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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 0213 minThe Plainview City Council met on February 13, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Plainview City Hall at 901 Broadway. The agenda for this meeting was posted in City Hall at 3:00 p.m. on February 9, 2007. Mayor John C. Anderson presided. Councilmembers present were: Kelvin Tipton-District 1, Cathy Waggoner- District 2, Belinda Pena-District 3, Ron Trusler-District 5, Wendell Dunlap-District 6 and Roland Nash-District 7. Councilmember John N. Bertsch-District 4 was absent. Staff members present were: Greg Ingham-City Manager, Leslie Pearce-City Attorney, John Castro-Director of Community Services, Gary Glass-Fire Chief, Will Mull-Police Chief, Dale Simpson-Civil Service Director, Rusty Reese-Parks Superintendent and Belinda Hinojosa-City Secretary. News Media Representative: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald Guests present were: Jesse Cheyne, Will Wright, Barbara Ramirez, Phyllis Wall and Virginio Ortega Councilmember Kelvin Tipton delivered the invocation. Mayor John C. Anderson led in the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Kelvin Tipton moved to adopt the consent calendar. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Ron Trusler and carried by unanimous vote. Items approved on the consent calendar included approval of the minutes of January 23, 2007 and February 8, 2007; the Council granted an excused absence to Councilmember John N. Bertsch. The Council approved the reappointment of Max Browning to the Board of Adjustment with the said term to expire on January 1, 2009; Rusty Reese, Parks Superintendent presented for consideration, Resolution R07-169, a Resolution of the City of Plainview, Texas adopting a Comprehensive Plan for the City Parks System. He stated the Parks, Recreation, Trails and Open Space Comprehensive Master Plan is to provide goals and policies to guide the acquisition and development of Parks, recreation facilities, trails and open spaces throughout the City, a vision into the future. The Comprehensive Master Plan was originally developed in 1967 and revised in 1997 and again in 2006. The Parks Advisory Commission began this revision on January 13, 2005 and conducted numerous open public meetings throughout the year, mailed out surveys and held two public hearings. He stated this Plan meets the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's guidelines for grants and has been approved by their office which increases our chances for grants. Mr. Reese recognized the Park Advisory members, Chair Lucile Davis, District 1 Ruby Riggins, District 2 Carlene Kirby, District 3 Barbara Ramirez, District 4 Phyllis Wall, District 5 Doylene Lloyd, District 6 Gabriel Rodriguez and District 7 Irma Luna. He thanked them for their dedication and time and for their hard work that was required to revise this plan. Mr. Reese stated the Parks, Recreation, Trails and Open Spaces Comprehensive Plan is intended to serve as a tool to help guide future decisions regarding Park facilities and leisure opportunities for the City of Plainview. This document provides the prioritization of needs identified through the development process. The Park Advisory Commission 67 City Council Minutes February 13, 2007 Page 1 of 5 68 has just recently agreed to continue in following the comprehensive plan and voted to purchase a play structure for M. B. Hood Park this year. The Plan will need to be revised every five years. Greg Ingham, City Manager stated the City needs to have a formal plan to meet state guidelines. It increases the ability to apply for state funds. It is also a working tool for the Parks Advisory Board. It can also be used in the budget process. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. The Mayor and Council thanked Rusty Reese, the Parks Department and the Parks Advisory Board for their work. Councilmember Truster moved to adopt Resolution R07-169. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Pena and carried by unanimous vote. Mayor Anderson introduced Will Wright and Jesse Cheyne with the Youth Advisory Commission. Greg Ingham, City Manager presented to consider and take necessary action regarding CRMWA request to reallocate funds for infrastructure improvements. He stated that in the past two years, the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority ("CRMWA") has issued $100 million in bonds for the acquisition of water rights and needed infrastructure improvements. CRMWA is an 11 city group that runs from Borger, Pampa, Amarillo, includes Plainview, Lubbock, Levelland, Slaton and a few other cities down to the South and those 11 cities have incurred this $100 million dollar debt for water right acquisition. CRMWA is overseen by the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority Board who has decided on the allocation of these funds. When the program was initially started, the cities allocated $80 million for water rights acquisition and another $20 million for infrastructure improvements. At the same time, we kept thinking Lake Meredith was going to get some water in it and we were looking at relatively concentrated development in our wellfield in Roberts County. As the drought has continued at Lake Meredith, CRMWA has started looking at some other options. The City of Amarillo also has water rights in the Roberts County area. They have been working with CRMWA to make the best use of both entities' water rights and at the last CRMWA Board meeting agreed to a water rights trade that consolidated CRMWA's water rights holdings into a more unified block which gives us an opportunity to add the new wells that are needed in a different area that will not have as much drawdown impact in the area our initial wellfield has been developed. CRMWA is asking that we reallocate an addition $5.6 million to put in another wellfield. Since it is a difference in the use of funds, CRMWA has asked the cities to ratify the decision of the Board and reallocate $5.6 million for infrastructure use that was originally intended for water rights acquisition. If any additional funds remain then such can be used to acquire additional water rights. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Tipton moved to take the necessary action regarding Canadian River Municipal Water Authority request to reallocate funds for infrastructure improvements. City Council Minutes February 13, 2007 Page 2 of 5 69 The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Pena and carried by unanimous vote. Greg Ingham, City Manager presented for consideration and to take necessary action regarding Legal and Consulting Fees in Atmos GRIP and Rate Issues. He stated the Atmos GRIP filing case has been dragging on for nearly eighteen months. When this process started, the legal council for the West Texas Atmos cities said they would carry the costs associated with our opposition to the implementation of the GRIP statute because it was their assumption that GRIP would be interpreted in the same manner as the rest of the Gas Utility Regulatory Act (GURA), which requires that cities rate case expenses be reimbursed. As we moved through the process and opposed the implementation of GRIP as it was actually implemented by Atmos and other gas companies throughout the state, we felt that there were some things included in some of these filings that shouldn't have been included. The cities retained legal counsel and consultants and opposed the implementation of GRIP as it was originally implemented. In our area we were able to delay implementation for about nine months which actually saved residents in these West Texas Atmos cities some $1.1 million over the nine months the surcharge was not on everybody's gas bills. Our legal counsel pursued the implementation of the surcharge in the Court system and they have gotten a court decision from a Judge Triana that the GRIP statute was not accomplishing what it was intended to and that the legislation needed to be revisited. In doing this the Judge also found that GRIP was not a part of the GURA -even though it originally was an amendment to GURA. This finding gave Atmos the ability to deny cities recovery of rate case expenses in this matter. Mr. Ingham stated the cities involved in the West Texas case feel we need to go ahead and pay our legal counsel and consultants because in the course of the 18 months we have saved our residents about $1.1 million, saving the residents of Plainview about $69,000. Our costs to date are about $4,600 and we feel it is best to pursue this. We are also involved in a show cause action which means we are asking Atmos to prove up their rates. Our rate case is running behind a case in the MidTex area. That case has findings from the staff of the Railroad Commission recommending a reduction in rates for that region and we anticipate pursuing our show cause action in the West Texas area. Our costs to date have been about $4,600 and he asked the Council to authorize up to $6,000. Some of the other larger cities are doing this because we are involved in some legislative issues that we are retaining legal counsel and would ask council that they authorize up to $6,000 for gas utility related consulting fees and legislative assistance. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Dunlap moved to approve the Atmos Grip rate increase for the legal counsel and for the consultant work done in the past up to a maximum of $6,000. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton. Councilmember Truster asked to reiterate to the people our relationship with the local Atmos office. Mr. Ingham stated that we continue to have a good working relationship with Atmos on the local level. We are all doing our best to make sure our citizens are getting the best service and the City continues to work closely with Atmos on anything that we are involved in. City Council Minutes February 13, 2007 Page 3 of 5 70 Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Ingham presented for consideration Resolution R07-170, a Resolution of the City of Plainview, Texas, Opposing H.B. 651; Supporting Repeal of Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program (GRIP) Statute; and Joining Cities for Reasonable Gas Rates. Cities are being effective in terms of having the Railroad Commission take a serious look at where your gas rates are for these utilities companies and you are seeing recommendations of part of what the staff is recommending to the commission. In the Midtex case the recommendation is a $2.5 million refund and a possible decrease in the range of 10%. Nothing is final until the Railroad Commission acts on it, but we feel it is a positive step that is taking place and if our cities weren't challenging Atmos on this, none of this would be taking place. The utility companies have felt that they would like to take cities out of the mix, because the cities are the original jurisdiction on gas and electric cases and then our decisions are appealed to the railroad commission in case of gas and to the public utility commission in the case of electricity. At one point, a couple of months ago the gas utilities had talked to the cities and said let's see if we can work something out legislatively but then they moved forward before they talked to anyone and filed House Bill 651 which would basically give the gas utility the right to decide unilaterally to take the rate cases directly to the Railroad Commission and in essence leave the local jurisdictions out of that process. While we could still have some level of standing as an outside intervener, there is a difference in being an entity with original jurisdiction whose case is on appeal and being an outside intervener as far as your standing before the Railroad Commission. Our recommendation is that Council pass this resolution which opposes HB 651 and also supports the repeal of GRIP, the gas reliability infrastructure program which is what we have been fighting over the last 18 months. It also states that we are joining the other cities that are asking for reasonable gas rates. Mayor Anderson,asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Nash moved to adopt Resolution R07-170. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner. Councilmember Truster asked if HB 651 were to pass, that would just be another step to decrease local control and local input that affect every one of our pocket books? Mr. Ingham stated it is removing local control over your gas rates and taking them directly to the Railroad Commission. Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. The motion carried unanimously. Mayor Anderson thanked Mr. Ingham for his work on the matter. He mentioned that cities look to him as a leader. He is very knowledge and very passionate. He thanked him for his interest and the time he spent on this. John Castro, Director of Community Services presented for consideration to authorize the Mayor to sign the Bio Terrorism Grant with the Texas Department of State Health Services extending the contract through August 31, 2007. We initially received the grant back in September 2005. In the first phase we hired a bio terrorism coordinator. In the second phase in September 2006 we went into implementation of the bio City Council Minutes February 13, 2007 Page 4 of 5 71 terrorism plan and now we are working on the pandemic flu plan and are working on developing criteria for shelters for special needs people. The third phase will be to update the plans we have in place and select sites for shelter for the needy. This particular grant extends the life of the grant to August 31, 2007 and adds an additional $24,000 to the grant. The total of the grant for two years will be about $125,000. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Truster moved to authorize Mayor to sign this grant. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton and carried by unanimous vote. Mr. Ingham presented for consideration the Award of Bids for Floydada Street Paving Project. The City received one bid from Thrasher, Inc. in the amount of $41,310.05, which came in under the original estimate. This is for paving Floydada Street from Jefferson Drive- to the Interstate access road. The City will pay for this short piece which will connect to the property the church now owns. The costs for the City will be $14,500 and the rest of the cost will be the Church's cost which they have given us a letter of credit on. The City recommends approval of this bid. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Pena moved to adopt the awarding of the bid. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner and carried by unanimous vote. The closed session and the action item on the closed session were not held since there is no new information to be reported. There being no further business, Mayor Anderson adjourned the meeting at 8:02 p.m. a 4GJ Belinda Hinojosa City Secretary C City Council Minutes February 13, 2007 Page 5 of 5