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Special Council Meeting <br />August 20, 2013 <br />Page 2 <br />said he had requested the infrastructure funding item and wanted to remove it. It was a <br />consensus of the City Council they had enough funds at this time for infrastructure citing <br />approval of the bond. It was also a consensus of the City Council to not call an election for <br />amending council terms. Mayor Hashmi said he brought up amendment of Section 23 partly <br />because the Charter reflects hiring of department heads must be approved by the City Council, <br />but did not include termination of department heads should be approved by the City Council. <br />Mayor Hashmi said he did not feel that $9,000 should be spent for one amendment. Council <br />Member Wright inquired if it could be handled in another manner other than a Charter <br />amendment. Mr. McIlyar said they might be able to address it through personnel policies, but <br />would need further review. Mr. Anderson said they could review it when the personnel policy <br />committee met, but that the policies could not conflict with the Charter. It was a consensus of <br />the City Council that it was not necessary to call a Charter Election for November 2013. <br />4. Discuss and possibly make changes to the 2013 -2014 proposed Budget for the City of <br />Paris. <br />City Council reviewed the budget for 2013 -2014. Specific items discussed were addition <br />of $89,000 for the Incubator, but only with a legal agreement setting out services and parameters <br />for qualifying businesses. Council Member Wright said he was not opposed to the Incubator but <br />was opposed to the way it was funded through PEDC. Council Member Frierson said the <br />Incubator was working on a matrix with PJC and PEDC to assure that people coming into the <br />Incubator were more qualified. It was a consensus of the City Council that the Incubator get an <br />independent audit of their books. Council Members Grossnickle and Frierson said they also <br />supported adding Retail Attractions to the City budget or allow PEDC to place it back in their <br />budget. Council Member Frierson said he had raw date for Retail Attractions, which reflected <br />295 activities that included retail, real estate, and expansion of businesses. Council Member <br />Wright said he was not opposed to attracting retail, but that he was not sure that Rickey Hayes <br />was the best fit. Mayor Hashmi said he was not opposed to the City paying for retail promotion, <br />but felt the work should be through an open bid process. Mayor Hashmi said he did not favor <br />paying someone a monthly stipend, but felt that it should work more like a realtor agreement. <br />He said the person hired should report to the Council what the City had received as a result of the <br />firm's service and associated costs. Council Member Frierson said he was not advocating for a <br />specific person or company, but that he thought if the City was going to tie the services to a <br />commission that the City would be charged more money. Mayor Hashmi said he was opposed to <br />paying a monthly fee to someone, and they may want to consider hiring an employee for the City <br />go recruit retail for the City. Council Member Drake arrived to the meeting at 5:58 p.m. and <br />Mayor Hashmi gave her a summary of their discussions. Council Member Frierson said he <br />thought they should set aside money in the budget to attract retail to the City. It was a consensus <br />of City Council to set aside money, but the Mayor suggested they have a meeting to discuss how <br />they wanted to proceed with retail for the City. <br />City Council reviewed the General Fund and questioned the water and utilities increase. <br />Council discussed usage fees, water and sewer transfers, and noted that part of the costs for water <br />and sewer were being paid out of the general fund. They also discussed personnel and car <br />allowance increase in the City Manager's budget. Mr. Anderson explained that the human <br />