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06/22/2015MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS June 22, 2015 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2015, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: A.J. Hashmi Council Members: Aaron Jenkins; Billie Lancaster; Benny Plata; Steve Clifford; Matt Frierson; and Edwin Pickle City Staff John Godwin, City Manager; Gene Anderson, Finance Director; Kent McIlyar, City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Larry Wright, Fire Chief; Bob Hundley, Police Chief; Director; Doug Harris, Utilities Director; Shawn Napier, City Engineer; Jerry McDaniel; and Priscilla McAnally, Library Director Opening Agenda 1. Call meeting to order. Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Pastor Bob Bush gave the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Lancaster led the pledge. 4. Citizens' Forum. Ray Banks, 3450 Robin Road — he referenced item number 27 and said he had looked over the bid and understood it came in over budget and they were trying to negotiate it down. He questioned the large difference in cost of the valves between the two bidders and said there must be an error. Michael Glatfelter, 1345 S.E. 6t' Street — he said efforts should be made to recover money that disappeared from the PEDC, such as the R3bi project. He also said PEDC should be shut down for one year and a new board put in place. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 2 Matthew Ablon, EParis Extra intern reporter - he was at the meeting on assignment to report on the Council meeting. Consent Agenda Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the Consent Agenda for discussion. There being none, a Motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 5. Approve minutes from the meeting on June 8, 2015. 6. Receive reports and/or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Airport Advisory Board (4 -16 -2015) b. Planning and Zoning Commission (5 -4 -2015) c. Main Street Advisory Board (5 -12 -2015) d. Paris Public Library Advisory Board (5 -20 -2015) 7. Receive May monthly financial report. 8. Receive May drainage ditch maintenance report. 9. RESOLUTION NO. 2015-028: A JOINT RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AND THE LAMAR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT APPOINTING MEMBERS TO THE PARIS - LAMAR COUNTY HEALTH DISTRICT BOARD; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 10. Approve re- assignment of a hangar lease for Hangar AAA from Chad D. Parrott to Jimmy Smyers and from Jimmy Smyers to BUHA Holding, LLC. Regular Agenda 11. Receive presentation by Mayor Hashmi on 2015 -16 pending projects and issues in local government as related to City Council and City Departments, discuss and act. Mayor Hashmi said he felt there were current issues before the City and he would like to discuss those. He said he felt that City Council issues included poor communication, lack of cohesiveness, division on key issues, poor performance as a group, lack of structured program, poorly informed of ongoing projects and personal agendas. Mayor Hashmi emphasized that his thoughts were not meant as a personal attack of any individual or any group, but meant for the organization to look at itself to determine where improvements could be made. He also said other Council Members may have different opinions. He said with regard to poor Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 3 communication, that in the past Council Members including himself had met on different issues, with the City Manager and the remainder of the Council was not made aware. He said this had been rectified in that he spoke to the City Manager about making the entire Council aware of the meetings and providing information to the entire Council. With regard of lack of cohesiveness and poor performance, he said it gives a bad feeling in the community when the leaders do not get along, that it was okay to have a difference of opinion, but they should leave personal agendas outside the Council Chambers. Mayor Hashmi also said he believed city departments could also be improved. He said he felt the engineering department had poor leadership, lack of transparency, complete loss of accountability, disregard for authority, provided poor quality information and at times inaccurate information. He also said if the engineering department felt contractors or someone was not doing a job correctly, then they should bring this to the contractor's attention. As far as lack of transparency, Mayor Hashmi said a resident was upset about something that was done and when addressed with the engineering department the answer given to the resident was that the Council was responsible for that and that the Council changes and they change their mind. Mayor Hashmi said he discussed this matter with Mr. Godwin who reported back and said that the issue was not the Council, but the issue was due to a change in rules. With disregard for authority, when the engineering department was on the agenda and had been for quite some time, the engineer nor the City Manager informed Council that the engineer was not going to be at the meeting. Had Council known that in advance, the presentation could have been postponed instead of having a junior employee trying to explain what occurred. Mayor Hashmi referring to poor quality information referenced to the map given to Council reflecting the completed project on Houston Street, but after visiting Houston Street and hearing the presentation, Council was told it was not a completed project. Mayor Hashmi said with regard to the City Clerk's office, he felt overall the office was performing well, but thought there was some need of improvement in the agenda packet and that he talked to Mr. Godwin about it. He said whenever a search was conducted on a particular issue, one needed to know the specific Council meeting that an item was discussed or they could not find it. He said he thought the IT Department could improve as related to the agenda. Mayor Hashmi next brought up code enforcement and said there was an item that would be presented, but that he thought the Council needs to receive reports from code enforcement. As far as EMT service is concerned, Mayor Hashmi said he thought they performed quite well. He said the City Manager could better answer if EMS needed a deputy chief or not, but he would like to hear something about ongoing training of EMT personnel. Mayor Hashmi said he thought that Public Works was under good leadership, and in the future they were going to meet with the City Manager about a road resurfacing program. With regard to the Police Department, he said there was a constant loss of police officers to other agencies. He also said there was a meeting conducted at his office and they would hear about that today. Mayor Hashmi said they discussed several issues with the police chief including reporting of crime statistics and the chief was going to review ways to improve reporting of statistics as far as Paris being reported as one of the top ten dangerous cities. He said they also discussed development of new units, such as a drug task force and K9 units, minority Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 4 participation and sale of property. Mayor Hashmi said he felt the fire department was working well. Council Member Frierson confirmed with Mayor Hashmi that these were his opinions of the City Council and city departments. Mayor Frierson said he found the list to be overly negative and somewhat unfounded. First of all, he said they were made up of a group of seven individuals from different backgrounds and sections of the community and he did not think they were going to think alike on every issue. He said he thought the rule of leadership was not to have unanimity all of the time, but rather come together and compromise and realize collaboration gives far greater reward than trying to always hope that one idea was going to be the silver bullet. He said he thought there were some key issues that they had not done a good job with respect of meeting in the middle. Council Member Frierson said they were an administrative, policy making board and hopefully their constituents trusted them. He said they had equal votes and that the mayor was ceremonial in nature. He also said he realizes that Shawn Napier bears the burden of a lot of things but between Mr. Napier and Mr. Godwin, he had confidence in them. Council Member Frierson said there was always two sides to every story and that they were all works in progress that should strive to get better each and every day. He said with respect to the City Clerk's Office, EMT and the Fire Department, he appreciated the compliments and personally agreed with them and he did receive good reports about them all the time, but he wanted to make sure Council wasn't overzealous in praising them in public in case Mr. Godwin had something he was internally dealing with that Council did not know about yet. Council Member Frierson said with regard to code enforcement, there were tons of issues, weeds, cars, etc. and he received a lot of phone calls, but in their defense they had a lot on their plate. He said he read the meeting notes from the meeting with Chief Hundley and the only crime statistics he was aware of was reported was on Facebook. He said he took the liberty to research and from three different related crime stats in Texas and Paris was not listed at all in any three articles. Council Member Pickle said a lot of this did not need to be brought out in the City Council meeting. He said he thought Council was getting back in the situation of micromanaging and the day -to -day operation of the City was the job of the City Manager. Council Member Clifford said he thought it was useful to point these types of things out, as people had a right to know. He said he did not have an issue at all with this presentation and that he agreed with a lot of what Mayor Hashmi brought forward. Council Member Plata said he could see both points. He said he knew that everybody wanted to do a good job and improvements are the result of them asking questions and exploring some of these issues, but he did not feel everything should be aired out in public but instead directed to Mr. Godwin for resolution. Council Member Jenkins said good points were brought out by both sides and as Council Members and leaders of the community, he hoped they could all come together and to the right thing for Paris. Council Member Lancaster said she thought it was good to bring out the fact they were not really together as a board, and could get a lot more accomplished in the town if they worked together. She also said she did not see a problem with any Council Member making a presentation on ways they could improve. Mayor Hashmi pointed out that the City Manager was fully aware of these meetings and none of the meetings were conducted without information being provided to the entire Council or the City Manager. Council Member Pickle said that was not true, because he was not aware of the meeting with the police chief and Council Member Plata. He said he accidentally found out about the meeting and they were not notified Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 5 there were three meetings that day. Mayor Hashmi inquired if Council Member Pickle checked his e-mail and said the City Manager had emailed all Council Members. Council Member Pickle said he did not receive notice of the meeting. Mayor Hashmi told him to check with the City Manager. Mayor Hashmi said he received the e -mail and he made sure every Council Member was not only informed, but also asked if they wanted to attend the meeting. Council Member Pickle said he did not receive that e-mail and Council Member Frierson said the only e -mail he received was about the recycling meeting. Mayor Hashmi said all three meetings were posted by the City Manager. Council Member Pickle asked if he could see the e-mail and Mr. Godwin said he would look it up. Mayor Hashmi said he received an e -mail from the City Manager and it was copied to the entire Council. He also said that he had spoken to the City Manager who told him no more than three Council Members could attend and Mayor Hashmi said he told Mr. Godwin to post the meetings in case there were more than three Council Members at the meetings. Council Member Lancaster said she got the e -mail and Council Member Frierson said he did not. Mayor Hashmi said the e-mail from the City Manager was dated and timed. He also said to bring everyone up to date, there were three meetings conducted and the City Manager sent notice of those meetings to the Council. Council Member Pickle inquired if there was a way to determine if Council Members had received the e- mails. Mayor Hashmi said it shows the time you opened it. 12. Receive presentations, discuss and act on the following: a. Council Member Lancaster and City Attorney Kent McIlyar on charter amendments, including the effect of city boundaries if the mayor is elected at- large; b. Council Member Plata on the police department, including retention of police officers; and c. Mayor Hashmi on a recycling program for the citizens of Paris. — Council Member Lancaster said following their meeting, a Charter Review Committee was appointed by the Council and met for the first time last week to determine if any amendments were needed to the Charter, and would meet again this week. She said one of the items discussed at the meeting with Mayor Hashmi, Council Member Pickle, Mr. McIlyar and Mr. Godwin, as well as the redistricting attorney Mr. Bass (by conference call), was the possibility of election of a mayor by all of the people. She said that sounded like a good idea to her, but it was something that would be difficult to do. She also said Mr. Bass told them the district boundaries would have to be redrawn, the mayor might not be able to vote, and that the Department of Justice may not approve it. Council Member Lancaster said the Charter Committee was going to continue to review the Charter and report back to Council. Mr. McIlyar gave the history of single member districts including the lawsuit regarding the Voting Rights Act and the Orders issued by Judge William Justice in 1976 which mandated seven single member districts for the City of Paris. He said the system where Council Members appoint their mayor and mayor pro -tern was more unique to smaller communities and it did not have to be changed but as a result of discussions, they contacted the redistricting attorney Bob Bass. Mr. McIlyar said Mr. Bass told them it could be done, but would have to be cleared through the Eastern District of Texas prior to taking it forward to the citizens for a vote. He also said that Mr. Bass Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 6 told them the two easiest ways to accomplish this would be either to retain seven single member districts and add an eighth position, which would be the mayor position. Mr. McIlyar said the Charter Review Committee would have to decide along with the City Council whether or not they wanted to give the mayor the power to vote. Mr. McIlyar said the other option was to redraw the seven single member districts into six single member districts increasing each district in population by about 600 -700, but they would need to make sure not to delude the minority districts so that they do not end up with a retrogression situation. Council Member Plata said there was a meeting at Dr. Hashmi's office regarding the Police Department between the City Manager, Police Chief, Council Member Lancaster and Janice was there taking notes. He said the discussion centered on the morale problems and the other problems within the police department, contributing in the loss of police officers. Council Member Plata said it was a very constructive meeting that came with approval from the City Manager and Police Chief to allow him to have face -to -face meetings with police officers in order to get their feelings and input on the issues. He also said the hope was that if major issues existed, they could and would be addressed, if at all possible. Council Member Plata said he felt that Chief Hundley was a very responsible man, and all indications from speaking with him showed that he cares for the people working in the police department. He said he would like to meet with a few more people before he makes his final report, which will be at the next council meeting. Council Member Plata emphasized the ultimate goal was that if big issues arose; changes could be implemented for the good of the City and all police officers working now and in the future. Mayor Hashmi pointed out that whatever suggestions are made to the Police Chief and City Manager, and that the City Manager was eventually responsible as the Council was only a policy making authority. He said if the Council could help the police department retain police officers then they should do so. Mr. Godwin said the recycling item was an item they discussed about a year and a half ago when they looked at two or three different options. At that time, Mr. Godwin said he recommended they try to do something with recycling and he thought the best way to do that was to move forward with drop -off sites. He said they should be geographically dispersed to encourage people to participate, such as parks and elementary schools. Mr. Godwin said he and Public Works Director Jerry McDaniel would be visiting with some other jurisdictions, and with Ms. Spencer who was in the recycling meeting. Mr. Godwin said they discussed earmarking funds for a particular park or the trail from collection and sell of recyclables. Council Member Frierson inquired of Mr. Godwin if this was fundamentally different than what had already been presented twice to the Council. Mr. Godwin said not as far as the basics of it, but what was different was the process and they were trying to be a little more aggressive by owning the bins and contracting with someone to purchase the recyclables. Council Member Frierson inquired about the costs and Mr. Godwin said he would get back to Council in the next several weeks. Mayor Hashmi expressed he felt this was a good idea, because if the City was able to sell the recyclables collected that money could fund improvements for the trail and parks. Council Member Lancaster favored the idea and added that it would also lessen what goes into the landfill. Mayor Hashmi also said one of the suggestions made was that the money saved from not paying the landfill fees could be set aside and matched by the City to also be spent on improvement of the trail and parks. Council Member Clifford said it was good idea and Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 7 ownership was the best part, because people would be more apt to recycle in an effort to improve parks. 13. Discuss and act on extension of a professional services agreement with the Retail Coach to provide retail analysis and recruitment in conjunction with the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce. A Motion to remove this item from the table was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Council Member Clifford. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. Council Member Clifford said he was the one who asked for this item to be tabled pending receipt of additional information and that he did receive the information from Mr. Godwin. He also said he learned that between the City and PEDC that more than $117,000 had spent over the last four years on retail, and that retail business had come and gone. Council Member Clifford said in his opinion the only way to increase retail was through primary jobs and he was opposed to approving this contract. Council Member Jenkins agreed and Council Member Lancaster said if they get industrial jobs that retail would come to Paris. Mayor Hashmi asked Mr. Godwin if having the Retail Coach had been helpful. Mr. Godwin answered yes and no, citing when recruiting quality industry, they inquired about shopping and restaurants. He said he met with the Chamber and retail committee on a monthly business, that he felt they were making progress and recommended extending the contract for another year. Council Member Lancaster asked Mr. Godwin if he could point out a particular company and he said there were no new ones, but that he had spoken to several. Council Member Frierson said he favored this contract, because it was an investment for the community. Lamar County Chamber Chairman Steve Keywood said they wanted to target the leakage out of the community but that these types of things take time, and he asked that they extend the contract for another year. Council Member Lancaster asked if they could keep Council informed and Mr. Keywood answered in the affirmative. Council Member Pickle said if they were going to continue short- sightedness they did not need to do this. Council Member Plata said they needed to sell Paris and that the Retail Coach had introduced them to some developers. A Motion to extend the contract for one year was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Plata. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 2 nays, with Council Member Clifford and Council Member Pickle casting the dissenting votes. 14. Receive presentation from Mayor Hashmi and Council Member Clifford on the water and sewer infrastructure project, the drainage ditch located at 41" Street and Highway 82 West, discuss and act. A Motion to bring this item from the table was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Council Member Clifford. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 8 Mr. Godwin clarified the contract the City had with AECOM did include in the project budget a line item for inspectors. He said so far the City had used in -house inspectors until such time they get too busy or the project becomes too big. He said in the next couple of months they would bid out a really big 20 million dollar project and the City would have to hire outside inspectors. Mayor Hashmi asked for a motion to combine items 14 and 15. A Motion to combine items 14 and 15 was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Council Member Plata. Motion carried, 7 ayes – 0 nays. Mr. Godwin said he thought a number of Council Members wanted to move forward now — with the hiring of outside inspectors and that he was fine with that. He said they would need to decide if they wanted to hire inspectors under AECOM or hire another firm outside of AECOM, which would exclude HWH and Hayter Engineering. Council Member Pickle confirmed with Mr. Godwin that the contract with AECOM had funds for inspectors built into the contract. Mr. Godwin said if AECOM does not do the work then they would not be paid for it and added this contract was not all or nothing contract. Council Member Pickle also confirmed that the inspections done thus far had been in- house. Mr. Godwin said at this point he was supportive of hiring another inspector. Council Member Frierson said he trusted the judgment of the City Manager and City Engineer on following the plan that was in place. Council Member Clifford favored hiring an inspector outside of the county to come in and inspect the work. Council Member Clifford said based on what had happened, he did not have confidence in the project and would like to see someone completely independent assess it. Council Member Jenkins said he was for hiring an outside inspector, as did Mayor Hashmi. Council Member Frierson wanted to know if it would be for all projects or just large projects or when necessary. Council Member Lancaster said someone was not watching this project, as well as other projects and she had shown those to the City Manager. Council Member Clifford said he wanted to see an outside inspector hired right away beginning with inspection of W. Houston Street from top to bottom and all bond projects should be as inspected by an outside inspector. Mayor Hashmi said he was definitely for moving forward with hiring an outside inspector for the areas concerned, including for all bond projects to ensure everything is done correctly. Council Member Pickle asked if this would be an inspector other than AECOM. Mayor Hashmi said that depended on the motion. A Motion to instruct the City Manager to find an outside engineering firm with no ties to the present contracts to inspect the work was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Council Member Clifford. Motion carried, 5 ayes – 2 nays, with Council Members Pickle and Frierson casting the dissenting votes. 15. Discuss and act on appointment of an outside engineering firm for the purpose of inspecting the water and sewer infrastructure projects. 16. Presentation by the engineering department on the infrastructure bond project progress and the map that was presented to City Council, discuss and act. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 9 Mayor Hashmi suggested they bring item 19 forward and consider it with item 16. A Motion to combine items 16 and 19 was made by Council Member Plata and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. City Engineer Shawn Napier said the map previously submitted to Council should have had clarification with it and apologized that it did not. He explained the project in green, as far as completed, had water and sewer lines that were installed and in service and that was what the plan should have had in it. He further explained the new map did reflect a caveat and apologized for the confusion it caused at the last meeting. Mr. Napier said the green lines on the map reflected lines in service that were being currently used by the citizens. Mayor Hashmi inquired about projects in blue which reflected under construction, because he had not seen work being done on those streets. Mr. Napier said he should have had another caveat on the part under contract that construction should be starting any time. Mr. Napier said all portions of blue would either be contract B 1 or B2. Mayor Hashmi told Mr. Napier this was not meant as an insult but that what he had presented caused confusion and hopefully next time correct information would be given to the City Council. Mr. Napier said they would have clarification. 19. Receive presentation by Mayor Hashmi on plans for engineering for underserviced areas, discuss and act. Mayor Hasbmi said there were residents within the city limits that were not provided services by the City and this created dissatisfaction for residents and in turn they wanted to be disannexed. Mayor Hashmi said if they continue with this approach they could get in a situation where large pockets would be created within the city limits and as previously discussed, would be detrimental to the long term growth of the City. He said Mr. Napier was going to inform them of what was going on. Mr. Napier explained the map reflecting areas currently served water and sewer services, and areas where the City has a right to serve water and sewer. He said in a few weeks they would bid out a project that would allow laying a water line from Dawn Drive all the way to Old Clarksville Street if they were able to get the easements. He also said the survey conducted a few years ago reflected those houses neither have city water or city sewer, but have well water and septic systems. He told City Council about the CCN map and that some areas overlap each other which meant certain areas could be served by several different entities. Mr. Napier also said they were looking at the possibility of installing fire hydrants in some of the areas. He said the City did have the agreement with LCWSD a few years ago to put fire hydrants on some of their lines for the protection of City residents, if the line would support it. Council Member Clifford inquired about service for the residents on Highway 79. Mr. Napier said they were being served water by LCWSD. Council Member Clifford confirmed with Mr. Napier those residents were not being provided sewer service. Council Member Clifford said that was the biggest concern for these residents and inquired what would need to be done to get them sewer. Mr. Napier said in that area he did not know if there was enough sewer to flow into the lift station to pump it out to meet the TCEQ's minimum standards. Council Member Clifford said some of these people had been in the city limits for a long time and that it is the same Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 10 problem they ran into with the disannexation requests. He confirmed with Mr. Napier there were no engineering plans for Highway 79 at this time. Council Member Clifford asked for an estimation of when these residents might get sewer service. Mr. Napier said that depended on development in the area and at the point they could carry enough flow. Council Member Clifford confirmed with Mr. Napier that it was not foreseeable in the future. Mayor Hashmi suggested Council direct the City Manager and Engineer review options for these residents. Council Member Pickle said he did not want to rush in to anything like they did on the airport, where they spent a lot of money and then decided it was not a good decision. He said the voters in the City understood that some of what they thought they voted for they were going to be giving up. Council Member Pickle said the original proposition was the issuance of $45 million dollar of tax bond for extending water and sewer lines and making repairs to streets and drainage infrastructure necessitated by such construction. He said he wanted the people that live on 41St Street and Church Street to understand that people who are having water and sewer lines extended may have streets that are not going to get any better in the near future and some of the streets may end up in worse shape. Mayor Hashmi said he understood his point, but he did not think that people were expecting their streets to be done. Council Member Pickle said that is what he heard from some of the voters. Council Member Lancaster inquired if Church Street road was included in the bond issue and Mr. Godwin said it was not. 17. Receive presentation by Mayor Hashmi on sale of tax delinquent property and the old police station (811 Bonham Street), discuss and act. Mr. Godwin informed the City Council that there were 877 tax delinquent properties that were going to be auctioned. He also said Mayor Hashmi had expressed an interest in selling the old police station and since it was not a tax delinquency, it must be sold at public auction or through sealed bids. Mr. Godwin said that the City must receive a minimum of the fair market value of $175,618, less the cost of asbestos abatement which was estimated at about $150,000. Mayor Hashmi inquired if they could put it up for auction with a minimum bid required and Mr. Godwin answered in the affirmative. A Motion to auction the old police department building with the minimum bid required by State Law was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 18. Receive presentation by Mayor Hashmi on clean-up of entry ways into the city and code enforcement of various streets within the city, discuss, and act. In summary, Mayor Hashmi said the entire City suffers when entrances to the City are not well maintained, because that gives an overall run -down appearance of the City. He said this was discussed in the past and although improvements have been made, there was not a significant change in what was seen at the present time. He suggested that code enforcement begin in a perimeter fashion beginning with the entrances to the City and from there go in a circular fashion until all the areas are covered. He said this could be accomplished with proper maps clearly identifying the streets and that the streets should be addressed on a schedule. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 11 Mayor Hashmi asked that the Council be provided with a report from code enforcement similar as to what was provided on the ditch maintenance report. 20. Receive presentation by Mayor Hashmi on construction of bathrooms at Fairgrounds, discuss and act. _ Mayor Hashmi said the fairgrounds were important to Paris, because the fair and other social events occur at the location and there have been numerous requests for bathroom facilities at the location. He said last year the Council approved in the budget approximately $80K for the construction of bathrooms at the fairgrounds and the project was approved over the budget year 2015 and 2016, with part of the funds coming from 2016 budget. Mayor Hashmi said the City was discussing with several contractors to come up with a plan, because there was a shortfall in the funds. He said those discussions included various builders volunteering their services for the project and the City providing infrastructure. He suggested the Council consider authorization of a plan to allow the City manager to proceed with development and construction of these bathrooms prior to the fair. Mr. Godwin said he felt fairly optimistic that he could get people on board to donate their time, not materials, given that they may be able to do it with the funds that were currently available now rather than wait until October. Council continued discussion concerning management of the fairgrounds and proceeds of funds going back into the capital facilities. A Motion to authorize the City Manager to negotiate a plan to have bathrooms built at the fairgrounds prior to occurrence of the fair was made by Council Member Clifford and seconded by Mayor Hashmi, Council Member Frierson and Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 21. Review and discuss disannexation requests received since the last meeting, city policies and procedures for Annexation/Disannexation, and possible schedule for future disannexation hearings. Mr. McIlyar explained several Airport Road property owners had come before the City Council in June 2013 and again in the fall of 2013, requesting disannexation from the City. Following the last Council meeting, Mr. McIlyar said the City had received thirteen re- applications requests from twenty -three of the original applicants. He also said the Engineering Department was in the process of taking these applications and tracts of land and placing them on a map. Mr. McIlyar also said Tract 12 consisting of 1,228 acres was annexed by Ordinance #097 -59 in 1997 and Tract 8 consisting of 598 acres was annexed by Ordinance #99 -034 in 1999. Council Member Pickle said he would like to know which of these people purchased their property after it was annexed by the City, because they would have been aware at that time they were within the city limits. Council Member Frierson added that when the Cobb Ranch Road Addition went through this process they were shocked at the increase of their homeowners insurance due to not being located within the city limits and having services, such as those provided by the Paris Fire Department. Council Member Clifford said he kind of supported the disannexation of people that had been in the City limits for so long and had no services. He said Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 12 if there was no plan to ever give them services, he was inclined to favor disannexing them. Council Member Plata said he could see the residents' point, but as a City leader he also saw this as a loss of revenue for the City and could not really support disannexation. Council Member Lancaster said if they were not going to be provided services she favored disannexation. Mayor Hashmi said he thought if the City was not going to provide them services, they should be allowed to disannex from the City. Citizen Debbie Hudgens, who resides at 6445 FM 1508 (also known as Airport Road) spoke on this subject. She expressed appreciation to Mayor Hashmi for his efforts on this matter. With regard to Mayor Hashmi's earlier presentation, she said some of the Council Members lacked interest and some lacked respect for each other. She said this saddened her. Mrs. Hudgens also said she believed Mayor Hashmi was looking out for the best interests of the citizens. She also said they owned their property way before they were annexed, and respectfully asked that all of them be disannexed due to lack of services. Mr. McIlyar said with disannexation, you normally look at the majority of property owners seeking disannexation in the area and then he questioned how long the Council wanted to keep the process open prior to the requests being brought back for consideration. It was a consensus of the Council to leave the process open for two more weeks prior to proceeding with the process. Council Member Plata emphasized that it was the responsibility of the property owner to get in touch with the City with regard to disannexation of their property. 22. Discuss and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2015 -029: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, APPOINTING MEMBERS TO THE ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTIN 16 OF THE CITY ZONING ORDINANCE AND THE CITY'S POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR STANDING BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City Clerk Janice Ellis explained that City Council should decide how many regular members they wanted on this Board but had to have a minimum of five, and whether not they wanted to appoint alternates. It was a consensus of the City Council that the Board should consist of five regular members and no alternates. She further explained that the appointments and re- appointments would need to be made by resolution and that there were three current members who were eligible to serve on the Board. It was a consensus to re- appoint David Hamilton, Jerry Haning and Marilyn Smith to the Board. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations to fill the two vacant positions. Council Member Clifford nominated Louise Hagood and Council Member Lancaster nominated Deanna Manning. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor for nominations. Mrs. Hagood and Mrs. Manning were appointed to the board. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 13 23. Discuss and make appointments to the various Boards, Commissions and Committees of the City of Paris. Mayor Hashmi explained the process by which they would make appointments, beginning with opening the floor for nominations, closing the floor after all nominations were made, voting on each individual beginning with the first person nominated and continuing until a nominee received four or more votes, thus he or she would become the new board member. Ms. Ellis said there were three vacancies on the Airport Board, one of which was an unexpired term. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Clifford nominated Tim Bullock; Council Member Lancaster nominated Anna Spencer; Council Member Plata nominated Wendell Moore; Council Member Pickle nominated Gordon Strom; Council Member Lancaster nominated Paula Martin Portugal; and Council Member Pickle nominated Jim Bell. Mayor Hashmi closed the floor for nominations. Next, Mayor Hashmi called for a vote on each nominee with Tim Bullock receiving 6 votes; Anna Spencer receiving 4 votes and Paula Martin Portugal receiving 4 votes. Ms. Ellis reported there was one vacancy on the Band Commission. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations and one nomination was made by Council Member Pickle for Patsy Daniels. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor and Ms. Daniels was appointed to serve on the Band Commission. Ms. Ellis informed Council there were two vacancies on the Building and Standards Commission and Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Clifford nominated Kenneth Kohls and Council Member Lancaster nominated Charles Richards. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor and Mr. Kohls and Mr. Richards were appointed to serve on the Building and Standards Commission. Ms. Ellis informed Council there were two vacancies on the Economic Development Corporation. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Lancaster nominated Ray Banks; Council Member Clifford nominated Richard Manning; Council Member Pickle nominated Sims Norment; and Council Member Frierson nominated Brady Fisher. Next, Mayor Hashmi called for a vote on each nominee with Ray Banks receiving 5 votes and and Richard Manning receiving 4 votes. Mr. Banks and Mr. Manning were appointed to the board. Ms. Ellis said there were two vacancies on the Historic Preservation Commission and Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Pickle nominated Anne Biard; Council Member Firerson nominated Sara Osborne Barbee; and Council Member Lancaster nominated Linda Knox. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 14 Next, Mayor Hashmi called for a vote on each nominee with Ms. Barbee receiving 6 votes and Ms. Knox receiving 4 votes. Ms. Ellis reported there were two vacancies on the Paris Housing Authority and pursuant to City ordinance, the Mayor was to make the appointments. Mayor Hashmi appointed Brenda Cherry and Cassandra Hearn to serve on the Paris Housing Authority. Ms. Ellis reported there was one vacancy on the Library Advisory Board and Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations and one nomination was made by Council Member Plata for Daisy Harville. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor and Ms. Harville was appointed to serve on the board. Ms. Ellis informed Council there were three vacancies on the Main Street Advisory Board, one of which was an unexpired term. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Clifford nominated Pat Fowzer; Council Member Pickle and Mayor Hashmi nominated Missy Starnes; and Council Member Lancaster nominated Phillip Peeples. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor. Ms. Fowzer, Ms. Starnes and Mr. Peeples were appointed to serve on the board. Ms. Ellis reported there were two vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mayor Hashmi opened the floor for nominations. Council Member Clifford nominated Robert Spain and Council Member Frierson nominated Mike Folmar. There being no other nominations, Mayor Hashmi closed the floor. Mr. Spain and Mr. Folmar were appointed to serve on the commission. Ms. Ellis reported there were two vacancies on the Traffic Commission. It was a consensus of the City Council to appoint Susan Hamby and Wendell Moore to serve on the commission. Ms. Ellis said there was one vacancy on the Civil Service Commission to fill the unexpired term of Richard Manning. It was a consensus of the City Council to appoint Cleonne Drake to serve on the commission. 24. Discuss and appoint City Council Liaisons to serve on the various Boards, Commissions and Committees. Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members which boards they wished to serve in a liaison position and the Council decided as follows: Airport Advisory Board — Council Member Lancaster Band Commission — Council Member Pickle Building and Standards Commission — Council Member Plata Historic Preservation Commission — Council Member Frierson Library Advisory Board — Council Member Frierson Main Street Advisory Board — Council Member Plata Economic Development Corporation — Council Member Lancaster and Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 15 Mayor Hashmi (ex- officio) Planning & Zoning Commission — Council Member Clifford Traffic Commission — Council Member Jenkins Zoning Board of Adjustment — Council Member Lancaster Visitors & Convention Council — Council Member Pickle and Mayor Hashmi Ark -Tex Council of Governments — Mayor Hashmi and Council Member Pickle (Executive Board) 25. Discuss, authorize acquisition of land and execution of any and all closing documents by the City Manager for land replacement for an EMS Station. Mr. Godwin said they had negotiated a price for purchase of property previously discussed on 19th N.W. just above the loop. He also said a complete survey had been completed and the next step was to proceed with the purchase. A Motion to authorize acquisition of the land and execution of any and all closing documents by the City Manager was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes- 0 nays. 26. Discuss and act on amendments to the Red River Valley Veterans' Memorial Lease Agreement. Mr. Godwin explained the Civic Center recently met with the City and Veterans Memorial seeking to transfer the management agreement to the City and he recommended doing so. Mr. Godwin further explained that in 2014, City Council approved a lease amendment for a larger site for the memorial and that approval contained an error in the legal description, which needed to be re- approved with the correct metes and bounds. A Motion to approve the amendments was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 27. Discuss and award a bid to RBIS, Inc. in the amount of $415,713.10 for TWDB Phase III water line replacement project. Mr. Napier addressed Mr. Banks' earlier concerns and said that the $25,000 should be correct and the low bid was correct. He said the first phases of the project were complete and the third phase included the following projects that would be replacing existing cast iron pipes for Grand Ave. from 7th SW to 4th SW; 8ffi NE from Tudor to Grove; 8th NE from Grove to MLK; E. Cherry from 5d' NE to 6th NE and Neatherly from 13th SE to 17th SE (alternate bide not included, would add $62,382.30). Mr. Napier informed the Council the City received two bids and the low bid was from RBIS, Inc. He said this would be funded from the Texas Water Development Board loan; the balance of the fund was approximately $375,000 and the amount exceeded the amount of the loan. Mr. Napier said staff was working with the contractor to reduce the overall project cost by doing a change order and that any additional funding would come from the water and sewer fund for line replacements. Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 16 A Motion to approve this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 28. Consider and approve future events for City Council and /or City Staff pursuant to Resolution No. 2004 -081. Mr. Godwin reminded everyone of the fireworks on July 3rd and parade on July 40'. 29. Adjournment. There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Pickle and was seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m. A ICE ELLIS., CITY CLERK y