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05 - MINUTES FROM 01/11/2016 COUNCIL MEETINGItem No. 5 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS January 11, 2016 The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, January 11, 2016, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufinan, Paris, Texas. Present: Mayor: A.J. Hashmi Council Members: Aaron Jenkins; Billie Lancaster; Benny Plata; Steve Clifford; Matt Frierson; and Edwin Pickle City Staff John Godwin, City Manager; Gene Anderson, Finance Director; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Thomas McMonigle, Assistant Fire Chief, Bob Hundley, Police Chief; Director; Doug Harris, Utilities Director; Jerry McDaniel, Public Works Director; and Kent Klinkerman, EMS Director Opening Agenda Call meeting to order. Mayor Hashmi called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Invocation. Gene Anderson gave the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance. Council Member Lancaster led the pledge. 4. Citizens' Forum. Michael Glatfelter, 1345 S.E. 6t' Street — he said he received documents through a public information request, and that one of the P &Z members sold property to the Glicks. He said something was amiss and that he believed Barney Bray should step down, because it appeared he had a conflict. He also said the Council should not have changed their vote after hearing from Jordan Harper and that Mr. Harper should not have been allowed to stare down the Council. Consent Agenda Mayor Hashmi inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the Consent Agenda for discussion. There being none, a Motion to approve the consent agenda was made by Council Member Lancaster and seconded by Mayor Hashmi. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 2 5. Approve minutes from the meeting on December 14, 2015. 6. Receive reports and /or minutes from the following boards, commissions, and committees: a. Main Street Advisory Board (11 -10 -2015) b. Historic Preservation Commission (11 -11 -2015) c. Paris Economic Development Corporation (11 -17 -2015 & 12 -8 -2015) d. Paris Public Library Advisory Board (11 -18 -2015) e. Planning and Zoning Commission (11 -2 -2015) 7. Receive a list of public information requests. 8. Approve ORDINANCE NO. 2016 -001: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AMENDING THE TRAFFIC CONTROL MAP ADOPTED IN SECTION 31- 65(b), OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; ESTABLISHING A STOP SIGN AT THE INTERSECTION OF 14TH NW STREET AND WEST WALKER STREET STOPPING NORTHA ND SOUTH -BOUND TRAFFIC ON 14TH NW STREET; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; PROVIDING A REPEALER CLAUSE, A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, A SAVINGS CLAUSE, A PENALTY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 9. Approve RESOLUTION NO. 2016 -001: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, AFFIRMING THAT THE CITY OF PARIS HAS COMPLIED WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PUBLIC FUNDS INVESTMENT ACT; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 10. Approve RESOLUTION NO. 2016 -002: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ADOPTING A RESOLUTION THAT THE FORM OF AMENDED 457(b) DEFERRED COMPENSATATION PLAN AND TRUST EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2015 BE HEREBY APPROVED AND ADOPTED AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXCUTE AND DELIVER TO THE PLAN ADMINISTRATOR; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 11. Approve an Agricultural Lease with Carey Eatherly and Ryan Eatherly for real property located at Cox Field. 12. Approve the Final Plat of Lot 1, Block A, Serrano Addition City Block 251A, located at 1121 North Main Street. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 3 13. Approve the Replat of Lot3 D, City Block 317, located in the 3600 Block of Castlegate Drive. 14. Receive update on sale of city property. Regular Agenda 15. Discuss the working relationship between City Council and Paris Economic Development Corporation. Mayor Hashmi said he placed this item on the agenda and that everyone in town wanted to have more jobs, specifically better paying jobs. He also said PEDC was created as a source of support to achieve these objectives. Mayor Hashmi stated there were a number of issues dealing with PEDC funds, policies and procedures. He said the purpose was to ensure that public funds were being utilized in the way they should be used. Mayor Hashmi reported that the outcome of the discussions led to changes in policies and procedures that were adopted by the PEDC, which significantly decreased the overhead of the organization. He also said bad blood remained between the two organizations, with some PEDC members trying to block the entrance of Council Members at executive sessions and PEDC brought about a policy that disallowed non- voting members in PEDC executive sessions. Mayor Hashmi said he felt that was contradictory to the spirit of the two organizations working together for improvement for the City of Paris. He also said with the hiring of the new PEDC Director, he would like to discuss the future direction. Mayor Hashmi said that Council Members were the leaders of the community and irrespective of what the PEDC Board was trying to do, that they should show magnanimity in their decisions and try to be positive in the New Year. He suggested that Council allow the PEDC Board and the new director to perform the job they had been tasked to do, and that Council follow their progress closely without interfering in their job. Mayor Hashmi said he would like to see everyone move forward and see PEDC's performance and let the residents of the community see that the Council has made every effort to try to work with the PEDC Board and director. He strongly suggested they move forward for the improvement of the City and economic progress in the City. He also suggested they re- evaluate the situation in six months. He expressed wishes of success for PEDC and asked that the Council do the same. Council Member Frierson said it was a good way to start the New Year with letting the board move forward. He said they had been dealing with this mess for 2 %2 years and he did not understand the six months. He said he was all for letting the Board move forward on their own accord and after 2 '/2 years, maybe Council could decide they did not need to be in PEDC's business. Council Member Pickle said if they were going move forward, he would ask that Council refrain from making negative comments to the newspaper or the public and criticizing actions that the PEDC had taken. He said PEDC's bylaws were specific as Council Members, liaisons and ex- officio members; Council was limited as to their responsibility with PEDC. Council Member Pickle said their responsibility was to make sure they put qualified candidates on the PEDC each July. He said if there are conflicts among PEDC members, then Council needed to make sure and do a better job when selecting PEDC board members and let them do their job. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 4 16. Continue the public hearing, discuss and act on an Ordinance considering the petition of the City of Paris for a change in zoning from a Lake Crook Planned Development District (LCPDD) Sub -Zone 1, the Resort Area to an Agriculture District (A) on which property is commonly known as Lake Crook, comprised of 3,000 +/- acres of land, in addition to 1,000 +/- acres of lake area. Mayor Hashmi continued the public hearing and asked that anyone wishing to speak about this item, to please come forward. Planning and Zoning Chair Holland Harper, 1040 -31 st S.E. Street — he said P &Z voted unanimously to leave the ordinance in place. Mr. Harper said Lake Crook was about 3,000 acres and about 183 acres was designated as a park. He also said over the last year the staff has put many hours into planning and that P &Z thought this was one of the best pieces of information received from City Council. He said to leave the ordinance in place was one of the best things for the County, the City and the community. Ruth Ann Alsobrook, 208 5th SW — she said she was in favor of changing the zoning back to agriculture and that she goes out to Lake Crook a lot. Ms. Alsobrook said she hated to see anything developed around Lake Crook, because it was such a beautiful area. With no one else speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. Council Member Clifford said the vast majority of people who talked to him, had expressed they did not want to see anything developed at Lake Crook and that was the way he was leaning. Council Member Plata agreed with Council Member Clifford and also said he wished the City could find the funds to improve the park area. Council Member Lancaster said she was hearing from people that the park should be improved. Mayor Hashmi said he understood what both Ms. Alsobrook and Mr. Harper were saying, but they had a Planning and Zoning Commission and he did not want to go against what the City had done. He said however there remains a concern in the minds of people who support Lake Crook. Mayor Hashmi said it was never the intention to sell the lake and they did want a nice park for the residents. Mayor Hashmi said he favored improvement of the park without repealing the entire ordinance, as staff had worked very hard on it. He suggested they begin with park improvements and visit this at a later date, to determine whether or not zoning needed to be changed on the entire area. He said the City had received a donation for the park from Dr. and Mrs. Swint and that he had also given a donation. Mr. Godwin confirmed the total amount was $110,000 and the funds were designated for the park. He said that staff would develop a plan as to how the funds should be spent and would bring that back to Council for approval. Following discussion, it was a consensus of the Council to leave the zoning ordinance in place and begin improving the park. A Motion to table this item pertaining to rezoning and that the City move forward with improving the park was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Plata. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 17. Discuss and act on RESOLUTION NO. 2016 -003: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS AUTHORIZING THE CITY TO BE Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 5 ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN TAX ABATEMENTS AND APPROVING GUIDELINES AND CRITERIA FOR GRANTING TAX ABATEMENTS IN THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City Manager John Godwin explained that every other year Texas municipalities that offer tax abatements must re -adopt their abatement policies. He said that PEDC had a meeting November 17 and unanimously voted to recommend two changes to the City Council. Mr. Godwin explained the two changes were to move responsibility for monitoring abatements back to the granting jurisdiction and to change the Tax Abatement Criteria and Guidelines to allow an exception for Greenfield sites. Mayor Hashmi said the document did not contain language about someone not meeting qualifications. Mr. Godwin said State Law covered that and the company would not get a tax abatement if they did not qualify. Council Members Pickle and Plata inquired who from the City was going to be responsible for compliance and Mr. Godwin said the city manager, the city attorney or the finance director. Council Member Clifford said he would like to see compliance done by the city attorney and would like to see a report from the city attorney regarding compliance by the companies. He also said he would like language added to the tax abatement guidelines and criteria that addresses what is going to happen when a company is in default if they do not submit documents. Council Member Lancaster favored Council Member Clifford's suggestions. Mayor Hashmi favored PEDC to continue the compliance, because they were already monitoring everything. PEDC Board Member Don Wilson said he agreed wholeheartedly with Council Member Clifford. Mr. Wilson said when he looked at the tax abatements, there were a lot of things that were legal and totally confused him. He said compliance needs to be under an attorney, who should then talk to the appraisal district and report back to the Council. Mayor Hashmi explained that when Skinner came to Paris, their first point of contact was with PEDC and PEDC negotiated the deal. Mr. Wilson said they did come to PEDC but did not negotiate the tax abatement, because that comes from the taxing entities. Mr. Wilson said this puts PEDC in an unusual situation when recruiting if they are responsible for the compliance oversight for tax abatements. He said PEDC was the compliance entity for incentives that PEDC awards to companies. Council Member Pickle agreed with Council Member Clifford and Mr. Wilson. Subject to addition of the following three revisions: referencing State Law with regard to qualifications and the company will be responsible for reporting to the City; compliance will be monitored by the taxing entities; and an exception for Greenfield sites, a Motion to approve this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Frierson. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 18. Receive presentation from State Street Housing regarding a tax credit for a housing proj ect. Kelly Garrett with State Street Housing gave a presentation regarding a proposed project which will be located on a five acre tract located at 4800 Lamar Avenue, west of Highway 82. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 6 He said the project would consist of 80 units, mixed and affordable units. He said they were competing throughout Region 4 with other developers and this project was based on median income. Mr. Garrett also said the project would not be considered for tax credits from the State unless they received support from the City. Following discussion of this item, it was a consensus of City of Council to postpone this item to the January 25th meeting to allow for public input, and include a resolution at that time. 19. Discuss and act on A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS TEXAS, IN SUPPORT OF THE SADDLEBROOKE ESTATES APPLICATION TO THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS (TDHCA), AND THE PROPROSED DEVELOPMENT OF SADDLEBROOKE ESTATES LOCATED AT 4660 PINE MILL ROAD AND APPROVING SADDLEBROOKE ESTATES, LLC'S REQUEST FOR A de minimis CONTRIBUTION FOR DEVELOPMENT; MAKING OTHER FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Jay Mauck with LW Development, LLC. gave a presentation about the proposed Saddlebrooke Estates. Mr. Mauck said the development would consist of 49 units with a mix of 3 and 4 bedrooms. He also said the support from the City could be structured as a loan, tax abatement or deferment of fees. Mr. Godwin explained that before the State will rate them for the project, they are required to get support from the City. Following discussion of this item, it was a consensus of City of Council to postpone this item to the January 25th meeting to allow for public input, and include a resolution at that time. A Motion to table this item until January 25, 2016 to allow for public input was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 20. Discuss and possibly act with regard to the contractors for the Trail de Paris Reconstruction Project and the 19th S.W. Water and Sewer Project. Council Member Plata said that West Houston Street was still rough, there was a dip on the street and the ditch by the loop was full of water. He said the contractor did a horrible job in repairing the street. Council Member Plata said he brought this up, because the contractor was awarded another project and could not understand why that happened when he had not done a good job on this project. Council Member Plata said in September the Council was told the project would be let and completed in October. He said it was dry and there was ample time to get it completed, but it was not and now that contractor was being awarded another contract. As a Council, he said he felt they were failing in the jobs they were elected to do. Council Member Plata also said the streets were bad and getting worse and that Council should do whatever they need to do to stop this. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 7 Public Works Director Jerry McDaniel informed Council he made the contractor come back on the W. Houston job. Mr. Godwin said the Council awards contract over $50,000 but that the Council could disqualify a vendor, but had to go through the legal process. Council Member Plata said he wanted assurance these jobs were being done right and Mr. McDaniel said that was staff's intention too. Mr. Godwin said the City was holding retaining on the W. Houston Project. Following additional discussion, City Council decided to give additional time for the work to be done. 21. Discuss and provide direction to the city attorney on airport rent delinquencies. A Motion to table this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 22. 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 or a public officer or employee as follows: city attorney. 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 located, 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 Hashmi convened City Council into executive session at 6:47 p.m. 23. Reconvene into Open Session and possibly take action on those matters discussed in Executive Session. Mayor Hashmi reconvened City Council into open session at 7:19 p.m. Mayor Hashmi said City Council discussed two items, and the first item was that the city attorney had tendered his resignation. A Motion to accept the resignation of the city attorney was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. Mayor Hashmi said they discussed an interim city attorney, and that the said the assistant city attorney, Stephanie Harris, had expressed her willingness to the city manager to serve as the interim city attorney. A Motion to accept Stephanie Harris as interim city attorney was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. 24. Consider and approve future events for City Council and /or City Staff pursuant to Resolution No. 2004 -081. None were referenced. Regular Council Meeting January 11, 2016 Page 8 25. Adjournment. There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Frierson and was seconded by Council Member Pickle. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. The meeting was adjourned at 7:19 p.m. A.J. HASHMI, MAYOR JANICE ELLIS, CITY CLERK