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02 City Council (8/19/03)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 19, 2003 The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session, Tuesday, August 19, 2003, 6:00 P.M. at Paris Junior College, Bobby R. Walters Applied Technology Building, Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Curtis Fendley called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: Jim Bell, Jay Guest, Joe E. McCarthy, Francine Neeley, Willie Weekly, Sr. , and Benny Plata. Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham. Mayor Fendley announced that the City would start with Agenda Item No. 2B, which was to receive input from interested citizens of Paris proposing services or projects to be included in the 2003-2004 City of Paris Budget. No one appeared and Mayor Fendley advised that the City Council would move to Agenda Item No. 2C, consider, discuss, and take possible action on amendments to the 2003-2004 Budget. He said the first department to be considered was the Fire Department. City Manager Malone advised that they would start on Page 124 of the Budget and they have done a little shifting in the Fire Department's budget. They are going to take an item and move it down into the Capital Outlay account. They will see on Page 124 where it says Account No. 200 - Supplies, that number should be changed to $402,513.00, and the total expenses should be change to $3,785,584.00. The Capital Outlay will be changed to $41,000.00. Councilwoman Neeley questioned Fire Chief Ronnie Grooms about the year- to-date total on his supplies, stating that he requested $310,000.00 and has only spent $75,000.00. Chief Grooms explained that the number is misleading as $271,978.00 of that is grant funds which have not been received and therefore cannot spend. On page 12 of his handout, item number two where it said supplies continued, Mr. Grooms said they have requested a FEMA grant for breathing apparatus (SCBA) and cylinders and the city has to place in the budget the funds to cover their request. He said this money will not be spent Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 2 unless the grant is received. Mayor Fendley asked if these things need to be replaced whether or not you receive the grant. Chief Grooms said he had been informed that after December 31, 2003 they will no longer be producing this model of equipment. Chief Grooms said they have a window of opportunity here and they have got to get out of the packs we are using. It is not that the packs are not workable, there are better and safer equipment on the market that they really need to get for the firefighters. Mayor Fendley asked if he had a contingency if they do not get the grant. Chief Grooms advised that out of this $271,978.00 he has informed the City Manager that he needs $42,000.00 if we don't get the grant to go ahead and start buying this equipment and start a gradual replacement of this equipment. If the Fire Department gets the grant they will do a complete change. If they are awarded this grant, they are taking 50 of their old packs and donating them to the fire departments out in the county. The $42,000.00 would buy 8 packs and 10 cylinders. Chief Grooms said that one problem this presents is the Fire Department will have apparatus with the old style SCBA and apparatus with the newer SCBA. The department will have to then train firefighters to use both types of the SCBA. Chief Grooms explained that last year they were-ill prepared in the filing of the grant. After they went through the process and talked to people who have also gone through the grant process they found that they had not completed the application properly. This year they went back through the whole process again and he feels that they might get the grant. Councilwoman Neeley asked if there was money that could be shifted to purchase more equipment if they did not get the grant. Chief Grooms said he would like to take any money that he might have left over and buy whatever packs he can buy. It is his understanding that any air pack that they purchase now that money can be contributed to match funds that they have to give if and when they get the grants. He said the SCBA is one of their biggest priorities at this time because they have to get out of what they are using. They have five years to this, so he has to start a gradual process. If they get the grant then it is a wash, and it will take him a while buying a few at a time. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 3 Councilman Bell said he was totally confused by the ordinance that was shown to him from last year, and wanted to know what is the city's planned staffing. The City was supposed to be reducing according to last year's Council. He wanted to know if the city was still planning to reduce the fire staff. Councilman Bell said he understood that you were going to reduce the staff by six and that one left, and five were left to be reduced by attrition and that ordinance is there. Councilman Bell wanted to know if this staffing is with those five firefighters. City Manager Malone advised that, last year, at the time they were having budget workshops, there was one vacant position, and there was discussion about eliminating six positions. Eventually the City Council elected to eliminate one position that was vacant and to eliminate five positions throughout the year by attrition. The City Manager advised that this budget proposes to maintain the 32 and add one back and this would put us back where we were. Councilman Weekly entered the council chambers and assumed his seat at the council table. City Attorney Schenk advised that the ordinance would be amended to reflect the one firefighter being placed back in the department. Mayor Fendley asked Gene Anderson to explain the fireman's pension plan. Mr. Anderson advised that the firemen have had their own pension plan since 1948. They currently contribute 10% to that and the city matches that 10%. They have their own governing board and it is separate from TMRS. He said only civil service employees are in that pension plan. Councilman Bell asked what it would cost to add another 2% to the fireman's retirement fund in order to bring it in line with the retirement for other city employees. Mr. Anderson said it the cost would be approximately $42,000.00. Mr. Anderson also said that once you change the percentage of your contribution to the fireman's pension fund, unless you vote to reduce it, it never changes. Mr. Anderson said the TMRS was increased making that change Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 4 going from 5% to 6%. That additional cost and the city's match will be amortized over 25 years, based on an actuarial study and if everything stays the same, that contribution made by the city will decrease a little every year until 25 years is up. Councilman Bell asked if there is a way to get the overtime down as it has already exceeded the budget. Councilman Bell asked if they add firefighters, would that help? Chief Grooms advised that adding firefighters would help reduce the overtime. Chief Grooms explained that he has been hit pretty hard this past fiscal year. He said he had two firefighters out on injury leave and one has been out for an extended time and the other one will probably not be back by until the first of the year and he has other men off and when he has extended absences the only way he can cover for those men is through overtime. Chief Grooms asked the Council to go to page 9 of his handout, which showed a brief overview of the overtime. He explained that they have to have minimum staffing on duty each day in order to offer the required service. In order to do that, they have 18 firefighters per shift except for one shift and that is the one firefighter who was not replaced, but the minimum staffing on the two shifts that are at 18 is 15. So, that allows them to have three people off. Last year with the possibility and threat of firefighters leaving the department, they reduced the number of employees who could be regularly scheduled off on any given shift from three firefighters to two firefighters. Chief Grooms said he tried to address their staffing in a nonfinancial way as best as he could. When you couple that with people being off on injury leave, sick leave, along with training, they still have to fill those positions. He advised that he has requested $280,000.00 to cover the overtime cost and certainly additional firefighters would reduce that. Councilman Bell requested in the next few days that Chief Grooms come forward with a proposal on how much to reduce the overtime and use that slack money in the budget for additional firefighters, over and above the one that Mr. Malone has already placed in the budget. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 5 Mr. Anderson explained that one of the contributing factors is the change in shift cycle from 28 days to 7 because the way they had been doing it, they had to work more than 212 hours in a 28 day period cycle before they drew any overtime. The way it is set up now, on a 7 day cycle, any hours worked over 53 in a week is overtime, which would increase the overtime. On a question by Councilwoman Neeley, Chief Grooms explained the number of firefighters at each station per shift. Chief Grooms advised that he is in the process of developing a health fitness program. He said what he wants to do is for the staff officers to develop this program and have the men working out while on duty and get them physically fit in order to help decrease some of the accidents, which would actually save money in the long run. Councilman Bell requested that when Chief Grooms looks at additional staffing possibilities that he look at his category of staffing definition for driver and engineer and things of that nature. Councilman Bell said he has heard other cities refer to these people as different things. Chief Grooms said they have an archaic ranking system and he is not saying it does not work because it does. He advised that, last year, he placed this in the budget a request to change that into something more in line with other departments. Since we are short of funds, he did not place it as high on his priority list this year as it was last year. Mayor Fendley asked if this was an expensive item. Chief Grooms said it will incur some cost because they are a Civil Service city. To be able to make the change will require promotional exams and additional pay. Chief Grooms said he has that information prepared, but had not brought it to the meeting. Councilman Bell said he would like for him to bring those two items so they could be considered separately at another time. Councilman Plata said you are asking him to come forward with four more Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 6 people and not raise the budget. Councilman Bell said not necessarily. He was saying that he would like to see the budget impact of three or four additional firefighters and the ranking system and see what the impact would be on the budget. Councilman Guest said that at one time Chief Louis furnished the Council with a salary comparison verses people. Chief Grooms advised that there is one in the back of his handout comparing Paris with Sherman, Denison, Bonham, Greenville, and Texarkana by salary and population. The City Council discussed this comparison with Mr. Grooms. Mayor Fendley questioned the Buildings & Grounds account which seems to be up over last year. Chief Grooms explained that at Station No. 3, the driveway is in need of being replaced. He said that after they get through with the overhead water storage tank they will put in a new driveway on the east side of the property line and join it to the existing drive. Councilman Guest asked if there were four men at all stations at all times how many additional employees would be needed. Chief Grooms advised that if they up the staffing, they will have to change the amount of people they let off a shift, and he would have to go to at least three people off per shift. They have maxed out the calendar at two people off per shift. Councilman Bell asked that the Fire Chief go back and come up with a new staffing plan and bring that back to the City Council at a later date. Mayor Fendley advised that they will place an item on the October city council meeting if City Manager Malone will bring back to us on the policy and procedures as far as using city vehicles. Councilman Plata said Chief Grooms requested three computers last year and wanted to know if he received those, and he is asking for three more new computers. Chief Grooms advised that last year he purchased three computers. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 7 He explained that when Station No. One was designed, the training facility was set up to allow for computer-based training for the firemen and we do not have enough computers. Chief Grooms said that computers become dated so quick it is not uncommon for them to go bad. Councilman Bell said the policies have been in the newspaper about the firemen could not go to some place to eat, and he wanted to know if they had been lifted. Chief Grooms said if it was at his discretion he would have lifted it a long time ago. Councilman Bell said years ago when he was on the Council, he obj ected in the budget in those years as to why the city was allowing the truck running around all over town. City Manager Malone gave him one of the best arguments going, he was very specific that it improved contact with the citizens, it exercised the equipment and he was convinced and went along with it. He said that now all of a sudden the policy changes and he does not understand why. Chief Grooms advised that the fireman should not be using them to go home or to take care of personal business, but there are times when they need to be running vehicles. He thought that it enhanced their image with the public. City Manager Malone said this policy change was instituted the past year and it, with some variation, applies throughout all the departments of the city. He said that he issued the directive responding to years and years of input from individual council persons who had been hammering on him throughout 16 of those 17 years. He believed that the firefighters and others have been able to use city vehicles. There have been vehicles taken home by various personnel in different departments. He said that a lot of the input that he has received in the couple of years has been due to perceived abuse of the privileges that have been granted using theses trucks. Fire trucks have been seen in inappropriate places on occasions and he has seen them. City Manager Malone advised that receiving that kind of input from the City Council he devised a policy and tried Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 8 to make it as fair over all of the departments that he could. There are some differences between the various departments and what their needs are and that is something that they can take a look at again. The City Manager said he would be happy to try to bring forward the information as to what they are doing with the various departments as for allowing them the use of vehicles for all purposes, then let the Council recommend or put a policy in place. That would be fine with him, but he will say, and the Council should note that throughout his tenure as City Manager the policy has been much more flexible and more favorable to the employees. He did tell that City Council those things at the time. Councilman Bell said he did not see why the firefighters could not go to a restaurant and eat. Chief Grooms said that they can govern themselves within the Fire Department. He felt that they can work through policy to insure that the firefighters are not taking liberties with the vehicles. Mayor Fendley said he could understand that they are restricted to the shift when they are on duty and he could see some leeway there. Mayor Fendley said regarding taking vehicles home in the evening, he could only see that if you have to come back if you are on call for some reason. Councilman Bell said another problem was people taking home vehicles every night who lived 20 miles outside the city limits of Paris and using city gas to drive 40 miles a day and that is what started this. There is a happy medium that a policy could be created and be operational. Chief Grooms said he has submitted a policy to the City Manager that addresses that issue and he feels that the firefighters should be allowed to go out to restaurants and eat, and he does not have a problem with that as long as it is not abused and they stay within their districts. The City Council requested that the City Manager bring back a review of the policy that is currently in place on the use of city vehicles for the Council's review. Mayor Fendley announced that the City Council would take a short break at 5:05 P.M. Mayor Fendley reconvened the meeting at 5:15P.M. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 9 Mayor Fendley announced that the Council would consider the budget of the Planning and Zoning Department. Tommy Haynes, Director of Community Development, came forward and briefly reviewed what the Community Development Department consists of. He said they were responsible for issuing all permits for buildings, signs, demolition, gas permits, sprinklers, sewer taps, plumbing permits and those types of things. As of October l, 2003, they have issued 651 of those and received $109,000.00 in revenue. He said they were involved in Planning and Zoning items. Steve Methven, Chief Building Official for the City of Paris, who also serves as the head of zoning and conducts a lot of inspections of buildings, plumbing, gas, HVAC,and lawn inspections and has made 1873 inspections. Being in the position, he is in he is required to be a licensed plumber, a licensed master electrician, certified air conditioner technician, certified building official, and Texas licensed code enforcement officer, and he has to keep those licenses up to date. He is also involved as the City Planner and Chief Building Official, and he helped write the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Paris, helps with updating the Zoning Maps and Ordinance and serves as the staff person at the Planning and Zoning Meetings and at the City Council Meeting. Mr. Haynes said that Mr. Methven is probably one of the first persons someone coming to town, if they are thinking about building a building here in Paris or developing property, would come into contact with. Mr. Haynes said Rick Hundley is the city's electrical inspector for commercial and residential wiring of all new buildings and any disconnects where they have to be reconnected. He has done 1300 inspections for this year. Mr. Haynes said they have two Code Inspectors that are involved with doing all types of code work. Mike Alexander works primarily with the inmates from the the Buster-Cole State Prison. They have done more than 600 mowings since October last year, which has saved the city an enormous amount. He said about 60% of those 600 mowings are on property that is owned by the City Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 10 of Paris or other taxing entities. Mr. Haynes said they have filed liens on these properties where the inmates have become involved with private property where people have not acted on mowing their property. Those liens are in various amounts up to $35,000.00. Mr. Haynes explained that they are not allowed to charge labor of the inmates as an amount, but they do have a $220.00 administrative fee that they place on that plus a$10.00 fee. The two Code Enforcement officers have worked over 1200 cases. He said they were involved in working illegal dumping cases. They have had 8 cases filed in Municipal Court and $2,750.00 in fines and they have two cases pending, 8 cases pending in County Court, and one felony Grand Jury indictment of the eyesore of Paris on South Church where there is glass piled up and they are hoping that will be moved before long. They have been involved in 8 dump site clean ups. He said that Millie McDonald serves on the ARK-TEX Council of Government Solid Waste Advisory Board and that grants paid for her salary the year before last. He said that this past year they received a grant that paid for equipment and she has been filing liens also. Mr. Haynes said he serves as the Director of Community Development and is also serving as Historical Preservation Officer for the City of Paris and advises the Building and Standards Committee. He is also involved in writing a lot of the grants for the City. There are several grants through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs such as the Home Buyers Assistance Program and he is involved with grants for the Police. Mr. Haynes said as far as rubbish goes, they have filed 43 cases in Municipal Court for $8,420.00 in fines. Mr. Haynes said since the ordinance were written the Historic Preservation Commission and the Building & Standards Commission have become quite active. He said that they have gone out and identified a number of burned out homes in the City of Paris where they have taken several through the Historical Group to make sure they do not fall into the category where they are involved with that. The Legal Department has been involved in developing a manual Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 11 for all of the different forms that are required and they are now at the stage where they can go forward. They are meeting with the Building and Standard Commission to give them training in that particular area. They plan to go ahead and send out letters on these burned out houses that they have gone through the Historical Preservation Commission so they can be removed. Mr. Haynes these houses are privately owned, abandoned, and burned out. If the owners do not remove them within a certain time frame, the city can remove them and place a lien on the property. Mayor Fendley asked what the time frame from the time the house was burned like the one on Main Street. Mr. Haynes said there is not a time frame from the time the house burns. He said there was not a time frame on it until they got into the different ones they have here, but they have that house along with many others on their list. The time frame from the time they start sending out letters to them is a 10 day period of time from the time they are sent a letter in which they are to act upon it. It also has to be posted as a public notice in the newspaper that they are in violation and also post it on the property. After that time there will be a public hearing before the Building and Standards Commission, at which time the property owner can come and plead his case. That commission will issue an order as to whether or not house is to be removed or repaired. City Attorney Schenk reminded the Council of the policy adopted and said that they need to remember the role of the Historic Preservation Commission and that the City of Paris is now a Certified Local Government. The reason that was important is there is a provision in the Substandard Building Ordinance that comes from the Historic Preservation part of the State Law that causes the city to screen all the property of the intent to develop the substandard building for potential demolition. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 12 back.The City Manager asked if he needed these funds to pay for the tractor driver. Mr. Haynes said the driver is paid out of the Airport Budget because he works at the Airport and one of his jobs is to mow lots. City Manager Malone asked him if he did not need to use this money to pay for the driver out of this budget so we can allocate and know where the resources are being spent, and Mr. Haynes said they could. Councilman Bell advised that if they don't take the $25,000.00 from this budget, they need to take some amount here and some out of the Airport budget because he is not working full time at the Airport. Councilman Fendley said they could take a look at this later. Councilman Guest said that this budget calls for a 20% increase over last year, is that correct, if you look on page 137 where the total goes from $449,000.00 to $593,800.00. Mr. Haynes said that the only thing that is incorrect in the budget is the personnel cost, the rest of the items on the supplies, and contractual, etc., should be the correct. Mayor Fendley announced that the next budget for consideration would be the Airport. Mr. Haynes said that in the Capital Outlay Account there is $166,667.00 which is a$150,000.00 grant plus $16,000.00 match and they have also asked for a tractor and shredder for this department. He said the balance of the items are pretty much the same as they have been. Councilwoman Neeley asked about the hospitalization in regard to why it had doubled. Mr. Haynes said that it picked up the other employee who should not be covered under this budget and it needed to be reduced by $6,000.00. Mayor Fendley announced that the Engineering Department would be considered next. Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 13 Shawn Napier, City Engineer, came forward stating that he had provided a handout to the City Council which covers the highlights of his budget. He said there are a few numbers that have changed. The Engineering Department currently has 6% people and they are in the budget for 7% people. He said they have currently filled the Engineering Technician position where the former employee would have been at a step four and the new employee is at a step one. Mr. Napier pointed out that there are actually three items cutting money from the budget. Mr. Napier explained that Item No. 3 of his handout, he has been contacted by the Lamar County Appraisal District, the Lamar County Water Supply District, and the City of Paris and they are trying to do an aerial photograph of the whole county. They will be digital enhanced photograph of the entire county that they can use in all type of design processes. He said the city's portion of that cost would be around $27,000.00. Councilman Bell questioned the possibility of those maps being copyrighted. Mr. Napier said he would have to check on that. Mr. Anderson discussed the health portion of the budget with the City Council regarding possibly trying to get into the TML Pool. He said if they could improve their claims that would help. Mayor Fendley said the Municipal Band would be covered at this time. Mr. Anderson advised that the Municipal Band Board did not communicate with him this year so he used the same budget as they had last year. At the time this report was run all of the expenditures were not in. City Manager Malone reminded the Council that the V&CC contributed $10,000.00 to the Band fund, but they also take credit for any advertisement they do for the Band. The city's portion of that could be over $8,000.00. The next Budget for consideration was the Paris Library. Betty Landon, Library Director, came forward advising that the Capital Outlay Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 14 is not correct. She said this is the Tiff Grant from last year and this is the money that they have not spent. She advised that this is for the public access computers that Lisa Wright manages. This $100,000.00 is carried forward. Ms. Landon said this is in her budget because libraries receive larger discounts on software, but it is not her expenditure. Ms. Landon said last year that in her book budget there was $145,000.00 and the library needed shelving and the Council said the only way she could have it was to cut $25,000.00 from her book budget. She advised that the shelving will be completed this week. Ms. Landon said she will not be buying more shelving because they are running out of room. She also advised that one area that needed shelving, the floor is not level so they cannot place the shelving on it. Ms. Landon explained that the account for books was a capital outlay account and that is where it would show up in previous years. She said what she was asking for is the return of her book budget to $139,700.00 and give her $5,300.00 for an air conditioner. Councilman Bell asked Ms. Landon if there is any place in the Library she could make room to expand. He also asked about the floors that need to be leveled and how library services are projected long term, and how services are going to be expanded. Ms. Landon stated that they needed a larger building. Ms. Landon discussed with Council possible solution to the problem of expansion. One suggestion was to make use of the basement area which has a dirt floor. In order to use this are approximately a million dollars would be needed to install an elevator in to this old building. An elevator would be required under ADA. Councilman Guest asked what was the amount received from memorial gifts and is that anything that can be promoted? Ms. Landon advised that it was about $70,000.00 this year. Councilwoman Neeley advised several years ago in the Paris News, one time a month they published a list of inemorials and they did not charge for that. Some period of time about two or three years ago Regular City Council Meeting August 19, 2003 Page 15 the Paris News stopped doing that, and when that happened, that is when they had a decline in memorial gifts. Ms. Landon said when the expansion of the Library was done years ago she saw that it called for 70,000 books and at that time that was all they had. Now they have 123,000 books, CDs DVDs and videos. Resolution No. 2003-142, setting a public hearing on September 8, 2003, at 6:00 P.M., Paris Junior College, Bobby R. Walters Applied Technology Building, Room 1206, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas, on the City Manager's proposed budget for fiscal year 2003-2004, was presented. A motion was made by Councilwoman Neeley, seconded by Councilman Weekly for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 6 ayes, 1 nay, Councilman Bell voting no. There being no further business, a motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem McCarthy seconded by Councilwoman Neeley, to adjourn the meeting. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays. CURTIS FENDLEY, MAYOR ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK