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Regular Council Meeting January 12, 2015 Page 5 A Motion to direct to city staff to bring back to the City Council an ordinance to include the entire city in the residential abatement program was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 19. Discuss and take action on changing the language of citizens' forum. Council Member Hashmi said he placed this item on the agenda in response to Mrs. Moseley's comments at a prior citizens' forum. He said he did not have a problem with changing the language, but he thought if the agenda wording was going to be changed that the Council should vote on it. Mayor Frierson asked if Council had to vote on something like that. Mr. Godwin said the Council establishes the rule and if the Council doesn't have a rule, then the moderator could change the rule or either the Council could vote on a rule. Mayor Frierson said he changed the wording twice in an effort to make it more clear as to the purpose of a citizens' forum, and to hold to the two minutes. Council Member Hashmi said if a citizen had a complaint about something, he thought the right approach was to allow citizens to address it in the citizens' forum with the entire Council instead of being told to address an issue with their individual Council Member. Council Member Lancaster said she did not ever want to stop citizens from talking. Council Member Pickle said he thought they should adopt a rule. A Motion to adopt a policy approving the language currently written on the agendas (Persons desiring to address the Council must limit their presentation to no more than two minutes. Unless an item is posted on the Agenda, the Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits the Council from responding to any comments other than to refer the matter to a future agenda, to an existing policy, or to a staff person with specific factual information. Claims against the City, Council Members, or employees, as well as individual personnel appeals are not appropriate for citizens' forum.) was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Plata. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 20. Receive presentation and discuss U.S. statistics on economic growth and job creation over the last five years and the effect on Paris, Texas. Council Member Hashmi presented statistics on economic growth and job creation citing several sources, such as Forbes Magazine, Dow-Jones Industrial Average and Politics USA. 22. Discuss and act on a policy for creation of reinvestment zones within the City of Paris. In follow-up to the December City Council meeting, Mr. Godwin said he created a policy to provide consistent guidelines for creation of reinvestment zones. A Motion to approve the policy as written was made by Council Member Grossnickle and seconded by Council Member Plata. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays.