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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08 0311 min181 The Plainview City Council met on March 11, 2008 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 5:15 p.m. on March 6, 2008. Mayor John C. Anderson presided. Councilmembers present were: Kelvin Tipton-District 1, Cathy Waggoner- District 2, John N. Bertsch-District 4, Ron Trusler-District 5, Wendell Dunlap-District 6 and Roland Nash-District 7. Councilmember Belinda Pena-District 3 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: Lionel Garcia Councilmember Kelvin Tipton delivered the invocation. Councilmember Cathy Waggoner 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 February 26, 2008 and March 6, 2008; the granting of an excused absence to Councilmember Belinda Pena; the reappointment of Belinda Pena and Don Williams to the Board of Health with said terms to expire on January 1, 2009; and the appointment of Dr. Ruth K. Rector-Wright to the Board of Health with said term to expire on January 1, 2010. Greg Ingham, City Manager presented for consideration Resolution R08-182, a Resolution by the City of Plainview, Texas ("City") Approving Southwestern Public Service Company's ("SPS") Proposed Amendment To Certain Tariffs; Expressly Reserving to the City the Right to Reexamine the Tariff Changes in SPS' Next General Rate Case; Requiring the Reimbursement of Expenses Associated with the Review of SPS' Tariff Amendments; Determining that the Meeting at which this Resolution was Passed Complied with the Texas Open Meetings Act; Making Such Other Findings and Provisions Related to the Subject; and Declaring An Effective Date. He stated Southwestern Public Service Company filed its statement of intent to amend its tariff for the "Large Municipal Service," the "Large School Service," and the "Secondary General Service" classes of customers on February 27, 2008. SPS' statement of intent proposes an effective date of April 2, 2008 for its amended tariffs. SPS contends that the amendments will result in a reduction in annual revenue of approximately $2.5 million. SPS is not proposing to redesign rates to other customers at this time or to otherwise recover this shortfall until the next SPS Texas general rate case. In SPS' most recently concluded general rate case, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved new demand charges for customers in the rate classes for "Large Municipal Service," "Large School Service," and "Secondary General Service." City Council Minutes March 11, 2008 Page 1 of 3 182 The creation of the new demand charges for these classes of customers resulted in the billing of demand charges to customers that had not previously been billed for demand. Application of demand charges resulted in substantial bill increases to customers with very low load factors, i.e., accounts where very little energy is used throughout the month but a large amount of electrical power is used for a few hours. Examples of low- load factor customers include churches that only operate a few hours a month but turn on all air-conditioning and lighting loads for those few hours, stadium or ballpark lights that use a lot of wattage when turned on but only operate a few hours a week or month, and seasonal customers like an irrigation customer or cotton gin that operates for a few days of the billing period either at the beginning or end of its production season. To alleviate the effect of the new billing demand charge, SPS' proposed tariff amendments limit the amount of billing demand charged the customer in any particular month. This reduces extreme increases. By law, SPS cannot implement any proposed change in tariffs any earlier than 35 days after its files its statement of intent to change those tariffs with the City. The 35th day after SPS' filing is April 2, 2008. After review of SPS' requested tariff amendments, the steering committee for the Alliance of Xcel Municipalities, AXM's counsel, and its consultants recommend that the Council approve the tariffs filed by SPS with the City and that the changes be effective on April 2, 2008. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. Councilmember Tipton moved to approve Resolution R08-182. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Waggoner and carried by unanimous vote. Mr. Ingham stated the City recommends that the item regarding the Fire Services Agreement between the County of Hale and the City of Plainview be tabled. He stated the County submitted the agreement to the City with basically the same terms and a year to year agreement. At their meeting the Commissioner's Court decided to table the agreement and staff recommends that the City also table this Agreement at this time. There was no public comment. Councilmember Truster moved to table the Fire Services Agreement. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Nash and carried by unanimous vote. William Mull, Police Chief presented for consideration to authorize the Mayor to send letter to TxDOT regarding I-27 Access Road Speed Limits. He stated that one and one-half years ago, the City requested TxDOT to look at lowering speed limits on the frontage roads. They conducted a survey on speed zones for both the West and East frontage roads along I-27. They recommended a speed of 45 mph on the West frontage road from Mile Marker 49 to Mile Marker 50 or near 18th Street. The speed zone would be for one mile. They left the East frontage road speed zone unchanged at 55 mph. Since traffic is increasing on the East side, the City could ask fora 5 mph variance bringing the speed zone to 50 mph from Mile Marker 49 to Mile Marker 50. This would be quicker since the time to get a new survey could take a year. The City would also request that signage be placed regarding the speed limits on the I-27 exit ramps. Mayor Anderson asked for public comment. There was no public comment. City Council Minutes March 11, 2008 Page 2 of 3 183 Councilmember Trusler moved to approve the speed limit recommendations. The motion was duly seconded by Councilmember Tipton. Councilmembers Bertsch and Tipton both stated that the change in speed limits would be too confusing. Mayor Anderson asked for a vote on the matter. Mayor Anderson, Councilmembers Tipton, Waggoner, Trusler, Dunlap and Nash voted "for" the motion. Councilmember Bertsch voted against. The motion carried. There being no further business, Mayor Anderson adjourned the meeting at 7:17 p.m. Belinda Hino'osa 1 City Secretary 1 r-, City Council Minutes March 11, 2008 Page 3 of 3