05 - MINUTES OF JULY 24, 2017 CITY COUNCIL MEETING

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Regular Council Meeting July 24, 2017 Page 7 Council Member Jenkins said jobs were needed in Paris, he supported PEDC but at this time he thought that maybe they did need to do something different. Council Member Lancaster said she could not and would not take the right of citizens to vote on the direction the City is taking. She said it was important and the citizens were the ones they needed to listen to. Council Member Lancaster said she was in favor of the vote. Council Member Trenado said he was also in favor of the vote. He inquired of City Attorney Stephanie Harris if they could divide equally between economic development and streets the way the ballot was worded now. Ms. Harris said it depended on, what kind of economic development they wanted to do, but not as written. She said the only economic development tax that was allowed under the law was a Type A and Type B. If they want to divide the money differently, they would have to word the ordinance differently. Trenado asked if the way it was worded now would require the funds to go to streets. Ms. Harris answered in the affirmative. Mayor Clifford said if citizens approve the proposition on the l #l, p py p, uld pass a rtsb�r Lion redirectin 'the `$600.000 currentt� used for stree m�, matenals`:tc�' eoortoti�iic development -d the endiesult would be the same r. Godwin k's, d if the voters approved the proposition that ,� would hive to be meted on every fd years. Council l4ember .Knox said this has go on very convoluted very fast. While she liked the; idea about 384 n lieu. of,,s they also i Bided t© o the streets, but she said she was not in r� favor of abandoning economie i�velopment.e said sloe thought ,tlie3� "iced to table this for a little more investigation and discussion. Council,;IVi ember Portugal commenced the mayor for bring this to the Council. She favored tablmg phis to get answers hpqause the said they did not J&ow what a chapter 380 was. She`sad this was thrown at them without a workshop or Council retreat so they could talk about their vision for economic development: A Motion to accept the ballot language with the understanding that the City Council is planning to instruct the City Manager to divert the $600,000 from streets into a fund that would fund economic development through Chapter 380, if the proposition is approved by the voters was made by Mayor Clifford and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Council Member Drake confirmed that the instructions to divert the $600,000 would only happen if the proposition passed. Mayor Clifford confirmed that and said if the proposition fails, then nothing would change. Council Member Knox said either way, the citizens would get to vote whether or not they have economic development to the tune of $600,000 or $1.2 Million Dollars. Mayor Clifford said that was correct. Mayor Clifford called for a vote on the Motion. Motion carried, 6 ayes - 1 nay, with Council Member Portugal casting the dissenting vote. 14. Discuss and authorize execution of a professional services agreement with Grantham & Associates to provide engineering design and related professional services for the Church Street Reconstruction Project, in an amount not to exceed $200,000.