06/17/2019MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS
June 17, 2019
The City Council of the City of Paris met for a special session at 4:00 p.m. on Monday,
June 17, 2019, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas.
Present: Mayor: Steve Clifford
Council Members: Derrick Hughes; Billy Trenado; Linda Knox;
Clayton Pilgrim; and Paula Portugal
City Staff: John Godwin, City Manager; Stephanie Harris, City
Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; and Carla Easton,
City Engineer
Absent: Council Member: Renae Stone
Call meeting to order.
Mayor Clifford called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
2. Receive briefing on emergency management and tour the Emergency Operations Center.
Chief Hundley gave a brief overview about how to manage a disaster followed by a tour
of the EOC.
3. Receive an update on the bond street projects and discuss any adjustments
City Manager John Godwin gave an update on the bond street projects. Specifically, he
inquired of Council if they were ok with moving forward with Clement and Fitzhugh. It was a
consensus to do so. Council Member Hughes expressed concern about safety for children
walking on Tudor Street to school. Council Member Knox said perhaps getting it cleaned up and
placing lights in the appropriate spots would help. Mr. Godwin said staff could look at it and
report back to Council. Council Member Pilgrim inquired about Hubbard Street. Mr. Godwin
said that location was a high priority on Mr. McDaniel's list. He also said after the bond street
projects were finished, they needed to budget a few street projects every year. He said they
might want to think about extending the work on Tudor than what is currently planned.
4. Receive an update on the downtown redevelopment plan.
Mr. Godwin discussed plans for the downtown, which included cancelling mill and inlay
for Kaufman and use the $230,000 for the plaza, modify East First Street to include selected
sidewalk and curb repairs on first and Kaufman, fund bump -outs on Lamar and Clarksville from
Main to East Second Street. Mr. Godwin explained that the entire Plaza Project would cost
approximately one million dollars and they did not have the money do to it all at one time. He
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June 17, 2019
Page 2
said a lot of the work might be able to be done in-house. With renovations around the Plaza, Mr.
Godwin said there would be a net gain of 22 parking spaces. He said he would like to build a
city parking lot at some point. Mr. Godwin said he planned to present an item to them on their
September 23 meeting, in which he would be asking them to adopt a TIRZ.
5. Receive a briefing on and discuss retail economic development.
Mr. Godwin said having a retail economic development policy would be a good tool to
have in place when people were interested in coming to Paris and opening a store. He suggested
retail rebates which is a percentage of money that comes back to the store from the State sales
tax. Mr. Godwin said this would be done by Chapter 380 agreements. He also said he had
spoken to a couple of people interested in opening up a store or business in Paris and had begun
some retail negotiations. He inquired if Council was ok with him doing that, and they indicated
that was fine with them.
6. Discuss building code implementation.
Mr. Godwin gave examples of what happened in the past and how important it was to
follow codes. He said Carla had hired a new building official, John Ankrum. He said Mr.
Ankrum new the codes and used good judgment.
7. Discuss neighborhood revitalization and code compliance.
Mr. Godwin presented slides of the types of calls that were received and reported, but
that were not actually in violation of code. He explained the procedures followed beginning with
the receipt of a complaint. He said that code enforcement was almost always reactive. Mr.
Godwin said there was a code enforcement brain storming session with members of the staff, and
he provided suggestions that came out of that meeting. Mayor Clifford said he wanted to add to
that list that staff periodically drive every street in Paris and prioritize the non-compliant code
issues that were a major eye sore. Mayor Clifford left the meeting at 6:28 p.m. Mr. Godwin said
they had also discussed identification of a trial neighborhood, which a group of blocks would be
worked that included code, streets, straighten poles and things of that nature. Mr. Godwin said
they might want to hire a coordinator to organize and network with organizations.
8. Discuss a possible stormwater utility and healthy creeks policy.
Mr. Godwin explained the benefits of having a stormwater utility and establishing a
healthy creeks policy. City Council expressed an interest in these two items, and Mr. Godwin
said he would bring something to them on a future agenda.
9. Receive an update on and discuss a replacement Fire Station #3.
Mr. Godwin said in the City purchased 20 acres for $20.00 off of 19th Street for the
purpose of building a new fire station. He said it would cost approximately $3.5 million and the
plan was to build it in two to four years. Mr. Godwin said the hope was to include a police sub-
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June 17, 2019
Page 3
station, a passive park and possibly attract a developer to build twenty to forty affordable houses.
He said the City would probably require a bond election in 2021..
10. Adjournment.
There being no further business, the meeting ,#zs adjourned at 7:24 p.m.
STE� U1 CLIFFS 1 YOR