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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 1964-09-28 Minutes MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, HELD AT CITY HALL, 4101 MORGAN CIRCLE SEPTEMBER 28, 1964 7:)0 P.M. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL: Those present: Mayor Hunter, Councilmen: Alvis Dowell, Don Roberts, L.B. Falcone, T.C. Stevens, and Joe Barnett. Administrative Staff Present: City Secretary, City inspector, and Fire Chief. Invocation: Mr. Clyde Zellers Approval of minutes: Mr. Barnett stated that there were some changes he would like to make in the minutes of the last regular meeting. (1) Communications: Item 4, paragraph ), should read Mr. Barnett 'then moved to table this motion until the council could discuss the matter in conference with Mr. Davis, but this motion died for lack of a second. (2) Old Business: Itam 1, paragraph 1, should read, Mr. Barnett made a motion to pay Mr. Reconnu $44.74 as payment in full for services rendered the City; the check receipted to show payment in full of all obligation on the part of the City to Mr. Reconnu to this date, through the period of his employment inclusive. () Report of Charter Commission: Paragraph 1 should read: Discussion followed with audience participation in which Col. Anderson, recently resigned from the Charter Commission presented his reasons for submitting his resignation, stating that he believed that the Charter Commission had improperly functioned. Mr. Barnett requested that Col. Anderson's statement be incorporated in the minutes verba turn. The statement was as follows: "Mr. Mayor, Memøers of the Council: I will read a prepared statement pretaining to the proposed charter. My reasons for this prepared statement is to prevent misquoting of what I have to say¡~ I served on the commission for over seven months before resigning on the 2)rd of July, 1964. Dur~ng this time only eleven general meetings were held. In my opinion this was too few to lay the ground work for a charter. During the early stages each member was given a book entitled "A Guide for Charter Commissions" published by the National Municipal League. This is an excellent guide if adhered to. On page nine the guide states"there should be no effort to "railroad anything"". In my opinion the proposed charter was railroaded in an attempt to place it on the November ballot. Page ten states,"In any event, be sure to avoid the last minute rush to meet a deadling,that leads to hasty, unwise decisions and sometimes to serious errors. "Here again in my opinion this charter was put together "too hastily"". Page eleven recommends the e~ployment of a consultant or consultants to advise the commission and to do drafting for it. To my knowledge no consultant was employed to help draft the charter. Page thirteen states, "One danger in assigning different parts to the charter to continuing sub-committees is that influential members of particular committees may have axes to grind." To my knowledge three continuing sUb-committees drafted this charter. Page fourteen states," The best charter is of little value if the voters don't approve it. The effort to begin public understanding and acceptance should begin the day the Charter Commissi~h is selected and" continue without a break. The heart of a good public relations prggram for a charter commission is intelligent citizen participation, one of the most imp~rtant is through open public hearings." To my knowledge to advèrtised public meetings were held and the results of our general meetings received very little pUblicity. Pagê twenty states,"It is good practice to adopt a tentative draft, give it to the public and hold public hearings on it. After the hearings the commission would meet to deceide what, if any changes to make before submission of the charter through the proper official channels to the voters." Again to my knowledge no tentative ddaft has been given to our voters. Gentlemen, these are a few of the facts that will cause me to vote against the charter as presently written. Thank you for allowing me to present my views on this proposed charter. (4) Mr. Stevens made a motion to table the matter until copies of the Charter are furnished to the Council and the City Attorney has time to review the matter. Mr. Barnett then made motion to accept the minutes as corrected Mr. Roberts seconded the motion and the motion carried 5-0. COMMUNICATIONS: (1) Mayor Hunter read a letter from the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Lines stating that in the future all light bills for the caution lights installed on Farm to Market Road )004 in Smithfield would be sent to the city, because in the origional agreement the City agreed to pay the bill. REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES: WATER BOARD REPORT: Mr. Banovsky stated that since the last meeting they had considered several problems, one being a study of the sewer rates. It is forecasted in the future that the sewer rates will increase $1.00. Also in the future the builder of a new house will now pay for the tap fee and the meter fee. OLD BUS INESS : Passed over. NEW BUSINESS: (1) Mr. Short stated that he was not acquainted with the new council, but he hoped to get their cooperation for the coming recreation program to be known as The North Richiliànd Hills Recreation Association . (2) Flood Control : Mayor Hunter stated that we were fortunate in not losing any more streets than we did during the heavy rain recently; some streets such as North Hills Drive and Tourist Drive needed attention though. Mayor Hunter also stated that he had an offer for a drag line, free of charge from the Water Company for cleaning out the areas that cannot be reached by the City's own equipment. He also stated that he wished to express his appreciation to the Water Company for this offer. Mayor Hunter also expressed appreciation to Mr. Dowell for his work on a project of flood control on North Hills Drive. The Mayor pointed out that he had checked with some of the people in North Richland Hills who were eligible for Flood Disaster Relief, and they expressed gratitude, but they did not want it at this time. (3) Mr. Barnett made a motion to purchase additional chairs for the City Hall. Considerable discussion followed and it was decided that bid for approximately fifty chairs should be taken. These bids werö to be presented at the next regular meeting. Mr. Balcone seconded said motion and it carried 5-0 OTHER BUSINESS: (1) Mr. Dawson Davis presented a resolution to the May~r and Council calling for the election of the Home Rule Charter to be held November 7, 1964. The motion died for lack of a second. Discussion followed. MOTION TO ADJOURN: Mr. Barnett made motion to adjourn and Mr. Roberts seconded it. Motion carried 4-1, with Mr. Dowell casting the dissenting vote. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 P.M. , September 28, 1964. ( Proceedings taped and on file) /7 dt 'rL ~- r;Ic ;J¡? Â~ M , OR ..~ ! j CITY SECRETARY