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06-MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 9, 2011 MEETINGCITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM BRIEFING SHEET Submittal Date: 09/ 15/2011 Council Date: 09/26/2011 Originating Department: City Clerk Presented By: Janice Ellis Agenda Item No.: 6. RECOMMENDED MOTION: Motion to approve as presented. POLICY ISSUE(S): Approval of Official Record of Council. BACKGROUND: Council Minutes from the meeting of September 9, 2011. BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: EXHIBITS: The attached minutes from the meeting ACTION: BUDGET INFO: ❑ Financial Report ~ Minute Order Expense $ ❑ Department Report ❑ Resolution Budgeted Amt. $ ❑ Presentation ❑ Ordinance y'I'D Actual $ ❑ Public Hearing ❑ Other Acct. Name Acct. Number FISCAL NOTES: REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY: Z Administration E Ciry Clerk ❑ Communiry Development ❑ EMS/IT ❑ Municipal Court ❑ Legal ❑ Library ❑ Police ❑ Eng./Public Works ❑ Finance ❑ Fire ❑ Utilities City of Paris Revised 2/04/08 ~ + ~ MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS September 12, 2011 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Septeinber 12, 2011, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufinan, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: A.J. Hashmi Council Members: Joe McCarthy; Robert Avila; John Wright; Richard Grossnickle; Matt Frierson; and Edwin Pickle City Staff: Gene Anderson, Interim City Manager/Finance Director; Kent Mcllyar, City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Shawn Napier, City Engineer; Bob Hundley, Police Chief; Ronnie Grooms, Fire Chief; and Ron Sullivan, Public Works Director Opening Agenda Call meeting to order. Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Bob Bush gave the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Grossnickle led the pledge. Mayor Hashmi introduced Kate Maxwell, Executive Vice-President of the Student Council from Paris High School and announced that she would be serving as the student liaison to City Council. 4. Citizens' forum. Benny Gray, 640 Wilburn - inquired if there was someone who could explain the fire codes to people who were interested in purchasing a building. Gene Anderson said the fire marshal would be the city staff person to contact for this information. 5. Public Announcements. a. Proclamation declaring Paris Majors All Star Dixie World Series Champion Day. L v ~ Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 2 A Motion to postpone this item to the next meeting was made by Council Member Wright and seconded by Council Member Avila. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. Consent Ap-enda Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any iteins from the Consent Agenda for discussion. City Council discussed the Historic Preservation Commission minutes. A Motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Wright. The Council voted seven (7) far and none (0) opposed to approve and adopt Consent Agenda Items 5, 6, and 7. 6. Deliberate and act on the approval of minutes from the meeting on August 19, 2011; August 22, 2011; August 26, 2011; and August 29, 2011. 7. Receive and deliberate on reports and/or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Historic Preservation Commission (6-8-2011 and 8-10-2011) b. Planning and Zoning Commission (8-1-2011) Regular A2enda Public hearing, first reading, deliberate and possibly act on ORDINANCE NO. 2011-035: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS ADOPTING A REDISTRICTING PLAN FOR SEVEN CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS IN THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISTONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mayor Hashmi opened the public hearing and asked for anyone wishing to speak about this item, to please come forward. Brady Fisher, a citizen residing in District Seven, 3870 Lamar Avenue, Paris, Texas, asked what the percentage of African American citizens in Districts One and Two were, and if there had been a major effort to coordinate Council lines and voting locations with the schools, the Jr. College and the County. Mr. Fisher said it had always been his feeling that the boundary lines should match as closely as possible to encourage better voter turn- out. Mayor Hashmi said that consultant Bob Bass would address his yuestions. Mr. Bass said the original plan had a disparity of 34.37%. Mr. Bass said Districts One and Two were preserved in this plan and the disparity in population was now down to 5.2 With regard to minority content, he said District One had a 54.6% voting age minority majority and District Two had a 54.4% voting age minority majority. Mr. Bass stated he believed the plan would satisfy all requirements of the Voting Rights Act. He also said there would be as much harmony as possible between the City, the school and county boxes. Mr. Bass said it was impossible to make them line up exactly. Mr. Fisber inquired if Hispanics were being counted as minority and Mr. - I - 5 Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 3 Bass answered in the affirmative. Mr. Fisher inquired about the African American percentage. Mr. Bass said the African American percentage in District One was approximately 44% and the African American percentage in District Two was 43.16%. Next speaking at the public hearing was Marva Joe, a minority citizen residing in District One, 1610-17th N.E., who said she was living in Paris when the seven single member Districts were created and also told the Council that Paris was the first town in Texas to have single member districts. Mrs. Joe asked if there was any provision in the ruling by Judge Justice that one day there might not be two African American Districts. Mrs. Joe said the reason she wanted to know was because of integration. She said if you drive around Paris, you will see African Americans living all over the City. Mrs. Joe said that the prediction by 2020 is the majority in the Country was going to be Hispanic. She also said there were many Hispanics living in this area. Mrs. Joe asked what would happen if Districts One and Two disappeared, because of decrease in minority population in those areas. Mr. Bass said as long as the Voting Rights Act continues to be an obligation imposed on governmental entities, there will be an obligation to try to achieve the most significant minority content as the numbers in a compact and cohesive community will permit. He also said as the population becomes more distributed, it will become harder to build districts that are as strong as maybe the districts were ten or twenty years ago. Council Member Grossnickle inquired if most likely the City would maintain two minority disficts under that law. Mr. Bass said yes. Mr. Bass also said if it becomes mathematically impossible, the City would have to articulate why it was no longer possible. Also, speaking was Brenda Cherry, a minority citizen residing in District One, 1442 Fitzhugh, who stated that in her opinion Afi-ican Americans were already under represented. Ms. Cherry said she realized that by adding the Hispanics it made the total minority population 54%, but if African Americans were only going to be 40% that she did not think there would be any black people on the City Council in the future. She said that half of the black people could not vote, because of felonies. Ms. Cherry said she realized that was not the Council's fault, but that it was reality and a concern to her. With no one else speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. Mayor Hashmi asked for discussion from the City Council. Council Member Grossnickle said they had to comply with the Department of Justice guidelines and that a lot of thought had gone into this plan. Council Member McCarthy said a lot of effort was put into getting Districts One and Two fair representation with regard to the minority population. He also said that he realized every ten years it would be more difficult to reach the re9uired populous, because minorities has prospered. Council Member Avila said there needed to be more education, so that more people would get out and vote. Council Member Wright said the map wasn't perfect, but that they had put in many hours, listened to opinions, and that Mr. Bass had divided the populous as well as he could confonning with the Federal law. Council Member Frierson reiterated Council Member Wright and said there had been quite a bit of discussion and everyone had worked together to make sure concerns were addressed. Council Member Pickle said that the key to the map was participation from those individuals representing each District. Mayor Hashmi said he understood concerns expressed by the citizens speaking at the public hearing, but that it was his hope that residents af the community would vote for an individual based on qualifications and not the color of their skin. _ ~ Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 4 A Motion to invoke the super majority rule was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member McCarthy. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 9. Deliberate and act on the Preliminary Plat and Final Plat of Lot 1, B1ock A, Trinity Christian Academy Addition CB 323, located at 2060 Highway 79. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 10. Deliberate and act on the Preliminary Plat and Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Nepex Realty LTD 313, located at 3930 Lamar Avenue. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 11. Deliberate and act on the Replat of Lot 5, Block 2, Clements Fairview Addition, located at 1538 North Main Street. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member McCarthy and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 12. Report from Jeanna Scott on the building pennit process. Mayor Hashmi said one of the City Council's top priorities was to streamline the permitting and inspection processes to encourage business growth. Mayor Hashmi said the City Deparhnents were warking under the State guidelines and Council guidelines. Assistant Building Officral Jeanna Scott told City Council that in January of 2009, that there was a major turnover in staff in the Department. Ms. Scott said that Bureau Veritas was hired to do all of the plan review and inspections for commercial and residential projects. She also said there had been a lot of changes made since that time, such as update of the application forms, addition of a building check list, and a site plan check list. M:s. Scott suggested that Staff place the forms on the City's web-site for downloading purposes. She said that they had been encouraging pre-development construction meetings. Ms. Scott also said that the Department had ongoing training and that several employees had obtained certifications allowing the City Staff to perform certain inspections. She stated that since July 2010, they had gone to a hybrid system, using Bureau Veritas only on projects over 5,000 square feet. Ms. Scott said that Bureau Veritas continued to allow the City to use their software, which was of great help in tracking proj ects. Ms. Scott also explained the various permit processes to City Council for new residential structures, remodel of residential structures, new commercial and remodel of commercial ~ ~ Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 5 structures. Ms. Scott also reviewed the report issued by TMAC, a consultant hired by Paris Economic Development Corporation to study the City's permitting process (see Exhibit "A" attached herein). ln suminarizing the report, Ms. Scott recommended conducting workshops for those in the building industry. Council Member Pickle recommended flow charts for the process. Mayor Hashmi asked Ms. Scott what her opinion was on shortfalls in their department. Ms. Scott said new employees, lack of training, and to continue training. Ms. Scott said there was a large learning curve and that she had a temporary clerk assisting her for two years, but that there had been four different people who had been in that position. She said that position would be permanent as of October I St. Mayor Hashmi inquired if the City was going to purchase software far tracking projects. Ms. Scott said they were researching it and would bring something back to the City Council for consideration. Council Member Wright said the report seemed to recommend that Planning and Zoning meet more often to expedite matters. Ms. Scott said Planning and Zoning makes recommendations and City Council has to take action on the items. She said several years ago City Council heard zoning cases at the same meeting they considered plats, but that the previous Council moved the zoning cases to the fourth Monday. Council Member Frierson inquired why the previous City Council changed it. Ms. Scott said if the Planning and Zoning Agenda packets went out on the first and the Council meets on the seventh that would a11ow for only two to three days for the City Clerk to get all of the information together and City Attorney to draft the Ordinances. She said that is probably why they moved it to the fourth Monday. City Clerk Janice Ellis confirmed this. Ms. Ellis said a lot of times they had not received the documentation needed for the City Council packets within that time frame. Mayor Hashmi asked Mr. Anderson to study the matter and get back with City Council at a future meeting. 13. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 201 l-038: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; ACCEPTING A UTILITY EASEIVIENT FROM PARIS JUNIOR COLLEGE FOR A WATER L1NE ACROSS A PORTION OF PARIS JUNIOR COLLEGE CAMPUS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT "A"; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 14. First reading, deliberate and possibly act on an ORDINANCE NO. 201 ]-036: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A SOLID WASTE COLLECTION PERMIT TO SANITATION SOLUTIONS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENGAGING IN THE BUSINESS OF COLLECTING AND/OR TRANSPORTING SOLID WASTE FROM COMMERCIAL AND 1NDUSTRIAL UNITS WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF THE C1TY OF PARIS, TEXAS; FINDING A PUBLIC NECESSITY AND CONVENIENCE FOR ISSUANCE OF SAID PERMIT; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTTVE DATE. . . ~ Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 6 A Motion to invoke the super majority rule was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member McCarthy. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member McCarthy and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 15. First reading deliberate and possibly act on ORDINANCE NO. 2011-037: AN ORDINANGE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A SOLID WASTE COLLECTION PERMIT TO GLENN AND DEBI BOLYARD D/B/A TRASITY BUSINESS, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENGAGING IN THE BUSINESS OF COLLECTING AND/OR TRANSPORTING SOLID WASTE FROM COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL UNITS WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; FINDING A PUBLIC NECESSITY AND CONVENIENCE FOR ISSUANCE OF SAID PERMIT; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. A Motion to invoke the super majority rule was made by Council Member McCarthy and seconded by Council Mernber Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member McCarthy and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 16. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 201 l-074: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, DECLARING VARIOUS USED CITY- OWNED VEHICLES SURPLUS AND AUTHORIZING DISPOSITION OF THE SURPLUS PROPERTY IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE AND LOCAL LAW; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 17. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2011-075: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ADOPTING A NEW SECTION 14.21 TO THE PERSONNEL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES MANUAL FOR THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS AND TRAVEL EXPENSES; ESTABLISHING POLICIES FOR COSTS AND REIMBURSEMENT OF TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Council Member Wright said he thought every trip taken should be approved by a super majority and Council Member McCarthy disagreed with this suggestion. Council Member Pickle suggested adding language under item 5 to include that food expenses would be reiinbursed provided that the meals were not provided at the event. Council also discussed different rates 9 Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 7 and advanced notice for purchasing coach fares and elected to leave the specific language in the policy as it was written. Subject to adding the language under item 5 as discussed above, a Motion to approve the travel policy was made by Council McCarthy and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 6 ayes - 1 nay, with Council Member Wright casting the dissenting vote. 18. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2011-076: A RESOLUTION OF THE C1TY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ACCEPTING THE ROUTINE AIRPORT MAINTENANCE PROGRAM (RAMP) GRANT; AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF A GRANT AGREEMENT FOR TXDOT PROJECT NO. AM2012PARIS, TXDOT CSJ NO. M201 PARIS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member McCarthy. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 19. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 201 l-077: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, APPROVING THE CONTRACT WITH THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF LAMAR COUNTY, 1NC. TO MAINTAIN THE VISITORS AND CONVENTION COUNCIL FOR THE PURPOSE OF MANAGING THE MUNICIPAL HOTEL OCCUPANCY TAX FUND TO PRONIOTE TOURISM AND THE CONVENTION AND HOTEL INDUSTRY IN THE CITY OF PARIS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Executive Director for the Chamber of Commerce Mindy Moree said this was the annual agreement between the City and Lamar County Chamber of Commerce, which provides for the collection and distribution of the hotel/inotel tax funds collected. Council Member Pickle asked how the Civic Center was doing financially. Ms. Moree said as of the end of August they had brought in $232,165. Ms. Moree said hotel/motel occupancy tax was down and that the revenue was down between $11,000 and $13,000. Council Member Pickle asked about the expenses and Ms. Moree said expenses to date were $317,000. She said the majority of that was capital building improvements of $61,000. Council Member Grossnickle inquired what could be done to collect hotel/motel taxes in a timely marmer. Mr. Anderson said the City had been imposing penalties and collecting them when the taxes were paid. Mayor Hashmi asked about the possibility of raising the hoteUmotel tax. Ms. Moree said that based on the City's population, the tax was capped out. She also stated that the City had to remain competitive. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Pickle and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 20. Deliberate and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2011-078: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ACKNOWLEDGING AND - - - 10 Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 8 APPROVING A LOAN AGREEMENT AND PROMISSORY NOTE BY AND BETWEEN THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP. "BORROWER" AND CAPITAL ONE, N.A. BANK "LENDER" FOR A REVOLVING LINE OF CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF ($2,000,000.00) TWO MILLION DOLLARS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. PEDC Board Chairman Pike Burkhart told the City Council that this was a reserve line of credit that supports their strategic planning, that it was a very favorable interest rate, and that the funds may or may not be used for several projects on the horizon. Erik Roddy from Capital One Bank informed the City Council that the rate was prime minus 1.96%. Mr. Roddy said it was a floating rate of 1.29%, which was the Wall Street Journal Prime. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member McCarthy and seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. 21. Convene into Executive Session: a. Pursuant to Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code, Consultation with Attorney, to receive legal advice froin the City Attorney about pending or contemplated litigation and/or on matters in which the duty of an attorney to his client under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas, clearly conflict with this chapter, to-wit: Texas Supreme Court ruling in Cause No. 09-0257; City of Dallas vs. Heather Stewart; b. Pursuant to Section 551.074 of the Texas Government Code, to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee as follows: discuss City Manager applicants. Mayor Hashmi recessed City Council at 7:08 p.m. and convened City Council into Executive Session at 7:14 p.m. 22. Reconvene into Open Session, deliberate and possibly take action on those matters discussed in Executive Session. Mayor Hashmi reconvened City Council into open session at 7:53 p.m. and said that City Staff would be issuing a press release with regard to how the City would be handling matters as a result of the City of Dallas vs. Heather Stewart case. Mayor Hashmi also said that the City Council planned to interview additional candidates, and conduct second interviews of some of the candidates. 23. Consider and approve future events for City Council and/or City Staff pursuant to Resolurion No. 2004-081. None were referenced. --11 Regular Council Meeting September 12, 2011 Page 9 24. Adjournment. There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Pickle and was seconded by Council Member Wright. Motion carried, 7 ayes - 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m. A.J. HASHMI, MAYOR JANTCE ELLIS, CITY CLERK _ 1 . 12 ~ T!, Work Sman. Grow Smart T" )MFX TRAINo SERYEv RESPOND City of Paris Plan Review, Permitting and Licensing Process Recommendations PREPARED FOR: Paris, Texas Economic Development Corporations 1125 Bonham Street Paris, TX 75460 www.paristexasusa.com POINT OF CONTACT: Steve Gilbert SUBMITfED BY: Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) and Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) 301 Tarrow Drive College Station, TX 77845 (800)541-7149 Fax (979)458-6727 POINT OF CONTACT: Roger Caldwell TMAC/TEEX Program Manager (979) 277-2365 roger.caldwell@teexmail.tamu.edu / - 1- 13 !Un.b, ,J q 11 August 31, 2011 Report: Plan Review and Building Permit Cycle Time The Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (TMAC) and the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) are pleased to submit a final report in response to Steve Gilbert's request to provide the City of Paris with an onsite Lean assessment of the building permit process cycle time. Objective The primary objective of this two day assessment was to collect actual data to determine the actual building permit cycle time. An additional objective was to perform extensive interviews with Shawn Napier, Director of Engineering, Planning and Development, and Jeanna Scott to identify their pain points in the permitting process and obtain their opinion of opportunities for improvement. The assessment required the TMAC practitioner to evaluate the city's current administrative processes and public resources to identify potential Lean initiatives that may be used to improve service levels and/or lowering cost by eliminate waste within the city's permitting operations. These objectives clearly fall into the scope of work that TEEX has experience in accomplishing as a member of the TMAC network and previous experience with similar processes at other cities within the State of Texas. Data Collection Process Data was collected for the permits issued for Residential (new and remodel) and commercial (new and remodel). The process used to collect the permit cycle time data was to actua►ly pull each permit from the file for a review. The data collected from the files was the customer actual request date as compared to the permit issue date. All permits were reviewed from January 3`d 2011 through August 15th 2011. Projects less than 5,000 square feet are completed in house without a 3`d party plan review. Projects greater than 5,000 square feet require 3`d party plan review. If 3~d party plan review is require the process can take up to one month. The data collected only had 1 project for 2011 greater than 5,000 square feet. It was very obvious in the interviews and data collection process that both Shawn and Jeanna were committed and open to any improvement ideas. They were very agreeable to reviewing the actual data from the files so we had an accurate baseline of the cycle time. They both were afso open to discussion of some of their ideas and mine for possible improvements. ~ 14 2 Results of the Data Analysis There were 233 total permits issued from January 3`d 2011 through August 15th 2011. The total waiting time for the 233 permits was 361 days. The average waiting time per permit was determined to be 1.5 days. Fencing/roofing and Sign permits were not considered because during my interviews with Jenna Scott and Shawn Napier l determined that this cycle time is almost always 1 day or less. Below is recap of the data used for the analysis. The actual data for each month is on the attached spreadsheet. Average Permits Issued Waiting Days Days to Permit January 16 25 1.6 February 17 42 2.5 March 28 58 2.1 April 28 39 1.4 May 36 58 1.6 June 55 125 2.3 luly 43 6 0.1 August 10 8 0.8 September - - October - - November - - December - - TOTALS 233 These are to date as of August 15, 2011 Top 10 Waits Davs Comments 361 1.5 1 Henry McCoin 42 Waited on a drainage easement from the downstream neighbor 2 Monique's Antiques 37 Waited on asbestos survey and plan revisions for roof 3 Paris Milling 26 Incomplete set of plans submitted 4 Kevin Kelley 21 Incomplete set of plans submitted 5 Paris Doughnuts 20 Waited for owner to pick up permit 6 Jessie Owens 18 Waited for a variance request to be acted on 7 Brownstone Homes 15 Waited on plans to be revised to add a firewall 8 Golden China 14 9 Shirley Posey 13 Incomplete set of plans submitted 1 0 Guaranty Bond Bank 13 Waited for Parking lot Revision in order to add an ATM 219 Average cycle time without the top 10 0.6 - 1-5 3 Recap of Findings 1. The average cycle time for building permits for residential and commercial leaving in the highs and lows was 1.5 days. It is our opinion as TMAC from performing similar projects at other cities that 1.5 days would place the permitting cycle time in the upper percentile of performance. 2. If permits are required for projects greater than 5,000 square feet the cycle time becomes quite long at 30 days as compared to the 1.5 day average. 3. There are opportunities to improve the cycle time zoning permits or changes. 4. Permits requests are up significantly in 2011 from prior history. 5. The permitting process is very manual. 6. Both Shawn and Jeanna are very open to change and making improvements in the process. In addition, they both have a positive attitude to delivering the best service for their customers and have made improvements to achieve improved service. Recommendations 1. I do not recommend any changes to the permitting process for Residential (new and remodel) and commercial (new and remodel) for buildings less than 5,000 square feet. This recommendation is based on the data verified fact that 1.5 days is excellent cycle time and is very competitive with other cities in the State of Texas. 2. I do recommend that Lean initiatives or a strategy be deployed to reduce the 30 day cycle time for building permits over 5,000 square feet. This becomes particularly important to attracting large commercial industry to Paris. It is important to be quick and easy to do business with potential new industry. 3. I recommend that the zoning approval process be reviewed and improvements made. The zoning process is typically a 6-7 week process. I was told that the zoning requirements are only reviewed on the 4th Monday of each month. Depending on the purpose of the zoning and industry involved more frequent reviews may be necessary. 4. I definitely recommend that a process map be developed of the permitting and zoning process. This would allow the customers to have process steps to follow rather than staff at the permitting office manually walking them through the process. Most importantly this is a natural 15t step to moving in the direction of electronic permitting which is ultimately what I feel the permitting process should offer. The process map can be done by TMAC in about 5 days. This would include being on site to develop the map with the staff and providing an electronic version of the map. 5. While there are opportunities within the process, there are many good things happening that should be communicated to the community and potential new industry. I recommend community awareness education of the positive things. The process map would be an excellent tool to use for this communication. 4