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Special Council Meeting <br />September 3, 2013 <br />Page 2 <br />and named Amarillo, Austin, Denton, Houston, and McKinney among the cities they had <br />performed services. Mr. Kohler said S.J. Lewis had the bonding capacity of over one -half billion <br />dollars and employed about 400 pipe professions. He said they perform well on fast paced <br />projects and the company had an interest in this project, because it would be a fast paced project. <br />Mr. Kohler said they handled projects that ranged from one -half million dollars to fifty million <br />dollars. He said they prided themselves with the speed and quality which they could get pipe in <br />the ground. He said they would engage the services of local people, because of their value to the <br />project. Mr. Kohler said having a large company did not mean a bigger overhead, citing their <br />efficiency as being a cost saving measure. He further said that the company's overhead was <br />controlled, productivity was very good and they put pipe in the ground for a living. Mr. Kohler <br />said if they had a set of plans and gave him a deadline, they would figure out how to meet that <br />deadline. He also said that he would be in the field as much as possible, because he managed <br />from the field. <br />Mayor Hashmi recessed City Council at 7:04 p.m. and reconvened City Council into <br />open session at 7:15 p.m. <br />Discuss the proposed Budget for fiscal year 2013 -2014. <br />Finance Director said the budget was very lean. Mayor Hashmi inquired about airport <br />revenue and expenses. Mr. Anderson said the only way the City could break even on the airport <br />was to take over the fuel sales, but that he would have to review the fixed based operator contract <br />to determine the expiration date. Mayor Hashmi said he would like to explore ideas for the <br />airport to become more profitable. City Council discussed auditing costs. Council Member <br />Drake asked about the possibility of helping the fairgrounds by building additional bathrooms. <br />Mr. Anderson said there was money budgeted in -house for water and sewer projects and that the <br />City could possibly contribute for water and sewer lines and that was a big bulk of constructing <br />additional bathrooms. In addition, Mr. Anderson said he had reviewed the budget with regard to <br />the funding the Incubator and retail promotion for an estimate combined total of $130,000 and <br />that he could not figure a way to fund those items without eliminating something else or Council <br />making a decision to dip into reserves. Mr. Anderson cautioned against dipping into reserves. <br />City Council also discussed the request for paving the Civic Center parking lot estimated at <br />$141,000 and repair for a section of the Trail de Paris in an estimated amount of $125,000. <br />Mayor Hashmi said maybe they could raise the hotel /motel tax to pay for paving of the parking <br />lot, and said it would take about three years. It was a consensus of City Council to make repairs <br />to the parking lot at this time. Council Member Grossnickle asked if EMS could consider <br />converting the old bingo building into an ambulance station. Mr. Klinkerman said they could <br />study it. Council Member Wright reminded Council they promised voters they would not raise <br />taxes or water and sewer rates. Council Member Wright asked that contract labor fees be <br />reviewed in an effort to save money. He asked that considerations be given to having the City <br />staff do their own hiring of temporary employees or hiring an agency based upon bids or request <br />for proposals. <br />It was a consensus of the City Council that the City fund the Incubator and retail <br />promotions by cutting something else from the budget. It was also a consensus of the City <br />