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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/18/2003 City Council 007874 August 18, 2003 MINUTES OF REGULAR SESSION OF COUNCIL HELD ON AUGUST 18, 2003 The Regular Session of the City Council of the City of The Colony, Texas, was called to order at 7:02 p.m. on the 18th day of August 2003, at City Hall, 6800 Main Street, The Colony, Texas, with the following roll call: Allen Harris Councilmember Present Scott Ward Councilmember Present Joe McCourry Mayor Pro-tem Present Lynda Bayliss Councilmember Present Perry Schrag Councilmember Present Joel Marks Cotmcilmember Present And with six present a quorum was established and the following items were addressed: 1.0 PROCLAMATIONS ROUTINE ANNOUNCEMENTS,: RECOGNITIONS AND Call to Order Invocation - Dale Cheatham, City Manager Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag Salute to the Texas Flag Mayoral Proclamation recognizing National Payroll Week (Carroll/Crow) Jackie Carroll accepted the proclamation and introduced Margaret Barton, President of the Dallas Chapter of National Payroll Association. Ms. Barton thanked the council for the recognition. She advised that Ms. Carroll is Vice President of the chapter. Citizen Input Steve Parson, 4537 Shadowridge Drive read a prepared statement regarding the recent controversy surrounding the mayoral election. He asked that the city move forward and take care of city business. Mr. Parson asked that his statement be made part of the minutes. (See Attachment "A") 12.0 I CONSENT AGENDA I 2.1 Consideration of approval of the minutes of the council meetings held August 4, 5, and 11, 2003 C~Vilson) Motion to approve as written - $chrag; second- Bayliss carried with ail ayes. 2.2 Consideration of approval of council expenditures for July (Council) Motion to approve as written - $chrag; second- Bayliss carried with all ayes. 2.3 Consideration of approval for a carnival by Talley Amusement to be set up on city property from September 3 - 7, 2003, in conjunction with the Five Star Open House on September 6, 2003 (Nelson) Councilmember Harris asked about the company's liability. David Swain with Parks & Recreation explained they company provides $5 million insurance, which is more than the city requires. 00787 August 18, 2003 Motion to approve as recommended -Marks; second- Ward carried with all ayes. 3.0 I REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS I 3.1 Public hearing to discuss the proposed municipal budget for 2003-2004 (Koo) -- Mayor Pro-tem McCourry opened the public hearing. There was no input from council or the public. The public hearing was closed. 3.2 Discussion of the proposed 2003-:1004 tax rate of $ .7:l per $100 valuation for the taxable value of all property real and personal, located within the City of The Colony, take a record vote and schedule a public hearing on August 27, 2003(Koo) Ms. Koo said the taxable assessed valuation this year is $1,710,869,433, a 12.7% increase in property values this year. She went on to say the budget includes a proposed tax rate of $.72 and the council is required to set a "not to exceed" tax rate and set a public hearing for August 27, 2003 in order to comply with State law. Motion to call a public hearing for August 27, 2003 to discuss the tax rate which should not exceed $. 72 per $100 valuation - $chrag; second - Marks carried with all ayes. 3.3 Consideration of acceptance and award of bids to Site Concrete, Inc. in the amount of $2,971,700.00 for Memorial Drive and Office Creek paving, drainage and utility improvements and consideration of approval of an __ ordinance authorizing contract for same (Scruggs) Gordon Scruggs gave an overview of the project answering questions from council regarding the new regulations for drainage and run-off and the impact on the Ridgepointe subdivision. Mr. Scruggs said this project should improve drainage in Ridgepointe and that the new construction would meet all state requirements. Motion to approve as recommended at a cost not to exceed $2,971,700.00- Marks; second- $chrag carried with all ayes. 3.4 Presentation of Beautification Priorities and receive direction from council regarding planning and design of priority projects (Nelson) Pam Nelson presented the list of ten (10) projects which had been prioritized by the council and the Parks & Recreation Board. They are listed below in order of ranking: 1. Code Enforcement- residential 2. Code Enforcement- business 3. Information/Directional Signage 4. Improve landscaping around the City Buildings 5. Irrigate/landscape FM 423 Medians/R.O.W.'s 6. Seasonal Banner Program and "Keep The Colony Beautiful" Program (tie) -- 7. Entry Features on FM 423 8. Irrigate/landscape N. Colony east of 423 9. Upgrade existing trash receptacles on medians 10. Expand Street Sweeping Program 2 007876 August 18, 2003 After lengthy discussion, council agreed that Ms. Nelson should bring back more detailed information, including cost estimates. Council expressed concern over spending a large sum of money on improvements to FM 423 since the road may be tom up for road construction in the next 2-5 years and they all agreed that nothing should be done to that roadway at this time. Council further agreed that cost for water consumption, maintenance responsibility for each project is needed on all items. Council agreed that the less expensive and less time consuming items such as upgrading of the trash receptacles and the banner program should be implemented right away. Ms. Nelson will come back to council with a more comprehensive report for their consideration. 3.$ Receive quarterly report from Cultural Arts Board and provide direction as appropriate (Hill) Lori Hill, Chair of thc Cultural Arts Board gave brief overview of what the board has done over the past few months. She said that participation in events has increased. Ms. Hill told thc council that the board and the arts need the continued support of the city council. She further advised council that the board supports allowing the Chamber of Commerce to participate in the building project. Ms. Hill introduced Pat Hudson from the "Arts by the Lake" and Christi Martin from the Lakeside Community Theater" Each gave a brief report on activities in their respective group. In summary, Ms. Hill asked the council to continue to move forward. She also stated that thc board would like to have a work session with the council. 3.6 Public Works capital project update (Leverich) Ken Levcrich and David Drake gave a very informative report regarding the construction that is on-going as part of the Capital bond program. ADJOURNMENT - With no further business to address, the meeting was adjourned at 9:14 p.m. APPROVED: ATTEST: / $oe Mc~ou/ry:M~y~or Pro-t~ Patti A. Hicks, TRMC, City Secretary It is Now The Time for Healing The numerous elections for the position of Mayor are completed and we w/Il have a Mayor, hopefully tomorrow evening and neither candidate had a really overwhelming margin of neither victory nor loss. The City Council must concentrate on broader issues and put individual agenda items behind them, the city must be the only topic on any agenda. Hopefully all court actions will stop and the City Council as a whole can concentrate on those issues that is of importance to the City of The Colony. I call upon the City Council and our new Mayor Elect, to take a two pronged approach, one being; heal the wounds, either real or perceived and unify both sides in the previous political squabbling, and give 100% attention to the City of The Colony. This healing process is not a one position or one person effort but must take a combined approach from ALL members of the City Council to achieve. Additionally, I call upon the Residents to work, both with and within, the current city government to better our city and generate such a overwhelming show of city unity that we will, overcome all the bad press that we have received in the past and actually become a model for American Democracy in action to be both emulated and admired. I firmly believe that each side did have the best interests of The Colony in their hearts and actions and that no one particular side, was neither right nor one side wrong. Now is the time to prove through actions, The Colony is foremost in the minds and actions of the elected officials and demonstrate, the residents of The Colony did make the correct leadership choices, as each of you were elected to your current positions. Steve H. Parsons 4537 Shadowridge Dr.