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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 215 216 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. City of Denton City Council Minutes 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. 218 City of Denton City Council Minutes July 23, 1991 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. City of Denton City Counuzl Minutes 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. 220 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. 222 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