Minutes June 09, 1987142
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
June 9, 1987
The Council convened into the Special Call Meeting at 5:00 p.m.
in the Civil Defense Room.
PRESENT:
Mayor Stephens; Mayor Pro Tem McAdams; Council
Members Alexander, Ayer, Boyd and Gorton.
ABSENT:
Council Member Hopkins
1. The Council received a report regarding the request of
Grace Temple Baptist Church for a quitclaim and abandonment of
Gregg Street between Ponder and Fulton Streets.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the formal process for
this request would be taken up at the next Council meeting.
This discussion would be for information purposes only.
David Ellison, Assistant to the City Manager, presented the
report to the Council. He stated Grace Temple Baptist. Church
was requesting a quitclaim and abandonment of Gregg Street
between Ponder and Fulton Streets. The Church was interested
in expansion in that area for an educational building and
additional parking. In 1980 the sanctuary was built with a
variance for parking spaces granted by the Board of
Adjustment. The Church was granted 6 years to obtain all the
required parking spaces and to date it was not in compliance.
The Church had made several requests to the Development Review
Committee asking for the abandonment of Gregg Street. Reasons
cited for the proposed abandonment were for the safety of the
people who use the church and who had to cross traffic in order
to get to the church. Of primary consideration were the
children who attended the daycare at the church and who had to
cross the street. The Engineering/Traffic Departments had
determined that 50% of the traffic using, the street was
attributed to church usage. A concern with the closing of
Gregg Street was that Gregg was important to those people who
use the street and would affect their quality of life. On
April 8, 1987 the request went to the Planning and Zoning
Commission. Planning and Zoning referred the request to the
Citizens Traffic Safety Support Commission for analysis. The
Commission voted 4-1 to abandon the street. April 22, 1987,
the Planning and Zoning Commission again reviewed the request
and with a vote of 4-3 recommended not to abandon the street.
An alternative suggestion was to construct a new street north
of the boundary of the church property to replace Gregg
Street. This alternative was not favorably received by the
church due to financial constraints.
After a lengthy discussion, it was the consensus of the Council
to hold a public., hearing June 16, 1987 for the purpose of
receiving comments' regarding a proposed closing of Gregg
Street. Formal action would be considered at the June 16, 1987
meeting.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
June 9, 1987
Page 2
143
2. The Council received a status report regarding the
radio system.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the current radio
system was outdated and that a great deal of money would have
to be spent on updating the system if the proposed radio system
were not implemented. He stated that the funding package would
include the skeleton unit plus installing Utilities, the Police
and Fire Departments on the system. There would be no
financial obligation for the 1987-88 budget year and no
out-of-pocket costs during the first year. Although the County
had not formally committed to the system as of date, staff was
very optimistic that they soon would. A negative note
regarding the funding was that it would take longer to get City
units on the system but fire and police needed to be first. It
was the recommendation of the staff to continue with the
proposed sale of Certificates of Obligation as scheduled for
June 16, 1987.
Item 6:00 p.m. ~1. was moved ahead in the agenda order.
1. The Council held a discussion with Dr. Shirley Chater
and Mr. Richard White regarding short-range and long-range
plans for Texas Woman's University.
President Chater gave a brief overview of the University. The
current student enrollment was approximately 8,000 students
with an estimate of 10,000 students within the next 5-10 years;
20% of the students were in the 18-24 age category, 20%, in the
over 40 age category and 60%, in the 30 age category; 20% of
the students were single mothers; 20-25% were minority
students; 66% of the faculty were women; 77% of all the
administration were women. Chater presented the following
ideas/suggestions of how the administration would like to see
the University develop: (1) A Vice-President of Academic
Affairs had just been hired and a Vice-President of
Institutional Advancement would soon be hired. These two
positions would hopefully contribute suggestions for a more
systematic fund raising campaign and a systematic image
campaign; (2) In September an academic planning process would
be initiated to look at various programs and how to support
positive programs, how to boost negative programs and possibly
cut other programs;(3) more cross-registration would be
encouraged between TWU and NTSU with faculty sharing also
encouraged. Currently the two Universities were sharing motor
pools, coordinating library hours and parking spaces for the
library users, and NTSU had contracted for storage space while
some of their offices were being remodeled. Projects under
consideration included the remodeling and expansion of the
animal care center, remoaeling of the Margo Jones Auditorium
and the demolishing of the old gym and the Journalism buildings.
144
City of Denton City Council Minutes
June 9, 1987
Page 3
The Council, Dr. Chater and Mr. White continued with a group
discussion dealing with such issues as cable T.V. channels,
public transportation, off-street parking, sidewalks at the
University, participation in a Governor's handicapped
committee, use of TWU's facilities and areas of cooperation to
promote the best interests of the City and of TWU.
The Council returned to the regular agenda order.
3. The Council held
telecommunication sales tax.
a discussion concerning the
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the tax would include
such items as intrastate long distance calls, call waiting,
call forwarding, coin operated calls not serviced by a phone
company, and mobile telephones. Basic local exchange service
would not be included in the tax.
Council Member Boyd asked how much the anticipated revenue
would be.
John McGran~, Executive Director of Finance, stated that
approximately $50,000 of additional revenue was anticipated.
Mayor Pro Tem McA~ams stated that she was concerned with
placing an additional tax on people at this time when the City
and County would be trying to pass the Flow Hospital District.
Mayor Stephens asked for a time sequence on the proposed tax.
McGrane replied that the ordinance had to be passed by June 30
as there would be a quarter lag time for the tax to be
implemented.
4. The Council considered approval of an ordinance
approving a contract for the City's participation in the cost
of installing an oversized sewer main; authorizing the Mayor to
execute the contract; and approving the expenditure of funds.
Debra Drayovitch, City Attorney, informed Council that this
ordinance was repealing the ordinance passed at the last
meeting due to Texas Instruments not being comfortable with the
language in the previous ordinance.
The following ordinance was considered:
City of Denton City Council Minutes
June 9, 1987
Page 4
ORDINANCE NO. 87-105
AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A CONTRACT FOR THE CITY'S
PARTICIPATION IN THE COST OF INSTALLING AN OVERSIZED
SEWER MAIN: AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE
CONTRACT: APPROVING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS
THEREFORE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Alexander motion, McAdams second to adopt the ordinance. On
roll call vote, McAdams "ayev" Alexander "ayev" Gorton "aye,"
Ayer "ayes" Boyd "aye," and Mayor Stephens "aye." Motion
carried unanimously.
The Council convened into the executive Session to discuss
legal matters, real estate, personnel and board appointments.
More specifically, to hold a discussion regarding City of
Denton Board and Commission appointments. No official action
was taken.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
CITY ~DENTSN, TEXAS
145
1760j