08.20.13 MINUTESMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS
August 20, 2013
The City Council of the City of Paris met for a special session at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
August 20, 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: Gene Anderson, Interim City Manager; Kent
McIlyar, City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk;
Shawn Napier, City Engineer; Kent Klinkerman,
EMS Director; Alan Efrussy, Planning Director;
Bob Hundley, Police Chief, Larry Wright, Fire
Chief, Priscilla McAnally, Library Director; Tom
Hunt, Municipal Judge; and Sandy Collard, Human
Resources Manager
Opening Agenda
1. Call meeting to order.
Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. Receive presentations from contractors, engineering firms, or consultants and discussion
with regard to water and sewer line replacement projects.
Mayor Hashmi announced that the firm which was to give a presentation that night was
unable to do so and would give a presentation at the next meeting.
3. Discuss possible charter amendments and provide direction to staff.
City Council discussed amending Article V of the Charter dealing with the date of the
adoption of the budget. Mr. Anderson said State Law imposed a deadline of September 30th to
adopt the budget and the Charter calls for a deadline of September 27th. He said that was the
only section of the Article that he was aware of that Council might want to change. It was a
consensus of the Council to not amend Article V. Next, City Council discussed Sections 100,
101, 112 and 113. Council Member Grossnickle said he had mentioned possibly amending the
requirement of signatures when there was a referendum, because it restricted the City Council in
exploring the option of privatization of trash. He said he thought perhaps the number of
signatures required really wasn't very great and the number of people who signed the petition
given the low voter turn-out in many elections was very few. Council Member Grossnickle said
he did not favor spending $9,000 or $10,000 for a special election for this one amendment. It
was a consensus of City Council to not amend Sections 100, 101, 112 and 113. Mayor Hashmi
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August 20, 2013
Page 2
said he had requested the infrastructure funding item and wanted to remove it. It was a
consensus of the City Council they had enough funds at this time for infrastructure citing
approval of the bond. It was also a consensus of the City Council to not call an election for
amending council terms. Mayor Hashmi said he brought up amendment of Section 23 partly
because the Charter reflects hiring of department heads must be approved by the City Council,
but did not include termination of department heads should be approved by the City Council.
Mayor Hashmi said he did not feel that $9,000 should be spent for one amendment. Council
Member Wright inquired if it could be handled in another manner other than a Charter
amendment. Mr. McIlyar said they might be able to address it through personnel policies, but
would need further review. Mr. Anderson said they could review it when the personnel policy
committee met, but that the policies could not conflict with the Charter. It was a consensus of
the City Council that it was not necessary to call a Charter Election for November 2013.
4. Discuss and possibly make changes to the 2013 -2014 proposed Budget for the City of
Paris.
City Council reviewed the budget for 2013 -2014. Specific items discussed were addition
of $89,000 for the Incubator, but only with a legal agreement setting out services and parameters
for qualifying businesses. Council Member Wright said he was not opposed to the Incubator but
was opposed to the way it was funded through PEDC. Council Member Frierson said the
Incubator was working on a matrix with PJC and PEDC to assure that people coming into the
Incubator were more qualified. It was a consensus of the City Council that the Incubator get an
independent audit of their books. Council Members Grossnickle and Frierson said they also
supported adding Retail Attractions to the City budget or allow PEDC to place it back in their
budget. Council Member Frierson said he had raw date for Retail Attractions, which reflected
295 activities that included retail, real estate, and expansion of businesses. Council Member
Wright said he was not opposed to attracting retail, but that he was not sure that Rickey Hayes
was the best fit. Mayor Hashmi said he was not opposed to the City paying for retail promotion,
but felt the work should be through an open bid process. Mayor Hashmi said he did not favor
paying someone a monthly stipend, but felt that it should work more like a realtor agreement.
He said the person hired should report to the Council what the City had received as a result of the
firm's service and associated costs. Council Member Frierson said he was not advocating for a
specific person or company, but that he thought if the City was going to tie the services to a
commission that the City would be charged more money. Mayor Hashmi said he was opposed to
paying a monthly fee to someone, and they may want to consider hiring an employee for the City
go recruit retail for the City. Council Member Drake arrived to the meeting at 5:58 p.m. and
Mayor Hashmi gave her a summary of their discussions. Council Member Frierson said he
thought they should set aside money in the budget to attract retail to the City. It was a consensus
of City Council to set aside money, but the Mayor suggested they have a meeting to discuss how
they wanted to proceed with retail for the City.
City Council reviewed the General Fund and questioned the water and utilities increase.
Council discussed usage fees, water and sewer transfers, and noted that part of the costs for water
and sewer were being paid out of the general fund. They also discussed personnel and car
allowance increase in the City Manager's budget. Mr. Anderson explained that the human
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August 20, 2013
Page 3
resources officer was reclassified to a human resources manager, because she had taken on
additional duties and that she was receiving a travel allowance due to the fact that she had to
travel to other City buildings. City Council reviewed the City Attorney's budget and asked about
the buildings and grounds increase. Mr. Anderson said there were scheduled roof and plumbing
repairs. When reviewing the Municipal Court, Mayor Hashmi asked for a print -out of what had
actually been spent on over -time. City Council reviewed the City Clerk's budget and next the
Police Department budget. With regard to the Police Department, Council Member Wright
inquired about the $10,000 increase for maintenance agreements and Chief Hundley said the
expense was for emergency generators. With regard to the Fire Department, Mayor Hashmi
inquired about food for humans and Chief Wright explained that was food for the citizen's
academy and special events. Mayor Hashmi also inquired about the car allowance and Chief
Wright said he was provided with a car allowance when the City Manager hired him. Council
Member Wright wanted to know why there was an increase to $12,000 for training and tuition.
Chief Wright said the State had increased hazmat fees for training and one of his tasks when
hired was to renew the dive team, which included training out of town. Council Member
Lancaster wanted to know the amount budgeted for house demolition and Chief Wright said it
was approximately $300,000. Mayor Hashmi inquired about contract services and Mr. Anderson
said it was for temporary help for code enforcement through Hiring Partners. Council Member
Wright inquired about competitive bidding. Mayor Hashmi said they were spending a lot of
money on contract services. Mr. Anderson said the alternative was to hire employees. Mayor
Hashmi said he wanted to explore that option, as did Council Member Drake. Council Member
Wright wanted to know if the City ever used prisoners and Mr. Anderson said they had not in
recent years. Mayor Hashmi said he had spoken to the warden who expressed that he would be
willing to help the City, if the City would come up with a specific project. Mayor Hashmi and
Council Member Wright both expressed they wanted the City to come up with a specific project.
It was a consensus of the City Council to look at alternatives to contacting for temporary services
and bring something back to the Council to review. City Council reviewed the budgets of the
Engineering Department, Sanitation, Streets and Highway, the Garage, Emergency Medical
Services, the Paris Band and Library. They also reviewed the General Expenses, Water and
Sewer Fund, Water Production, Water Distribution and Sewer Maintenance. Mr. Anderson
answered questions about new equipment, minor apparatus and auditing expenses. City Council
also reviewed Waste Water Treatment, Lift Stations, and the Equipment Replacement Fund. Mr.
Anderson said the only items budgeted under the Equipment Replacement Fund were vehicles
for the police department and warning siren, which would leave about $189,000 in that fund. He
recommended that they purchase one or two mowers for the parks department, which would cost
about $12,000 per mower. Mr. Anderson said it was his understanding that they were having a
lot of trouble with mowers. He also said Kent Klinkerman had a plan for replacing defibrillators
and five of the seven had been replaced and inquired if Council want to replace the other two,
which would cost approximately $36,000 for each one. Mayor Hashmi said he favored one. It
was a consensus of City Council to replace one mower and one defibrillator. City Council
discussed Paris Economic Development Corporation budget and Council Member Frierson said
his only concern was progress being slowed down toward community promotion and that
Council had discussed putting that into the City budget. He said he was all for getting the most
for the money and was fine with setting up parameters. Mayor Hashmi asked Mr. Anderson to
suggest to PEDC that their budget contain a separate line item for the 10% marketing fund so
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August 20, 2013
Page 4
that it is clear. Council Member Frierson said PEDC had formed a sub - committee to review
those items and thought that was being done. Mayor Hashmi asked about the transfer of
$4,051,203.12 from water and sewer. Mr. Anderson explained that was the transfer to the Fund
Interest and Sinking Fund (I and S) to make the debt payments for water and sewer. He also
pointed out that when the bond issue was finally settled and the City received the money, the
City had some accrued interest in the amount of $178,160 and by law that interest money would
have to go into the I and S Fund. Mr. Anderson proposed when he makes revisions that the
transfer be reduced by that amount.
Mayor Hashmi said at the Council meeting of August 26`" he was going to discuss the
quarter cent that the City receives.
Mayor Hashmi expressed appreciation for Mr. Anderson's good job on the budget.
Council Members Jenkins, Lancaster, Frierson, and Drake also expressed their appreciation to
Mr. Anderson.
5. Convene into Executive Session 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: city manager and
interim city manager.
Mayor Hashmi convened City Council into Executive Session at 7:17 p.m.
6. Reconvene into Open Session and possible take action on those matters discussed in
Executive Session.
Mayor Hashmi reconvened City Council into open session at 7:30 p.m.
7. Adjournment.
There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member
Frierson and seconded by Council Member DrakeA Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting
was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
".1"
ICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK