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03 City Council Min 2-28-05 REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF PARIS February 28, 2005 1.The City Council of the City of Paris met in regular session at 6:00 P. M. Monday, February 28, 2005 at the Love Civic Center, 2025 South Collegiate Drive, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor:Curtis Fendley Council members:Jim Bell, Mayor Pro Tem, Scott Biard, Mary Ann Fisher, Don Wilson, Karen Wilkerson, Rick Poston City staff:City Manager Tony N. Williams, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, City Clerk Janice Ellis CONSENT AGENDA Upon a motion made by Councilman Bell and a second by Councilman Wilson, the Council voted seven (7) for and none (0) opposed to approve and adopt the consent agenda, Items 2, 3 and 4, as follows: 2.Approval of minutes for previous City Council meeting. (2-14-2005). 3.Receipt of reports and/or minutes from committees, boards, and commissions: A.Historic Preservation Commission. (4-12-2004; 4-26-2004; 4-30-2004; 9-27- 2004; 2-9-2005) B.Building and Standards Commission. (2-21-2005) 4.Consideration of and action on the following resolution: RESOLUTION NO. 2005-034: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, PARIS, TEXAS, APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF A CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF PARIS AND STEVE COKER FOR INSTRUCTION AND COORDINATION FOR THE BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL PROGRAMS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Mayor Fendley moved to Agenda Item 7. 7.Consider of and action on the following Ordinance: Regular City Council Meeting February 28, 2005 Page 2 ORDINANCE NO. 2005-007: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 1710 OF THE CITY OF PARIS, PARIS, TEXAS, AND CHANGING THE BOUNDARIES ESTABLISHED BY THE ZONING MAP OF SAID CITY; ESTABLISHING A LIGHT INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT (LI) ON LOT 27-A, CITY BLOCK 251, ON PROPERTY BELONGING TO BRAD DRAKE, SO AS TO INCLUDE THEREIN TERRITORY FORMERLY DESIGNATED AS A COMMERCIAL DISTRICT C; DESIGNATING THE BOUNDARIES OF THE LIGHT INDUSTRIAL (LI) SO ESTABLISHED; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED $2,000.00; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OR ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. th Mayor Fendley advised this item was tabled at the February 14 meeting, because Brad was not available. Mayor Fendley informed Council it they wished to discuss it, that a motion would be required to bring it from the table. Upon a motion made by Councilman Bell and a second by Councilman Poston, the Council voted seven (7) for and none (0) opposed to remove this item from the table. The motion carried. Mayor Fendley opened the public hearing and asked for anyone speaking in favor of this item to do so. Donald Lewis, on behalf of Brad Drake, spoke in support of this ordinance. Mayor Fendley asked for anyone else speaking for or against this item to do so. With no one else speaking, Mayor Fendley closed the public hearing. Motion to approve by Councilman Wilson. Councilwoman Wilkerson -second. Motion carried - 7 ayes, 0 nays Mayor Fendley advised they would move back to item number 5 on the Agenda. 5.Presentation by the City Manager of the Manager’s plan for addressing the City’s current financial condition. Tony Williams stated that for the last three months he had been assessing each of the departments of the City of Paris. Tony brought forward his recommendations based on the financials that were reviewed at the last meeting. Tony advised there were Regular City Council Meeting February 28, 2005 Page 3 seven items that he felt would help the City’s financials: I.Privatize selected city activities or services II.Reduce size of city staff III.Change benefit design for employee group health insurance program IV.Improve city purchasing procedures and practices V.Stop charitable donations VI.Reduce operating inefficiencies VII.Reduce financing cost Going into more detail of his proposal, Tony stated the following: Privatization - I don’t think the City should say absolutely we are going prioritize, but we need to receive proposals and bids and carefully analyze those to compare what is now being spent versus what private contractors would do these services for. You then could assess whether or not it is to our advantage. Staff Reductions - In 1983, city financed positions were 242. In the current budget, we have 347 positions. That is better than a 43% increase in persons on the city staff. I am proposing a level of 291, which is still a little better than 20% increase above that 1983 level. It is more moderate in comparison to the population increase. Group Health Insurance for Employees - Our insurance trust fund is in deficit some $680,000.00. We started a new insurance program the first of last May. Nine months into this program, we can project this insurance year we will exceed the anticipated costs by slightly over $500,000.00. Having looked at the financials, we do not have an extra $500,000.00. Purchasing Procedures - There can be significant savings by pooling purchasing and purchasing in volume. Stop Charitable Donations - I do not believe tax payer dollars should be given to any organization. Reduce Operating Inefficiencies - This city is a good sized water supply corporation and we sell a lot of water. Between the point of production and the metered to the customer number, we have unaccounted for water loss. Everyone has some of that, but that percentage needs to be a small, reasonable number. The way to do that most effectively is to do meter testing programs, meter replacement programs and proper sizing of meters. Regular City Council Meeting February 28, 2005 Page 4 Internal Financing of Replacement Equipment - This City is using banks or local commercial lending institutions to finance many of the vehicles in the fleet or construction equipment. Most cities develop an internal financing pool and they do not pay those outside interest rates, but charge each operating department based on the useful life of that equipment. Tony expressed his thoughts about EMS and the Fire Department and working them together to perform the emergency medical services. There are 26 individuals in EMS and 55 in the Fire Department. Tony recommended that those employees be merged and have the Fire Department support the ambulance service. Tony suggested that in the fire department that the level of emergency medical skills be raised so that there is a paramedic on that first responder truck and reduce the ambulance to one paramedic. If you will utilize the Fire Department in this manner, and with the staffing reductions proposed, this community will save more than $650,000.00 a year in this Fire/EMS strategy. Tony explained that he had full authority, as the manager, to spend less than what is in the approved Budget. Tony stated that he is going to proceed to this implementation but a number of these things will take a number of months to accomplish. This City Council is the governing body of this organization. They have every right to say we want to pull back and talk about or look at any of these specifics. 6.Discuss and consider proposed revised evaluation instruments for use in evaluating the City Manager, City Attorney and Municipal Court Judge. Mayor Fendley asked Tony to address this issue. Tony said he thought the proposal from the City of Greenville was a well put together document and asked the Council to look over it. Mayor Fendley asked that the Council bring their recommendations to the next meeting. 8.Consideration of and action on the following resolutions: RESOLUTION NO. 2005-035: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, PARIS, TEXAS, RECOGNIZING THE NEED FOR A MAXIMUM, REASONABLE RATE OF SPEED IN THE AREA OF CONSTRUCTION ON CERTAIN PORTIONS OF LAMAR AVENUE IN THE CITY OF PARIS AND REQUESTING THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO DECLARE SAID AREA A CONSTRUCTION ZONE AND LOWER THE SPEED LIMIT IN SAID CONSTRUCTION ZONE; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING FOR AN Regular City Council Meeting February 28, 2005 Page 5 EFFECTIVE DATE. Motion to approve by Councilman Wilson. Councilman Bell - second. Motion carried - 7 ayes, 0 nays. 9.Possible future agenda items: City of Paris Audit Report for fiscal year 2003-2004 th Apartment Demolition located at 7 N.W., Casa Bonita Apartment Complex 10.Referrals. There were two referrals, which will go to the P & Z Meeting on March 7, 2005. 11.There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. _____________________________ CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR ___________________________ JANICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK