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02 City Council (4/14/03)MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL APRIL 14, 2003 The City Council of the City of Paris met in regular session, Monday, April 14, 2003, 6:00 P.M., at Paris Junior College, Applied Technology Building Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Michael J. Pfiester called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: John Bell, Richard Manning, Joe E. McCarthy, Francine Neeley, Benny Plata, and Willie Weekly, Jr. Also, present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. Invocation was given by Connie Fitzgerald with the Christian Fellowship Church. Mayor Pfiester announced that the City Council had been furnished copies of minutes from previous meetings and asked if there were any corrections or additions. There being none, the minutes were approved as presented. A motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley, seconded by Councilman Weekly, to bring agenda item 4.A., Karl Louis, Police Chief, presenting a letter of commendation to police officers John Berry, Larry Hogan, Robert Milton, Todd Varner, Raymond Moss, and Jimmy Womack, forward. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Lt. Bob Hundley came forward advising that Police Chief Louis wanted to recognize some of the officers and dispatchers that volunteered for duty above and beyond their normal duty with the Space Ship Columbia tragedy that took place in Nacogdoches, Texas. These officers volunteered to go on this humanitarian mission because of their desire to help their fellow man and fellow officers in time of need. One person who volunteered was on vacation; some officers were not on the schedule to work so volunteering did not impact day to day routine. They traveled to Nacogdoches to assist in search and recovery of remains and debris from the space shuttle. The City of Paris had received telephone calls and letters from individuals associated with the clean up who were pleased with the work of our personnel. Lt. Bob Hundley asked each officer and dispatcher to come forward and publicly commended these Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 2 employees for the very good work that they did in Nacogdoches. Mayor Pfiester announced that the next item on the agenda was receipt of reports from committees, boards, and commissions. Gary Vest, Director of Economic Development and Chamber of Commerce CEO, presented the quarterly report for the Paris Economic Development Corporation. Mr. Vest stated that they had received 41 responses to the advertisement campaign. Mr. Vest passed around one of the publications that they use and he showed a tear out card in one of the publications. Mr. Vest advised that on Friday a good prospect, referred to as Project Holt, had been in Paris, referred by the State Economic Development Council. It is a high tech computer manufacturer from Minnesota. The PEDC board will learn more about this company on Wednesday. It has the potential of employing 200 persons and will be a nice opportunity for our community. He reported that a decision had not been made by Project Winter. They had not announced a location. Since this is a company that makes a consumer product, Mr. Vest thought that world events had placed the decision on hold. In March, PEDC had made the final payment to Turner International Piping Systems. This completed the five year contract with Turner who had exceeded all of the requirements with PEDC. Mr. Vest stated that they have been doing a little traveling. From March 23 to March 28, 2003, Erik attended the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma. This was the second phase in a three year training program which he will complete next year. They had attended the legislative meeting of the Texas Economic Development Council between February 19- 21, 2003. They attended two meetings with the Northeast Texas Economic Round Table and attended one meeting with the Northeast Regional Mobility Council. Mr. Vest said that on June 28, 2003 they will be at the plastic show Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 3 in Chicago, which is the largest plastic show in the world and it only happens every three years. They will be going with the Texas Department of Economic Development and will be working in the booth with the state agency. Mr. Vest advised that the legislature had a very busy three months. March 14 was the final date to file a bill. Eighteen bills that directly effect sales tax for Economic Development had been filed. This number did not include House Bill No. 29012, Mark Homer's bill, which Mr. Vest had helped him work on. This bill restructures some of the 4A and 4B project definitions and also lists things that you can and cannot do with the money. PEDC had not met in the month of March because of the conflict with Lamar County Day in Austin. Mr. Vest extended his appreciation to those council members and staff who had been able to attend this event with other members of the community. Mr. Vest announced that this Wednesday at their PEDC meeting they have a large agenda and one of the things they will be talking about is their Industrial District and they will also be addressing the agreement with Paris Packaging. Mr. Vest addressed Council about the financial situation faced by our industry and our city. Mr. Vest said he was not up to speed as the need for such a dramatic increase to the proposed water and wastewater rates, but said he knew that the City of Paris cannot replace an industry like Campbell Soup. He said without the key primary employers in our community, no one would be paying a water bill. Mr. Vest stated that the city cannot continue increasing cost to the city's primary employers. Mr. Vest said they should be able to sit down and discuss this issue with big users like Campbell Soup, Sara Lee, and the power plants and truly consider the possibility of lowering rates. He said if rates were lowered, perhaps they could bring more production to Paris which would cause more water usage. Mr. Vest asked the City Council to take more time and study this situation and not to rubber stamp the consultant' s recommendation. Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 4 Mayor Pro Tem Manning asked if Mr. Vest was working to get another large water user, similar to Campbell Soup, to help off-set the situation. Mr. Vest said that they do target this type of industry but often there is a problem with the large amount of sewage that this type of company produces. City Manager Malone announced that the Council had been furnished minutes for the Paris Public Library Advisory Board, Paris/Lamar County Board of Health, Historic Preservation Commission, Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of Paris, and the Band Commission, with no action being required. City Manager Malone advised that the minutes from the City Council Water and Sewer Subcommittee had also been included. Council member Plata was Chairman of this committee and he said would bring forward the findings through the Water Study Committee. Mayor Pfiester said that the city can not continue to tax and burden industry to finance city business. He said the Wage and Benefit Committee had the time and opportunity to do their work and he would like for Councilpersons Plata, Weekly, and Neeley to finish their work on the Water and Sewer Subcommittee before the City Council takes action on the water and sewer rates. Councilman Plata advised that his committee needed two or three more meetings to complete their work. He asked that the water rate increase vote be postponed for one month. He presented a rough draft of some of his recommendations: Eliminate $18,000.00 budgeted for a new truck when the old one is still operable. Eliminate $40,000.00 budgeted for equipment to remove sludge when conventional methods have worked for years. Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 5 Eliminate $100,000.00 budgeted for new valves to be installed while old ones could be rebuilt at a fraction of the cost. Cut operators manning the water production plant from 2 people per shift to 1 person per shift. Cut operators manning the waste water treatment plant from 2 people per shift to 1 person per shift. Cut maintenance personnel at water production plant from 7 people to 5. Cut maintenance personnel at waste water treatment plant from 10 people to 8. Eliminate personnel from lift stations. Personnel from waste water treatment can maintain lift stations. Most other cities operate in this manner. There is another cost cutting measure I am currently gathering information at this time. I do not know if it is even feasible, but if it is there is a possibility to shave off another 10 or 30%. Councilman McCarthy advised that it was not his intention to act on a rate increase and had asked for it to be placed on the agenda for discussion. He felt that they need to find a solution to the problem along with staff, industry, and citizens and he had no intention of acting on a rate increase. Councilwoman Neeley, Councilman McCarthy, and Councilman Weekly agreed that they all had to work together to create the desired results. Councilman Plata went over his water study handout that compares the City of Paris with the cities of Greenville, Sherman, Denison, Mt. Pleasant, and Corsicana. He told them that he called each city and collected this information himself. He said that he compared according to population, and got the average Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 6 water and sewer flows for these cities. Councilman Plata said he then considered the personnel required for the Water Production Department. When he talked to Greenville they had 8 employees and they were starting to cut back because their City Council was talking about privatization. The City of Sherman has 22 employees in water production because they have surface water (lake) and they have well water and they have to maintain about 25 pumps. Denison has 13 employees. Corsicana has two water plants but they have also had cuts and reductions. One of their plants is only open for eight hours a day, which is about 10 million gallon capacity and their large plant is manned around the clock with one person. Greenville said they have had to cut back in their Wastewater Treatment because of budget. He said that as the Council can see, Sherman and Denison is in line. Councilman Plata said in Water Distribution they all seem to be in line except Greenville who has 27 employees. The only answer they gave him was they had 10 employees in capital and they added those employees. Councilman Plata said that he asked every city he talked to about lift stations and everyone said they handled their own out of the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Councilman Plata pointed out that the perception is out of line in personnel comparing the City of Paris with these cities. He talked to some of the cities about warehouses and three do not have a warehouse for just the water and sewer departments. Councilman Plata said Mr. Townsend told him that our warehouse is for all departments not just water and sewer. Councilman Plata said the City of Paris has three Meter Readers. Some other cities do it differently. They have repairmen, supervisors and field reps. Councilman Plata said he believes the reason that the average water flow had dipped down for Sherman and Denison is because they have had three industries close down on them. The gentlemen that he talked to in Sherman said they were in trouble similar to what is happening in Paris. Councilman Plata also pointed out that Mr. Campbell had furnished him a breakdown of all the repairs in each of his departments. Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 7 Mr. Plata's water study is attached hereto as Exhibit A to these minutes. Chip Harper came forward stating that he was representing We-Pack Logistics. He asked the City Council to postpone this decision and study it further. Mr. Harper said the city is fortunate to have some of the finest industry in the world. Mr. Harper said that the City Council is working very diligently and the city has excellent management in place and they have rated the city's management above expectations. Mr. Harper said what they are asking for today is to manage the cost. He said the city needs to study this, but not pass those costs on to industry competing in a global society every year having to reduce their cost. Mr. Harper stated that they were operating very efficiently, but they are suffering here with people trying to take our industry from the city. When the city looks at Sherman, Texas, and looks at the industry that they have lost, we cannot afford, as a community, to lose these industrial customers. His recommendation is to postpone this decision, study it, and ask these engineers to help the city manage this by reducing the cost. Mr. Harper said there was a 7% budget increase last year, which was driven by the Fire Department going to get a raise. That did not happen. That was driven by the thought of sales tax dropping. That is not the case; sales tax today is up 6% in this community from a year ago. Those type revenues will offset these costs. He encouraged the city to manage their cost. Ed Seidle, 1363 Pine Bluff, came forward stating that he felt that Mr. Harper has done a very good job explaining the situation as he sees it, and felt that most people feel the same way. Mr. Seidle said one thing that he did not mention is the increase to $0.80 per hundred in taxes last year, most of the people in the City of Paris had their appraisals raised making the taxes higher than they were. He said that somewhere down the road they have got to stop this spending. Mr. Seidle said people in the private sector have to cut back when they are short of money and the city must do the same. Councilman John Bell explained that there has always been a great deal of confusion about tax increases and water rate increases. In this city, the Charter Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 8 mandates that the water company is a separate company and is not supported by taxes. He said that raising the taxes has nothing to do with water rates. Councilman Bell said they cannot co-mingle that money because the water department is an enterprise account and must operate on its own. Mayor Pfiester asked Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, to come forward and stated that there are a few things about water that are inherent such as the city's overhead and the debt service and wanted to know if he had those numbers broken down. He asked what water rate would you have to have just to service the debt that the city has, and the amount of the total debt for the Water and Sewer Fund. Mr. Anderson said the total debt in the Water and Sewer Fund is roughly 35 million dollars, but he would have to go back and do some calculations to determine how much of the water rate goes just for that. Mayor Pfiester asked Mr. Anderson to bring that figure at a later meeting. Mayor Pfiester said that type expenditure is a fixed expense, but everything else is open, and felt that the City Council needed to take a really hard look at things and as we go though the agenda, there are other items that he is going to bring up. If there are reductions in staff, he would let them happen through attrition and not a mass layoff. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he had asked Mr. Anderson what it actually cost the city right now if the city does not pass this water rate. He said that if he was not mistaken, Mr. Anderson had told him that $58,300.00 was the average loss per month. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he wanted people to realize this because he does not want to see the rates go up either, but he wanted people to understand that what we have a large debt to service and the city has to pay the debt off. He said that future councils will have to consider this and the public needs to realize what a monumental task the City Council is going to have regarding the water and sewer rates. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said he knew that Councilman Plata and his subcommittee had studied and worked hard on all these issues. Mayor Pfiester acknowledged that the city has a $58,000.00 shortfall, but said Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 9 if these rates were implemented, Campbell Soup might leave. He said that a lot of people do not realize that a corporation like Kimberly Clark or Campbell Soup could close down tomorrow and it would be just a write-off for them; it would just be a building. Mayor Pfiester said what Mayor Pro Tem Manning said is true; but on the other side, the city needs to look at it from this angle. He said if industry left, the city would have a greater burden than it has now. The City Council discussed cutting cost by attrition and the possibility of transferring employees from the water and sewer departments to some of the departments in Public Works because the mowing season is coming up. Councilman Plata said there will be another meeting of the Water and Sewer Subcommittee on April 22, 2003. Mayor Pfiester asked if the City Council would like to take a vote on going out for proposals to privatize water and sewer maintenance and distribution and advised that they could do this under this item. It was the consensus of the City Council to not take a vote for proposals to privatize. After further discussion, a motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley to table action on Agenda Item No. 3A.G.(3), consideration of and action on an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Paris by revising subsections (b) and (c) of Section 34-22 thereof to establish water rates for residential, commercial, and industrial customers that are based upon the cost to serve each class, and revising subsection (a), (b), and (c) of Section 34-23 to establish a sewer service rate for city water customers, and Agenda Item No. 3A.G.(4), consideration of and action on a resolution accepting the findings of a Water and Sewer Rate Study performed by Reed, Stowe & Yanke, Inc., and authorizing the implementation of said rates for contracted water customers, until May. The motion was seconded by Councilman Bell, and carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, presented the Comprehensive Annual Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 10 Financial Audit for the City of Paris for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002. Resolution No. 2003-061, approving a proclamation declaring the month of April as Fair Housing Month; making other findings and provisions related to the subject, was presented. A motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-062, authorizing the execution ora group benefit services agreement with Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Employee Benefit Pool (TML-IEBP) for Term Life Insurance, Stop-Loss Insurance for Medical/Dental/Vision Program, Third-Party Administration Services for the above coverage maintenance Drug Program, and Long Term Disability, making other findings and provisions related to the subject, was presented. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. At 7:05 P.M. Mayor Pfiester announced that the City Council would take a short break. Mayor Pfiester reconvened the meeting at 7:24 P.M. Resolution No. 2003-063, approving and authorizing the execution of Contract Change No. 2 (Attachment No. 01 A) to the contract for public health services, TDH Document No. 7560022067-2002; making other findings and provisions related to the subject, and providing an effective date, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. A resolution was presented for approval of the sale of tax delinquent property described as Lot 6, Block 355, being located at 2015 N.W. Loop 286. After discussion, a motion was made by Councilman Plata, seconded by Mayor Pro Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 11 Tem Manning, to table this item and bring it back at the meeting scheduled for April 28, 2003. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-064, authorizing the Mayor to execute on behalf of the City of Paris, the tax resale deed and any and all documents necessary to convey the property described as Lot 31, Block 4, Gibbons Park Addition, being number 965 Cedar Street, to Thomas L. Earls, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-065, authorizing the Mayor to execute on behalf of the City of Paris the tax resale deed and any and all documents necessary to convey the property described as Lot 10, City Block 58, being number 323 2nd Street N.E., to Bobby Smallwood, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-066, authorizing the approval and acceptance of a Permanent Utility Easement and Temporary Construction Easement across the first, second, and third tracts out of the Asa Jarman Survey, Abstract 479, and conveyed to Paymore, Inc., beginning in the south boundary line of West Washington Street, for the construction of a sewer line by and in furtherance of that project known as Paris Retirement Village to be constructed by Joe Chamy, et al; making other findings and provisions related to the subject, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Weekly, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-067, approving and authorizing a revised grant application to the office of the Governor, Criminal Justice Division, Texas Narcotics Control Program, for a Regional Controlled Substance Apprehension Program Grant in the amount of $4,388,470.00, requiring a cash match in the amount orS 146,484.00; authorizing the execution of an interagency agreement, Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 12 was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-068, authorizing the approval and acceptance of five (5) permanent access, utility, and drainage easements across portions of Lots 2-A, 2B, 3, 4, 5, and 6, Block 5, Hayes Addition, beginning in the north boundary line of Houston Street, for the construction of access, utility, and drainage improvements by and in furtherance of that project known as River Oaks subdivision to be constructed by Mack Ross, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Plata, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-069, authorizing the approval and acceptance of permanent utility easement and temporary construction easements across Lots 4 and 5, City Block 170, for the construction of a sewer line for Woodard Lift Station, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-070, authorizing the preservation of natural open space land in the City of Paris for construction of the Paris Sports Complex Project, was presented. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-071, authorizing the approval and acceptance of a permanent forty-five (45) foot utility easement on property belonging to Don Lester beginning at the north boundary line of State Highway 271 going North across Lot 2, City Block 347 to the north boundary line of said Lot 2A, a distance of approximately 900 feet, for the construction of a water line, was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Weekly, seconded by Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 13 Councilwoman Neeley, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-072, approving the PEDC Resolution authorizing the renewal and extension of the current Promissory Note and First Addendum to Security Agreement from Paris Packaging, Inc., to the Paris Economic Development Corporation (PEDC), to extend the term of said note and said security agreement co-extensive with the term of the PEDC taxable Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, Series 1998; was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-073, authorizing the acquisition of necessary property for the Stillhouse Road Improvement Project from Clement Road to Loop 286 N.E., was presented. A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Councilman McCarthy, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-074, approving and accepting the permanent utility easements and temporary construction easements for the construction of water lines associated with the new elevated water storage tank, was presented. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Resolution No. 2003-075, appointing Carl Lucas to serve the unexpired term of William H. Coleman, which ends December 31, 2003, as a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Paris, was presented. A motion was made by Bell, seconded by Councilman Weekly, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Mayor Pro Tem Manning reported that he and Councilman Bell represented the City of Paris at the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, D.C. held the first part of March of this year. He advised that the National League Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 14 of Cities is the largest municipal organization in the nation. Mayor Pro Tem Manning said they had a long and very informative meeting with Congressman Max Sandlin. They attended a session featuring a presentation by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and received a lot of information from him. They also attended a session with Acting Director Rob Ridder on Early Childhood Development, which was very interesting. Mayor Pro Tem Manning advised that the President's budget package did not cover the unfunded mandates, especially those in the Homeland Security Package. Of those, the Cops Grant in Paris may, in the near future, lose funding. He felt this should be addressed before it is too late or there may be a loss of officers from the grant or the taxes will have to be raised all at once. He said that they found out that the National Highway Budget has been cut by one billion dollars, which will also affect Texas. Mr. Ridge spoke about the possible entry and exit visa system for the U. S. and portable radiation detectors at the borders. Manning said that they were also told that every billion dollars spent equals 42 thousand jobs. Mr. Ridge expressed interest in and said he would like cities to seek out mutual aid in their fire departments and neighboring cities for equipment in case of a terrorist attack, which would mean that one city might own one piece of equipment and another own a different type of equipment. Mayor Pfiester called for consideration of continuing participation as a member of the Texas Municipal League. City Manager Malone advised that this item was placed on the agenda because the city is being billed by the Texas Municipal League for membership for next year. He said he had enclosed information in the packet to give the City Council an idea of some of the services available through TML. TML represents the cities interests at state and federal levels concerning legislation along with providing legal and technical information as well as a variety of training sessions and conferences. He said that TML also maintains a lot of information in their files which is accessible by the city and they sponsor group risk pool programs that produce large dollars savings for TML member cities. Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 15 A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning to continue with the city's participation as a member of the Texas Municipal League. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Mayor Pfiester announced that the next item was a discussion of the ISO Fire Insurance Rating, and advised that Fire ChiefRonnie Grooms was ill and asked that this item be tabled. A motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley, seconded by Councilman Bell, to table this item. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, came forward to present the second quarter financial report. He said that the first page was a listing of key operating funds and the cash status of those operating funds. He reminded the City Council that for a city this size, with a 36 million dollar budget, cash is its lifeblood. It takes a cash balance on hand all of the time because the city's cash flow is not equal throughout the year. There is a minimum that needs to be on hand for prudent business operations. Mr. Anderson went over the revenue section and pointed out that the General Fund Balance has increased due to collection of property taxes and sales taxes, reimbursement on LLEBG grants, the franchise settle-up with TXU Electric, and timing differences in franchise payments. He asked the City Council to look at the Water & Sewer Fund. He advised that the cash investments were actually in a deficit situation, as he had talked about at the last quarter, and as had been discussed at the last of the budget workshops. This is the second area that the Council gave some consideration to when they discussed the water and sewer rates, or reduction to the water and sewer budget. Mr. Anderson advised that the city is required, under their bond covenants for different bond issues, to have what amounts to two months or the equivalent of two months O & M Budget. In other words, if you take the total water and sewer budget and back out the debt and capital expenditures, the remainder is what the bond ordinance states that the city will maintain as Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 16 an operating reserve. The City of Paris is not doing that and this needs to be addressed because it can affect our bond rating. Mr. Anderson advised that the city needs to keep a similar two month's operating balance in the General Fund in order to cover the cash flow when it is at its lowest. He said that a three month reserve would not be excessive. Mr. Anderson asked the Council to look at the right of the form to see the construction funds that are outstanding. The WW/SS 2000 Series has a cash balance of $6,274,430.00. He said this is the construction fund that is being used to construct the west side overhead storage tank and the water lines. There are other projects that will be funded from this series' balance. Mr. Anderson said that the Tax & Revenue 2000 Series Construction Fund has a balance of $3,411,306.00 which will be used for the Lamar Avenue Drainage Project and the Stillhouse Road improvements, just to name a couple things that have been talked about. The last one fund explained by Mr. Anderson was the Certificate of Obligation 2002 Series Construction Fund that has a balance of $5,817,544.00. He said that this fund contained the bond issue that will be used for the Police and Municipal Courts Building. Mr. Anderson advised that he has the comparative balances for this same month from last year. Mr. Anderson furnished the City Council current Property Taxes - O & M, comparing them with the prior year, along with the Sales Taxes, Franchise Type Fees, Sewer Charges, and Water Sales. Mr. Anderson said the last page is a Departmental Expenditures Summary, which shows the Budgeted Amount, Year to Date Actual, and the Percentage Expended. He pointed out that the City Council's budget looks excessive because the sales tax that is collected for the Paris Economic Development Corporation runs through the Council's budget. He said that this distorts the budget until the end of the fiscal year. At that time adjustments are made Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 17 because it is not an expenditure but it must to shown somewhere in the budget. If this figure were removed now it would result in a year to date figure of $475,750.00. This would be 58.86% of their budget. Mr. Anderson stated that donations to various non-profit organization are made the first day in October and this also causes a distorted picture. Mr. Anderson advised that the next page is Employee Changes for the Quarter ending of March 31, 2003. He said they had one patrolman hired January 20, 2003; one EMT part-time resigned January 22, 2003; in Water Distribution, one maintenance worker was hired in January 21,2003; and in the Wastewater Treatment Plant, an Operator 2 resigned February 10, 2003. Mr. Anderson advised that as of March 31, 2003, there were 364 full-time employees. City Attorney Schenk presented the following petitions for rezoning: Gerald & Janet Nickerson, Lot 14D, City Block 259 from Owner to Site Plan Approval; Renee Harvey, Lot 1 lA, City Block 64-B, from a Two-Family Dwelling District (2F) to a Neighborhood Service District (NS); Gary Bryant, Lot 8, City Block 327, from a One-Family Dwelling District No. 2 (SF-2) a Commercial District ©). Mayor Pfiester referred the petitions to the Planning and Zoning Commission for their study and recommendation at their scheduled meeting for May 5, and before the City Council on May 8, 2003. There being no further business, a motion was made by Councilman Weekly, seconded by Councilman McCarthy, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. MICHAEL J. PFIESTER, MAYOR Regular City Council Meeting April 14, 2003 Page 18 ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK