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
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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.
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May 10, 1994
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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.
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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