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Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 5 A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 16. Discuss and act on a grant pre - application to the Texas Historical Commission for a Texas Preservation Trust Fund Project for the Grand Theater. Mr. Napier explained that the City had historical properties that were endangered and in need of assistance. He said staff would like to submit a proposal for $30,000 in order to complete additional cleanup work at the Grand Theater. He said there would be a 50% match for total budget of $60,000 and if awarded, the cash match could be budgeted in 2015 -2016. Council Member Lancaster asked if there were any plans for future use. Mr. Godwin said over the last couple of months several persons had expressed an interest in the theater for plays. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 17. Discuss and take action on drainage needs. Public Works Director Jerry McDaniel said one of the major problems was drainage and drainage projects had been identified that would cost about 7 million dollars. He also said a number of years ago the City eliminated positions in the parks department that were responsible for drainage and maintenance work. In addition, Mr. McDaniel said that last year the ice storm took employees away from cleaning the ditches. Mr. McDaniel told the Council beginning September 1st they formed a temporary drainage crew by utilizing parks employees which consisted of nine full -time employees. He said the team was doing a great job and would continue in the winter time, but in the spring they would focus on parks and recreation. Mr. McDaniel explained different options, which included contracting the work out and the estimate he got was $10.00 a foot, which meant a 45' width ditch would cost about $41,715. He said this did not include dump fees, removal of silk or erosion, culvert cleaning or reshaping the ditches. Mr. McDaniel said to take of the City drainage issues in -house would take a five man crew year round and over a period of six months they could get three ditches done. Council Member Hashmi asked for a cost estimate to hire additional full -time employees. Mr. McDaniel estimated a cost of $140,000 a year for five new employees. Council Member Plata inquired about using Bonham State prison inmates and Mr. McDaniel said they had not had a lot of success. Council Member Hashmi said he had visited with the warden in the past, and that they were willing to work on a specific project, and offered to contact the prison officials. Reverend James Price's representative explained said that they needed to clean up all of Paris before they could keep Paris beautiful. She said over 300 lots had been foreclosed on by the City and that the City did not have the manpower to clean all of it up. She said that Reverend Price could clean up 150 lots in the next 6 months for $49,000, which was $350 per lot and could get started for an advance of $6,000. She also said each Council Member could pick 10 lots, the City Manager could pick 10 lots, the citizens could pick 40 and he would I pick the last 40 lots. She said the City could select the person to inspect the lots and this would give convicted felons