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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 1996-06-29 Minutes Present: Staff: Absent: CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION JUNE 29, 1996 Tommy Brown Mack Garvin Lyle E. Welch Mark Wood JoAnn Johnson Don Phifer Byron Sibbet Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member C.A. Sanford Randy Shiflet Larry Cunningham Patricia Hutson Andy Wayman City Manager Assistant City Manager Assistant City Manager City Secretary Assistant to City Manager Linda Spurlock Sansoucie Council Member The work session began at 9:00 a.m on June 29, 1996. 1) PAY PLAN Police/Fire Andy Wallace and Pat Murphy, representing the Police Association, presented a proposed pay plan that incorporated aspects of both a merit and step pay plan. The plan would give officers a merit raise every two years. The proposed plan would affect all sworn personnel with the exception of the Police Chief. There would be an annual cost of living adjustment to the plan funded from the Crime Control District. The plan did not include any incentive plan. Officers would still receive incentive pay for education. City Wide Compensation Plan - Non-Public Safety & Public Safety Discussed later in the work session. 2) CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Full-Time Grant Administrator Each of the Council Members advised of their goals and objectives: Mayor Brown - 1) The City needs to monitor upcoming legislation that could impact the City. ·,··".~·_.·,_,~~__,_..~m~_~_~___~__. City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 2 2) Advised he had asked the City Manager to determine if there were enough grants to merit a full-time Grant Administrator. Councilman Garvin - 1) Did not want to see the City become involved in bicycle helmet laws. He felt the Council needed to let the legislature pass a State law and then the City could deal with enforcing it. 2) As a main goal, would like construction projects completed on a more timely basis. 3) Wanted the City to be good stewards with the Crime Control District funds and to set aside funds for reserves. Councilman Wood - 1) Nuisance Ordinance - Strengthen ordinances pertaining to nuisances in terms of being able to enforce obvious violations. Would like stronger, better image- type ordinances. Implement and enforce ordinances aimed at cleaning up the City to present a better image i.e., no parking zones, no dumping, stiffer penalties. 2) Concerned about the City being too aggressive in the projection of sales tax. Concerned that sales tax growth will slow down. Felt that growth in the City's existing businesses will slow down and the City should budget within its known means. If the City continues to project increases in sales tax and budgets accordingly, eventually will have to cut back when business growth peaks and slows down. 3) Make the Library a leader in the North Texas Library System. Concentrate on committing and improving the Library's assets i.e, upgrading the library's computer system, books, etc. Use excess % cent Park Sales Tax Funds to accomplish this. Consider committing excess revenue over 3.5 million dollars to Library improvements. Councilwoman Johnson - 1) Also felt ordinance violations needed to be enforced. Set policy on ordinances that are to be enforced without any exceptions and determine those that are to be enforced on complaint only basis. Need to make citizens aware of which ordinance violations are enforced by complaint only. 2) Need Public Relations individual for City. 3) Would like to organize a local History Steering Committee (see attached memo to Council). Will be presenting this formally at a future Council meeting. 4) Would like to promote Crepe Myrtles in North Richland Hills and for City to become known for its crepe myrtles. City could encourage schools to plant them City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 3 and nurseries to sell them. The City could plant them in parks and line streets, and Beautification Commission could recognize the "Most Beautiful Display". Crepe Myrtles could give the City an identity. City Manager Sanford advised he was considering bringing before the Council an ordinance requiring that at least two trees of a specific caliber be planted on new residential lots before a c/o would be issued. Mr. Sanford stated he felt the City could encourage the use of crepe myrtles. Councilman Phifer - 1) Continue Economic Development - especially along Davis Boulevard, Precinct Line and Watauga Road. Economic Development will be source of funding for future expenditures and indebtedness. 2) Budget - agreed with Councilman Garvin; wants the City to be good stewards with its money. There needs to be better communication regarding what money is being spent for. 3) Council needs to be fully aware in more detail of all costs of a project. Mayor Brown stated that sister cities were economic generators. He felt they should be funded by the private sector, with the city promoting it. Council discussed the benefits of the Chamber. Council also discussed the promotion of the City through the Economic Development Department. Councilman Sibbet - 1) 100 Acre Park - There needs to be a full disclosure of what is going on in the park. The federal government has been using global positioning satellites for the purpose of cataloguing the grasslands. Mr. Sanford advised he would forward an IR to the Council bringing them up-to-date on the park. Mayor Brown asked the Council if they would like to go on a two-day retreat with a facilitator. Mayor Pro Tem Garvin asked if the budget work session could be extended an additional day to include a park planning session. 2) Agreed with Councilman Wood regarding nuisance ordinances. Would like to see a Sunset Committee that would periodically review ordinances to determine if ordinances were still applicable. Would like to see stiffer enforcement of ordinances. Concerned that the City has looked the other way for so long that property is being devalued. Felt standards needed to be set to stop deterioration. City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 4 Council discussed whether there should be stricter code enforcement. Mayor Pro Tem Garvin was opposed to the Code Enforcement Officers looking for violations. He felt there would always be exceptions. Councilwoman Johnson agreed with Mayor Pro Tem Garvin. She felt the city needed to became involved when property value of a neighborhood was affected. Councilman Wood stated he felt the City needed to determine what standards should be those standards maintained. 3) Concerned about the appearance of Davis Boulevard. There are several businesses on Davis Boulevard that need to be cleaned up. Councilman Wood stated he felt there needed to be some aggressive effort on the Council's part to demolish buildings that are in disrepair. Councilman Welch - 1) Concerned that City has grown fast and is out of control. Felt will eventually have to raise taxes to take care of everything the Council has going. Concerned about how to finance future growth. 2) Police Department - Need to clarify that not all of crime control money will go to Police salaries; there are many things involved. Need to consider pay for Fire Department and other City employees if Police are given raises. 3) Make cleaning ditches and waterways an on-going program. Felt streets improvements should be the top priority. Councilman Wood stated he felt the Council needed to review the City's standards and maintain consistent standards. Councilman Wood stated Council should review plats closer. Mayor Brown requested that Staff check into using herbicides to clean the ditches and waterways. Council discussed the flooding in Meadowlakes and the Sam Pack property. Councilwoman Johnson stated she felt the City needed to make sure the landscape ordinances are adhered to. She felt landscaping in the commercial areas was not being kept. Council discussed the encroachment problem in the 100 acre park. Mr. Sanford brought the Council up-to-date on the problem and the action that had been taken by the City Attorney. City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 5 3) PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING LOCATION AND SITE PLAN Assistant City Manager Shiflet explained where the public safety building was initially planned to be located. He discussed different options as to the location of the building. He advised that the Police Department preferred to have the crime scene function located in a building adjacent to the police auto impound. After considerable discussion by Council on the location of the building, consensus was to leave the auto impound where it presently was and to construct the new building on the front of the property. Councilwoman Johnson requested expense and revenue information on the auto impound operation. 4) ADDITIONAL CITY HALL PARKING LOT LIGHTS Mr. Sanford advised that 13 parking lot lights would cost $28,000. Mr. Sanford requested Council to look at the City Hall parking lot lights. There was no further discussion by Council. 5) MALL EXPANSION TAX INCENTIVES 6) TAX ABATEMENTS Mr. Sanford advised Council needed to consider the possibility of Foley's moving out of the city. Mr. Sanford explained tax abatement could help to attract new businesses. Mr. Sanford advised Council they needed to look at ways to keep the mall vibrant. Mr. Sanford advised that TECNOL was also getting ready to expand and they would be coming to the Council to discuss tax abatement. Mr. Sanford stated the Council needed to consider changing the tax abatement policy. Mr. Sanford advised there were two other possibilities Council needed to consider for tax abatement - H & M Foods and Richland Hospital. Mr. Wayman explained Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to the Council. 9) MID-YEAR BUDGET REVIEW Assistant City Manager Cunningham presented the mid-year budget review. Mayor Brown questioned the drop in court revenues. Assistant City Manager Shiflet explained that with the change in Municipal Judge, the paper work was being processed more efficiently and revenues were improving. Councilwoman Johnson questioned the monitoring of the internet. Mr. Cunningham advised a management policy had been drafted addressing the issue. City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 6 Mr. Sanford advised Council of a shortage in their travel budget. Council was advised to let the City Secretary know I they planned to attend the TML and NLC conferences so funds could be appropriated from Council contingency to cover the registration fees. Councilwoman Johnson advised the History Committee would also need about $5,000 from Council contingency. Councilwoman Johnson was advised to develop a budget and present it to the Council for formal action. 11) LAND ACQUISITION Mr. Sanford advised that part of the paved portion of the land between the Tire Store and the Recreation Center did not belong to the City. Mr. Sanford advised he felt the City needed to consider buying the property for future needs. Mr. Sanford advised in order to purchase the land some of the park projects might have to be rescheduled. Consensus of Council was for the City Manager to offer $6.00 a foot for the property and to discuss with Council before making any counter offers. 12) GARBAGE LAIDLAW COMMERCIAL RECYCLING EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE Mr. Sanford explained to Council a problem regarding commercial recycling. Mr. Sanford explained that businesses in the City often obtained dumpsters or roll-offs from companies other than Laidlaw. Mr. Sanford stated if the City was going to give Laidlaw the exclusive franchise then the ordinance needed to be strengthened. Mr. Sanford also advised that Council will be needing to decide if they want to renegotiate the Laidlaw contract or accept bids. Consensus of the Council was to honor the Laidlaw franchise. Mr. Sanford recommended the City picking up the containers and storing them. One Council member suggested issuing citations instead. No decision was reached. 13) FIRE DEPARTMENT VIDEO Mr. Sanford advised that at the July 8 Council meeting, the firefighters have asked to speak to Council about safety and safety levels. Staff presented a video on fire safety. Council requested Staff to determine of the firefighters that had been added, how many had been taken off of the trucks for other functions. Councilman Sibbet requested information on how many fires the Fire Department fights. City Council Work Session June 29, 1996 Page 7 1) CITY WIDE COMPENSATION PLAN - NON-PUBLIC SAFETY & PUBLIC SAFETY Mr. Sanford advised the City Wide Compensation Plan would be discussed another time. 7) CDBG DIRECT ENTITLEMENT Staff advised they would be presenting a map showing where the CDBG funds could be spent. 8) CHILD ADVOCACY Council was advised that the Mayor and Mr. Shiflet had been attending the meetings. Council was advised a shelter was being opened at Mid-Cities Boulevard and Precinct Line Road. Council was advised the Shelter would be asking for funding. The request for funding will be brought to Council at a later date. 10) STREET CONSTRUCTION ADJACENT TO NEW DEVELOPMENT Mr. Sanford advised he needed direction on Rumfield Road from Precinct Line Road to the new street being built by Barfield. Mr. Sanford explained that the Harris' would not be able to use the north side of Rumfield. Mr. Sanford advised the property the City was taking for the road was worth about $60,000 and the enhancement for the remainder of their property would be about $50,000. Mr. Sanford advised he would like to pay the Harris $20,000 for their right-of-way and not assess them for Rumfield. The consensus of the Council was to proceed as requested by the City Manager. Councilman Sibbet advised he was bringing back up for reconsideration the final plat of Wood Addition. Council discussed the improvement of Smithfield Road in front of the two lots on the plat. Council discussed the need to set a policy for streets being constructed in front of individual homes rather than by a developer. Mayor Brown adjourned the work session at 4:15 p.m.