Loading...
03.11.13 MINUTESMINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS March 11, 2013 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 11, 2013, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: A.J. Hashmi Council Members: Aaron Jenkins; Billie Lancaster; John Wright; Richard Grossnickle; Matt Frierson; and Cleonne Drake City Staff: John Godwin, City Manager; Kent McIlyar, City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Gene Anderson, Finance Director; Kent Klinkerman, EMS Director; Alan Efrussy, Planning Director; Shawn Napier, City Engineer; Larry Wright, Fire Chief; Bob Hundley, Police Chief; and Doug Harris, Utilities Director Oqening Agenda 1. Call meeting to order. Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Pastor Van Lazaroff gave the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Grossnickle led the pledge. Mayor Hashmi asked that item 4b moved forward on the Agenda. A Motion to move item 4b forward on the Agenda was made by Council Member Wright and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 4. b. Public Announcements. • Recognition of Matthew Draeger for his outstanding acts of volunteerism. Mayor Hashmi introduced Matthew Draeger, a sophomore at Paris High School. Mayor Hashmi recounted numerous acts of volunteerism undertaken by Matthew Draeger. He specifically pointed out Operation Second Chance, a program started by Matthew. Mayor Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 2 Hashmi said Matthew recruited a team that collected over 19,000 items, and had distributed items to 1,264 needy families. On behalf of Congressman Hall, Mayor Hashmi presented to Matthew a flag that had flown over the United States Capitol. Mayor Hashmi also presented Matthew Draeger with a key to the City and a personal contribution to Operation Second Chance. a. Citizen's forum. Mayor Hashmi asked those wishing to speak with regard to item 23, to please wait until they reached that item on the Agenda. Consent A�enda Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the Consent Agenda for discussion. Council Member Wright asked for discussion on item 9, and wanted know how sidewalks became a higher priority over Pat Mayse and the water treatment plant. City Manager John Godwin explained during the budget process, Doug Harris requested approximately $800,000 worth of capital improvements that included Pat Mayse, the water treatment plant, SCADA improvements, and lift station improvements. Mr. Godwin said the sidewalks were included in the year zero projects and the other projects could be moved up if needed to be. Mayor Hashmi asked for discussion on item 8. Mayor Hashmi inquired why the policy suggested five months of reserves, as he and Gene Anderson had discussed four months. Mr. Anderson said having the policy and having five months of reserves, helps the City's bond rating resulting in a lower interest rate when borrowing money. City Council discussed the duration of replenishing cash reserves if the fund dropped below the minimum requirement amount. It was a consensus that the duration to replenish cash reserves would be eighteen months. Subject to changing the cash reserves policy to replenish cash reserves within eighteen months should the fund drop below the minimum requirement, a Motion to approve the Consent Agenda was made by Council Member Drake and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 5. Approve the minutes from the City Council meeting on February 25, 2013. 6. Receive reports and/or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Planning and Zoning Commission (1-7-2013) b. Building and Standards Commission (1-22-2013) c. Historic Preservation Commission (2-13-2013) d. Paris Public Library Advisory Board (1-16-2013) e. Main Street Advisory Board (1-15-2013) f. Paris Visitors and Convention Council (11-28-2012) g. Airport Advisory Board (1-17-2013) Regular Councii Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 3 7. Award the high bid for the sale of the former police building located at 811 Bonham Street. 8. Approve a cash reserve policy for the City of Paris. 9. Approve change order number one with Richard Drake Construction Co., L.P. to reconstruct certain sidewalks on Bonham Street, Grand Avenue, and 7th Street S.W. 10. Accept bids and award contracts for the purchase of roadway materials to the lowest responsible bidder(s) for the twelve month period beginning April 1, 2013. 11. Accept the bid and award the contract for the replacement of concrete curbs and gutters, driveway approaches, and reinforced concrete sidewalks to the lowest responsible bidder(s) for the twelve-month period beginning April l, 2013. 12. Approve the Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Smooth 174-A Addition, located in the 1300 Block of Martin Luther King Drive. 13. Approve the Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Liberty National Bank Addition, located in the 400 Block of East Houston Street. Regular A�enda 14. Public hearing to consider the petition of Kelly Coplin for a change in zoning from a Two Family Dwelling District (2F) to a Multi-Family Dwelling District No. 2(MF-2) on Lot 5, City Block 254, located in the 2100 Block of E. Polk. Planning Director Alan Efrussy explained that the applicant had withdrawn his request for a zoning change after meeting and learning from city staff that he could achieve his development goals by not rezoning. Mayor Hashmi said there was no action to be taken on this item. 15. Receive, discuss and provide direction to city staff on an application for disannexation filed by David and Brenda Denison. Mayor Hashmi asked Shawn Napier and Alan Efrussy to explain the pros and cons of disannexation. Mr. Napier said if disannexed, a property owner would pay less in taxes to the city and to the college, permit fees would not be required, there would be no city regulations or code enforcement. He said the cons would be a higher cost for water, potential septic system, zoning rules would not apply which means a neighbor could build anything they wanted to build and you would have no control, there would be no building inspections which may possibly lead to substandard structures, and higher insurance rates. With regard to pros, Mr. Efrussy said a person could do virtually almost anything with regard to the land usage. With regard to cons, Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 4 Mr. Efrussy said the design of the city could be disrupted and chipping away at the city would leave no zoning control. He also said that adjacent land uses could suffer because of the incompatible land uses. City Clerk Janice Ellis said staff had received an application for disannexation and the basis of the request was lack of city services. Ms. Ellis reported that this was an unimproved piece of property consisting of 5.025 acres in the Wildwood Estates and that the City provided fire protection, police protection and trash service. She said the City did not provide sewer and that water was available from the City through a county water line. Ms. Ellis said to disannex this piece of property would isolate the property owned by Celeste Wilcox. Mr. Napier added that the piece of property would not be contiguous to the city limits if the Denison tract was disannexed. City Attorney Kent McIlyar said he had not seen anyone cut out of the city limits like this and that if the City disannexes this property, they would be giving up zoning regulations. He also said to disannex parcels of land not on your boundaries' edge would result in redesigning your boundary limits. Mr. McIlyar said he did not see any reason to support this disannexation. Council Member Wright inquired about an Attorney General opinion. Council Member Grossnickle said when they went through the redistricting process the City was informed they had to be contiguous. Mayor Hashmi asked the Council how they wished to proceed. Council Members Frierson and Lancaster said they favored getting an Attorney General opinion. Pending receipt of a Texas Attorney General opinion, a Motion to table this item was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 16. Receive, discuss and provide direction to city staff on an application for disannexation filed by Boyd and Deborah Hudgens. City Clerk Janice Ellis said staff had received an application for disannexation and the basis of the request was lack of city services. Ms. Ellis reported that this property consisted of one acre and a house that the city provided fire protection, police protection and trash service. She said the City did not provide water or sewer to the property. Ms. Ellis said to disannex this property would mean that it would be in a land lock situation. Mr. Hudgens said he did not understand how it could be landlocked from the county. Mr. Napier explained his property was 1,700 feet from the city limits and if disannexed, his property would create a donut hole in the city limits and that would not be contiguous with the city limits. Mr. Hudgens said they were paying for services they were not getting. Mr. Godwin explained that they were not getting water and sewer and that they were not paying water and sewer bills. He further explained that taxes collected were not spent on water and sewer, because those were separate funds. Mr. Hudgens said he thought services were to be provided to them within two years of disannexation Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 5 and they were disannexed in 1998. Council Member Grossnickle confirmed with Mr. McIlyar that the law changed in 1999, in that municipalities did not have to provide water and sewer if property was disannexed prior to 1999. Council Members Grossnickle and Frierson expressed concern about shrinking the city limits. Mayor Hashmi asked staff to explore other areas in which to help the Hudgens. Council Member Wright said they should provide service, reduce rates or disannex the property. Mr. Godwin said he understood folks were frustrated and wanted to give Council time to think about this and for staff to assist them with research or whatever else they may need. Mr. Godwin said he thought they needed to look at this globally. Mr. McIlyar pointed out that a former Council did not annex these parcels one at a time, but rather by much larger tracts. He said the annexation law was not set up to be a piece meal process and reiterated Mr. Godwin with regard to studying this from a global view. Council Member Grossnickle suggested they table this item. A Motion to table this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 17. Receive, discuss and provide direction to city staff on an application for disannexation filed by Clint Spencer. City Clerk Janice Ellis said staff had received an application for disannexation and the basis of the request was lack of city services. Ms. Ellis reported that this property consisted of 6.25 acres located at the corner of Wildwood Lane and was an unimproved piece of property. She said the City provided fire protection, police protection and trash service. She said the City did not provide water or sewer to the property, but that water was available from the City through a county water line. Council Member Grossnickle said this property was not a part of the original Wildwood Lane. Council Member Frierson confirmed it was an unimproved piece of property. Council Member Grossnickle said it was in an area in which could result in a domino effect thus there was the potential of losing fourteen or fifteen houses from the city if they continue disannexing property. Council Member Lancaster suggested they look at this property when they bring the other two properties back for consideration. A Motion to table this item was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Council Mayor Hashmi. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 18. Discuss requesting TxDOT funding for construction of hangars at Cox Field Airport. City Engineer Shawn Napier said that the airport had a list of over twenty people who wanted to rent hangar space at the airport and the Airport Advisory Board recommended that a letter of interest be sent to the TxDOT Aviation Division to request grant money. In addition, he Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 6 said the City could request four years' worth of non-primary entitlement money. Mr. Napier also said under the current program, $150,000 was set aside each year for the airport which would total $600,000. Mr. Napier explained the City's match would be 10%. Mr. Napier told the Council the money could be used to fund projects that had been approved in the airport master plan or to fix problems that existed on the airfield portion of the airport. He noted that the master plan included construction of a 10-unit T Hangar and extension of a hangar access taxiway. A Motion to send a request to TxDOT for funding was made by Council Member Grossnickle and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 19. Discuss and consider entering into an agreement with a new law firm to provide professional services for the collection of delinquent ta�ces for the City of Paris. Mr. Godwin said the city, county, PISD, and PJC had for many years utilized the professional services of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Simpson. He said they were a very large firm and felt it was time to make a change. Mr. Godwin recommended Tracy Pounders, who has a two-attorney firm and felt that they would provide more personal service to the City of Paris. It was a consensus of the City Council for the City Attorney to move forward with entering into an agreement with Tracy Pounders for managing tax delinquency in Paris. 20. Discuss, public hearing and act on ORDINANCE NO. 2013-008: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, READOPTING ARTICLE III CURFEW REGULATIONS FOR CHILDREN OF CHAPTER 21 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, REVISING CERTAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO THE CURFEW ORDINANCE AND MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, SAVINGS CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Chief Hundley said the curfew ordinance had the desired effect by curbing juvenile involved criminal activity and asked the City Council to adopt this ordinance. Mayor Hashmi opened the public hearing and asked that anyone wishing to speak about this item, to please come forward. With no one speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. A Motion to approve this ordinance was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 21. Discuss and act on ORDINANCE N0. 2013-009: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION 31-29, Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 7 DRIVING OVER PUBLIC PLAYGROUND OF CHAPTER 31 TRAFFIC, OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVINGS CLAUSE, A PENALTY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Chief Hundley explained while investigating a recent complain regarding a motor vehicle being operated on the Trail de Paris, they learned there was not an ordinance that prohibited motor vehicles in city parks and that one was needed. A Motion to approve this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 22. Receive and discuss a report on the demolition of dilapidated structures in Paris. Code Enforcement Supervisor Robert Talley reported that Building and Standards Commission had placed orders on approximately 174 structures. He said 49 structures were demolished totaling $133,859.48 which averaged out of to $2,731.83 per structure. Mr. Talley also said 76 structures were waiting to be demolished, which would cost approximately $207,690.08. Mayor Hashmi asked staff to explore avenues in which to expedite the process. 23. Discuss and take action on a presentation by the mayor on development of housing in Paris. Mayor Hashmi emphasized that the Council did not want to create turmoil in the community. Realtor Jim Bell gave a presentation with regard to the housing market in the city of Paris and the local and state economy. Mayor Hashmi said the purpose of this discussion was to try to obtain land for and make it easier for developers to build homes, in hopes that people will purchase homes in the city. He said easy access was the PEDC property, that he was not a developer, and that he favored a committee of people made up of developers and realtors to come up with avenues to develop more residential neighborhoods. Mayor Hashmi said there were many lots in the City that could be developed. Wayne Brown said he did not think the City should get into business property and that the PEDC land contained an industrial park and the money spent on it was for industrial development. Mr. Brown said if new homes were built and lots given away, that might keep someone from purchasing a house which means sales would be lost on an existing house. Mayor Hashmi said the City was not trying to develop property, but the intention was to have land available for developers to develop at the cheapest possible rate. Mr. Brown inquired how that would be done. Mayor Hashmi said that would be deferred to the committee to come up with suggestions. Mr. Brown suggested tax incentives to builders, developers or the new home buyers. Council Member Grossnickle said he thought the site location was developed as an industrial park and hopes that someday more businesses will move Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 8 there. He said most of the growth had been North and East and there wasn't a lot of shopping choices in West Paris. Council Member Grossnickle also said selection of a school district was a factor when someone was purchasing a home. Council Member Grossnickle said he thought everyone in the county should have to share in the PJC taxes. Council Member Jenkins said he was for growth, but that he needed more information. Council Member Lancaster said she would very much like to see development in West Paris and they were losing businesses, because they do not have the residences for growth. She said there needed to be residential development in West Paris. Council Member Wright said he agreed with the mayor in that they needed to have a committee to study and work out the potential problems. Council Member Frierson said the basic premises was very well founded and more growth within the City would benefit everyone. He said he agreed with Mr. Brown in as far as the intersection of the private sector and the government and would prefer they stay separate. Council Member Frierson inquired about the growth and the demand and inquired from Mr. Bell if the average capacity was six months. Mr. Bell confirmed it was ten months in Paris. Council Member Frierson wanted to know how many homes were on the market in the range of under $500,000 or target it to $100,000 to $300,000. Mr. Bell said there were 273 homes on the market in Lamar County. Mr. Vic Ressler said there were 127 homes listed in the City in the range between $75,000 and $250,000. Mayor Hashmi said there were 33 vacant residential lots available. Council Member Frierson expressed concern about prices being suppressed, industrial park endeavor — is it the intention of the City to provide roads. Mayor Hashmi said no, and his thoughts were the City would have no part in participating in any kind of development, so there would be no competition between the City and developers. Mayor Hashmi said he believed that industrial land was well suited in areas close to the airport and that there was industrial land marked at the airport for development of industry. He said his opinion was that when someone was entering into the City on the loop, that he thought it would look nicer to see a beautiful neighborhood. Mayor Hashmi said they had not seen the impact of Skinner, but that was because they had not started operations yet. Council Member Frierson said PEDC had used quite a bit of their resources in the industrial park making it site ready which included the rail spur and expressed concern about a land swap with the airport. He said the airport land was not site ready and would have to go through the process of TxDOT and FAA regulations agreeing to the process. Council Member Frierson said he was for more development and favored forming a committee of a variety of people to discuss and develop this. Mayor Hashmi said in the last twenty years the site ready land and rail spur had not developed anything. Council Member Drake said they needed more medium priced homes in Paris, because not everyone could afford to purchase a home in the Hills. She said there were a lot of options to review and there was a need for new residential developments. Council Member Drake favored formation of a committee to study the options and formulate a plan. It was a consensus of the City Council to form a committee and welcomed Mr. Brown, Mr. Bell and Mr. Ressler to participate in the committee. Mayor Hashmi said he and one other Council Member would participate in the committee. Regular Council Meeting March 11, 2013 Page 9 24. Discuss the May 11, 2013 bond election. Mayor Hashmi reminded everyone that the bond election was May 11 th 25. Convene into Executive Session pursuant to Section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code, Consultation with Attorney, to receive legal advice from 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 as follows: • City of Paris v. 911 Restoration • City of Greenville v. Syngenta Corp. Mayor Hashmi convened City Council into executive session at 7:53 p.m. 26. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on those matters discussed in Executive Session. Mayor Hashmi reconvened City Council into open session at 8:02 p.m. A Motion to authorize the City Attorney to enter into a settlement agreement with 911 Restoration was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 27. Consider and approve future events for City Council and/or City Staff pursuant to Resolution No. 2004-081. Council Member Wright said he would like a report from the City Manager about the meeting with the District Judge concerning the probation buildings. 28. Adjournment. There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Frierson and was seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. � ICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK