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HomeMy WebLinkAbout98 0319 min MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Plainview City Council March 19, 1998 The Plainview City council met in a Work Session at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, 1998 at the Plainview Convention Center. Notice of this meeting was posted in City Hall at 11:00 a.m. on March 16, 1998. Mayor Lloyd C. Woods presided. Councilmembers present were: Larry Dickerson-Precinct 1, Mike Hutcherson-Precinct 4, Ross Owen-Precinct 5, Bobby R. McGehee-Precinct 6 and Irene Favila-Precinct 7. Absent Councilmembers were: Mary Virginia Kirchhoff-Precinct 2 and Rey Rosas-Precinct 3. Staff members present were: Jim Jeffers-City Manager, Ches Carthel-Director of Public Works, Dale Simpson-Civil Service Director, Gary Glass-Fire Chief, Wally Hatch-City Attorney, John Castro-Director of Community Services, Norman Huggins-Director of Finance, William Mull-Police Chief and Karen McBeth-city secretary. News media present: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald. Steve Meilinger, Manager of Excel Corporation, was a guest. OPEN MEETING: 1. Councilmember Ross Owen gave the Invocation. Review of City Council Agenda for March 24, 1998. In reviewing the bids for seal coat material Mayor Woods asked if private contractors could be used for the summer seal coat program? Director of Public Works Ches Carthel said he would inquire into the possibility of bidding this work out and let the Mayor and Council know what he learns. Councilmember Owen asked if the material in this bid was for street repairs, rebuilding or sealing? Ches Carthel said seal coating, which is repair only. City Manager Jeffers said that per the Bond Infrastructure Committee, all reconstruction and street building will be bid and done on a package basis. The City will design and inspect. Mr. Jeffers said this will be discussed at length during Budget deliberations. Councilmember McGehee asked if the City would need to purchase any new equipment for seal coating? Ches Carthel said the department needs a rubber tire roller and some other equipment needs replacing, but replacement is not imminent. The City did not seal coat all of the streets anticipated last year, but there is money in the budget to do 20 to 25 percent each year, also the asphalt distributor has had some repairs and is in need of further repair. Councilmember McGehee asked if there was enough rock and asphalt in this bid to do it all? Ches Carthel said yes. Councilmember Owen asked if the primary reason for seal coating was to prevent water and weather damage? Carthel said, yes, to prevent and repair C:~MyFiles~Work Session Minutes~98 0319 ws~il{~bd~ of 4 damage from wet and cold weather. 3. City Council Liaison Reports. There were none. Multiple Family Housing Project. John Castro, Director of Community Services asked Everett Development Management and Corplan Housing specific questions and provided Council and Staff with a written report of those answers. Mr. Castro said his intent was to get clearer answers to the pertinent questions of exactly how to do certain things needed prior to contracting with either company to build housing. Everett said to use SPAG as the finance corporation, it was set up for this purpose. Everett said the City would have some input into site selection. The bond sales would net Everett 3%, as opposed to netting Corplan 6%. The minhnmn number of units Everett will build is 30 to 35; Corplan 96 to 120 units, depending on cost of land and rent levels, and Corplan will get a 1% management fee. Mr. Castro said he felt Everett had a clearer grasp of the facts regarding the feasibility study. Mr. Jeff, rs stated that administration has checked out the Everett company, but has not checked out Corplan. Councilmember McGehee asked how unbiased are feasibility studies? Mr. Castro said studies done in 1992 show we need 40 to 50 units. The Everett company uses a firm in Austin to conduct their feasibility studies and is responsible for the entire process. Corplan would ~commission" the study through a firm acceptable to the investor. Mr. Jeffers said the City will need to determine the true need for housing in Plainview, being over built is as bad as under built. Mayor Woods asked if the feasibility study should be done. Councihnember Favila asked if the City could get one done independently? Mr. Jeffers said we could ask both entities to do a study and then choose. Councilmember Owen said feasibility studies are often slanted. Councilmember McGehee said we should set the parameters and let them do the studies. Mr. Jeffers asked the Council what direction they were interested in moving on this? Mayor Woods stated he felt the Everett company was the one most responsive to the City's present needs. Councilmember McGehee said Corplan may remove themselves from the project if Plainview does not want 100 plus units. Mr. Jeff, rs said he would move forward with a feasibility study and ask if the builders cooperate on the study. The Council would need to approve who and what areas would be covered, if the two companies would be willing to pay for it. There were no objections to this proposal. Councilmember Favila asked if the study was for multi-family housing only, or could they do one for single family dwellings also? Jeffers said multi-family at this time. He Said Everett was more open and candid about working with the City in the number of units to be built, whereas Corplan has determined it will only build 100 plus units. Councilmember Owen suggested working with Everett and outlining the conditions required by the City. Councilmember McGehee suggested presenting the same conditions to both builders and see what they have to say. 5. Excel Water Project and EDA Application. Mr. Jeff, rs reviewed again the water C:tMyFilestWork Session Minutes~98 0319 ws~l{~l~b~ of 4 table situation under Plainview. He said the water under this part of the State is in sand formation and all pumping lowers the level of water. He said experts say that Excel pumping water affects the water supply under Plainview, but it is at least a consideration. Councilmember McGehee asked if we are now using only CRMWA water? Ches Carthel said water is mixed on a rotating basis, and some well water is blended daily, but the City is using 90% CRMWA water. Councilmember Hutcherson asked how much water we are selling to Cactus Feeders out of the CRMWA pipeline? Mr. Jeffers said from 200,000 up to 500,000 gallons of untreated water daily. He said the water was being fed to cattle so it did not require treatment. Mr. Jeffers said Cactus Feeders was paying 4.26 per 1,000 gallons. Councilmember Owen agreed that we need to conserve water, but as we are now selling water to Cactus Feeders, we need to delete Cactus and sell water to Excel. Mayor Woods asked Director of Finance Norman Huggins to get some f'mancial statistics for the Council on how much the City will owe on the Roberts County water project, the aqueduct and anything else involved with the CRMWA agreements. Mr. Huggins told the Mayor and Council the City has some fixed costs on CRMWA and water rights, no matter if we use all our water or sell some of it. He said we are better off using as much CRMWA water as we can because we are paying for it anyway. Councilmember Owen asked Steve Mellinger, Manager of Excel, if the water usage projection of up to 1.8 million gallons of water per day fairly static? Mr. Mellinger said, yes, initially they will take 200,000 gallons per day and then increase the amount up to the maximum allowable. Mr. Jeffers said Excel will pay for the construction of water mains at an estimated $1 million and they are applying, through the City, for an EDA grant and possibly a Texas Capital Fund grant. If the City does not sell Excel water from their CRMWA allotment, Excel will have to build their own water treatment plant and drill wells, possibly further away, and transport it to their plant. Mr. Jeffers said there are other water resources available in Hale County that could be used in the future. Excel could go after this water also. Director of Public Works Ches Carthel reviewed the improvements which need to be done to the water treatment plant and distribution line improvements. He said these improvements have to be done whether we sell Excel water or not. Councilmember McGehee said we should treat 100% CRMWA water daily and preserve our underground water. Councilmember Owen said it was evident that the City, Excel, and all large water consumers will have to agree on how best to conserve our water supply. Review of recommendations of Parks Advisory Board for "user fees" for community centers and electrical access. Mr. Jeffers said this would be discussed at the next Work Session. EPA Notice of Proposed Assessment of Class II Civil Penalty (waste water treatment plant). Mr. Jeffers said he would wait on this topic until the next meeting. 8. EPA Stormwater Phase II - Coalition of Texas Cities. Mr. Jeffers said the Coalition C:~MyFilestWork Session Minutes~98 0319 ws~i~{~ibd~ of 4 10. has met and studied he provisions of this legislation and will have more information at a later date. Personnel Tuition reimbursement for College/University Credit. Due to time constraints, this was not discussed. Ennis and S.W. 3rd - traffic control options. This was not discussed due to time constrains. 11. 12. 13. City Manage RePorts were not given. Topics for future agendas was not discussed. Adjournment - Mayor WOods declared the meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m. Passed and approved on March 24, 1998. Karen McBeth, city secretary C:~MyFiles~Work Session Minutes~98 0319 ws~ill~l~d~ of 4