Minutes July 23, 1991CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
JULY 23, 1991
The Council convened into the Work Session at 5:15 p.m.
Civil Defense Room.
PRESENT:
Mayor Castleberry; Council
Chew, Perry, Smith and Trent.
ABSENT:
Mayor Pro Tem Hopkins
in the
Members Alexander,
1. The Council received a report from and held a
discussion with the Airport Advisory Board regarding various
issues relevant to the Denton Municipal Airport.
Rick Woolfolk, Chair - Airport Advisory Board, discussed the
history of the Airport, the current situation at the Airport
and the future outlook of the Airport.
He stated that the Denton Airport was build in the early 1940's
by the Civil Aeronautics Administration to be used as a fighter
pilot training facility to replace Hartlee Field. The original
runway was 4,150 feet long and 150 feet wide. The war was
winding down about the time the field was completed and was
never really used for its intended purpose. The U.S.
Government deeded the facility to the City of Denton in about
1945. The City leased the facility for approximately the next
15 years for $100 per Year. The Airport was primarily used for
farming. In the mid 1960's the value of the Airport increase
slightly and the City ehtered into a new lease for $100 per
month to AeroSmith of Denton. AeroSmith, using approximately
$104,000 raised by bond money through the City, committed to
building a hanger from which to provide service. The hanger
which presently houses AirDenton was that facility. AeroSmith
did repay a portion of the cost of building the facility before
it went bankrupt. In the early 1970's the City Council decided
to recognize an increase in the value to the Airport and
appointed an Airport Advisory Board to help develop the
facility. It was not until 1983-84 that the City took over the
airfield operations and hired a full-time airport manager. In
1974 the Federal Aviation Administration embarked on a four
step program to upgrade the Denton facility. Since 1975
approximately $Z,437,000 had been spent on the Denton Municipal
Airport. The City had funded approximately $272,600 of this
amount.
Today, the Denton Airport was located on 640 acres with a 5,150
foot runway. A 1,00 foot extension had been added since it was
built. 240 acres located on the west side of the Airport were
leased for farming purposes for $3,500 per year. 60 acres
located on the southeast ·corner were not currently leased.
Other land currently leased for aircraft related activities
brought in $30,000 per year. 30% of the Airport's available
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 23, 1991
Page 2
land space was unleased at this point in time. Fuel and fees
collected from aircraft related activities amounted to
approximately $21,000 per year. There were approximately 35
jobs at the Airport generating a payroll of $484,000 per year.
The North Texas Council of Governments recently reported on the
economic impact of the Denton Municipal Airport which showed
that 37,750 visitors entered Denton through the Airport
annually. Several businesses such as Texas Health Enterprises
had located in Denton due to the Airport.
Future developments for the Airport included the hiring of a
firm to do a comprehensive new master plan for the Airport.
The FAA had recommended that the City undertake the plan and at
their direction it was more comprehensive than normal because
they want to plan the Denton Airport into a reliever status
airport. The cost of the master plan was estimated at $100,000
with the City having to provide $10,000. An application was
pending for the purchase of 31 acres of land on the south end
of the field to allow an extension of the runway 1,000'. This
would allow usage by many additional aircraft which currently
could not use the Denton facility. Additionally talks had been
held with the FAA to extend the runway 1500 feet to the north
which would give a total of 7,650 feet of length. The FAA had
asked the City to look 20-25 years ahead in planning. The
Airport Zoning Board, which was recently created, was very
important to ensure that land use surrounding the Airport was
appropriate. The Airport needed the Council's continued
support, ideas and backing. The FAA had recognized the Airport
as a vital link in the regional transportation system.
Council Member Perry asked about the FAA designation of the
Airport.
Woolfolk replied that th~ FAA saw the Denton Airport as being a
reliever facility to take the private ]et traffic away from
Love Field and DFW.
Council Member Trent stated that cities the size of Denton
without an airport were trying to get an airport. The right
ingredients developed at the Airport would be a boom to the
economy.
2. The Council received presentations and discussed the
Hotel/Motel Tax recipients budgets by the Denton Historical
Commission, Museum and Foundation, Greater Denton Arts Council
and the North Texas Fair Association.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the course of events
would be to hear the budget discussions and Dresentations and
later formally approve those budgets.
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July 23, 1991
Page 3
217
Robert Edge, Vice-Chair/Denton County Historical Museum, stated
that the museum was located in the Courthouse on the Square.
The major portion of the Museum's funding came from the County
(57%) with in-kind provisions for occupancy of the building,
utilities, maintenance and custodial, staff and benefits,
printing and postage, professional training and office
equipment and supplies. Other funding came from grants (13%),
state occupancy tax (24%), gift shop and user fees (5%) and
donations (1%). Most expenditures were for personnel with
other expenditures for the insurance of the collection and
insurance for the Board of Trustees and operating personnel,
exhibit cases, environmental controls and contingency funds.
Some items in the budget would be worked into a grant to help
with the costs. Next year the Museum would need $45,486 from
the Lalor funds.
Leon D. Callihan, Sr. presented the Historical Foundation
budget. He stated that the Foundation was set up as the Denton
County Historical Commission could not accept money from a
group as it was an extension of the county government. If it
did accept money, the money would have to go into the County
General Fund and would not necessarily be used for the Museum.
General office operations were funded by the County
government. A portion of the Lalor funds were used, at times,
for the Museum. A detailed listing of expenditures was
included in the agenda packet.
The budget for the Greater Denton Arts Council was presented by
Herbert Holl. Holl first presented a summary of programs and
services which was included in the agenda packet. Financial
highlights included grant money from such corporations as Union
Pacific, Jostens, Target and Mervyns. The Arts Council was
$4,800 in the black from the previous budget. The operational
budget for the Arts Council was a cash basis and gross figures
were used, not net figures. $15,000 was paid out last year for
grants to art organizations with $20,000 proposed for next
year. The Denton Benefit League provided the Arts Council with
grants for replacement of chairs and tables. The end of the
year bank balance was $50,000 of which $17,000 was committed to
grant payments, $5,000 for tables and chairs. A detailed
presentation of the budget was presented in the agenda packet.
Bob Powers presented the North Texas Fair Association budget.
He reviewed the events which would be happening at the upcoming
North Texas Fair. Total revenue for the year was $259,220 of
which $181,000 was from the Fair. The Lalor funds included
$56,000 with $22,000 of rentals. Total expenditures was
$245,575 of which $155,622 was for the Fair. The pro~ected
budget for the Lalor funds was $56,000 which was broken down
into salary, printing, advertising, travel, postage, and office
supplies.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
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Page 4
3. The Council received a briefing and held a discussion
regarding House Redistricting.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the item was on the
agenda to continue Council dialog about this subject. Under
Council direction, staff made an attempt to encourage the
Governor to veto the legislative redistricting plan which would
place Denton in three different districts. The Governor did
not veto the legislation and there was a hope that the
Secretary of Commerce would adjust the census figures which
would have allowed the Legislature to take another look at the
redistricting plan. The Secretary of Commerce decided not to
adjust the figures. With that action, all legislative remedies
had been exhausted with judicial remedies a possibility.
Debra Drayovitch, City Attorney, stated that the first lawsuit
contesting the House redistricting had been filed by the
Republican Party of Texas. Since then, there had been a number
of minority organizations that had filed suit also. She
questioned if there was interest from Council to pursue
litigation concerning the redistricting.
Consensus was to keep the item on future agendas to keep the
facts current on this issue.
4. The Council received a report and held a discussion
regarding a proposed lease agreement between Greater Denton
Arts Council and Denton Community Theater for the Campus
Theater.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that in October 1990 the
City and the Greater Denton Arts Council signed an agreement
regarding the Campus Theater. One of the provisions of the
lease was that there would be some kind of management
arrangement so that the day-to-day operation would come under
the Community Theater organization. The City needed to approve
the management agreement. The City staff had not been involved
with the negotiations with the contract and had been furnished
a copy of the agreement in the last few days.
Herbert Holl, Greater Denton Arts Council, stated that one of
the goals of the negotiations was to assure that all of the
responsibilities taken on with the City.s agreement were met.
Another goal was to determine a fair way to balance the fact
that the Community Theater would assume the major
responsibility of the expenses of the building. The length of
the agreement with the Community Theater coincides with the
length of the agreement with the City.
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July 23, 1991
Page 5
219
Consensus of the Council was to have the City Attorney review
the agreement before placing for Council approval.
5. The Council received a report and held a
regarding the results of the Public Technology Inc.
Station Location Study.
discussion
(PTI) Fire
City Manager Harrell stated that one of the major items in the
proposed budget was the various options for staffing Fire
Station 6 and what the annual costs would be for the various
options. One of the major factors to also be considered was
the possibility of making adjustments to the fire station
locations. Because of that, staff felt it might be helpful to
review the history of the City's fire location planning efforts.
John Cook, Fire Chief, stated that prior to his appointment as
Fire Chief, the City purchased computer software from Public
Technology, Inc. to assist in fire station location planning.
The construction of Station Five and the new Station Six were
the results of a study made of the City using the PTI
software. For the purpose of the study, 150 Fire Demand Zones
were identified. Then, various scenarios were examined to
determine which areas of the City needed an additional fire
station. The criteria used was a five minute initial response
time based upon the State Board of Insurance Key Rate
requirements. Five minutes was also a critical factor for EMS
incidents as well. With the anticipation of the starting of
construction of Station Six, the PTI Survey was updated and
included recent changes in streets, highways, new annexations,
etc. As a result, two more demand zones were added. Results
of the update indicated that overall responses could be
improved by one zone when all six stations were opened. This
was a direct result of recently completed street and highway
work. Regardless of which of the four new scenarios was
examined, there was a net improvement over current conditions.
The various scenarios considered included having all six
stations open, closing Station One and keeping the rest of the
stations open, closing Station Three and keeping the rest of
the stations open, and combining Stations One and Three and
keeping the rest of the stations open. The worst scenario was
to close Station Three and leave Station One open. Response
times would improve in all four scenarios if the Opticom System
were completely installed. A conclusion of the Survey was that
there would be almost as good fire protection in terms of the
total number of zones by operating five fire stations instead
of six. This provided some flexibility to where personnel
would be placed and would eliminate some overlap of services.
City Manager Harrell stated that the only reason that staff was
looking at the possibility of operating with five stations as
opposed to six, was the cost of the yearly
operation/maintenance costs associated with keeping a station
running. If Council felt comfortable with a program of five
stations, yearly operation and maintenance costs would be
reduced by $100,000 - 2000,000.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 23, 1991
Page 6
Council Member Smith asked if the area around Station Three was
large enough to house the administrative branch of the Fire
Department if Station One were closed.
Cook replied that a space study was in the process of
determining that issue. His first impressions was that it
probably was not large enough but other alternatives might be
available.
Council Member Perry asked that if Station One were closed,
would emergency services and adequate manpower be maintained.
Cook replied yes that if there were a fixed amount of
resources, it was easier to spread them over five stations than
over six stations. There was no way, given the current work
force he had, that six stations could be operated and deliver
the same level of quality service that he could do with five
stations.
City Manager Harrell stated that staff could develop further
the option of keeping Station Three open and operate with five
stations to add with the other options to consider during the
budget process.
Mayor Castleberry also suggested the possibility of closing
Stations One and Three and opening a new station.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the development of
the options.
Council Member Trent asked that the Opticom System be looked at
during the budget process.
6. The Council received a report and held a discussion
regarding the abatement of dilapidated structures.
Jesus Nava, Assistant to the City Manager, stated that in
addition to the priority Council had given the issue, the
neighborhood organizations in southeast and west Denton had
made it a priority for their neighborhoods. Since 1985, there
had been 85 structures demolished through the CDBG Program at a
cost of $89,000. That was basically the only source of money
available to pay for demolition. Ninety £our demolitions were
done by private owners since 1986. The Municipal Judge had
asked that before entering properties, the Code Enforcement
Officers and the Building Inspectors secure an Inspection
Warrant which would provide the legal ability to enter the
property and inspect it.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 23, 1991
Page 7
221
Catherine Tuck, Administrative Assistant, stated that the Code
outlined the steps to abate substandard structures. It was not
proposed to change the Code but rather develop strategies to
enhance the system. Tuc~ reviewed the provisions for a
substandard building and the procedures involved in the Code.
The agenda packet contained detailed information concerning
that information. Proposed procedures included conducting a
comprehensive inventory of dilapidated structures, priorities,
consent forms and search warrants, notice and order letters and
public hearings.
Nava presented the Council with slides of structures in the
City which were considered substandard.
7. The Council received a report and held a discussion
regarding joint ownership contract issues between the City of
Denton and the Upper Trinity Regional Water District relating
to the Ray Roberts Water Treatment Plant.
Bob Nelson, Executive Director for Utilities, stated that the
main issue was to reaffirm Council's directive to enter a joint
ownership contract with the Upper Trinity Regional Water
District. He stated that during the early and mid 1980's,
several surrounding cities began requesting water service. The
Council then took the position that Denton should not be in the
wholesale water business. Due to pressing needs, Denton
entered into a contract with the Lake Cities Municipal
Utilities Authority and the City of Hickory Creek. At that
point, Council recognized that it did not want to be in the
wholesale water business. The position was that the City would
sell water on an interim basis but that as soon as the City
built its next water plant, those cities would have to become
partners in a future Denton water plant. Denton assisted, and
often was the driving force, in the creation of the UTRWD for
the purpose of helping the cities in the region get raw water
and to become part owners in Denton's Ray Roberts Water Plant.
The concept of the joint ownership contract was good, but it
did require Denton to give up some control over it's water
production facilities. Denton and the UTRWD were now
finalizing the Joint Ownership negotiations. There were two
other contracts other than the Joint Ownership contract which
were the treated water contract and the water transportation
contract. Legal action taken to date was to have the contract
reviewed by the City Attorney and the Bond Counsel. The Bond
Counsel advised that there was no problem with the bonds
provided the contract was drafted properly, that there always
were risks associated with Joint Ownership and that they
recommended the City hire a Water Specialist Attorney. The
contract was currently under review by Robin Lloyd, a water
specialist attorney in Austin who advised that such joint
ownerships could be a risk and advised that the legal fees
might exceed the $9,500 of the present contract amount. Staff
was requesting Council's affirmation of the joint ownership
concept prior to the more extensive legal work' that might be
required.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 23, 1991
Page 8
The main issues regarding the Regional Water District included
that water was essential for economic growth of the region and
also for Denton, a coordinated development could save money,
and the economies of scale were possible in a coordinated/joint
development. Basic options available were to sell wholesale
water to the UTRWD, joint ownership with the UTRWD or do
neither and Denton would serve only itself plus its present
commitments to Cornith and Lake Cities Municipal Utilities
Authority. Advantages of selling wholesale were that Denton
would retain control of the water plant, it gained economies of
scale, and would provide water for the region. Disadvantages
would be that Denton would most likely be subject to rate
reviews by the Texas Water Commission, Denton,s retail
customers would have to subsidize the District unless the
Council agreed not to charge the 6% return on investment on the
wholesale customer,s part of the plant. Under joint ownership,
there was no 6% fee. Nelson continued with advantages of joint
ownership as opposed to wholesale sales. Denton would not have
to pay for plant capacity for other cities, Denton would keep
its existing low cost plant for its own retail customers,
Denton would recapture 1.2 million gallons of capacity now
committed to Cornith and .5 million gallons committed to Lake
Cities Municipal Utilities Authority, the District would be
able to qualify for an additional $6.5 million in water
development bond funds to be used for pipelines and would gain
economies of scale. Disadvantages included loss of some
control, risk of losing controlling interest in the future, may
be required to build future expansion before Denton needed any
additional capacity, and future sales of excess water treatment
plant capacity might not be able to recover 6% return on
investment. Advantages of doing nothing included the fact that
it was the least risk for Denton, Denton would retain full
control of its water system and avoided possible partnership
lawsuits and Water Commission rate cases. Disadvantages of
doing nothing included regional cities/water supply corps might
not be able to obtain a surface water supply, Denton had led
regional cities to believe Denton would share its water plant,
Denton would have to redesign its water plant form 10 MGD to 6
MGD which was perhaps a $200,000 engineering cost. Nelson
presented a comparative cost of the three options including a
savings per year and a savings percentage. Detailed
information was included in the agenda backup materials.
City Manager Harrell stated that staff needed Council to
determine if Denton would maintain its commitment to a joint
ownership option. The Public Utilities Board felt it was still
the best way to go but before more money was spent in preparing
the contract, it was necessary to know the direction the
Council wanted to go. If Council decided it was the righ:
direction to proceed, it was necessary to make sure that the
joint ownership contract was in the City's best interest and
protected Denton.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
July 23, 1991
Page 9
223
Council continued with a lengthy discussion regarding the pros
and cons of joint ownership, the changes in philosophy of the
Upper Trinity Regional Water District, the moving of customers
to the UTRWD from Denton, the philosophy of the 6% fee and the
issue of "interim" water supply versus a "firm" water supply.
Mike Blewett, Cornith City Council, stated that the Cornith
City Council was divided on the UTRWD and the demand rate. He
felt it was necessary for plan for water 50 years in advance.
He personally would vote for the joint ownership contract.
Consensus of the Council was to place this issue on another
work session to study the issue in further detail.
8. The Council was to have received a report and hold a
discussion regarding the state budget as it affected higher
education.
Mayor Castleberry stated that he had polled the Council and
that this item was to be moved to another agenda.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m.
JE~FER ~'~LT~RS
CI~ SECR~FARY
CITY OF DENTON. TEXAS
3426C