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05 - COUNCIL MINUTES FROM JULY 11, 2016 MEETINGItem No. 5 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS July 11, 2016 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 11, 2016, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: Council Members: City Staff A.J. Hashmi Billie Lancaster; Aaron Jenkins; Billy Trenado; Steve Clifford; Matt Frierson; and Cleonne Drake John Godwin, City Manager; Stephanie Harris, City Attorney; Katriana Wright, Deputy City Clerk; Gene � hderson, Finance Director; Carla Easton, C* engineer; Larry Wright, Fire Chief; Bob 14ii iiley, Police Chief; Kent Klinkerman, EMS Director; Doug Farris, Utilities Director; and Jerry McDaniel, Public `Works Director Opening Agenda 1. Call meeting to order. Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Gene Anderson gave thenvooation 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Lancaster led tl ;pledge. 4. Citizens' Forum. Chamber President Ken Higdon — he reminded everyone about the upcoming weekend festivities, which included the Tour de Paris, the balloon glow, and the bands. 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 Lancaster and seconded by Council Member Clifford. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 5. Approve minutes from the meeting on June 27, 2016. Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 2 6. Receive reports and /or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Paris Economic Development Corporation (5 -17 -2016) b. Building & Standards Commission (5 -16 -2016 & 5 -23 -2016) c. Board of Adjustment (5 -31 -2016) d. Planning & Zoning commission (6 -6 -2016) 7. Approve one appointment to the Traffic Commission. 8. Approve a Letter of Agreement between the City of Paris and Oncor Electric to continue to operate under the terms of the current Franchise Agreement between the parties. 9. Approve Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Brookshire 14 Addition, located at 925 Clarksville Street. 10. Approve Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Star Addition, located at 415 N.E. Ist Street. Regular Agenda 11. Conduct a public hearing, discuss and act on an Ordinance considering the petition of Mary Lou Coe for a change in zoning from Single - Family Dwelling District No. 2 (SF -2) to a General RetaiJ,District (GR) on Lot 11 Block D of the Tanglewood Addition, located at 2785_ Hubbard. Planning Director Alan Ef�\Ussy explained that the Planning & Zoning Commission denied the change in zoning and 14 staff was also recommending denial of the zoning change. Mr. Efrussy further explad "#hat bb a,the existing zoning and future land use map recommendations did not show extension of retail use as proposed by this rezoning request. Mayor Hashmi opened the public hearing and asking for anyone wishing to speak in support or opposition, to please come forward. Those speaking in opposition of the rezoning request were Al Thielman (275 S. Collegiate), Charles Endsley (2765 Hubbard), Cynthia Rhodes (2760 Culbertson Street), Barry Holcomb (2765 Culbertson), Debra Usry (2745 Hubbard Street), and James Rhodes (2760 Culbertson). With no one else speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. A Motion to deny the zoning change was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 12. Conduct a public hearing, discuss and act on ORDINANCE NO. 2016 -021: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 1710 OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AS HERETOFORE AMENDED, SO AS TO REZONE LOTS 1 THROUGH 19, CITY BLOCK 104, BEING LOCATED AT 925 CLARKSVILLE STREET IN THE CITY OF PARIS, LAMAR Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 3 COUNTY, TEXAS, FROM A GENERAL RETAIL DISTRICT (GR), TO A GENERAL RETAIL DISTRICT (GR) ADDING A SPECIFIC USE PERMIT (49) AUTO FUEL SALES TO THE EXISTING PROPERTY; DIRECTING A CHANGE ACCORDINGLY IN THE OFFICIAL ZONING MAP OF THE CITY; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVINGS CLAUSE, A PENALTY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mr. Efrussy explained the applicant was proposing to develop a portion of the property for automobile fuel sales and the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of this zoning change. He said the zoning ordinance required a specific use permit applicant submit a Site Plan as part of the zoning approval process. Mr. Efrussy also said subject to city staff approval, staff recommended the following as conditions to be reflected on the approval final site plan: a new fire hydrant established at the western portion of the property, label all proposed fuel pumps, establish the required twenty percent of landscaping and add additional landscape buffering along 8t' Street, label the preliminary plat- proposed layout as site plan, and accessible parking spaces and a pedestrian route to be determined in conjunction with the city engineer. Mayor Hashmi opened the public hearing and asking for anyone wishing to speak in support or opposition, to please come' forward. On behalf of Brookshires, Jim Fancher spoke in support of this zoning change. With no one else speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. A Motion to approve the zoning change was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 13. Receive bids, discuss and act on a contract with the lowest responsible bidder for services related to grubbing/cleaz��; griinding/removal of brush and all foreign debris, stumps and all vegetation within the designated drainage channels within the city limits. City Manager John Godwin said bids were advertised twice, three bids were submitted and the low bid was Ray's Tree Service for $150.00 an hour for a four - person crew. Council Member Drake inquired if anything would be sprayed to keep the ditches from growing up and Mr. Godwin answered in the affirmative. Mayor Hashmi inquired the number of crews that would begin work and Mr. Godwin said to begin with there would be four crews. A Motion to approve a contract with Ray's Tree Service was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 14. Discuss and act on bringing the Bylaws of Paris Economic Development Corporation into compliance with State Law. Council Member Trenado said after the PEDC budget was approved, that he would like for any other expenditures be required to be approved by the City Council. He said the reason was that he wanted the City Council and PEDC to team together to make Paris a greater city. Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 4 Council Member Lancaster said the Council should be involved in expenditures, because there was a lot facing the City and they needed to be careful with funds. She said everyone wants economic development but they need to look at the whole picture. Council Member Clifford said he was in favor of this and that the law was pretty clear, in that it was intended that the City Council oversee any expenditures of the Paris Economic Development Corporation. He also said it was common sense to make sure the money was spent wisely. Council Member Clifford said this would put an additional safeguard on the money and would ensure everyone was in agreement. He also said this would allow them to put together complete packages where they do not have conflicting information when offering abatements and incentives. Council Member Frierson said the Council approve PEDC's budget and inquired of Council Member Trenado if he was suggesting PEDC come to the Council on every deal. Council Member Trenado answered in the affirmative. Council Member Frierson said Council appointed the PEDC Board and asked if they should trust that board. Council Member Trenado said yes, but they should work together. Council Member Frierson `said when the agreement was made that anything over $400,000 would come to Council, it was so that PEDC would not have to wait for Council to have a meeting to move forward on a project. Cduheil Member Clifford Steve quoted from the Texas Municipal League Economic Development Handbook — "the City shall approve all programs and expenditures of the development corporation." Council Member Frierson asked if Mr. Paris could come up and comment. Mayor Hashmi said if people felt more comfortable about making a change, he would go along with it. Michael Paris, EDC Director, said Mr. Trenado brought up a good point in that the PEDC and the City Council should work together. Mr. Paris questioned the last 6 m' onths when had they not worked together. Council Member Trenado said he thought they should go I back to what the State says and include that rule. Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Member Clifford about the article. Council Member Clifford said he read it from the Texas Municipal League Handbook, which translates the law into layman's terms so you can understand the intent of the law. Mr. Paris report when the PEDC submits a budget, that the budget encompasses expenses. Council Member Clifford said the Council was not only to approve the budget, but it states the Council is to approve all other expenditures and the Council was not doing that. Mr. Paris said Council was overseeing those expenses because of the threshold of $400,000. Council Member Clifford said he thought $400,000 was a lot of money to not have to get City Council approval. Regardless of the amount of money, Council Member Clifford said to read the handbook because it states Council is to approve everything. Mr. Paris referenced Chapter 300 of the EDC Code, and said the policies and procedures was Council's oversight. Council Member Clifford said the item was about changing those policies and procedures to get a little more oversight. Mr. Paris asked Council to consider the indirect impact of economic development in the community with regard to making changes, because there would have to be a called meeting. Council Member Clifford said it takes 72 hours to call a meeting and then inquired if that was too much of a burden. Mr. Paris said that the business community understands business aspects and can move rather quickly within the policies and procedures set out and to do differently would hinder them. Council Member Clifford said the City of Sherman has a lot of success in economic development and he reviewed their board bylaws, and they had two council members on the EDC. He also said their bylaws contained the following: "Expenditures may be used for the purposes of financing or otherwise providing one or more projects. The specific expenditures shall be described in Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 5 resolution order of the board and shall be made only after the approval thereof by the Council. All other proposed expenses shall be made in accordance with and shall be set forth in the annual budget. Approval or advice of the Council to the extent that these require approval by the City, such advice of Council shall be evidenced by certified copy of a resolution or order or motion adopted by the City Council." Council Member Clifford said that is what Sherman does, they are successful, they are the City's neighbor and they follow the State Law. He said Paris is the one that does not have council approval. Council Member Frierson said he got more oversight, but from his prospective they would be creating more government. He said if you are looking at a business deal, you are making it more political in a sense. He agreed that everyone wants to be more on the up and up and every city does it different. Council Member Frierson said you could create such a bottleneck or perception of a bottleneck that a business may not want to come here. He said when Council went through this last time their intent was not to not follow the law. Council Member Clifford said he thought they should follow the State Law. Council Member Frierson said no one has violated State Law. Council ` Member Clifford said he did not say they had violated State Law. Council Member Drake inquired if they had knowledge or information from other EDCs. She asked City Attorney Stephanie Harris if they should be doing what Sherman was doing. Ms. Harris said the statutory section simply says that the corporation's authorizing unit will approve all programs and expenditures of the corporation but does not define what that is. She said the Economic Development Handbook provision that talks about approving projects does not give a citation. She also said she had talked to Jeff Moore, one of the authors of that handbook and the consensus of the people she had talked to indicated there were no interpreting cases or attorney general opinions. Ms. Harris said cities do it differently and there were various levels of control by the governing body. Mr. Paris said if the concern was collaboration and working together then they should open those doors because Paris had too much to'`offer. He said they need more access to each other and he wanted to address the Council's concerns. Mr. Paris said he did not find in the Local Government Code where the City Council was required to approve every expenditure. He said if there was a trust issue, then they should work together and give that time. He said they all needed to keep in mind the purpose of the EDC. Mayor Hashmi said he did not hear mistrust, but heard concerns about legal issues. Council Member Trenado said they need to work together and make sure the public is aware of everything. Ken Higdon said if Council wants to approve every single expenditure then it becomes public information and companies do not want everyone knowing their business. Council Member Clifford inquired about executive session. Mr. Higdon said if they approve it, then it is no longer in executive session and becomes public record. Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council how they wanted to proceed. Council Member Drake said she would like to receive more updates and if Council was not comfortable with $400,000 they could review it. Council Member Frierson said he did not begrudge the thought process and from the time that he and Mayor Hashmi first got on the Council, they had gone through a Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 6 process in setting an amount. Council Member Frierson said he did not want to hinder the ability of Mr. Paris of bringing businesses to town, and that he hoped there is somewhere in between that everyone could feel comfortable. Council Member Trenado said he wanted everyone to work together and wanted the Council to be kept informed by Mr. Paris. Council Member Frierson said it might be a good ideal that the council liaisons give an update on the committees they serve. Council Member Clifford said as City Council and as elected officials, it was their duty and their responsibility to make sure tax dollars were spent wisely. He said they could not allocate their responsibility and that it was imperative they maintain control over the PEDC. Council Member Clifford also said it was obvious that the bylaws need to be changed to reflect at least the intent of State Law and to ensure the tax dollars were spent wisely. Council Member Jenkins said he wanted to make sure what they do is right for Paris. Council Member Lancaster said two things jumped out at her and of course, one was to follow the law and as a Council, they had to follow the law. Secondly, Council Member Lancaster said you cannot be too diligent on tax payer money and that the PEDC budget vas approved and the Council was not micromanaging PEDC's phone bills and expenses like that. Mayor Hashmi said the $400,000 limit was put in place when Skinner was coming in and PEDC had made a guarantee about 1.2 million dollars. He said the Council got involved, that PEDC rescinded that and Liberty took the guarantee. Mayor Hashmi said if State Law required Council to approve all expenditures, they should follow the State Law. He said if it was not required, `Council should make rules that they are comfortable with. Mayor Hashmi said if it was an urgent matter, they could meet. He said he thought it was important that the two entities work together. Mayor Hashmi said he would like guidance whether or not it is State Law that they have to approve all expenditures. Ms. Harris said what she found in the last few days is there was no interpretation about what that statute says about the degree of control. Mayor Hashmi inquired if Council could make their own rules and Ms. Harris answered in the affirmative. She said if they want to change the bylaws they need to have a document in front of them that they can vote on by resolution and they would need at least five votes to make changes. Council Member Frierson inquired about getting input from the PEDC Board. Council Member Trenado inquired if it was State Law. Ms. Harris said there had not been a court case or an attorney general opinion that interprets it. She also said she had talked to Jeff Moore, who wrote the handbook and she had talked to a TML lawyer and they believe what they are doing is within the State Law. She said if they want to change the Bylaws, they need a document with revisions they can vote on. Council Member Trenado said they could leave them as they were. Following additional discussion, A Motion to continue with the current Bylaws was made by Council Member Trenado and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Mayor Hashmi called for a vote on those in favor of leaving the bylaws the same. Council Members Trenado, Frierson, Jenkins, Drake, and Mayor Hashmi voted in favor of keeping the bylaws the same. Motion carried - 5 ayes. Regular Council Meeting July 11, 2016 Page 7 15. Convene into Executive Session pursuant to Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code, to deliberate the possible reassignment and duties of a public officer or employee as follows: city attorney. Mayor Hashmi convened City Council into executive session at 6:33 p.m. 16. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on those matters discussed in Executive Session. Mayor Hashmi reconvened City Council into open session at 6:51 p.m. 17. Consider and approve future events for City Council and /or City Staff pursuant to Resolution No. 2004 -081. There were no events referenced. 18. Adjournment. There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Clifford and was seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 6:51 p.m. SUE LANCASTER, MAYOR PRO -TEM JANICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK