06.10.13 MINUTESMINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS
June 10, 2013
The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday,
June 10, 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;
Larry Wright, Fire Chief; Bob Hundley, Police
Chief, and Doug Harris, Utilities Director
Opening Agenda
1. Call meeting to order.
Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. Invocation.
Pastor Brad Aldridge gave the invocation.
3. Pledge of Allegiance.
Council Member Grossnickle led the pledge.
4. Citizens' forum.
Cleonne Drake — she invited everyone to attend the Paris Municipal Band concert
scheduled for Friday night at 8:30 p.m. in Bywaters Park. She said the band would perform
every Friday night through July 19tH
Consent Agenda
Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the
Consent Agenda for discussion. Mr. Godwin explained that item 8 was considered at a Planning
and Zoning Commission meeting and that a quorum was present when action was taken. 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.
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June 10, 2013
Page 2
5. Approve the minutes from the City Council meetings on May 13, 2013 and May 20,
2013.
6. Receive reports and /or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees:
a. Paris Public Library (4 -17 -2013)
b. Building and Standards Commission (3 -18 -2013 and 4 -15 -2013)
c. Historic Preservation Commission (5 -8 -2013)
7. Approve a mutual aid agreement between the Paris Fire Department and the Powderly
Fire Department.
8. Approve the Final Plat of Lot 1; Block A, Pine Mill Medical Park CB 259, located in the
2900 to 3000 Block of Pine Mill Road.
Regular Agenda
9. Receive presentation from Peoples Telephone Cooperative, Inc. regarding their request to
construct broadband facilities and provide services within the City of Paris.
City Manager John Godwin said the City had been contacted by Peoples Telephone on
May 24th and they had requested an opportunity to make a presentation regarding their request to
construct broadband facilities within Paris and to provide telecommunications services within the
City. Peoples Telephone representative Brooke Rodgers gave a short presentation.
10. Receive presentation on the Grand Theater.
Mr. Godwin said the Grand Theater had been discussed at several City Council meetings
and earlier in the year Council authorized hiring of an architect to develop a short and long term
plan and that Mr. Denney had developed a plan. Mr. Godwin also said the City was seeking
partners to develop a public /private partnership or even an opportunity to turn this facility over
for operation and management by a private non - profit type of corporation. Paul Denney of
Denney Architects gave a presentation on the Grand Theater, which included the history of the
Grand, the deterioration, the fagade restoration and hopes of restoring the Grand to the way it
looked in 1937. Mr. Denney explained the next working steps would be to prepare two different
bid packages. He said the first package would include the roof replacement and the second
would be to reconstruct the front fagade above the canopy and rebuild the sign. Mr. Denney also
said that Leadership Lamar County Class raised funds for the fagade work, which could be
separated into two phases. Mr. Denney said he believed that $80,000 from the lawsuit settlement
and $75,000 from Leadership Lamar County Class should be enough to repair the roof, restore
the inside of the inside of the building to where it was before the collapse and restore at least the
lower portion of the front fagade as it was in 1937. Mayor Hashmi confirmed the funds were
received from the lawsuit settlement. Council Member Wright asked that when this item is
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June 10, 2013
Page 3
placed on the agenda for action that it include not only the associated costs, but the long range
plans for the building.
11. Discuss and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2013 -020: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, APPROVING THE AMENDMENTS
TO THE FY 2012 -2013 BUDGET OF THE PARIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION (PEDC) AS REFLECTED IN THE AMENDED PEDC BUDGET
FOR FY 2012 -13; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO
THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
PEDC Executive Director Steve Gilbert reviewed budget amendments with the City
Council. Mr. Gilbert said $331,338 would be reduced from the current budget and that savings
would go back into PEDC's reserves. He also said there were several items that were increases
to the line item budget. Mr. Gilbert explained that $74,000 was incentive payments, because the
projects were not announced when the budget was approved. He said $67,500 was for year one
of the Skinner Bakery, $5,500 for T &K Machine and $1,000 for a project that had not been
announced yet. Mr. Gilbert said there was a rail spur liability insurance policy of $4,700 for the
rail spur that runs from 19`x' N.W. Street over to the Superior Switch Building. He further said
that the Paris Industrial Foundation had deeded that spur to the PEDC. Mr. Gilbert told the
Council that $28,980 was a one -time vacation buy out, merit pay increase for the staff and long
term disability. He said those items were approved by the board in January when they
implemented a vacation policy requiring staff to use or lose vacation. In summary, Mr. Gilbert
said $223,708 would go back into reserves for the current fiscal year after increases and
decreases in the budget. Mr. Gilbert explained that one other change pertained to the bridge loan
to Skinner of $2,000,000 and that interest expenses on that line of credit had been budgeted in
the amount of $21,000. He said that the City Finance Department billed Skinner on a monthly
basis for the revolving loan fund payments. Mr. Gilbert said PEDC was making net revenue of
about $3,000 per month in interest payments on the revolving loan. Council Member Wright
inquired how the personnel issues compared to the City's. Mr. Anderson said if the City
changed the policy, they would probably do the same type of thing and in fact did something
similar in 2004.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by
Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
12. Receive presentation, discuss and act on the Love Civic Center and VC &C budgets for
the fiscal year 2013 -2014.
Chamber Director Melissa Cook presented the VC &C budget to Council stating that the
projected income was $509,100.04 and projected expenses were $489,356.36 resulting in
projected net revenue of $19,743.68. Ms. Cook said the VC &C was funded with the hotel /motel
tax and VC &C brought in tourist events, such as the Archery Tournament and the Tour de Paris.
Mayor Hashmi confirmed that the City retained 5% of the hotel /motel tax. Ms. Cook said that
out of the tax, 3/7 went to the Love Civic Center to subsidize them and that their total income
was projected to be $271,690.00 and their expenses were projected to be $222,772.52 resulting
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June 10, 2013
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in a projected fund balance of $48, 917.48. Ms. Cook said the fund balance would be dedicated
to maintenance. Mayor Hashmi wanted to know the total amount of money that the VC &C and
Civic Center received from hotel /motel tax. Mr. Anderson said about $475,000 was sent to them
this year.
A Motion to approve the budgets for Love Civic Center and VC &C was made by Council
Member Frierson and seconded by Council Member Grossnickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0
nays.
13. Discuss and act on an Agreement between the City of Paris and Lamar County Chamber
of Commerce for management of the Municipal Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund.
City Attorney Kent McIlyar explained that the Chamber of Commerce maintained a
Visitors and Convention Council for the purpose of managing the Municipal Hotel Occupancy
Tax Fund to maintain and operate the Love Civic Center and to promote tourism and the
convention and hotel industry. He said the Chamber had requested a provision to the agreement
which would allow Paris Junior College three free uses of the Love Civic Center each year and
that was written in the Agreement. Mr. McIlyar said this was a one year agreement and was
automatically renewable unless sixty days written notice of termination was made by either
party. Ms. Cook said they would also like to discuss future re- paving of the parking lot.
Chamber Chair Elect Eric Roddy presented a slide show of the Civic Center depicting the history
of the center and needed maintenance. He said there were approximately 95,000 cars that used
the parking lot every year. Mr. Roddy also said the civic center contributed out of their fund
reserves around $250,000 to assist in the sports complex pavilion and ball field construction. He
asked Council to consider options as to how to address the re- paving of the Civic Center parking
lot. Council Member Drake inquired about the costs and Mr. Roddy replied that three or four
years ago he thought that it was around $100,000. Chamber Board Chairman Robert High said if
there were other projects going on around Collegiate Drive or that area, maybe they could be
bound together and it would be cheaper to have both projects done at once. Council Member
Frierson said everyone benefitted greatly from having that facility. Mayor Hashmi inquired
about the history of the relationship between the Chamber of Commerce and VC &C. Mr.
Anderson said the hotel /motel tax could only be spent for certain types of activities, such as
promotional. He said at some point, the City made a decision to outsource management of those
funds through the Chamber. Mayor Hashmi confirmed that if the City had not had an agreement
with the Chamber that the City would have been responsible for maintaining the parking lot and
the Civic Center. Mr. Anderson answered in the affirmative. Mayor Hashmi inquired if the
Chamber benefitted from continuance of this agreement or if they were just helping out the City.
Mr. Roddy answered in the affirmative. He said the Chamber had contracted services with the
Civic Center and the VC &C and received $15,000 annually at the Civic Center, and for
managing it they received $36,000. Mr. Roddy also said it was critical for the function of the
Chamber to be able to manage those entities. He said the groups worked well together and the
Chamber offered volunteer services for the events. Mr. High added that they would have been
able to re -pave the parking lot had they not expended funds to assist with the pavilion and sports
complex. Council Member Wright inquired if this arrangement was legal. City Attorney Kent
McIlyar answered in the affirmative. Council Member Frierson confirmed that the parking lot
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June 10, 2013
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issue was not contained in the Agreement, and that the parties would continue to work on the
issue. Mayor Hashmi said he thought it was a bad ideal to not maintain City property and that
they would revisit the parking lot issue.
A Motion to approve the Agreement as written was made by Council Member
Grossnickle and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
14. Discuss on -call Wrecker Service.
Chief Hundley said that staff had been contacted by a couple of the currently permitted
wrecker services who requested that a limit be placed on the number of services permitted to
participate in the on -call rotation. He said if they permit more than seven on -call services, there
would be a scheduling problem. Mr. Hundley said there were five wrecker services and that
earlier in the day an application had been picked up for a new wrecker service. Mayor Hashmi
said as long as the City was not restricting trade, he did not have a problem with placing a limit
on rotation. Council Member Wright said he did not want to restrict anyone from being able to
open a business. Council Member Grossnickle inquired about the scheduling. Chief Hundley
said at this time, each wrecker service is on -call for twenty -four hours. Mayor Hashmi asked for
comments from the wrecker services. Eric and Pam Whitaker of Whitaker Services said that a
letter had been submitted to Council proposing to limit on -call wrecker services to five. Mrs.
Whitaker said there were five well established wrecker services in the City and adding any new
additional services on rotation would hinder the established on -call businesses. David Bratcher
of American Towing said he spent a significant amount of money opening his business and he
would like a chance to get on city rotation like the other companies. Chip Pitcock of Pitcock
Wrecker Service said he would like to see it limited to six on -call wrecker services. Chief
Hundley confirmed that Mr. Bratcher picked up an application that morning. Council Member
Wright inquired about how the privilege was determined. Chief Hundley explained the process.
Council Member Wright asked for a recommendation. Chief Hundley said he did not have a
problem up to seven. Mr. Godwin said he would prefer six, because with seven someone would
get Tuesday every week and some of those days were not as good as other days. Mayor Hashmi
asked that this be placed on a future agenda for action.
15. Discuss and act on ORDINANCE NO. 2013 -019: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ( "CITY ") APPROVING AND
ADOPTING RATE SCHEDULE "RRM — RATE REVIEW MECHANISM" FOR
ATMOS ENERGY CORPORATION, MID -TEX DIVISION TO BE IN FORCE IN THE
CITY FOR A PERIOD OF TIME AS SPECIFIED IN THE RATE SCHEDULE;
ADOPTING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; DETERMINING THAT THIS ORDINANCE
WAS PASSED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TEXAS
OPEN MEETINGS ACT; DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE; AND REQUIRING
DELIVERY OF THIS ORDINANCE TO THE COMPANY AND ATMOS CITIES
STEERING COMMITTEE ( "ACSC ") LEGAL COUNSEL.
Mr. Anderson explained that the City, along with 154 other cities served by Atmos
Energy Corporation was a member of the Atmos Cities Steering Committee (ACSC). He said in
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June 10, 2013
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2007, ACSC and Atmos agreed to implement an annual rate review mechanism known as the
Rate Review Mechanism (RRM), as a temporary replacement for the statutory mechanism
known as GRIP. Mr. Anderson said an agreement was not reached and Atmos filed a full rate
case in 2012. He said if the RRM process was to continue, cities exercising original jurisdiction
must approve a tariff that authorizes the process.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Drake and seconded by
Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
16. Award a bid to the lowest responsible bidder for reconstruction of the South Collegiate
Drive Project Phase II.
A Motion to remove this item from the table was made by Council Member Drake and
seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
Council Member Wright inquired what was included in this phase. Mr. Godwin said it
included reconstruction of the road from the creek to Clarksville Street and the base bid included
a small parking lot by the trail and it also included a driveway access to the west side of the
police station. Council Member Wright said it appeared that the additional entrance to the police
station was a lot of money. Mr. Godwin said he agreed and recommended that it be deleted,
because he thought it was too expensive for the value. Council Member Wright inquired about
the parking lot. Mr. Godwin said the cost of the parking lot was $64,198 and it was a good
expense, because it was well used and currently a dirt parking lot. He suggested that they pay for
it out of general fund reserves to avoid confusion as opposed to the bond money. He said the
initial intent of the bond money was to do the road itself. Council Member Wright said they
made a promise to the citizens about not raising taxes or water rates, and he thought they should
be very cautious about add -ons. Mayor Hashmi read aloud a portion of Mr. Godwin's memo for
the agenda item and stated he found the language offensive, in that it contained uncalled for
comments. He said as a Council Member, he was responsible for how tax payer dollars were
spent. Mayor Hashmi also said that three or four years ago the additional police department
driveway was discussed and not approved at a Council meeting. He said they had promised the
residents there would not be a tax increase and that it was an expense that should not be
undertaken at this time. Mayor Hashmi said the balance of the funds from that bond series could
be returned without incurring further debt. He said he was supportive of the trail, in that it was a
good asset for the community. He added that he was not opposed to a parking lot for the trail but
questioned if parking lots were going to be built at every trail entry point. He wanted to know
how that location was decided upon. Mayor Hashmi referenced the list of projects contained by
the City and that it was not rated as one of the top projects on the list. Mayor Hashmi said Mr.
Napier previously told the Council even if the entire road project was approved, the bridge was
not going to be widened because there was not enough funding. Mayor Hashmi said the road
was not great, but at the same time it was not completely broken down. He said just because
they had the money from the bonds did not mean they had to spend all of the money. Council
Member Drake wanted to know exactly what was being proposed on Collegiate. Mr. Godwin
said they would be widening the road and improving the surface from the creek north. He said
the money could be used to retire some of the debt early, but there might be some restrictions.
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June 10, 2013
Page 7
He also said it could be spent on widening the bridge and he thought that was more important
than the driveway. Council Member Frierson inquired about the cost of widening the bridge.
Mr. Godwin said it had not been looked at since he had been at the City. Council Member Drake
wanted to know how they could proceed if they wanted to add the bridge. Mr. Godwin said it
was more efficient to have a single contract and then do a change order. He said they could do a
deductive change order to take off the driveway and do an additive change order at a subsequent
meeting for the bridge. Council Member Grossnickle confirmed the stretch to be reconstructed
was from the bridge to Clarksville Street. He asked how KSA Engineers rated that stretch of the
street. Mr. Godwin said it wasn't considered by KSA, because when they began selecting
specific streets, the Council had already hired an engineer in February to do the design. He said
KSA assumed it was a priority street and did not evaluate it. Council discussed the need for
widening the street south of the creek. Mr. Godwin said they could let the deadline on bids
expire or reject the bids, they could revisit the project and give the engineer new instructions or
not, and they could rebid it.
A Motion to revisit this project at a later date and consider widening the bridge was made
by Council Member Wright and seconded by both Council Members Jenkins and Drake. Motion
carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
17. Appoint a Capital Improvements Review Committee.
Mayor Hashmi said he had placed this item on the agenda, but asked to withdraw it. He
said emphasis had been placed on how important it was to review the projects and confirmed that
the city manager would review all projects.
A Motion to allow withdrawal of the item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by
Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
18. Discuss and approve RESOLUTION NO. 2013 -021: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING
AN APPLICATION FOR AMENDMENT TO ITS CERTIFICATE OF
ADJUDICATION NO.02 -4940A WITH THE TEXAS COMMISSION ON
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY TO ADD AN AGRICULTURAL PURPOSE OF USE
TO ALLOW THE CITY TO SELL EXCESS RAW WATER TO DAISY FARMS FOR
AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES AT DAISY FARMS COMMERCIAL DAIRY
LOCATED ON SH 19/24 AT FM 2036, LAMAR COUNTY, TEXAS; AUTHORIZING
THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS; MAKING
OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Mr. McIlyar said the City Council approved an excess raw water supply agreement
between the NextEra Energy (Lamar Power Partners), Daisy Farms and the City whereby Daisy
could purchase up to 3 million gallons per day or raw water off of the unused capacity allocated
to Lamar Power Partners. He explained that an application would need to be filed to amend the
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June 10, 2013
Page 8
City's water rights in Lake Pat Mayse to add an agricultural purpose, which essentially adds an
additional right to the City's permit.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Frierson and seconded by
Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.
19. Receive presentation on Fire Department responses.
In the city, Fire Chief Larry Wright said they respond to structure fires, major accidents
which involve injury or possible fuel spills, public service calls, and medical responses. He said
they were first responders and responded with the ambulance on specific medical calls that
required additional man power. Chief Wright said the fire department responded an engine, as
well as the other engines with four staff members. He said that State Law requires that they have
a minimum of two people outside a structure before they can send two people in the structure.
Chief Wright said due to holidays and vacations, they normally have two firefighters off and that
leaves them to minimum staffing. He said they were only able to staff the rescue with one
person and if the rescue was called outside the city limits, they were required to take a staff
person from the engine at that station to man the rescue to respond in the county. He added that
the rescue truck and engine had to respond together, because of the man power levels. Chief
Wright said they made about 2,500 combined calls a year. Mayor Hashmi said he had previously
inquired about having smaller trucks as first responder trucks instead of two expensive pieces of
equipment. Chief Wright said with the number of personnel, it was impractical and splits a crew.
20. Consider and approve future events for City Council and/or City Staff pursuant to
Resolution No. 2004 -081.
Nothing was referenced.
21. Adjournment.
There being no further business, a
Frierson and was seconded by Council Me
meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
1 1
ONICE- ELLIS, CITY CLERK
Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member
tuber Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The