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Minutes May 10, 1994194 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MAY 10, 1994 The Council convened into a Special Call Session on Tuesday, May 10, 1994 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. PRESENT: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Smith; Council Members Brock, Cott, Perry, and Miller. ABSENT: Council Member Chew 1. The Council considered adoption of an ordinance canvassing the returns and declaring the results of the regular municipal election held in the City of Denton on May 7, 1994. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-087 AN ORDINANCE CANVASSING THE RETURNS AND DECLARING THE RESULTS OF THE REGULAR MUNICIPAL ELECTION HELD IN THE CITY OF DENTON ON MAY 7, 1994. Perry motioned, Smith seconded to adopt the ordinance. On roll vote, Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Miller "aye", Smith "aye", Perry "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". MotiOn carried unanimously. 2. Oath of Office administered to newly elected Council Members. Jennifer Walters, City Secretary, administered the oath of office to Jack Miller - Place 5; Euline Brock - Place 6; and Bob Castleberry - Mayor. 3. Election of a Mayor Pro Tempore. Council Member Cott nominated Council Member Brock for Mayor Pro Tempore. On roll vote, Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Miller "aye", Smith "aye", Perry "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 4. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction 'regarding a grant application for a public access system. Gary Collins, Director of Information Services, stated that there had been interest from citizens in the community to obtain information via computer on City issues. Staff had held a number of meetings with the University of North Texas regarding a public access system. The proposal included two stages of implementation. The first stage would include a very limited demonstration test project to be run on UNT's equipment. This test project would be limited to City Council agendas and minutes, Public Utilities Board City of Denton city Council Minutes May 10, 1994 Page 2 agendas and minutes and Planning and Zoning Commission agendas and minutes. It was anticipated that the test project would start in early June of this year if given approval by the Council. The costs associated with this test project were minimal and were confined to the costs associated with staff members taking formatted disks to UNT or purchasing a few modems to connect selected city offices to the "gopher" server at UNT. The second stage dealt with the application for a federal grant from the Department of Commerce. This grant would allow the City to initiate a project that would provide citizens with access to much information regarding the city, both local universitates, all three libraries as well as access to the world-wide Internet system. The grant application was due in two days and if awarded, staff would return to Council with the details of the program including the in-kind services which would have to be provided by the City. It was anticipated that the cost of this project would be approximately $300-400,000 with half of the funding coming from the Department of Commerce grant. The other half of the funding would come from both the City of Denton and UNT in cash and in-kind services. TWU and UNT would provide consulting and classes on how to use the system. Public access computers would be placed in City Hall, the Library, and recreation centers. The system could also be accessed with an at-home computer if correctly equipped. Staff was requesting permission to file the grant application. If awarded the grant, staff would determine the feasibility and viability of the project and only if all things were favorable and acceptable to the Council would the grant be accepted. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that under normal procedures, staff would bring a well researched proposal for Council consideration. This was an unusual case in that staff was seeking permission to file this grant application without Council se~ng all of the details regarding the grant items. Staff was under a narrow time frame to file for these grant funds. If successful, staff would return with the details of the grant and Council could then reject or accept the grant at that time. Collins stated that stage one of the proposal would help determine the viability of the project if the City were awarded the grant in September. Staff would be able to determine the amount of community usage. Council Member Cott suggested looking at franchise fees for this area. Mayor Castleberry asked if there was a large request for this type of information. City of Denton City Council Minutes May 10, 1994 Page 3 Collins replied that staff had been contacted by a citizen regarding this type of information. Staff had also made a presentation to the Chamber of Commerce which had showed some interest. An education process would have to take place regarding the usage of this type of information. The community would probably be more acceptable of this type of information due to the two universities. Mayor Castleberry asked Collins if he knew the number of individuals who had computers who would be interested in this information. Collins replied that he did not know that figure. Seventy-five percent of his staff had home computers and most of the executive staff for the City had home computers. He was not sure of the number for the general public. Council Member Miller asked if each institution would need a "gopher" server or could they share the system. Collins replied that there would be the possibility of an overload if all three institutions were on the same system. There would be too much usage for only one system. Three servers would accommodate all of the potential users. Council Member Miller suggested looking into the possibility of having only one "gopher". Paul Gandell, University of North Texas, stated that not all of the information would have to be on each machine. This was an opportunity for a cooperative venture to work together for the citizens of Denton. Council Member Perry asked how an individual would have access to the second stage of the project. Collins stated that the City would use UNT's equipment and one phone line with access to the "gopher" server for City of Denton information. The information would be limited to agendas and minutes of the City Council, Public Utilities Board and the Planning and Zoning Commission. The second stage would provide more information on the organization via modems in various locations throughout the City. There would be more than one phone line available and UNT's server would no longer be used. Council Member Perry asked if the points of information would include the Library and recreation centers for citizen use. 197 City of Denton City Council Minutes May 10, 1994 Page 4 Collins replied correct. Council Member Miller asked if the School District had been included in the project. · Collins replied not at this time due to the narrow time frame for the grant application. Council Member Miller asked if it could be expanded later to include the School District. Collins replied yes plus other organizations such as FEMA. The grant process was for three years. The City needed to be prepared to use continuation dollars if the grant were discontinued. Council Member Miller asked if the City's fiber optic system was good for the project. Collins replied yes but it was not included in the grant because of possible restrictions on the usage of the fiber optic system. Council Member Miller felt that even though the dollars and design of the project were not yet determined, he was in favor of the concept of the project on a trial basis. Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that once information about the City of Denton was on the Internet system, the information would be available world-wide. This would be a good marketing tool for Denton. Ordinances and city regulations would be available on the system which would help developers determine city regulations. city Manager Harrell stated that the information on stage one of the project would be limited as that type of information could be easily transferred to UNT to their system. It was important to limit those documents in the beginning of the project. Other information would have to be put into the system which would take major staff resources. With stage one of the project, staff would have to go to UNT with the information or place modems to make the information transfer. There would be some cost to the City for stage one of the project. Mayor Castleberry asked about staff time to input the information. Collins replied that with stage one the staff time would be minimal as the information was already in a median which would be easy to transfer or transmit. 198 city of Denton City Council Minutes May 10, 1994 Page 5 Mayor Castleberry asked if the Chamber Intergovernmental Committee had suggested bringing this proposal to Council. Collins replied he was not aware of such a request. Mayor Castleberry stated that the Chamber was not endorsing this proposal. Collins replied that no vote or approval had been given at the information meeting staff had attended. Council Member Smith stated that she saw the value of such a system and felt that the city should proceed with the two stages of the proposal. Council Member Miller stated that he appreciated the cooperative efforts of the City and UNT and supported the concept. Mayor Castleberry stated that there were good possibilities but wanted to make sure that all of the parameters were known before committing to the project. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the two stages of the project. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS BOB CASTLEBERRY, MAYOR/ CITY OF DENTON, TEXA/ ACC001D1