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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 0828 min118 The Plainview City Council met on August 28, 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 3:45 p.m. on August 23, 2007. Mayor John C. Anderson presided. Councilmembers present were: Cathy Waggoner-District 2, Belinda Pena- District 3, John N. Bertsch-District 4, Ron Trusler-District 5, Wendell Dunlap-District 6 and Roland Nash-District 7. Councilmember Kelvin Tipton-District 1 was absent. Staff members present were: Greg Ingham-City Manager, John Castro-Director of Community Services, Leslie Pearce-City Attorney, Will Mull-Police Chief, Dale Simpson- Director of Civil Service, Eric Turner-Main Street Coordinator and Belinda Hinojosa-City Secretary. News Media Representative: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald Guests present: Stacey Davis, Art Parrish, Greg Blankenship, Jared Melton, and Rocky Favila Councilmember Roland Nash delivered the invocation. Councilmember John N. Bertsch led in the Pledge of Allegiance Councilmember Dunlap moved to adopt the consent calendar. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Trusler and carried by unanimous vote. Items approved on the consent calendar included approval of the minutes of August 14, 2007 and August 23, 2007; the Council granted an excused absence to Councilmember Kelvin Tipton; the Council approved the financial reports; and the Council approved the Agreement for the Transfer of Entitlements regarding the Plainview/Hale County Airport. John Castro, Director of Community Services presented for consideration Ordinance No. 07-3484, an Ordinance amending the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Plainview, Texas to allow an accessory pass-out window as an incidental use to a private club/restaurant; cumulative clause; conflicts clause; severability clause; and effective date. He stated this is the second reading on Ordinance No. 07-3484. this is the request of Greg Blankenship to change the zoning ordinance to allow an accessory pass-out window in a private club/restaurant. The current ordinance reads that a private club or private club/restaurant may provide inside service only; no drive-in curb service ordrive-through service shall be permitted. The ordinance could be changed to read as follows:. A private club or private club/restaurant may provide alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption only. No alcoholic beverages may be sold for off-premises consumption through drive-in curb service or drive through service as regulated by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. A private club/restaurant may have, as an incidental use, accessory pass-out windows for delivery of food to be consumed off-premises of the restaurant property. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. Jared Melton of 1106 Amarillo stated he was present on behalf of Greg Blankenship Limited along with Greg Blankenship, Stacey Davis and Art Parrish and they were City Council Minutes August 28, 2007 Page 1 of 4 available should the Council have any questions. Councilmember Truster moved to approved Ordinance NO. 07-3484 on second reading. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Bertsch. Mayor Anderson asked for Council comment. Mayor Anderson asked if they would apply to any other club. He was advised by approving this ordinance, we were amending the zoning ordinance and this would apply to any private club/restaurant. Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. The motion carried unanimously. Greg Ingham, ~,~ity Manager presented for consideration Resolution R07-176, a Resolution By the City of Plainview, Texas Suspending the September 25, 2007, Effective Date of the Proposal By Atmos Energy Corp., West Texas Division to Implement Interim GRIP Rate Adjustments for Gas Utility Investment in 2006; Authorizing Participation With the Atmos West Texas Cities Steering Committee in a Review and Inquiry Into the Sufficiency of the Filing and the Basis of the Proposed Rate Adjustment; Authorizing Intervention in Administrative and Court Proceedings Involving the Proposed GRIP Rate Adjustments; Requiring Reimbursement of Reasonable Legal and Consultant Ratemaking Costs; and Requiring Delivery of this Resolution to the Company and Legal Counsel. He stated Atmos has filed a request to implement a surcharge under the gas reliability infrastructure program or GRIP. Basically this program was intended to replace aging pipeline to e~nharice reliability and safety of their overall operations without necessity of a full-blown rate case. The last couple of years the cities and Atmos have not fully agreed on that and we are still working on that. They are well within the program to file for this. It will kae reviewed by counsel. At this point and time the Council has the authority to suspend this for 45 days so we can evaluate the filing that Atmos has made with the cities. There are 64 cities in the West Texas service area and the majority of those cities will puss similar resolutions. By doing that we will retain a consultant to look at the filing and see what all Atmos has in the filing. In the Mid Tex group, another part of the Dallas Mel:roplex area they had found things in some GRIP filings that even the Railroad Commission agreed didn't need to be there. We feel we have a duty to take a look at and see if this can be done. We do believe the cities have funds available from some prior rate cases to handle the payment of the consultant so we are not asking for additional funds .right now; just that we suspend the rate increase for 45 days or the maximum allowec:i by law as stated in the Resolution, in case Atmos and the cities start negotiating and decide to extend it beyond that 45 day time frame. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. Rocky Favila of 1122 W. 31S` stated he was present representing Atmos and available if anyone needed further explanations. Councilmember flash moved to approve Resolution R07-176. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner and carried by unanimous vote. Greg Ingham, City Manager presented for consideration and to take necessary action regarding Police Emergency Committal Transportation. Our police department is 119 City Council Minutes August 28, 2007 Page 2 of 4 120 occasionally called on to make what is called an emergency committal. They may arrive on the scene and determine that an individual needs some mental health assistance and our officers have the ability to determine that this individual needs to be sent on an emergency committal to the facilities in Big Spring, or Wichita Falls or some other community. The County Court system also handles committals of some people that may need mental health assistance through the County Court system. The City and County have had ongoing discussions for several months trying to develop a plan to assist us in handling the clients that need this kind of assistance. Right now we are handling this with our personnel and we have to pull two police officers off the street to handle this emergency transportation issue or we are looking at officers that may have just gone off duty and are pulling them back on duty to handle something like this. The County is facing the same kind of demand with the Sheriff's department any time they have to make a mental health commitment. We are looking for a way that will help our Police and Sherriff's departments as well as the clients that need this kind of assistance. We want to try to find a way to make sure we have a system in place that if the need is imminent to transport somebody that needs mental health assistance that we have a system there to do it. The first step we had to take was to find out if legally the City and County can sort this out because we operate under two different sets of statutes. Our City Attorney has worked closely with Jim Tirey the County Attorney and they have established that the City and County can reach a legal agreement that will allow us to have some kind of intergovernmental contract to handle this transportation issue if we can work out all the details. We have another group that is working with the State of Texas. The Llano Estacado Alliance for Families is anon-profit group here that is working with several counties in this region to develop a program to help in not only transportation but in other mental health issues for our region wherever there may be gaps. They have funding available and one of the things they are looking at is they have funds they would like to earmark potentially to help Plainview and Hale County resolve and come up with a better system to handle these mental health transportations that need to be made from our community. In the Council work session it was suggested that we might want to look at this on a larger scale and see if there is something that can be done regionally. The LEAF group needs a letter of intent saying that the City and County intend to try to continue working to develop a cooperative system to meet this emergency transport situation in a better means than what we are doing and see if we can come up with a cooperative system that will do that. So we are asking the Council the authority to submit a letter to LEAF that the City and County intend to continue to try to develop a cooperative agreement. They understand that this is not a 100% commitment on the part of the Council at this time because the details are not ready. Hale County has indicated a willingness to continue these discussions and we need to sit down and work out the details. We feel this could be beneficial to both our Police and Sheriff's departments and to the clients that need the mental transports on occasion in our community. There was no public comment. City Council Minutes August 28, 2007 Page 3 of 4 121 Councilmerber Nash moved to take necessary action sending a letter of intent to the Llano Estacadc:~ Alliance of Families regarding Police Emergency Committal Transportation,. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Pena. Mayor Anderson asked for Council Comment. Councilmember Pena thanked Mr. Ingham and the staff for the all information they receive on riot only this issue but all issues. She said this is great if the City and County can work togethE;r to get something resolved that would be good for our citizens and the clients that need the help. Councilmember Dunlap asked how quickly do you have to transport an individual that you determine needs to be committed to some facility. Chief Mull stated immediately within 10 to 15 minutes. Councilmember Dunlap also asked if it is possible for a retired person to be available for this. Mr. Ingham stated this is one option that the City and County are looking at. The person in place has to be either a peace officer or a mental health officer certified by the state. Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. The motion carried unanimously. Mayor AndersorA moved to go into closed session to deliberate the appointment, employmenil, evaluation, reassignment or duties, removal, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee, board, commission, or committee member, or to hear complaints or charges. [Tex. Gov't. Code Section 551.074]. Interim Fire Chief. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Trusler and carried by unanimous vote. Mayor Anderson recessed the meeting at 7:25 p.m. The meeting was called back in open session at 7:48 p.m. Mayor Anderson moved to confirm City Manager Greg Ingham's plan to have Captain Albert Perez:, Captain Dale Harris, Captain Rusty Powers, Fire Marshall Phillip Mize and Training Ofificer Don Burress serve as Interim Fire Chief on a rotating basis as determined by the City Manager. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Trusler. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. The motion carried unanimously. There being no f~rrther business, Mayor Anderson adjourned the meeting at 7:49 p.m. ~ ~~ Belinda Hinojosa ~ City Secretary 1 City Council Minutes August 28, 2007 Page 4 of 4