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Minutes January 03, 1989368 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL AGENDA JANUARY 3, 1989 The Council convened in the Work Session at 5:30 p.m. in the Civil Defense Room. PRESENT: Mayor Stephens: Mayor Pro Tem Hopkins: Council Members Alexander, Ayer, Boyd, Gorton and McAdams. ABSENT: None PUB MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Laney: Members LaForte and Chew. 1. The Council considered legislation to create a Regional Water and Wastewater System for Denton County. Lloyd Harrello City Manager, stated that staff would like to bring this item to Council January 10 for Council discussion and staff direction regarding a resolution format. Questions needed to be answered included (1) was the Authority desirable for the City of De'ton, (2) if the City wanted the Authority, were there amendments for conditional endorsement, or (3) should the staff draft a resolution supporting the legislation as drafted. Bob Nelson, Executive Director for Utilities, reviewed the background information on the Authority and presented major options for the City of Denton. These options included (1) Denton becoming a Regional Agency, (2) Denton, alone or with partners, create a "511" non-profit corporation to serve as a Regional Agency, (3) Denton participating in the creation of an independent Regional Agency, and (4) Denton not participating in the creation of a Regional Agency. Nelson stated pros and cons for each option. Council Member Boyd asked if 3 together, could they have direct got its raw water. or 4 smaller cities banded influence over where Denton Nelson replied that that could be possible but if the City of Denton did not want to participate in a project, it did not have to participate. Mayor Stephens asked about the Advisory Committee. Was there a duplication of members and was it necessary. Tom Taylor, Interim Director, stated that the Advisory Committee would be made up of technical people from each of the customer cities to provide technical advice to the Committee. Mayor Stephens suggested that that information be put in the legislation so as to keep that information clear. City of Denton City Council Minutes January 3, 1989 Page 2 Council Member McAdams stated that the legislation created the Board and that there was no control over what the Board would do. She wanted more information on what the Board might possibly look like. Mayor Pro Tem Hopkins expressed concern regarding how Denton would maintain a degree of control when it would have only one vote out of 15-20 votes. She felt that Denton would still have administrative responsibilities for the Authority and that the per capita contribution from each city would be raised whenever the Board felt it was necessary to do so. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that Denton would have the same vote as others but would be able to influence others from a technical standpoint. Council Member Ayer suggested revising the wording of the legislation to put a cap on the per capita contribution which could not be changed without a vote of each member city. Council Member McAdams asked how the City's bond rating would be tied into the Authority. If the Authority get into trouble, would that hurt the City's bond rating. Frank Medanich, First Southwest, stated that it would not affect the City if it were not involved in the project. Mayor Pro Tem Hopkins asked what the Authority would do for Denton that Denton could not just as easily do for itself. She could only see the Authority if it assured the City of Denton raw water in the future. She felt that it was necessary to decide if the strengths/advantages would override any disadvantages. Council Member Boyd saw an advantage that new plants would be built without bearing the sole cost of the plan~s. Council Member Ayer suggested changing the legislation to eliminate the prohibition of elected officials from serving on the Board. Tom Taylor reviewed the provisions for the weighted vote and how the vote was structured. He stated that participating members and members voting to participate in a project would have a weighted vote. Cities over 50,000 population would receive an additional vote. An extra vote would be given for each 10 mgd above one. 369 370 City of Denton City Council Minutes January 3, 1989 Page 3 Council Member Alexander asked why the City of Denton should be concerned with the lowering of the water table and would the Agency help with this concern. Nelson replied that the City of Denton had 7 wells which were for back-up use only. He stated that the cities needed to get off ground water except for very rural areas. Tom Taylor replied that smaller cities on ground water might push the City of Denton for water if the water table was reduced too much. ALexander asked if the Agency would help contribute to the improved quality of wastewater control. Nelson replied that several smaller cities were looking at the Agency to front end the cost of building a treatment plant which they currently could not afford. Council Member Gorton stated that he would like to see a cap on the per capita contribution to require a unanimous vote to increase the contribution, elected officials should be allowed to serve on the Board and would like find out how Lewisville and Carrollton feel about these issues. Council Member Boyd questioned why the County was given a position on the Board. Taylor replied that the proposed make-up of the Board was one member per city plus one representative from the County with a possibility of two members from the County. Those representatives would be from smaller non-profit entities that could not participate in the projects but would be affected by the projects. Mayor Stephens suggested alternative wording such as "two additional members from non-incorporated areas to be selected and approved by the Board". A discussion followed regarding the possible effects on the City's bond rating if one city defaulted on its share of a bond. Advice of bond counsel was that it would not affect Denton unless Denton was involved in that particular project and listed on the bond. If so, then perhaps there would be some fallout in the future. City of Denton City Council Minutes January 3, 1989 Page 4 With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m. 371 CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS J~NiF'E~W;~L~ERS C(~TY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON. TEXAS 3029C