Minutes October 22, 1991407
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
OCTOBER 22, 1991
The Council convened into the Work Session at 5:15 p.m. in the
Civil Defense Room.
PRESENT: Mayor Castleberry; Council Members Alexander, Chew,
Perry, Smith and Trent.
ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem Hopkins
1. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding
Council district boundary adjustment options.
Harry Persuad, Senior Planner, stated that originally three
alternative plans for adjusting voting district boundaries had been
prepared in accordance with the criteria adopted by City Council on
October 1, 1991. Recently two additional plans had been developed
based on concerns expressed by the University of North Texas
Student Association. In drawing up alternative plans, every effort
had been made to enhance the voting strength of the black and
hispanic population and at the same time minimize county precinct
splits. District One and District Two were over the acceptable
population and District Three was under population. Persuad
detailed the block moves necessary in each option for each district
in order to equalize the population numbers. Option A had the
least amount of change and had five split county precincts. Option
B tried to keep city district lines consistent with county precinct
lines. There were only two split precincts in Option B. option C
had many changes in the districts and had two split precincts.
Option D and E addressed student concerns.
Council discussed each option and the effects of the changes on the
minority population and student population.
Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that there would be a public
hearing the first meeting in November regarding the options.
Following that, Council would need to decide a tentative preference
for an option so that an ordinance could be written and considered
at the second meeting in November.
2. The Council received a report and held a discussion on
preliminary recommendations for the 1991/92 Employee Health
Insurance Program.
Tom Klinck, Director of Personnel, presented overheads on the
City's claim history, the rate increase history and city funding
history. The City had contracted with Coopers & Lybrand to
negotiate with Sanus/New York Life for a 1991-92 renewal and to
develop/analyze alternatives options to meet the City's long range
goal~. During th~ budget preparation, Sanu~ indicated that the
renewal rate for the next year would be in the area of a 23% rate
increase. In addition, the Employee Insurance Committee had
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Page 2
indicated as well as employees in general, a dissatisfaction with
the doctors available on the Sanus program as well as other kinds
of service issues. Alternatives included bidding the health
insurance program out for a fully insured program and to explore
direct negotiations and relationships with the local providers.
Dave Palatiere, Coopers & Lybrand, stated that there were three
tasks Coopers & Lybrand had to accomplish for the City of Denton.
There were to (1) locate a traditionally fully insured program, (2)
negotiate the Sanus rerate and (3) develop a local managed care
arrangement which would be fully insured. From a financial
perspective, the City was already ahead in that through the
renegotiations with Sanus, the proposed 23% rate increase had been
dropped down to 8% and 2% based on the most recent information. He
had received additional information this morning which adjusted the
figures downward even more. The alternative program being proposed
was also at or below the City's budget for the health plan. The
Sanus program included a SanusHMO with approximately 240 employees
enrolled in a program in which they had to use specific doctors and
hospitals. The Sanus Plus program with higher premiums and a
different plan design allowed employees to either use the network
providers or any provider they wished. Problems as seen by the
Employees Insurance Committee were the stability of the doctors,
waiting lines for appointments, lack of physicians on the HMO side,
waiting time for specialist referrals. All of those created
problems in the delivery of health care for the City. The
alternative program consisted of local providers including both
local hospitals and the two local physician organizations, and
local pharmacies as appropriate. Tertiary care facilities had been
negotiated as a by-product of negotiations with the local
physicians. A competitive plan design had been developed and
negotiations had taken place with insurance carriers to underwrite
the plan for a fully insured plan. One carrier had been identified
which agreed to take the contract that had been developed locally
and underwrite the health plan using those contracts.
Council Member Perry stated that in the list of providers, mental
health providers were not listed. How would they be addressed.
Palatlere replied that any provider not associated with the two
major physician groups would be able to be a provider as long as
they accepted the same reimbursement level. In regards to
mental/nervous/alcohol providers, as long as they were state
licensed and agreed to the reimbursement levels, they would be
included as a provider.
Council Member Perry stated that somewhere in the final plans,
there would be a procedure whereby mental health professionals
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would be contacted and have an opportunity to become a provider as
long as they were willing to abide by the rules of the system. The
main criteria would be state credentials.
Palatiere replied yes. He continued that letters of interest were
invited from companies for the City's health insurance program,
under the fully-insured, traditional health insurance plan or a
fully-insured, managed care program. Bids for a fully-insured,
traditional program were sent to nine companies that expressed
interest in reviewing the City's request. This bid was published
in the Denton Record-Chronicle. None of the nine companies that
expressed an interest, submitted a bid for a traditional fully-
insured plan. Sanus/New York Life submitted a bid for a new
program with costs higher than their renewal for the current HMO
Only/Sanus Plus program. It was recommended that that bid be
rejected. Three companies (Cigna, Travelers, and Philadelphia
American) expressed an interest in a fully-insured, managed care
arrangement, using the City's direct contracts with medical
providers. Discussions with the Denton Independent Physicians
Association, North Texas Medical/Surgeons Association, Denton
Regional Medical Center and Denton Community Hospital provided
quotes for medical services that were substantially discounted
below current health insurance program costs. Those providers
expressed concern regarding the release of this confidential
contractual information to Cigna and Travelers. These local
medical providers had already existing contracts with Cigna and
Travelers and any release of City negotiated contracts for medical
services could potentially jeopardize the medical providers
arrangements with Cigna and Travelers. This represented a conflict
of interest. It was determined that it would be to the advantage
of the City to negotiate directly with Philadelphia American to
underwrite a proposed health insurance program for two reasons.
First, Philadelphia American did not have any conflicts of interest
with local medical providers that could have an adverse impact on
its ability to provide the City with a cost effective, fully-
insured managed care program. Second, this company's preliminary
costs met the City's cost objectives, without limiting employees'
access to local providers. The Employee Insurance Committee rated
the two health plan alternatives based on degree of stability,
availability of providers, quality of service, affordability/cost,
and plan design. From a degree of stability, they rated Sanus low
given historically it was proven to be unstable due to the lack of
sufficient providers and provider continuity. There was also a
concern about continued instability and continuity of physicians.
The Committee rated the degree of stability of the Philadelphia
American plan as high as the plan included physicians from Denton
Independent Physicians Association and North Texas Medical/Surgical
and both local hospitals. Sanus was rated low in the area of
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availability of providers due to the lack of sufficient physicians
offered through the HMO plan, the gatekeeper requirement and the
limitation of one pharmacy. The Philadelphia American plan was
rated high in the area of availability of providers as the plan
included physicians from both local provider groups and both local
hospitals. There would be no gatekeeper requirement and would be
open to any pharmacist agreeing to be part of the network. In
regards to the quality of service, Sanus was questionable as the
Employee Insurance Committee felt there were significant quality
issues such as waiting time and physician referral. The
Philadelphia American plan was felt to have a high degree of
quality of service due to increased physician representation and
availability issues. Both plans were rated as high in the area of
affordability/cost. The proposed Sanus rates were a 2% HMO
increase and an 8% Sanus Plus increase with a second year rate
guarantee of 14%. The Philadelphia American rates approximated the
Sanus composite. There was a three year rate guarantee from the
local hospitals of 8% per year and 6% for the local physicians.
Plan design for both plans were rated as high. The Employee
Insurance Committee recommendation was to terminate the Sanus
program and implement the Philadelphia American program with a
single plan.
council Member Perry stated that the expansion to a much larger
body of physicians being available to the employees was one of the
chief advantages of the new plan. He indicated that he would not
put his name on the provider list as long as he was on the Council.
He felt that the increased provider list would strengthen the plan.
Palatiere reviewed the rate design comparisons and the proposed
rate schedules which were included in the agenda back-up materials.
Council Member Trent felt that if the gatekeeper requirement were
lost, there might be an escalation in rates.
Palatiere replied that there would not be a gatekeeper requirement
but that there would be utilization review. The Employee Insurance
Committee was concerned with the referral process as some doctors
would not refer an employee to a specialist.
Tom Klinck, Director of Personnel, stated that Sanus had made a
strong effort to attempt to get additional specialists and doctors
and keep the levels as best they could. One of the problems was
that even if an employee could get a referral, sometimes, they had
to drive to Dallas/Fort Worth for the specialist which impacted the
City's sick leave program and the time the employee was away from
work. The proposed plan had a large number of local specialists
available for the employee.
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Council Member Trent asked how the gatekeeper function worked.
Klinck replied that the employee had to first go to the primary
care physician and receive a referral from that doctor for a
specialist. Under the proposed program the employee could go
directly to the specialist.
Council Member Perry asked about the cap on rates.
Palatiere replied from a utilization standpoint, the costs would go
up either on a unit basis or by higher utilization. The gatekeeper
slowed down the utilization of resources. The proposed plan was to
keep that same effect without the barrier of the primary physician
referral. The only way to do that was to make sure the physicians
were abiding by the correct criteria.
Klinck reviewed the budget/cost alternatives. The 1991-92 budget
allocated $1,814,951 for insurance costs. The Sanus program, under
the current design, would cost $1,814,951 with some savings from
turnover or a position which would be vacant for a period of time.
The Philadelphia American alternative rates would cost $1,735,841
with a savings of $79,110. It was recommended that the Sanus
contract be extended for 30 days to make a smooth transition to the
new program at a cost of $12,000 and extend the Coopers & Lybrand
contract to assist the City through the transition period. That
extension would cost $10,000. It was felt that the Philadelphia
American proposed plan provided significant service improvements
with expanded doctors and expanded hospitals and direct access to
specialists with lower costs. Staff's recommendation was to
prepare the necessary ordinances for Council consideration on
November 5 to extend the Sanus contract for 30 days, and transition
to the new Philadelphia American contract to be effective January
1, 1992. Open enrollment would begin November through December.
Council Member Chew asked for the rating of PhiladelphiaAmerican.
Klinck replied it was rated as an "A" company.
Council Member Trent stated that it looked from a cost savings
standpoint that Philadelphia American was more desirable. He
wondered if Council should hear from Sanus regarding anything they
had not heard in the presentation.
Louie Heerwagen, Sanus, stated that the program, as it was laid
out, looked good. It should be remembered that the numbers were
Dreliminary and not final from Philadelphia American and could
possibly change. He felt Sanus, over time, had saved the City
money as the claims had gone down. The rate increase was first
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Page 6
projected to be 23% but as the claims changed, the rates moved.
Yesterday, the figures were updated to a 0% increase for HMO and an
8% increase for Sanus Plus with a 12% second year cap. He felt
that plan brought assured financial stability for the next year.
He felt Coopers & Lybrand had done a good job in capping the
hospital costs and physician costs but that was only part of the
total puzzle. That was not capping the premium costs. There was
no question that there had been problems with the physicians.
Yesterday an alternate to the program had been proposed in order to
make more providers available. One was that the current benefit
for the Sanus Plus plan was to go to any doctor not in the network
and would cost a $400 deductible and $5000 out of pocket. In the
proposed change, there would be a $250 deductible and $1500 out of
pocket. A second alternative dealt with the primary care
physicians. Sanus would add any primary care physician for the $15
copay arrangement which existed in the proposed plan with
Philadelphia American. That would generate a separate list of
providers and an employee who went to one of those physicians would
pay only $15 in addition to the HMO doctors.
Council Member Trent asked if the Council would be receiving
another comparison of the two plans with the updated Sanus
information.
City Attorney Drayovitch stated that the bids were due October 28,
1991.
A representative of Philadelphia American stated that the proposed
rates probably would not change.
Consensus of the Council was to provide a further analysis of the
alternatives and to prepare the proper documents for the extension
of the Sanus contract, the extension of the Coopers & Lybrand
contract and the new Philadelphia American contract.
3. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding
private property accidents.
Mike Jez, Chief of Police, stated that since the inception of the
Community Oriented Policing program, the patrol officers were asked
to assume a myriad of new duties, among them increase foot patrols
and bicycle patrols. He was suggesting that the Department change
its existing policy regarding the investigation of motor-vehicle
accidents which occur on private property. Even though the law did
not require peace officers to investigate such accidents, they
currently investigated approximately 600 such accidents each year.
He felt that the man hours used for this purpose could be more
effectively used elsewhere. Investigations would still be required
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Page 7
when the private property accident was a hit and run, involved
bodily injury, involved DWI or resulted in an assault. Police
officers would still be dispatched to the scene during the
transition period to provide blue forms and instruct the vehicle
operators on how to exchange information.
Council Member Smith asked how people involved in an accident after
the transition period, would know what to do.
City Manager Harrell stated that police officers would continue to
be sent to an accident with the blue forms and information on how
to proceed until staff returned to Council with the issue. There
may be some point in the future where workload might cause staff to
reexamine even that procedure. The procedure then would be to tell
the individual over the phone that the police department no longer
responded in person to that kind of an accident and to go the
Police Department to receive the blue forms.
Jez stated that many cities responded in that manner and did not
come to the scene of a private property accident. It was felt from
a service standpoint, that it was better for an officer to respond
to the scene and assist the motorists.
Council Member Chew stated that from an insurance agent's
perspective, it was better to have the officers investigate the
accident but if that was not the policy, then the officer should
not respond at all. It would be best to have the motorist go to
the Police Department and pick up the blue form. If an officer
were to respond to the scene, then the agents might try to get an
accident report and no report would be available which might be
more confusing.
City Manager Harrell replied that it was staff's concern that it
would be much better received from the public, if an officer
respond to the scene of a private property accident with the blue
forms as opposed to no longer even going to the scene.
Council discussed the pros and cons of the procedure as opposed to
not responding to private property accidents. Consensus was to
proceed with the proposal to send an officer to private property
accidents with the proper forms and information for the motorists
but not to investigate the accident. It was suggested that letters
be sent to the insurance agents to inform them of the change and
perhaps request an article in the newspaper regarding the change.
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Page 8
4. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding
amending the sign ordinance.
Frank Robbins, Executive Director for Planning, stated that the
Planning and Zoning Commission was considering an ordinance
amending the sign ordinance adding a temporary use permit provision
and amend the variance criteria. The temporary use permit would
allow a legally non-conforming ground sign to be altered so long as
the sign became no more non-conforming. The Planning and Zoning
Commission would consider the duration of the temporary use permit
and/or establishing a future date for which a temporary use permit
could not be issued. A bond or escrow equal to the cost of removal
would be posted with the temporary use permit, guaranteeing
removal. The permit would be reviewed annually. The new variance
criteria combined and clarified existing criteria and would provide
a measure of increased discretion for the Sign Board of Appeals.
Robbins presented a slide presentation from Lubbock detailing the
effects of their sign ordinance.
City Manager Harrell pointed out that there were 37 new conforming
signs permitted to replace non-conforming signs during the first
nine months of 1991.
Council Member Smith asked there would be a fee for the temporary
use permit.
Robbins replied that there would be a $35 annual fee. The permit
would be issued to the landowner and could not be issued for an
illegal or abandoned sign.
Council Member Alexander stated that in four year, the same amount
of accomplishment would have been made. Four years was not
unreasonable for phasing in the process. Looking back, he voted
for the amendment to the sign ordinance as was it was a reasonable
compromise and he wanted to bring closure to the issue. If lines
were not drawn and adhered to, there would be continued attempts to
modify the sign ordinance. The ones who would be hurt by that
process would be the ones who complied with the ordinance to begin
with.
City Manager Harrell stated that even with a four year time period
for the temporary use permit, when the time came, there would still
be complaints regarding a sign ordinance. A community standard was
needed and that standard needed to be adhered to.
council Member Alexander ~tated that he understood that there were
groups who wanted the sign ordinance changed. He also understood
that there were large numbers of individuals who wanted the sign
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 22, 1991 .: ,
Page 9
ordinance to remain in place and if there were too many more
modifications to the ordinance to weaken it, there would be a great
deal of support to demand the ordinance be tightened. A sign
ordinance was needed that the Council could be comfortable with and
not encourage individuals to get it modified.
Council Member Perry pointed out that the City was spending dollars
for beautification and to move utilities underground in an effort
to improve the appearance of the City. At the same time,
continually modifying the sign ordinance would nullify those
objectives and gains.
Mayor Castleberry stated that most cities had a transition period
on the face change of signs and felt that the original sign
ordinance might have been too hard.
Council Member Chew felt that there should be a transition period
but that sooner or later the standard would be needed. The longer
the ordinance was changed, the longer the City would not be moving
toward the goal of beautification.
City Attorney Drayovitch stated that the Dallas and Lubbock
ordinances allowed for an amortization for existing businesses.
Any changes of ownership or face changes, required compliance with
the ordinance. Those ordinances were stricter than Denton's.
Council Member Trent asked what the City was doing to inform the
businesses of the sign ordinance - what was happening with the sign
ordinance and where it was going. He felt there was a need to
inform the businesses.
Council Member Perry was concerned with the number of individuals
who had complied with the current ordinance. Now there was a
suggestion to allow other additional time for compliance and that
was not fairly applying the ordinance.
Robbins stated that a bond or escrow equal to the cost of removal
would be posted with the temporary use permit. The permit would be
reviewed annually.
Council Member Trent expressed concern over the cost of the bond or
having to escrow the money with regards to small business people.
Robbins replied that the cost of the bond would probably be under
$100. A transfer fee of $5 would be charged if the temporary use
permit were transferred to a new owner. New varian~ oriteria
combined and clarified existing criteria and would provide a
measure of increased discretion for the Sign Board of Appeals.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
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Page 10
5. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding
the City's current travel policy.
City Manager Harrell stated this item was presented at the request
of the Council during the last budget session. He stated that
there was a three point check on expense reports - one from the
supervisor involved, the Finance Department and the independent
City auditor.
Mayor Castleberry felt it was good to look at various City
policies.
Council Member Perry felt that it was a good policy and adequate
for the City's needs.
Council Member Trent asked if there was a policy regarding writing
trip reports. He felt there should be a means of sharing
information learned at conferences with other staff members.
City Manager Harrell replied that there was no formal
organizational policy requiring such a report. That function was
handled on the department level and different departments had
different procedures they utilized to share information.
Council Member Trent asked when was the last time a trip report was
passed out for individuals to share. He had never seen one. He
felt it might be beneficial for others in the organization to read
trip reports from various departments to further their knowledge in
various areas.
City Manger Harrell replied that one of the problems with that type
of report would be that people would be spending their time
preparing the reports and that might not be the most productive use
of their time. Currently that was left to the discretion of
department directors.
Mayor Castleberry questioned the need for receipts for taxi rides.
John McGrane, Executive Director for Finance, replied that it was
at the discretion of the department directors.
Mayor Castleberry felt that perhaps an additional sentence needed
to be added which required receipts.
Council felt that requiring a receipt would not help tighten the
~yst~m as there were many ways around such a requirement.
Mayor Castleberry asked how the mileage was reimbursed.
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Page 11
McGrane replied it was figured according to IRS regulations.
Mayor Castleberry asked if a receipt was required for parking
expenses.
City Manager Harrell replied yes.
Mayor Castleberry questioned the phone call allowance. How long of
a personal call was permitted each night for the individual.
McGrane replied that it was at the discretion of the department
head.
City Manager Harrell stated that some of these items were the
responsibility of the Manager. If the Manager was not managing
properly, then he needed to be released. He expected his
department directors to sign off on the travel report and to make
those types of questions and determinations.
6. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding
the zoning ordinance rewrite.
Frank Robbins, Executive Director for Planning, stated that the
zoning ordinance needed to be rewritten for several reasons. Nine
zoning districts had not been used for over 10 years, there was an
over use of the planned development district, there was a need for
a more user friendly document, there was an incompatible
development of the table of permitted uses which was out of date,
there were no standards for "edge" of different uses in the master
plan and there had been piecemeal amendments made. Robbins
reviewed the current zoning ordinance structure which was included
in the agenda back-up materials. He felt that the most important
aspect of the structure and approach to public land use decision
was the importance of the single mixed use district (MXD) and the
standards which would apply within that district. Most new non-
residential and probably a good deal of new residential zoning
would be to MXD. This would put the standards of the ordinance,
rather than the process of rezoning, as the focus of land use
decision making. The MXD would allow all uses with standards for
each use, would have residential adjacency standards, and
bufferyard requirements. A bufferyard was an area of plantings
surrounding a land use which screened or blocked vision, noise,
pollutants, or other negative by-products associated with that use.
In the case of very intense uses abutting considerably less intense
ones, structural components such as fences or berms might be
required of a bufferyard. Robbins showed slides of natural
bufferyards in the City.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
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Page 12
Council discussed the concept of bufferyards. Questions raised
regarding bufferyards included what would happen if the plants were
trimmed or removed, who w~uld enforce compliance, would smaller
plants which would grow to the recommended size be permitted, the
cost of planting the bufferyard and the fact that some property
distances would not allow some bufferyards.
Robbins continued with a comparisOn of the MXD with the current
system. Traditional straight zoning had a standard of uses for
zoning. If a use was not on the list of uses, a rezoning was
required before a building permit could be issued. With the
planned development, a site plan was required with standards and a
list of uses for zoning. If the zoning was not listed on the site
plan or was not the requested used, rezoning would be necessary
before a building permit could be issued. The mixed used district
would have standards, bufferyards, adjacency and a site plan to
trigger the zoning and subsequent building permit. The MXD would
have a shorter time period to receive a building permit and could
be viewed as an economic development tool as the process was
faster, easier and cheaper. The proposed zoning standard used
bufferyards, residential adjacency standards, site plan triggers
and adopted site plan standards. The Planning and Zoning
Commission was currently working with the Zoning Task Force on the
proposed standards.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
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