HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 0911 minThe Plainview City Council met on September 11, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council 129
Chambers of the Plainview City Hall at 901 Broadway. The agenda for this meeting
was posted in City Hall at 7:00 p.m. on September 7, 2007. Mayor John C. Anderson
presided. Councilmembers present were: Kelvin Tipton-District 1, Cathy Waggoner-
District 2, Belinda Pena-District 3, John N. Bertsch-District 4, Ron Trusler-District 5 and
Roland Nash-Di:~,trict 7. Councilmember Wendell Dunlap-District 6 was absent.
Staff members present were: Greg Ingham-City Manager, John Berry-Director of Public
Works, 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, Rusty Reese-Parks Superintendent and Belinda Hinojosa-City Secretary.
News Media Representative: Richard Orr-Plainview Daily Herald
Guests present: Phyllis Wall, Mike Melcher, Buddy McGehee, Paulette Manning and Tut
Tawwater
Mayor John C. Anderson delivered the invocation.
Councilmember Roland Nash led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
City Secretary Belinda Hinojosa read a proclamation from the City of Clovis, New
Mexico congratulating us on our centennial year. The City of Plainview also presented
a proclamatiion to the City of Clovis congratulating them on their centennial year.
Councilmerriber Nash moved to adopt the consent calendar. The motion was duly
seconded bey Councilmember Trusler and carried by unanimous vote. Items approved
on the consent calendar included approval of the minutes of August 28, 2007 and
September 6, 2007 and the Council granted an excused absence to Councilmember
Wendell Duinlap who was absent because he was representing the City at the South
Plains Association of Governments General Assembly Meeting.
Greg Ingharn, Ci1:y Manager introduced Phyllis Wall of the Parks Advisory Commission.
The Parks Advisory Commission has partnered with the Plainview Lions Club on the
Centennial Circle of Honor project. Phyllis Wall of 3303 Grandview stated the
Centennial t;ircle of Honor came about by the request of a citizen of the community who
asked about: a project where we could leave a legacy of our centennial year for our
community. The Parks Advisory Commission had talked about an area in the park that
they wanted to do something about. She took this individual's ideas back to the Parks
Advisory Commission and they were in favor of it. Since the person who had come up
with the idea was a Lions Club member, the Park Advisory Commission decided to partner
with the Lions Club to spearhead that memorial in the Park. She introduced Mike Melcher
who is the chair oi` the Centennial Circle of Honor Committee.
Mr. Mike Melcher of 507 Kirchwood stated the Lions Club has voted to adopt this project.
The Lions Club will be responsible to see that all the money is collected, overseeing the
project and s;eeinc~ that it is taken care of and built in the Kidsville Park area to honor our
past citizens of Plainview. There are 45 spaces available in this circle and it is going to be
a concrete project with names inscripted in bronze. The costs for the 45 spaces run about
$1,100 for each wedge of the circle and if you want to add an additional name it would be
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 1 of 8
130
an additional $200. The project is not a fundraiser for the Lions Club and all monies
accepted will go to the project. Should the wedges not all be sold, then all monies would
be refunded to the people that have initiated a name to be dedicated to that area.
Nominations will be open to the public and they can present a name or names to be
honored in this circle. Payment of the $200 deposit will be required at this time. If all 45
spaces are not sold, then all monies will be returned to those individuals. There is a
committee set up to accept the nominations from the public. Should there be more than 45
spaces, it will be up to this committee to determine the 45 selectees for the project.
Mayor Anderson asked for additional public comment. There was no additional public
comment.
Councilmember Bertsch moved to accept the proposal as presented through the Lions
Club and the Parks Advisory Commission. The motion was duly seconded by
Councilmember Tipton.
Councilmember Bertsch asked if Rusty Reese, Parks Superintendent was in favor of this.
Mr. Reese stated this would be a great addition to the Parks system.
Councilmember Tipton asked how large the circle was, He was advised it would be 51
feet in diameter and would cover the whole area.
Mayor Anderson expressed concern and wanted to make sure that the individuals chosen
have really contributed something to the community instead of someone who could just
afford to pay the cost. Mr. Melcher stated that each nominee would be looked at and the
committee will determine validity.
Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. The motion carried unanimously.
Greg Ingham, City Manager provided an overview of the 2007-2008 budget. The
budget document represents in final terms the overall planning for municipal services for
the coming 12 months. We provide funds to meet State and Federal mandates and
also to meet additional capital needs and long term infrastructure projects as we move
into this budget year. This year, we find ourselves faced with several challenges.
There continues to be upward pressure in our general operating costs, and we continue
to upgrade and replace equipment and see significant capitals projects now and in the
future.
The services the City of Plainview provides are paid by the citizens who receive the
services. We do not receive state aid and we do not see any large industry moving into
the City.
The total budgeted expenditures for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 excluding all service funds
are about $21.8 million which is up 1.9 million from last year. The biggest part of the
increase comes in our sanitation fund where we are looking at an increase of over $1
million for construction of the new landfill cell and $150,000 in new downstream
monitoring wells to meet Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requirements.
Our major operating funds include the General Fund, Solid Waste Management Fund,
Water and Sewer Fund and the Debt Service Fund. Property taxes are a significant
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page z or u
source of our revenue at 21 %.
Our total revenue is about $19,000,000 which is up 131
$782,470 which is up 4.3% for all of our operating and debt service funds.
Our expenditures for our major operating funds; of the total City operations police and
fire make up 30°so of our total expenditures of $18,823,785. This number is up $670,000
or 3.6%. Solid waste is a significant expenditure as well as water and sewer services.
In our General Fund revenues, our property taxes are about $3.7 million and our sales
tax are $3.'I million and our franchise fees represent 15% of our overall budget This
number is up about 3% because we are looking at increases in operating costs. We
have a unique opportunity because two of our franchise ordinances are expiring. A
franchise ordinance gives a utility company the right to use our street right-of-way. Also
included in 1:his budget is a 2% increase in franchise fees. We are being conservative in
the projection of our sales tax collections. This year we are seeing an increase but we
have a lot off activity due to construction of our ethanol plant.
Our expenditure:, in our current fiscal year are going to come in under budget and our
revenues are going to come in over budget. This gave us an opportunity to look at
some things that had been requested in our 2007-2008 budget. Some of the items we
are purchasing this year are fire department ladders, hose adapters, building repairs for
fire department, solid screening fence for part of the Bulldog baseball field area, and
some improvements to the library.
Included in the 2007-2008 budget are digital cameras in the police units, seven police
vehicles, replacing SWAT team vests and purchasing 20 taser units. In the Fire
Department we .are purchasing cone-ton pickup to replace an old unit and we are
adding a skid mounted tank and pump so that it can be used for grass fires. We are
also upgrading the EKG monitors in our ambulances and are placing portable
defibrillator units in our public access buildings.
Another thing that is impacting our budget in our Police Department is that last year we
went to twelve hour shifts because a large number of personnel were off due to injuries.
As we have moved back closer to being fully staffed, we feel that it would still be
advantageous to stay on the twelve hour shifts. This has the effect of putting more
police officers on the streets; however, it does result in an increase in overtime. We do
believe it is a cost effective way to put more manpower on the streets.
A couple of years ago the City did not put anything into the equipment replacement
fund. The last three years we have been building the amount of money we are
spending. Vehicle replacement and computer replacements are being handled through
the equipment replacement fund. We are using this as a financing mechanism. We are
seeing an increase of over $100,000 a year in our payments to the equipment
replacement fund. As this number continues to grow in the long run, we will have aself-
sustaining equipment replacement fund so we will always have the funds available and
we will not have tc~ buy equipment out of reserves. We are up to about $330,000 a year
now.
We have included a 3% cost of living adjustment in this budget for all employees.
Because of the position we are in, we are transferring money into some of our other
funds. We have ~:wer $100,000 more into equipment replacement because of vehicles.
Lity counal Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 3 of 8
132 We also have a list of equipment that needs to be acquired. We are transferring
$250,000 this year into the equipment replacement fund and we are going to purchase
these particular pieces of equipment outright to catch up on the equipment we need to
replace.
We are also transferring $250,000 into the capital improvement fund. This is where we
have some of our parks improvements. We are also starting to build cash reserves in
that fund so that we can eventually build a fire training field to help us on our overall key
rate. It gives the Council an opportunity to take part in opportunities that present
themselves. This is where we have the $90,000 plus that we put into the joint project
with PISD on the baseball field. We know we need to replace lights at the girl's softball
field.
We are transferring $175,000 into our economic development fund. Plainview is in a
competitive environment as far as economic development goes. A lot of cities have
economic development sales tax which we do not have. Our fund is relatively small at
this time. Any time we have an opportunity we need to move funds into this fund.
Our general fund increase is being funded primarily through a small projected increase
in sales tax and the 2% increase in franchise fees to Xcel and Atmos for the use of our
streets and right of ways. Our property rate this year will be set at the effective rate of
.5342¢ which is slightly less than last year's rate
If you look at fire and EMS and our police services those total $5.7 million. On the
general fund revenue side, the total property taxes for the City of Plainview was $3.7
million. Our property taxes do not pay for fire, EMS and police department. We help
pay for those with our sales tax, franchise fees and then we have street and community
services and health department that are paid for out of the general fund budget.
In our Solid Waste Management, our total revenues are about $2.7 million. We are
looking at $1.1 million in system improvements which includes $1 million for a new
landfill cell and $150,000 for new downstream monitoring wells to meet TCEQ
requirements. This fund pays for itself and equipment we purchase is pay as you go.
This year we are purchasing a $330,000 scraper.
We are looking at a 4% increase in solid waste fees. A basic residential bill will
increase from $15.85 to $16.48 and you will see a 4% increase in all classes of service
which are your multi-family residential units and commercial accounts.
In the Water and Sewer Fund the total projected revenues is $5.7 million dollars in the
coming year. On your basic operating expenditures, we are seeing a $4.8 million
operating budget. This is down slightly from last year because we paid off a small
certificate of obligation and we are allowing part of that revenue to go into our operating
side. We have several large projects that will require us to look at long term debt to
address these. In our system improvement we are showing about $820,000 in system
improvements which include the three waters wells that we authorized in this fiscal year.
The funding for our Bio-terrorism grant has been cut and this fund will be gone after the
end of this year.
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 4 of 8
Our Service Ger~ter is an internal service fund and continues to be problematic. We are 133
doing somE: major restructuring and will try to make it viable. In evaluating this
operation, it is apparent that it actually provides more than just vehicle maintenance
work because it handles record keeping and communication services for several
departments.
In the Hotel Motel Tax Fund, we feel like we are making some progress. We continue
to work with the Civic Center.
The Fair continues to be booked regularly, we are moving some $31,000 a year and
that allocation has been the same for a few years.
This is an overview of our 2007-2008 budget.
Councilmernber Truster moved to open a public hearing regarding the 2007-2008 City
of Plainview budget. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton and
carried by unanirous vote. The public hearing was opened at 7:45 p.m.
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Councilmernber Tipton moved to close the public hearing. The motion was duly
seconded by Councilmember Truster and carried by unanimous vote. The public
hearing was closed at 7:46 p.m.
Greg Ingham, City Manager presented for consideration Ordinance No. 07-3485, an
Ordinance Adopting and Approving the Budget for the Fiscal Year beginning October
1, 2007 and terminating September 30, 2008 and making such appropriations for each
department, project and account; severability clause; cumulativeness clause; conflicts
clause; effective date. Mr. Ingham stated this is basically the ordinance adopting the
budget on second reading.
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Councilmember [3ertsch moved to approve Ordinance No. 07-3485 on second reading.
The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton. Mayor Anderson asked for
council comment„
Councilmember Truster asked how often we renew franchise fees? He was advised
that the paslt franchise fees were renewed for terms from 20 to 25 years. We hope to
go shorter with thie current franchises probably from 5 to 10 years. We also are asking
for 5% franchise fees.
Councilmember -I-rusler also asked if we have a formula to determine the number of
police officers anc:~ EMS personnel. Mr. Ingham stated any formula will tell you that you
are understaffed. He said it is hard to weigh the needs in your community versus a
standard. You need to look at the overall picture.
Councilmember 1~ipton asked how active the City safety committee is. He was advised
that the corrimittee meets quarterly and they take a look at any significant problems.
city Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 5 of 8
134 The Police department evaluates each claim that comes in and looks at what can be
done to improve the situation.
Councilmember Bertsch asked what dollar amount does the Equipment Replacement
Fund need to be at to be considered self-sustaining? Mr. Ingham stated we are
replacing equipment at a faster rate. The total revenues are at $446,000 and the total
expenditures are at $705,000. He stated the ideal situation would be to have the same
amount going in as is going out.
Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the motion to approve Ordinance No. 07-3485 on
second reading. The motion carried unanimously.
Mr. Ingham presented for consideration an action to vote for ratification of the
budget that raises property tax revenue within the City of Plainview, Texas. He
stated that new legislation passed by the Texas Legislature states that if your
budget raises more funds in property tax revenue then the Council has to take a
vote to ratify that part of your budget that raises property tax revenue. Our rate is
set at the effective rate but because of new property valuations we generated
$20,190 more in property tax revenue this year.
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Mayor Anderson moved to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget
for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember
Pena and carried by unanimous vote.
Mr. Ingham presented for consideration upon second reading Ordinance No. 07-
3486, an Ordinance Levying Municipal Ad Valorem Taxes for the City of
Plainview, Texas for the Year 2007, and Directing the Assessment and Collection
Thereof; severability clause; cumulativeness clause; conflicts clause; and
effective date. The proposed tax rate included in the budget for Fiscal Year
2007-2008 is $0.53420 which is slightly lower than last year's rate of $0.53490.
It is staff's recommendation that you set the tax rate at $0.53420.
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Councilmember Nash moved to approve Ordinance No. 07-3486 upon second
reading which adopts the tax rate of $.5342 per $100 valuation. The motion was
duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner and carried by unanimous vote.
Mr. Ingham presented for consideration upon second reading Ordinance No. 07-
3487, an Ordinance of the City of Plainview, Texas, Amending Section 22-32
entitled "Refuse Collection Fees; Water Termination" of the Code of
Ordinances of the City of Plainview, Texas; severability clause; cumulativeness
clause; conflicts clause; effective date. He stated this sets the garbage fee rate
4% higher. A residential customer would see an increase from $15.85 to $16.48.
All others users would see an increase of 4%. He stated it is his
recommendation that the Council adopt this ordinance.
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 rage b of u
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. 135
Councilmember Tipton moved to approve Ordinance No. 07-3487 on second
reading. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner and
carried by unanimous vote.
Mr. Ingharn, City Manager presented for consideration upon second reading
Ordinance No. 07-3488, an Ordinance of the City of Plainview Amending Ordinance
No. 06-3468 to Appropriate Funds in the General Fund and Various Revenue and
Capital Funds Pursuant to Section 5.07 (A) of the Plainview City Charter Allowing For
Supplemenl:al Appropriations in the 2006-2007 Budget; Cumulativeness Clause;
Conflicts Clause; Severability Clause; And Effective Date. He stated we have
discussed most amendments in our budget process. We are formalizing those
amendments witl~~ this ordinance as follows:
1. Transferring $250,000 out of General Fund into capital improvement:
2. Transferring $250,000 into equipment replacement;
3. Transferring $175,000 into economic development fund;
4. $16,C100 and $8,000 for City Hall Heating and Cooling System and some
Chamber of Commerce Building improvements;
5. $10,500 fcrr custodial equipment;
6. $6,000 for building maintenance, $6,000 for heating and air conditioning and
$5,000 for printers for library.
7. $19,C~00 special services for solid waste department;
8. $124,000 for sewer system improvements -completion of three lift station
projects frc:~m previous fiscal year;
9. $25,000 for water distribution department for replacement of meters that were not
functioning properly and setting of fire lines;
10.$12,500 fc~r finance building repairs -part of improvements of last year did not
get finished and completed this year.
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Councilmemk~er Bertsch moved to approve Ordinance No. 07-3488 upon second
reading. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Pena and carried by
unanimous vote.
Mayor Anderson stated that on behalf of the Council and the citizens I commend Greg
Ingham and Jack; Keller. They spent many hours working on the budget. He asked
them to express their sincere thanks to the department heads for their work done. It
takes everyone to work as a team.
John Castro, Director of Community Services presented to the Council request to
authorize thc~ Mayor to sign the DSHS Program -Immunization Branch -Locals
Grant # 2008 - 023738-Program Attachment No. 001, Purchase Order No.
0000331441, Term of contract is 9/1/2007 thru 8/31/2008. He stated this is the
immunization grant that is renewed every year and covers the vaccine for children
campaign. It is fc:~r $87,000 and covers a new position of Inventory Control Specialist.
This individual will track vaccines. It is hoped that this will save vaccine dollars by
keeping vaccine fresh and moving vaccine to offices that have a greater demand.
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 7 of 8
136
Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment.
Councilmember Truster moved to authorize Mayor to sign the DSHS Program -
Immunization Branch -Locals Grant # 2008 - 023738-Program Attachment No. 001,
Purchase Order No. 0000331441 for the term of 9/1/2007 thru 8/31/2008. The motion
was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton and carried by unanimous vote.
There being no further business, Mayor Anderson adjourned the meeting at 8:24 p.m.
. '1
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Belinda Hinojosa
City Secretary
City Council Minutes September 11, 2007 Page 8 of 8