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Regular Council Meeting January 13, 2014 Page 4 different abatement programs, a blog site where questions could be posed to the City Manager, Mayor and senior city staff by residents and visitors, access to a concierge for people desiring to visit the City and a list of City owned tax delinquent properties that could be sold online. Mayor Hashmi depicted the web -site, noting that it was not complete, that it did not cost the City anything and if anyone had any suggestions or input to please let him know. 14. Discuss amendments to the sign ordinance and provide direction to city staff. City Engineer Shawn Napier explained the committee comprised of himself, Council Member Drake, Alex Pickering, Kent McIlyar, and Joey Sleeper had met for many months, and had completed their proposed revisions to the sign ordinance. Mr. Napier said that the proposed revisions would be placed on the City website the following day to receive comments from the public and copies would also be placed at the library. It was a consensus of the City Council that staff place this item on the next agenda for action. 15. Discuss and act on converting to paperless agendas. Following a brief discussion, a Motion to convert to paperless agendas and purchase I- Pads was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Mayor Hashmi. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 16. Discuss amendments to the tree preservation ordinance and provide direction to city staff. City Manager John Godwin said the tree preservation ordinance was forty -three years old and amendments were needed. It was a consensus of the City Council that the ordinance be updated and brought back to Council. Mr. Godwin asked the Council if they had any feedback to provide it to either him or the city attorney. 17. Discuss incentive to encourage and assist downtown property owners and tenants to improve their facilities. Mr. Godwin explained the three programs in place. Mayor Hashmi said he would like new ideas other than what was in existence, because the current programs had not resulted in many changes for the downtown area. He urged staff to contact other cities to learn what they were doing that was successful. Council Members Drake and Frierson agreed with Mayor Hashmi. Council Member Grossnickle suggested looking to McKinney as a role model, as did Council Member Jenkins. Council Member Wright favored speaking with downtown owners to get their input. Mayor Hashmi asked Mr. Godwin to schedule a meeting with downtown owners for next week and to place this item on the next agenda. 18. Discuss the request from Red River Valley Veterans Memorial to expand their site lease from the City and provide direction to city staff.