03 City Council Min. 03-21-05
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL, CITY OF PARIS
March 21, 2005
1.
The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session at 6 :00 P. M. Monday,
March 21, 2005 at the Love Civic Center, 2025 South Collegiate Drive, Paris, Texas.
Present:
Mayor:
Curtis Fendley
Council members:
Jim Bell, Mayor Pro Tern, 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
2.
Presentation by the City Manager and further discussion regarding the process to
repeal Civil Service for the City of Paris Fire Department.
Tony Williams went through the procedural requirements under Texas Law to repeal
civil service in the firefighter category as follows:
Repeal is initiated by a petition filed by the citizens and must be signed by 10% of the
qualified voters of the jurisdiction. We have 14,001 register voters; therefore, the
minimum amount of signatures needed is 1,401. These signatures must be verified by
the City Clerk as being bona fide city registrants qualified to vote. Each signer will
need to put down their date of birth and residence address and/or the signer's voter
registration number. Each signer has to put the date in which they signed on the
petition. The validity of the signatures goes off in 180 days. If you start the petition
drive and you do not complete it within 180 days, those who signed begin to dwindle.
Upon validation of the petition, the petition would be presented to you which would
compel you to call for an election. The date of that election cannot be earlier than 62
days from the date in which you made the proclamation calling for that election nor
less than 75 days from the date the petition is turned in. The next available date is the
second Saturday in September, which is September 10,2005. If you do not meet that
time line, the next uniform date is the second Tuesday in November, which is
November 8, 2005.
Councilman Wilson inquired as to whether or not he could sign the petition as a
councilman. Tony advised him that he could. Councilman Wilson wanted to know
if any employee could sign a petition and Tony advised him they could do so.
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Regular City Council Meeting
March 21,2005
Page 2
Mayor Fendley inquired as to if a councilman could participate, as an individual
citizen, in gathering the signatures. Tony advised him that they could.
3.
Discuss and consider proposed revised evaluation instruments for use in evaluating
the City Manager, City Attorney and Municipal Court Judge.
Mayor Fendley called for input on this item. Councilman Wilson stated that he did
not feel he had any expertise in evaluating the Municipal Court Judge, due to the fact
that he is not down there. Mayor Fendley asked how Council felt about making an
amendment to where the City Manager evaluates, in conjunction with input from legal
counsel, the Municipal Judge. Councilman Bell said he thought the City Manager and
City Attorney were better qualified to do the evaluation.
4.
Consider, discuss and provide direction to City staff or consider possible action
regarding annual evaluation of the City Manager, City Attorney, and Municipal Court
Judge.
Mayor Fendley stated they could go ahead and do the evaluations of the Manager and
City Attorney at the April 11 th meeting. Councilman Wilson asked if it was
appropriate to evaluate the City Manager. Tony Williams stated that he wants to be
evaluated because it would be constructive to him. Mayor Fendley reiterated they
would look to the Manager and City Attorney for input on the Judge.
Motion to approve by Councilman Bell. Councilman Poston - second. Motion carried -
7 ayes, 0 nays.
5.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR
JANICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK