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HomeMy WebLinkAbout98 0604 minWORK SESSION MINUTES Plainview City Council June 4, 1998 The City Council of the City of Plainview met in a regularly scheduled Work Session on June 4, 1998, at 11:30 a.m. at the Plainview Convention Center. The notice and agenda of this meeting was posted in City Hall at 10:00 a.m. on June 1, 1998. Mayor Lloyd C. Woods presided. Councilmembers present were: Sam Parker-Precinct 1, Ross Owen-Precinct 5, Bobby R. McGehee-Precinct 6 and Irene Favila-Precinct 7. Excused absences were extended to Mary Jane Shanes-Precinct 2, Rey Rosas-Precinct 3 and Mike Hutcherson-Precinct 4. Staff'members present were: Jim Jeffers-City Manager, Dale Simpson-Civil Service Director, Gary Glass-Fire Chief, John Castro-Director of Community Services, Will Mull-Police Chief, Norman Huggins-Director of Finance, Wally Hatch-City Attomey, Pat Hemandez-Municipal Judge, and Karen McBeth-city secretary. News media present: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald Guests present were: Pete Strom-Plainview Cable TV. OPEN MEETING 1. Invocation - John Castro. Review Agenda of City Council Meeting for June 9, 1998 - Council and Staff reviewed the Agenda for the upcoming Council Meeting. Items on the agenda that were discussed were: (6.) Zone Case No. 659 (3420 Olton Road) Specific Use Permit. Ordinance No. 98-3167. An Ordinance authorizing the issuance of a Specific Use Permit to allow for a private club in a Commercial General Business (C-3) Zoning District, generally known as 3420 Olton Road; Cumulativeness clause; Severability clause; And effective date. Second reading. John Castro told the Council the amendments the Council voted for have been added to the Ordinance with the exception of the stipulation regarding the back door used for deliveries. Since this building has a roll-up door used specifically for the delivery of supplies and merchandise, this stipulation was not necessary as in the private club adjacent to this property. The Council had no objections. Councilmember McGehee asked if it was sufficient to say the "subject premises shall be maintained so as to reduce or eliminate litter, waste or unsightly accumulations of trash"? Castro said if the "trash" or debris theirs, they have been put on notice. City Attorney Wally Hatch said this is as much as can be done until such a problem arises. (7) School Zone. Ordinance No. 98-3174. An Ordinance of the City of Plainview, Texas, designating a portion of West 24th Street between Houston Street and Kokomo Street as a School Zone; Providing for a penalty; Cumulativeness clause; Conflicts clause; Severability C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0694 wsmin.wpd Page 1 of 5 clause; And effective date. First reading. Police Chief Will Mull told the Council the Police Department received a request for a school zone for Coronado School. This school zone would be. on 24th Street and extended from Kokomo Street (West) to Houston Street (East). The intersection of 24th & Joliet is controlled by a signal light. The current speed limit for 24th Street is 40 mph. The speed limit on Joliet Street is 30 mph, except where the school zone is already in place in the 2400 block (North bound) which is 20 mph. A school zone would drop the speed limit to 25 mph on 24th Street. In 1997 prior to the start of school, a cross walk was installed on the East side of the 24th & Joliet intersection. Another cross walk is in place on the South side of 25~ Street, crossing Joliet Street. It is estimated the number of pedestrians crossing 24~ Street is around ten in the morning and around forty in the afternoon. Vehicular traffic is moderate to heavy throughout the day. There have been nine accidents in this area since October, 1997; three were on parking lots, two were on weekends, one was at night and only two occurred during school hours and only one of these involved a pedestrian. The pedestrian (a 13 year old male) ran across the street against the signal light and outside the cross walk. The Police Department recommends installing a school zone with flashing vertical lights on the premise that an unlighted school zone would be ineffective. Another consideration would be a school crossing guard. The cost would be approximately $2800 a year, with the City paying one half and the School District paying the other half. The Principal of Coronado School stated he would like to see a school zone on 24th Street, but did not think a crossing guard was necessary. Councilmember Owen asked how far from the intersection would the school zone be? Chief Mull said 460' West and 460' East. Councilmember Parker asked if police officers would patrol this area during the problem hours? Mull said yes, they do, and this does slow down traffic. Councilmember McGehee asked if the proposed road around Coronado School for school related traffic would help? Chief Mull said yes, but we don't know if, or when, the proposed route will be in place. Councilmember Owen asked if the City could meet with PISD and try to expedite establishing this "drive around"? Mr. Jeffers said he would contact the school system and get this process moving this summer while school is out. Mull said once the road around the school is in place, the school zone could be extended. 3. City Council liaison reports - Councilmember McGehee reported his attendance to the TML Small Cities Board meeting and learned about all the services available to municipalities through the Texas Municipal League. 4. Housing - Mr. Jeffers introduced the housing and housing survey topic for discussion. Councilmember Owen said based on the last Work Session he felt the City needed a "game plan" before devoting a great deal of staff time to a housing survey. He suggested determining how much staff time it will take and contacting rental property owners, including the larger rental owners. He said a full survey should not be implemented without devoting more Work Session time. Mayor WOods handed out a limited report done by a local realtor with pertinent rental availability information. It indicated there are rental units available. Mayor Woods stated he did not want the City to build any property that would not go on the tax rolls. Councilmember McGehee stated a survey such as suggested by the builders Everett and Corplan was too expensive, and the housing they proposed to build rented for too much money. Councilmember Favila said she thought the C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0694 wsmin.wpd Page 2 of 5 Council had agreed to conduct a survey. Mr. Jeffers said that was right, however Councilmember Owen spoke with him and said if the City Council was not going to sponsor any building, then the survey was not necessary. Favila asked how could they know if building was not necessary without a survey? Councilmember Owen said the extent, cost, and direction of the survey should be determined first. Councilmember Parker asked why is the survey an issue? He said he thought we needed housing. Mr. Jeffers asked if the survey should be put up for a vote? Mr. Jeffers said staff. would develop a rough drait of a survey for the Council's vote. Councilmember Owen said the subject of whether or not to get involved in building housing should be put on the agenda. Councilmember Favila asked if this should be voted on without doing a survey? Owen said he saw no reason to do a survey unless the Council intended to get involved in building. Councilmember Favila stated she wanted to see a vote on doing a survey. City Manager Jeffers said this was an opportunity for a commercial regarding Work Session voting. He stated this is an excellent illustration of the need to vote during a Work Session. Councilmember Owen said he wanted to know the extent of the survey, how many staff hours will be required and what the target market would be. Mr. Jeffers said both the survey and whether or not to pursue building a housing project would be on the agenda. 5. Rural Cable TV Co-op - Mr. Jeffers said the City could own such a system, which would be very similar to a rural electric co-operative. The question is does the Council want to pursue such. If so, other cities would be asked to join in this procedure. He said about $1 million goes to TCA Cable TV annually. City Attorney Wally Hatch said the cable franchise agreement with TCA will be ready for he Council to study in August. Mayor Woods asked guest Pete Strom, local manager of TCA Cable, if he had a profit and loss statement for TCA's Plainview office, not including TCA's overall operations? Mr. Strom said he did not know, but he would ask. Mayor Woods asked if he could get this information quickly? The Mayor said he would like to see a P&L for the past year and the current year-to-date. He asked if the Plainview TCA operation netted $1 million a year? Mr. Strom said he would ask for the reports, but stated he did not know what the local office netted. Strom continued to say that local programming is excellent and the local service is excellent. He said · they are adding programs and channels, with 80 channels in all. He said that in purchasing programming companies could not always purchase what they want without taking other programs along with it, whether they really wanted them or not. Councilmember Owen asked if the fiber optic cable they are installing is to enhance reception or to add more channels? Strom said it will add more channels, give better distribution as well as better reception. Owen stated he felt a key issue is other cities have programs he would like to see in Plainview, yet Plainview has plenty of channels, it just is not what he wants to watch. Councilmember McGehee asked when TCA would do away with the "box"? Strom said he hopes TCA will be able to do away with these in the near future. They are looking into it now. Mr. Jeffers asked the Council if they were interested in pursuing this project? It was determined there was little interest in pursuing this issue. 6. EPA Notice of Proposed Assessment of Class II Civil Penalty (Waste Water Treatment Plant) - Mr. Jeffers said the City has requested mediation of the proposed penalty, but at this time he does not have the amount, which is being recalculated. He told the Council there is a problem with the digesters. The cost of cleaning is approximately $100,000 but this will be addressed later and the C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0694 wsmin.wpd Page 3 of 5 Council will vote on it. Mayor Woods asked if the Council would vote on paying the fine? Jeffers said yes. Mayor Woods stated he believed at some point we must take a stand with the EPA. Councilmember Owen asked what happens if we "just say no"? Jeffers said when the Council took their oath of office they swore to uphold the laws of the land, and to do differently could result in severe penalties. Councilmember McGehee asked if the mediation process addressed the procedural aspect of the penalty? Jeffers said yes. Especially when we invited them out, they came, and then they fined us. McGehee stated observing due process is important. 7. Action Item - Consider action to preserve a viable recycling program for the City of Plainview. Mr. Jeffers reviewed the history of the recycling efforts of the City, from its partnership with MHMR, to its informal relationship with Rick Graves, whose operation is now being run by Dusty Stone. The most recent problem is the building previously owned by Graves and taken over by Stone has been "repossessed" by the Waco lien holder. Mr. Jeffers said the City needs to continue its recycling efforts and asked the Council to give their approval to allow him and the City Attorney to negotiate acquiring the building. He also said presently recycling costs more than landfilling, but recycling is important and it is the way of the future. One assumption is that if we own and operate the recycling center, the additional costs will be offset by the sale of recycled goods. The recycling operations are shut down now. If we get into it and it does not work, we can get out. Councilmember Owen stated he sees the importance of recycling, but asked if it is feasible to get MHMR/Tommie Lewis Industries back into the effort? Mr. Jeffers said he doubted they would be interested. Director of Public Works Ches Carthel said he knew MHMR was not interested. Mayor Lloyd Woods made a motion to authorize the City Manager and City Attorney to negotiate for ownership of the recycling plant. Councilmember Owen seconded the motion. Mayor Woods, Councilmembers Parker, Owen, McGehee and Favila voted unanimously for the motion. No one voted against. Councilmember McGehee asked if the City purchases the recycling plant will Dusty Stone run it? Mr. Jeffers said no. He said someone may be hired to run it. 8. Infrastructure progress report. Ches Carthel handed out an updated infrastructure improvements schedule. He said the Community Development Block Grant for the water/sewer construction in the E70 annexation will be added to the schedule. Dale Simpson told the Council the preliminary estimate of the new fire station is $785,142. The cost can be more definitely calculated once the site is selected. Several sites have been considered - some donated, some already owned - but none were in the right locale. The best location will be on S.W. 3rd, near the interstate highway. It is already paved, with concrete alley (alley can be used as access), and there are utilities already there. It is in a good growth area. The property is a little larger than required, but this means it will not be land locked. He said staff needed the go-ahead to begin negotiating for the purchase of the site. The next step would be to advertise for bids. Councilmember McGehee asked if there was any discussion with the Hospital District on their property? Mr. Simpson said ISO determined it was too dose to Quincy Street and the configuration of the property did not allow adequate access. Mr. Jeffers said if there were no objections, he and the staff would begin negotiating on the S.W. 3ra land acquisition. The Council expressed no objections. C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0694 wsmin.wpd Page 4 of 5 Mr. Simpson said the plans for a new community center in the Th Street Park came in at$65,000. This is considerably over budget and this project will be discussed at a later Work Session. The first set of plans for a new Municipal Court and Council Chamber were estimated at a cost of $450,000. Mr. Simpson said the plans can be changed in some areas to lower the cost. The plans included a Council Chamber at twice the size of the present one. He said one alternative to building was purchasing a building. There is a building located on Th Street, previously the offices of SPS, which could be used for the Personnel, Finance and Utility department with minimal renovation. The purchase price would be $175,000 and approximately $10,000 for renovations. It is not ADA compliant. If these departments were moved out the present City Hall, then Municipal Court could be moved into the vacated area. Councilmember Owen asked if there would be any cost related to moving the Court into City Hall? Simpson said no, Municipal Court could move in without changing anything. He went on to say another suggested alternative is to purchase the present Production Credit Association building, located at 919 Broadway, which is very close to City Hall. He said the building contains 10,000 square feet and could accommodate the whole first floor of City Hall, and possibly part of the lower floor. Simpson said he is gathering figures on repairs and renovations of this building. He said the asking price is $400,000 but believed it to be negotiable. He stated if it could be purchased reasonably, this may be the most cost effective acquisition of additional space. Mr. Jeffers said if the Council had no objections, they would begin negotiations with PCA for their building. The Council expressed no objections. 9. Drug and Alcohol Abuse Policy - review of personnel policy changes. Mr. Jeffers said the Council can discuss the new draft of the Drug and Alcohol policy at the next Work Session. 10. Ethics Ordinance - per City Charter requirement. Mr. Jeff'ers told the Council they can look over the copy of the proposed ordinance before the next Work Session. The ordinance is written straight from State law, except for the section dealing with appearing before other boards of the city. 11. Topics for Future Agendas - Councilmember Owen stated he would like to discuss the procedures for making and approving motions at Council meetings. Councilmember McGehee said he wanted the Council to discuss the watering practices for Parks and a general water conservation policy. 12. Mayor Woods adjourned the meeting at 1:16 p.m. Passed and Approved on June 23, 1998 Karen McBeth C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0694 wsrnin.wpd Page 5 of 5