Regular Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:05 p.m. on the 16th day of December 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 present, a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: I 1,0 I ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS, RECOGNITIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS: Before the mayor called the meeting to order, she encouraged people to enjoy Holiday in the Park at Hidden Cove Park and to shop in The Colony. She wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Call to Order Invocation - Holy Cross Catholic Church Bob Evans Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag Salute to the Texas Flag Citizen Input - John Gordon encouraged everyone to visit Hidden Cove Park and enjoy the Holiday in the Park He said the staffhad done a wonderful job. 12.o 1CONSENT AGENDA 2.1 Consideration of approval of the minutes of the council meeting held November 4 and December 2, 2002 (Hicks) Mayor Henville-Shannon pulled this item and asked that the votes of each Councilmember on the last page (item 3.1) be indicated in the minutes, not just the votes of those who voted no. Motion to approve as amended - McCourry; second- Jue carried with ali ayes. 2.2 Consideration of authorizing the closing of the communication Replacement Fund (87) and the transfer of the balance of $107,053 to the General Fund (99) (Koo) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second- $chrag 2.3 Consideration of authorizing a transfer of $174,848 from the Utility Construction Fund (22) to the Street Construction Fund (81) for replacing water and sewer lines (Koo) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second - Schrag 2.4 Consideration of acceptance and award of bids for the purchase of one ambulance to The Phoenix Group in the amount of $162,966 and approval of an ordinance authorizing contract for same (Adamcik/Sparkman) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second - Schrag 2.5 Consideration of authorizing a ninety day extension of the contract with CWD for recycling services (Leverich) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second - Schrag 1 2.6 Consideration of approval of a resolution urging the 78th Texas Legislature to adopt certain initiatives to preserve Texas air quality, enhance public health and promote economic prosperity (Johnston) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second - $chrag 2.7 Consideration of approval of an ordinance authoring a contract with Freese-Nichols to evaluate our current wastewater plant (Johnston) Motion to approve as recommended - Gordon; second - $chrag 2.8 Consideration of approval of an ordinance authorizing a contract with Freese- Nichols for the clean up of the backwash pond at the wastewater treatment plan (Johnston) Motion to approve as recommended - Gordon; second - $chrag 2.9 Consideration of approval of council expenditures (Council) Motion to approve as recommended- Gordon; second- $chrag ~ REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS 3.1 Consideration of approval of an ordinance amending Article VII, Chapter 10, of the Code of Ordinances by adding to Section 10-99 the responsibility of maintenance, Subsection H, I, and J (Persaud) Mr. Persaud presented two options as follows: Option 1: (H)(I) - Establishes that property owners must maintain trees so that branches shall not be closer than 5 feet to a street light fixture and shall not obstruct a street light fixture from illuminating a City street, alley or sidewalk. A Property owner in violation will be given 30 days to correct the violation. If not corrected the City will cut or prune the trees and bill for costs. Failure to pay costs will result I a lien placed on the property. Option 2: (K) Establishes an illumination envelope around the street light fixture, which is defined by a 2 feet diameter measured at the top of the luminary and a 5 feet diameter measured from the light pole, 9 feet above grade. The City shall cut, trim or remove any branches located within the defined illumination envelope at the specific request of a property owner or adjacent property owner. The city shall not be responsible for maintaining the appearance of the tree or the proper shaping of the canopy. Mr. Persaud explained that the two options are mutually exclusive and both cannot be included in the ordinance. He asked for council direction. Councilmember Marks asked if a citizen could request a variance from BOAA on this ordinance. Mr. Persaud said they could do that. Councilmember Marks said (K) does not seem to fit every tree, but (H) & (I) seem to cover almost all situations. Mr. Persaud said (K) might present an enforcement problem because it would be harder to determine the exact distances. Councilmember McCourry asked if distances would have to be measured under (H) & (1). Mr. Persaud said it would be easier to determine 5 feet straight up. He also stated that under (H) & (I), if limbs are not blocking the light, then they are not trimmed. Councilmember Gordon asked if the term "property owner" should be changed to "any person" since the property in question (the parkway) is actually city property. Mr. Persaud agreed that those words should be changed. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked if the citizens paid for the tree trimming two years ago. Mr. Persaud replied they did not. She further asked if the city could go ~head and trim all the trees in violation this time and then later the trimming would be the citizens; responsibility. Mr. Persaud stated that was in the first proposal presented at the last council meeting and if the is the direction council gives, then it can be done. The mayor also stated that she does not like the statement in (K) that the city does not care about the look of the trees. Mr. Persaud said to have 2 trees trimmed in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing would be very costly and would be a heavy responsibility. He further stated that when new streetlights are installed, they should be lower than the trees so we don't have this problem continuing into the future. He suggested that accelerating the street light replacement in some of the older areas could prevent the need to trim some of the older more attractive trees. Mr. Cheatham advised the streetlight replacement program is a long-term project. Councilmember Schrag said if citizens are given 30 days those who care about aesthetics will take care of the tree trimming and handle the problem. Councilmember Jue agreed and said if there is no response in 30 days then maybe we could let them know that a contractor will trim the tree within 15 days. Councilmember Marks asked if a citizen could request a variance from BOAA on this ordinance. Mr. Persaud said they could do that. Councilmember Marks said (K) does not seem to fit every tree, but (H) & (I) seem to cover almost all situations. Mr. Persaud said (K) might present an enforcement problem because it would be harder to determine the exact distances. Councilmember McCourry asked if distances would have to be measured under (H) & (I). Mr. Persaud said it would be easier to determine 5 feet straight up. He also stated that under (H) & (I), if limbs are not blocking the light, then they are not trimmed. Councilmember Gordon asked if the term "property owner" should be changed to "any person" since the property in question (the parkway) is actually city property. Mr. Persaud agreed that those words should be changed. Mayor Henville-Shannon asked if there was any urgency to passing this ordinance. Mr. Cheatham reminded the council that this ordinance was prepared at the request of a Councilmember. He said there was another Councilmember with a differing opinion and based on discussion at the last council meeting, staff had prepared these two options for council consideration. Mr. Cheatham advised the council that staff needs their direction on this matter. Councilmember Bayliss said giving the notice is crucial; stating that if the city does have the trees trimmed then the city should pay for it. Councilmember Marks said he originally brought this up because there are several blocked streetlights in the city. He said he is in favor of option #1 (H) & (I) and suggested amending the notice to 45 days. Joel Sabb, 4821 Arbor Glen, said even though the parkway is the city's property, he has to maintain it. He said the city should pay for the tree trimming. Joyce Fulco, 4712 Clover Valley said if this ordinance passes, there should be no enforcement during the months of November, December, January and February. Councilmember Gordon said he still believes this is a no-win situation, but that he understands Councilmember Marks reason for bringing this up was for public safety. Motion to approve the ordinance with (H) and (I), changing the words property owner to any person and amending the notification time from 30 days to 45 days - Gordon; second - Jue carried with the following vote: Aye- Gordon, Jue, Bayliss, Schrag, Marks, Henville-Shannon No - McCourry 3.2 Report on Paige Rd and Eastvale Streets (Leverich) Ken Leverich gave a brief report on the status of the Paige Road construction and the street and drainage project in the Eastvale subdivision. With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. ~PROVED: \ . (~ Be~Henville-Sh~nnon, Mayor Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary 3