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Regular Council Meeting October 14, 2013 Page 7 Mr. Godwin said the PEDC Board met and unanimously agreed upon four recommended changes to the existing bylaws. He said the four changes recommended were expanding board membership qualifications to include all of Lamar County, changing terms of office to begin later in the year, clarification regarding resigning board members, and a one -day change to the budget submittal deadline. Council Member Wright said he was not in favor of changing the residency requirements, because retail merchants in the City contribute to funding for PEDC and the County does not contribute funds to the PEDC. Council Member Lancaster agreed with Council Member Wright and also stated that the residents voted how to set up PEDC. Council Member Frierson asked Steve Gilbert to explain the reason for this recommended change. Mr. Gilbert said board member Kenny Dority had to resign when he sold his house and moved to the county. He said that PEDC had been contacted by several business owners who own businesses in Paris, but resided in the county and who had expressed a desire to serve on the Board. Council Member Drake agreed with Council Members Wright and Lancaster. With the exception of retaining the membership for Paris residents only, a Motion to approve the recommended changes was made by Council Member Grossnickle and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 24. Receive presentation from Code enforcement regarding changes made in code enforcement. Code Enforcement Supervisor Robert Talley gave a presentation to the City Council that included code enforcement changes, compliance through cooperation, education of citizens, and prioritizing by the department. He said that being pro- active was of high priority however, complaints had to be addressed as received by the department. Mr. Talley said the department had been reorganized and was under the Fire Department. He also said a five year Capital Improvement budget had been established and they were working on a strategic plan. Mr. Talley informed Council that Code Enforcement would ensure regularly held auctions to be held on a quarterly basis beginning December 2013. Council Member Drake said she had worked with Mr. Talley, Chief Wright and Mr. Maberry during the summer and they did an awesome job although they had limited resources. Council Member Wright expressed concern about code enforcement not being pro- active. Mr. Talley said when they received complaints they did work other violations in the surrounding area. Mayor Hashmi inquired at what point were the property owners no longer fined for non - compliance. Mr. Talley said in the past they took people to Court numerous times, but at the current time they had an abatement crew that cleaned up the property and then a lien was placed on the property. Mayor Hashmi also inquired about the possibility of removing the fines if the property owners would clean up the property. Mr. Talley said they were going to start doing that with deferred adjudication. 25. Accept the bid and award a contract to Bobby Smallwood Construction Co., Inc. for the Grand Theater Strom Damage Repairs subject to execution of a construction agreement, submittal of payment and performance bonds and required insurance policies.