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HomeMy WebLinkAbout98 0409 min MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION April 9, 1998 The Plainview City Council met in aWork Session at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 9, 1998 at the Plainview Convention Center. Mayor Lloyd C. Woods presided. Councilmembers present were: Larry Dickerson-Precinct 1, Mary Virginia Kirchhoff-Precinct 2, Mike Hutcherson-Precinct 4, Ross Owen-Precinct 5, Bobby R. McGehee-Precinct 6 and Irene Favila-Precinct 7. Councilmember Rey Rosas-Precinct 3 was absent. Notice of this meeting was posted in City Hall at 11:00 a.m. on April 6, 1998. Staff members present were: Jim Jeffers-City Manager, Cindy Gasaway-Administrative Assistant; Dale Simpson-Civil Service Director, Norman Huggins-Director of Finance, Ches Carthel-Director of Public Works, John Castro-Director of Community Services, Gary Glass-Fire Chief, Captain Danny Miller-Police Department, Wally Hatch-City Attorney and Karen McBeth-city secretary. Media present: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald. Guests present were: Wally Chavez, Mary Jane Shanes, Sam Parker, Tim Pierce-SPAG, Steve Mellinger and Kelvin Tipton. OPEN MEETING: 1. Invocation - Councilmember McGehee gave the Invocation. Review City Council Agenda for April 14, 1998 meeting. The only discussion of the Consent Calendar were the bids for pickups for the Water Reclamation, Street Department and Animal Control and a power broom for the Street Department, which Director of Public Works Ches Carthel reviewed. John Castro reviewed Zone Case 656 (item 4), Zone Case 655 (item 5) and Zone Case 654 (item 6) for the Council. Item No. 7 on the April 14, 1998 agenda is "Consider entering an agreement between Excel and the City of Plainview for water supply services." Councilmember McGehee requested an addendum to the agenda be posted with a stand alone consideration of whether or not the City should enter into a contractual agreement with Excel for the sale of water. Mr. Jeffers said this would be added as an Addendum immediately preceding No. 7. The City Manager reviewed the proposed contract between the City and Excel for water services. In the matter of connecting onto the water, Excel will pay all costs and after the construction of the water main, the City will own the line. Councilmember McGehee said he wanted a paragraph added stating the contractor that constructs the pipeline be responsible for repairs. Director of Public Works Ches Carthel said a one year warranty on materials and labor is standard in such a contract. Councilmember Owen said a Performance Bond also covers this. Councilmember McGehee asked that a longer period of time than one year be covered by the construction contract. Mr. Jeffers reviewed the Declaration of an C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0410 wsmi~.vi~e 1 of 4 Emergency clause in the contract. It says the City Council can declare an emergency for almost any reason, including curtailment of the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority supply of water. The Council calls for a Public Hearing, Excel can present its case, but the City Council makes the final determination and their decision is final. Councilmember McGehee asked if Excel used 1.8 million gallons per day, every day? Steve Mellinger, general manager of Excel, said only for 270 days per year. Mc Gehee recommended the 1.8 million gallons to Excel be adjusted to their average use per day. Mr. Jeffers said this could be accomplished by adding a sentence limiting total gallons that may be taken in a thirty day period. McGehee said the statement should be modified from 1.8 to an average and a maximum of 2 million gallons per day. Mr. Jeffers said these details would be worked out prior to signing. Councilmember Owen asked ifExcel's production was constant? Mr. Mellinger said it was seasonal. Councilmember Owen asked if they used more in the summer, would this be a production problem? Mr. Mellinger said their busiest time was not the summer months. Mr. Jeffers said the seasonal highs of water consumption for the City was one reason the emergency clause is so important. McGehee asked if any one else was on a "take or pay system"? Jeffers noted Cactus Feeders had such a provision. Councilmember McGehee asked about a minimum charge for Excel. Mr. Jeffers said it was built into the price of $1.43. McGehee said a contract with Excel should be similar to the one the City has with Cactus Feeders, and Excel should take or pay a minimum, of 40% the same as Cactus Feeders. Mayor Woods said the City wanted to encourage Excel to use more CRMWA water and not pump their own wells. The Cactus Feeders contract was based on a different premise. McGehee said he wanted to remove the "take" and say "pay" 40% of the maximum. Mr. Jeffers said that would encourage them to use more City water. Mayor Woods said he liked the"take or pay"clause as is. The Mayor said he would like to look at this contract at a longer meeting. He said the Cactus Feeders contract would have to be studied soon also. McGehee said this was the first contract document he had seen and he could tell it needed fine tuning. Councilmember Kirchhoff said the "fine tuning" is up to the City Manager and City Attorney. Councilmember Dickerson said any contract for water should be consistent with other water contracts, such as Cactus Feeders. Mr. Jeffers said the contract with Cactus Feeders will probably soon be gone if the City contracts with Excel. Cactus Feeders takes untreated water to water cattle, whereas Excel has to have potable water quality. Dickerson stated that all future contracts should read the same. Mr. Jeffers said there will probably be no future contracts, if the City takes on Excel the water supply will be max'ed out. Mayor Woods said the contract should be left as is. Councilmember Favila asked if the Industrial Foundation was in support of this? Mr. Jeffers said they have not been asked for comment. Councilmember McGehee referred to paragraph one on page two regarding the quality of water; he asked if at some time we received more stringent water requirements, it should not affect the water we supply Excel. Director of Public Works stated this would not be an issue, as their requirements are identical to ours, as they are a public water supply system also. McGehee asked if the water rate for Excel is adjustable as it is for ordinary customers? Mr. Jeffers said yes, if regular customer rates increase, the rate to Excel will increase the same percentage. He said Article III of the contract establishes the rate at $1.43 for each one thousand gallons used. Any water used above he maximum delivery rate will be subject to a surcharge of one and one half times the base water rate. In the event Excel does not use an average of 200,000 gallons per day in a month, Excel will pay a minimum monthly charge equal to the amount Excel would have paid had it received the 200,000 gallon average, unless its water use was limited by the City's inability to deliver the water needed. Finance C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0410 wsmi~.~e 2 of 4 Director Norman Huggins asked if it has been established that the water level at Excel is affected by the depletion of the water level in the City, and vice versa? Mr. Jeffers said no one can definitely say., but Wayne Wyatt felt the City's supply would eventually be impacted by Excel. Mr. Huggins stated that since we have excess water from CRMWA, it would be better to sell the excess to Excel than allow them to continue pumping the water out from under us. Councilmember McGehee said we should let Excel have CRMWA water direct, since our unused portion will not meet Excel's entire needs, then we should not pump any water from our wells into the system. Ches Carthel said it has been established that the water table moves horizontally, and others will pump it out if we don't. Mr. Jeffers continued review of the contract, stating the emergency clause put the City in control of the water usage. Mayor Woods stated he would like to see Excel shut down their wells if the City agrees to furnish them with treated water. He said the City has $8,370,000 in water and sewer fund obligations now and this contract would definitely help pay those obligations. Councilmember McGehee asked Mellinger if Excel was prepared to spend $1 million to access the treated water? Mr. Mellinger said yes. McGehee asked if the City got an EDA grant, would Excel still be willing to put in $1 million? Mellinger said no, if other funding can be acquired they will use the other funding. If other funds were not available, they will spend the $1 million, only if they have to. McGehee said the Excel transmission line will cost the City $1,215,000, with the EDA grant money. Mr. Jeffers said the water treatment plant improvements will cost the City $750,000 whether Excel comes on line or not. Ches Carthel said the only difference is whether the transmission line goes on the North side of the City, or on the Central East or South East. A pump station will need to be added so as to move as much water as possible out of and away from the treatment plant. Councilmember Owen stated that our cost to improve the water treatment plant is the same, with or without Excel, but with Excel we are eligible for the EDA grant. He asked if these improvements would enable our plant to handle the Roberts County water when it comes on line? Mr. Jeffers said yes. Councilmember McGehee asked if selling water to Excel would deplete our underground water? Mr. Jeffers said yes. Councilmember Owen said people have commented to him that we need to do this. He asked if our contract put the City in control? Mr. Jeff`ers said yes. Mayor Woods said he would like to have an earlier pre-session on Tuesday night to discuss this further. He suggested 6:00 p.m. rather than 7:00 p.m. and no one objected. The city secretary was instructed to add this to the addendum posting. Tim Pierce, with the South Plains Association of Governments was asked by Councilmember Owen if the availability of the EDA grant was for certain. Mr. Pierce said the Economic Development Administration is a Federal agency that contacted SPAG saying they have not made this type of grant in this area in a while. The grant must be tied to job retention or creation. EDA has a finite amount of money, and some has been earmarked for this specific project. It must be awarded by September 1, of this year and that is why time is of prime importance. If the City moves quickly, an extension of two to three weeks might be gained, but to get the grant at all, it must be applied for very soon. Mr. Jeff`ers said there is also the Texas Capital Fund which may have money for this type project, but Excel has not yet agreed to apply for such. 3. Council Liaison Reports: Councilmember Kirchhoff reported on the Clean Up Day recently held in the City. She said it was quite successful, with 17 tons of junk and trash taken to the landfill. She reported the Hale CoUnty Appraisal District board had a new chairman, David McDonald. The C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0410 wsmi~.~'?~e 3 of 4 building remodeling at the Appraisal District office is going well and she encouraged councilmembers to go see it. She attended the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority meeting and reported many things are happening. They approved to contract for general engineering services for any need which might arise, but not a particular job. The Arkansas River Shiner suit was discussed. She said it was a very productive and informative meeting. 4. Multiple Family Housing: Mr. Jeffers reported that The Everett Company and Corplan will not work together on a feasibility report. He said that Everett's project would cost less, and Everett would be easier to work with. It was determined that this needed more Work Session time than was available. It will be considered at a later Work Session. Items 5, 6, 7 and 8 will be discussed at a future Work Session. 9. Mr. Jeff.ers told the Council if the intersection ofSW 3ra and Ennis did not meet warrants the Texas Department of Transportation indicated they may install a reduced speed school zone, if the City requested such. The Council was asked to begin reviewing this alternative proposal. 10. This item will be discussed at a future Work Session. 11. Architect for Building Projects, Mr. Jeffers informed the Council that the building committees had progressed to the point where they needed a professional, such as an architect, to do the cost/specifications on the proposed fire station, community meeting building and municipal court/council chambers. He proposed that James Robison be hired for this job, but that there may be a potential conflict of interest since Mr. Robison owns the SPS building which is being considered. The Council had no objections to this. 12. Mayor Pro-Tem review of selection policy. Mr. Jeff.ers told the Council that historically, each May the Mayor Pro-Tem position rotated to the Councilmember with the highest seniority. If Councilmember Rosas won the election, he would become Mayor Pro-Tem. In the event he is not re-elected, the position will pass to Councilmember Owen, giving his previous tenure on the Council. In the interest of time, the City Manager Reports and topics for future agendas were not reviewed. Mayor Woods adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m. Passed and approved on April 28, 1998. Karen McBeth City Secretary C:\MyFiles\Work Session Minutes\98 0410 wsmi~l~e 4 of 4