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10/27/2014MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS October 27, 2014 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 27, 2014, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: Matt Frierson Council Members: Richard Grossnickle; Aaron Jenkins; Billie Lancaster; Benny Plata; Edwin Pickle; and A.J. Hashmi City Staff: John Godwin, City Manager; Kent McIlyar, City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Gene Anderson, Finance Director; Shawn Napier, City Engineer; Jerry McDaniel, Public Works Director; Dale Maberry, Assistant Fire Chief; Randy Tuttle, Assistant Police Chief, Doug Harris, Utilities Director; Kent Klinkerman, EMS Director; and Alan Efrussy, Planning Director Opening Agenda 1. Call meeting to order. Mayor Frierson called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Reverend James Price gave the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Grossnickle led the pledge. 4. Citizens' Forum. Sue Lancaster, 1020 Bonham Street — she said she stood before the Council to protest a statement made by a PEDC board member earlier that day. She said the board member said that she had repeatedly called for the Defenbaugh FBI report. Council Member Lancaster said that was not the case, and that the statement was a lie. She said she had never asked for it and that was perfectly provable. Council Member Lancaster asked for an apology, she said she was very upset about it, and that Mr. Wilson needed to apologize. Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 2 Consent Agenda Mayor Frierson inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the Consent Agenda for discussion. Council Member Hashmi asked for discussion on items 6a, and 10, as well as the financial report received from Mr. Godwin. Council Member Hashmi referred to page 3 the PEDC September 9"' minutes and said a correction needed to be made, because he did not call Mr. Moore. Council Member Hashmi asked Mr. Godwin about the expenses of the City Council and specifically what they spent that equaled 103.8 %. Mr. Godwin said he would get the information to him the following day. With regard to item 10, Council Member Hashmi confirmed with Mr. Godwin that the City's savings was greater than the 3% interest being charged to the City. A Motion to approve the consent agenda was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 5. Approve the minutes from the City Council meeting on October 13, 2014. 6. Receive reports and /or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Paris Economic Development Corporation (9 -9 -2014; 9 -15 -2014; and 9 -19 -2014) b. Main Street Advisory Board (9 -9 -2014) c. Building and Standards Commission (9 -15 -2014) 7. Receive September monthly financial report. 8. Receive September drainage report. 9. Receive demolition report. 10. Approve RESOLUTION NO. 2014 -031: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS TO ENTER INTO A FINANCING AGREEMENT WITH LIBERTY NATIONAL BANK FOR THE PURCHASE OF ONE NEW FIRE PUMPER TRUCK; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SIGN ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO FACILITATE ACQUISITION AND FINANCING OF THE FIRE TRUCK; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 11. Approve Residential Tax Abatement Agreements for the following: • Laurie Norrell Goodson, 739 Pine Bluff • Gwendolyn Jackson, 1675 Martin Luther King • Beverly Mitchell, 719 1 St N.E. • Brenda Evans McBay6, 223 9th N.W. • Maydell MacIntire, 1731 Graham • Paris -Lamar County Habitat for Humanity, 1435 E. Washington Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 3 12. Approve ORDINANCE NO. 2014 -022: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING THE TRAFFIC CONTROL MAP ADOPTED IN SECTION 31 -65 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; CHANGING THE TIMES OF SCHOOL ZONE ON STONE AVENUE AND STILLHOUSE ROAD MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY DURING THE HOURS OF 3:00 P.M. AND 3:50 P.M. ON DAYS WHEN SCHOOL IS IN SESSION; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; PROVIDING FOR A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVINGS CLAUSE, A PENALTY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 13. Approve RESOLUTION NO. 2014 -032: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, APPROVING THE EXECUTION OF A PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTING COMPANY TO IMPLEMENT A CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM UNDER THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (TDA) TXCDBG PROGRAM; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Regular Agenda 14. Discuss and possibly act on the Paris Economic Development Corporation Investigation. Council Member Hashmi said he asked for this agenda item after receiving notification from Mr. Godwin that the Attorney General's Office stated it was not in their realm to investigate the matter. He also said he thought the letter suggested this either be sent to local law enforcement or the District Attorney. Council Member Hashmi confirmed this with Mr. Godwin. A Motion that the matter be referred to the District Attorney for further investigation was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Council Member Plata said he wanted someone from the outside who had no involvement to look at the report and that is why he wanted the Attorney General to review it. Council Member Plata asked Council Member Hashmi if he thought people were going to be satisfied with sending it to the DA. Council Member Hashmi said the purpose was to complete what was started and the report was sent to the highest legal authority in the State. He said the AG said it was not in their jurisdiction and should be sent to the local District Attorney or to law enforcement. Council Member Hashmi said it had not been determined if there was any criminal activity, so he thought it was a bad idea to send it to law enforcement when they did not even know what it was. He said it would depend on what the DA thinks after he reads the report. Council Member Pickle wanted to know what would happen if the District Attorney did not find anything worth prosecuting. Council Member Hashmi said the District Attorney was the legal Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 4 expert and if he says it doesn't need prosecuting then it doesn't need prosecuting. Council Member Pickle said the FBI and the AG declined this. Council Member Hashmi said the AG did not decline this but said they were not the investigatory authority, and then asked that the letter from Captain Lewis be read aloud. Mayor Frierson read the letter received from the Attorney General's Office. Council Member Grossnickle said the Council was focusing on the negative instead of PEDC's accomplishments over the years. He then compared the PEDC to a fisherman who buys better bait in order to catch better and bigger fish. Council Member Grossnickle presented PEDC statistics and successes under Steve Gilbert's tenure, including awards given to PEDC, creation of jobs, retention of jobs, widening of 19/24, dollars received from the Texas Enterprise Fund, industry expansion and the addition of Skinner Bakery. He said changes had been made at PEDC, in that documentation of the manner in which taxpayer money was spent and credit card usage was tightened up and policies were reformed. Council Member Grossnickle said these were good changes and it seemed that the course taken by the new PEDC Board would now be returned to its mission of creating economic and job growth while attracting new and retaining existing companies. Council Member Hashmi questioned the statistical information presented by Council Member Grossnickle and the local unemployment rate. Council Member Hashmi also questioned why policies were put into place that tightened credit card usage, as well as other expenditures and why all of the other changes were made if there was nothing wrong at PEDC. He said they got nowhere with Steve Gilbert when these problems were brought to Mr. Gilbert's attention. Council Member Hashmi said these changes were made only as a result of the presentations made about the problems found. He said Council Member Grossnickle opposed those presentations at the time they were made and that he should be accurate when presenting statistics and information. Mayor Frierson asked for a vote on the Motion. Motion carried, 4 ayes, 2 nays, 1 abstention, with Mayor Frierson and Council Member Grossnickle casting the dissenting votes, and Council Member Pickle abstaining from the vote. Mr. Godwin confirmed that the only item to be sent to the District Attorney's Office was the final Defenbaugh report. 15. Discuss and act on a grant application to the Texas Historical Commission Certified Local Government Grant Program for a historical survey and update of the current downtown design guidelines. City Engineer Shawn Napier said if the City was awarded this grant that staff was proposing to have a historic survey completed of the historic district and an update of the Downtown Design Guidelines. He said the grant was for a maximum amount of $15,000 and required a 50% match for a total budget of $30,000. Council Member Lancaster inquired about the boundaries. Mr. Napier said it would cover the Historic District as far East as CVS and as far West as Forrest Street, as well as the Church Street Historic District. Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 5 A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 16. Discuss and act on a grant pre - application to the Texas Historical Commission for a Texas Preservation Trust Fund Project for the Grand Theater. Mr. Napier explained that the City had historical properties that were endangered and in need of assistance. He said staff would like to submit a proposal for $30,000 in order to complete additional cleanup work at the Grand Theater. He said there would be a 50% match for total budget of $60,000 and if awarded, the cash match could be budgeted in 2015 -2016. Council Member Lancaster asked if there were any plans for future use. Mr. Godwin said over the last couple of months several persons had expressed an interest in the theater for plays. A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 17. Discuss and take action on drainage needs. Public Works Director Jerry McDaniel said one of the major problems was drainage and drainage projects had been identified that would cost about 7 million dollars. He also said a number of years ago the City eliminated positions in the parks department that were responsible for drainage and maintenance work. In addition, Mr. McDaniel said that last year the ice storm took employees away from cleaning the ditches. Mr. McDaniel told the Council beginning September 1st they formed a temporary drainage crew by utilizing parks employees which consisted of nine full -time employees. He said the team was doing a great job and would continue in the winter time, but in the spring they would focus on parks and recreation. Mr. McDaniel explained different options, which included contracting the work out and the estimate he got was $10.00 a foot, which meant a 45' width ditch would cost about $41,715. He said this did not include dump fees, removal of silk or erosion, culvert cleaning or reshaping the ditches. Mr. McDaniel said to take of the City drainage issues in -house would take a five man crew year round and over a period of six months they could get three ditches done. Council Member Hashmi asked for a cost estimate to hire additional full -time employees. Mr. McDaniel estimated a cost of $140,000 a year for five new employees. Council Member Plata inquired about using Bonham State prison inmates and Mr. McDaniel said they had not had a lot of success. Council Member Hashmi said he had visited with the warden in the past, and that they were willing to work on a specific project, and offered to contact the prison officials. Reverend James Price's representative explained said that they needed to clean up all of Paris before they could keep Paris beautiful. She said over 300 lots had been foreclosed on by the City and that the City did not have the manpower to clean all of it up. She said that Reverend Price could clean up 150 lots in the next 6 months for $49,000, which was $350 per lot and could get started for an advance of $6,000. She also said each Council Member could pick 10 lots, the City Manager could pick 10 lots, the citizens could pick 40 and he would I pick the last 40 lots. She said the City could select the person to inspect the lots and this would give convicted felons Regular Council Meeting October 27, 2014 Page 6 the opportunity to work. She said Reverend Price was attempting to establish a 503c corporation and that he could be contacted at (903) 669 -4537. 18. Convene into Executive Session pursuant to Section 551.087 of the Texas Government Code, (1) to discuss or deliberate regarding commercial or financial information that the governmental body has received from a business prospect that the governmental body seeks to have locate, stay, or expand in or near the territory of the governmental body and with which the governmental body is conducting economic development negotiations; or (2) to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect described by Subdivision (1). Mayor Frierson convened City Council into executive session at 6:38 p.m. 19. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on those matters discussed in Executive Session. Mayor Frierson reconvened City Council into open session at 6:58 p.m. 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 Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Pickle and was seconded by Council Members Jenkins. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 p.m. (� �-'- � e� - MATT FRIERSON, MAYOR AD NICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK