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Minutes December 06, 1994245 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 6, 1994 The Council convened into the Closed Meeting on Tuesday, December 6, 1994 at 5:15 p.m. in the civil Defense Room. PRESENT: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Smith, Perry, Miller, Chew and Cott. Absent: 1. None The Council considered the following in Closed Meeting: A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.071 Held a discussion regarding a response to the letter of November 10, 1994 to Lloyd V. Harrell from GTE relating ~to Article 13 of the City Charter. Held a discussion regarding legal implications that arise from implementing a random drug testing policy. B. Real Estate -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.072 Ce Personnel/Board Appointments -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.074 The Council convened into the Work Session on Tuesday, December 6, 1994 at 6:00 p.m. in the city Council Chambers. 1. Council received a report from Melvin Willis regarding the GTE franchise agreement. Mayor Castleberry mentioned that the item was worded on the agenda so that the Council could only ask questions. Melvin Willis of GTE thanked the City Council for the opportunity to address them. He said he was disappointed at the Council's vote at the previous meeting. He discussed three areas with the Council including GTE's presence in the community, existing right-of-way agreement, and the issues that related to the dispute. Willis said GTE had always tried to be a good corporate citizen in the community. They have more than 250 employees with an annual payroll of more than $10 million. Donations over the last three years had been $111,000 to various organizations along with the volunteer hours the employees spent in the community. Mr. Willis said GTE had a significant presence in Denton and felt it was a direct benefit to the city of Denton. In the past year they paid $281,280 in ad valorem taxes, $236,819 in sales tax and $132,614 municipal waterway fees for a total $650,713 to the city. The provisions of the current agreement dated back to 1949. Willis said the agreement clearly stated that the fee was based only on 246 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 2 local service revenues. From 1949 to 1983 GTE paid the City on local revenues only. The current agreement which contained virtually the same language, Willis said the City never brought to their attention that any changes were intended or that the agreement was in violation of the City Charter. Willis said as a citizen of Denton he felt the City Charter was designed to protect the citizens. He said it appeared that the City was using the charter against the citizen. Willis said the PUC allowed them to pass all right-of-way fees on to the citizen. Willis was not sure the Council wanted what they were asking GTE to do. Willis said Denton would be the only City in Texas charging right-of-way fees on long distance fees. He did not feel that would be good for economic development. Don Williams, Manager of Municipal Affairs at GTE, continued the presentation. He also thanked the Council for allowing them to present their side of the story. He addressed the basis of the dispute which included what accounts were included in the base on which they pay the City and not the excess revenue amount. The auditor suggested that excess revenues should be included but they had not explained what had changed from the 1949 language. GTE did not negotiate to include those revenues. Williams said the Council's resolution asked for the amount of access revenues but to GTE that was not the question. Providing that information to the City would not resolve the dispute. The question should be what accounts should be included in the base they pay the City. Williams said in 1984 there was a telecommunications revolution called the divestiture of the Bell Companies. Prior to 1984 toll revenues were all recorded in one pool of money. Following the divestiture the same toll revenues were divided into two accounts, access and toll revenues. There was no municipal right-of-way fee assessed on toll revenues before the divestiture. The position of GTE was that there should be none assessed afterwards. Willis said there had been no change in the way GTE used the right-of-way and no change in the way customers used the right-of-way. Divestiture and the access revenues was strictly an accounting change and GTE did not come in to some win fall revenues as a result. The $2.8 million that had been referred to represents a wind shear to the customers that they would ultimately be the ones to Day any fees assessed by the Council. Williams said GTE had not been collecting right-of-way fee on access revenues. Their objective was to collect and recover the cost strictly on the local revenues they record. He said by the PUC tariff they could only recover the fees assessed by the Council from the citizens inside the City limits of Denton. The citizens of Denton do not contribute to the fees that may have been assessed by surrounding cities or anywhere else and likewise those citizens do not contribute to the fees the citizens of Denton might be assessed. Location codes and tax districts were 247 City of Denton city Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 3 used to identify the citizens inside the city limits. GTE provided detailed information that included all of the revenues by location and tax district and account code to the Staff and the auditor based on their request. Williams said GTE looked at the total local revenues minus 2% of the revenues (not including uncollectible revenues) to determine the amount owed to the City. Williams also responded to a question of a Council Member from a previous meeting regarding why GTE's fees had not increased in comparison to the other utilities. He said there were two reasons for that. First, in 1989 GTE had a major rate reduction due to a reduction in revenues. He said one of the benefits to GTE's proposal to the City was that there would be a flat, fixed fee that would grow over the life of the agreement and protect the City from rate cases or any other activity. He said several of the revenues. had been subject to deregulation and like other businesses in the competitive environment they do not always retain the customers or revenue trends. When comparing Denton to other metroplex cities Denton had a 2% rate while some of the others had a 4% rate. He also emphasized that none of the other cities in the metroplex or any where in the state included access revenues in the base. He said it was up to the Council to achieve comparability to the other cities in the metroplex. Williams said GTE recognized that prior Councils approved a lower rate which created a favorable business environment for GTE and was one of the reasons employee levels grew in Denton as compared to some of the other GTE cities. He also recognized that the fees fluctuated due to deregulation and rate cases and again stated that was the basis for the flat rate proposal. He said the rate would stay the same regardless of deregulation and rate cases. The proposal would also include a growth factor so the City would have a good solid base for projecting future revenues. Williams said GTE was willing to negotiate a comparable fee but those fees must keep GTE competitive in the marketplace. He said they were willing to look at different fee structures and would like to have a mutual release of liability from prior right-of-way agreements, not a blanket across the board release of liability. Williams said that was about the second time in 10 years GTE had been through a review with the City and they did not want to have to come back to revisit those areas again. Another advantage to the flat fee proposal would be the elimination of audit costs since GTE would pay one fee. If GTE did not pay the amount the city would have a solid contract to say that was owed. Williams said most of the major cities in Texas adopted the flat fee agreement about a year and a half ago. He also stated that few cities in Texas opted to file suits to include access revenues. The settlement with Garland did not include access revenues. The Garland contract had expired been approximately 6 years and any settlement could have included loss of revenues during that time period. In 1988, GTE paid Denton $220,000 for what they thought 248 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 4 they thought was a settlement of right-of-way disputes they never paid to the City. Williams said there were major differences between the Garland and Denton situations. Willis stated that in the broadest of terms there would be few dollars coming to the City in comparison to Garland. He said much of the settlement with Garland provided economic incentives for the community. GTE was always willing to consider economic development opportunities with any City it served. Willis said they told the Staff several times GTE would rather spend it's limited resources on constructive projects that would benefit both the City and GTE. He encouraged the Council to pursue a more positive role in the negotiations, he said GTE wanted to partner with the City for economic growth. Council Member Miller wanted to know if access fees was in dispute with the Bell system with some cities. Williams responded that he was not completely familiar with all of the issues involved in the Bell cases. He said that his basic understanding was that cities had asked to include access revenues in the base, which Bell pays particular cities. Miller asked if it was true that the franchise fee was not based on access revenues anywhere in the state. Williams said he could not respond for Bell but within GTE that was the case. Miller wanted to know what the 2% franchise fee charge on the phone bill was based on. Secondly, he asked if that was the amount collected over the years and was in dispute. Miller also asked if all of that money collected had been given to the City. Williams said GTE includes 2% all of the revenues that bump to the local revenue accounts and that money had been given to the City. Miller asked if the City would be able to verify through audits that the City had received all the money it should be collecting. Williams said he had not seen the auditors work papers. The information GTE provided to City Manager Harrell and Acting City Attorney Bucek summarized the total revenue billed. He said he reviewed revenues on a customer by customer basis to determine the amount. Miller asked if the City was getting the records needed to verify the base on which the revenues were collected. 249 city of Denton city Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 5 Williams said the only item of the 10 or 15 requested by the auditor that GTE had failed to respond on was the access revenues. Harrell stated that was not correct. He said there were a number of items the City had not received response to. The representation from the auditing firm hired by the Council said the information in the format provided by GTE did not give them the confidence level to certify that the correct amount had been paid. The detail in which GTE had been willing to provide revenue numbers was in dispute. Mr. Williams said GTE had been forthcoming with what he summarized and represented to be the revenues obtained by GTE within the City but the auditors asked to see a detailed breakdown by account code of various revenues that came in from GTE. That information was not provided and therefore his representation to. Staff was that he could not respond affirmatively to Miller's question. Williams said he was under the impression that the information provided in the initial response lacked several pieces of information. At subsequent meetings they presented information by revenue account, location code and tax district of the revenues recorded for the period they did a detailed review. Williams said he was surprised that he had not provided what the Staff wanted other than access revenues. Acting City Attorney Bucek stated that the problem was GTE's focus on access and long distance. The audit showed a shortage in basic services and also certain miscellaneous services that the 2% would apply to. Bucek said more importantly, the problem was that the information was only provided from 1988 forward and the franchise was from 1983 forward. Williams agreed that they had not provided anything prior to 1988 because their position was that when GTE paid the $220,000 to the City in 1988 that was in settlement of the disputes that were there. GTE did not see the reasoning in rehashing that same information. Miller said he wanted to understand where the numbers came from and from where the money was generated. He asked if there was an increase in the base would that money come from the customers. Williams said the customer's bill would reflect an increase if the City chose to assess a fee on GTE. Miller asked if the information provided by GTE would allow the auditors to verify the base. Miller said he was also paying sales tax on an even larger number. He wanted to know if other cities charged a sales tax. 25O City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 6 Williams said the sales tax was an option that each Council had. The Council could rescind the exclusion which Denton did. Miller asked if it was common among cities to collect the sales tax like Denton. Williams responded that most cities did collect the sales tax but he would have to get the exact number. Miller asked Harrell if the disagreement was with the information that had been presented for auditing purposes. Harrell responded that was correct. He said on February 10, 1994, at Council's direction a request for information was sent to GTE with 14 pieces of information noted. On March 23 GTE stated their position on which of those items they would be willing to respond to and those which they would not. In subsequent negotiations they have not been able to get over that obstacle. The auditors represented that in order to do the work the Council employed them to do they needed access to the information spelled out in the correspondence of February 10. GTE took the position that some of the information was not relevant to the City. The auditors had not been able to make that determination. GTE made the determination. Secondly, as Bucek mentioned, GTE determined no records prior to 1988 would be furnished to the City despite the request by the auditor and the Manager on the Council's behalf because of the payment made in 1988 in a subsequent audit. Harrell mentioned that the audit alluded to the access and other fees but that was not the basis on which the settlement was made. The basis was on those things the company and the City agreed were underpayments by GTE. Miller asked if it was on the basis that the auditors felt the customers had paid on those and therefore the City wanted to audit to make sure the revenues had been collected and not turned over to the City. Harrell said it was his understanding that the issue to make the determination as to the payment by the customer and whether all of that information had been related to the City. Secondly, it was to determine whether GTE had included in their base for the calculation of the 2% all of the charges that rightfully should have been included. Williams responded that the information GTE said was irrelevant was primarily the access revenues. There were certain pieces of information requested that he did not have access to such as the directories, companies' financials but they needed to be contacted directly to get that information. They felt the information 251 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 7 requested prior to 1988 had already been reviewed during that time period. Council Member Cott asked if the original agreement was so firm, why was it that so many cities had the same problem. Williams said he did not know why the other cities were suing. In October of 1949 was when he found the first ordinance passed by the City Council of Denton referring to the local exchange telephone transmission service. At the same meeting the Council also set the local rates which would lend support that the agreement was only for local rates. He said for 45 years GTE operated under that scenario. Cott commented that perhaps the solution was not just in the Denton area. He suggested GTE would need to look beyond Denton. He suggested that if they settled with the City perhaps the City could help them work out it out. Williams responded that the question had been raised by several cities and hind site was 20/20 in regard to the contract. He said that was one of the reasons they were proposing the flat fee and Bell had gone with the flat fee. Council Member Smith asked if going to the flat fee in any way settled what should be covered in the fee. She thought that was part of the question before them. Williams responded that basically the Council would determine what fee they would charge GTE for the use of the right-of-way. Whatever basis the Council wanted to use to come up with that amount needed to be determined by Council. He said they would be willing to work with the Staff and Council. The fee that would ultimately be negotiated would be a set amount not subject to a percentage of this or that. Harrell commented to Williams that one of the things that was so bothersome was that the auditors did ask for information from 1983 forward. He said the reason that information was so important was to confirm GTE's position that things had really not changed after the divestiture and GTE was still paying on the same revenue base. He asked how the City was to guarantee that their statement was correct if they were not willing to make the records from 1983 available to the City. Williams responded that they did not pay a percentage of the fee on total revenues prior to 1983 and the total revenues after that time they would not pay a percentage on. 252 city of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 8 Harrell stated that the auditors asked for a number of revenue codes, one being access fees along with a host of other revenue sources from 1983 forward. It was his understanding that it was to confirm the position that GTE was paying on the same accounts as before the divestiture. Not supplying that data makes it impossible for an objective third party to come to that conclusion without simply taking GTE's word. Williams said the City did an audit of GTE and they paid. In regard to the local fees he asked why the auditor couldn't rely on the work papers from the previous auditor. He said they came up with a $220,000 settlement based on the auditor's findings. The access fees were not relevant prior to 1983 so they did not feel it was relevant then. Council Member Chew asked if the Council could expect to receive the 14 pieces of information in the future. Williams responded that there were certain pieces of information he did not have access to because it was separate from GTE. He suggested that some of the information was public information and the auditor could just as easily get the information. Chew asked if any of the other cities requested the information the Council had requested. Williams said yes and they had been denied as well. Chew asked if the information could be obtained if a request was made to the other companies. Council Member Perry said Williams used the term right-of-way several times but he thought the issue was the franchise agreement. Williams responded that the City does not franchise GTE as it would a cable company. He said they are before the Council to negotiate an agreement for the use of the right-of-way within the city limits. Perry asked Williams if he was familiar with the ordinance. He said the ordinance was a franchise agreement. Perry also asked about the flat fee proposed by Williams. Perry said he understood one of the reasons for offering the flat fee would be more objective and more stable. He asked if the fee was figured as a percentage of local revenue, why would there be any variation from objectivity. Williams responded that the numbers were very objective. The ~-- 253 city of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 9 method of calculating what that fee would be was a very time consuming process. He said any number of errors might occur. With a flat fee GTE would pay the City a certain amount of dollars or they would be in violation of the ordinance Council would have passed. Williams said quite a few cities in Texas, GTE and Southwestern Bell have gone to the flat fee because it saved so much time for them. Another benefit to City would be that the city would know the amount of revenue to be received for the life of the agreement. Perry said his question concerned the objectivity of the process. Perry also asked Williams if their basis for denying access to information was based on his comment that they had paid a settlement prior to 1988. Williams said they had not heard anything else from the Staff regarding the matter from 1988 until February of 1994. As far as they were concerned it was a closed deal. Bucek said the number 1 question on the February 10, 1994 letter was "Please produce a complete copy of your current revenue account manual. Please also produce a copy of your revenue account manual that was in effect on December 31, 1983." Bucek asked Williams if he was saying they would not produce the revenue account manual for December 31, 1983. Williams responded no. He said in 1984 there was the access revenue issue previously discussed. In 1987 the FCC ordered a new chart of accounts, FCC part 32, that all telephone companies had to convert to. Williams said what was recorded prior to 1987 was on a part 31 chart of accounts so those accounts may be slightly different from the current. Bucek said the Council retained an auditor that had the expertise to decipher through those things. He again asked if the document that was the revenue account manual for December 31, 1983 existed and could he supply it. Williams said he did not personally have a copy and did not know if one existed in GTE. Bucek stated that the records request was supplied to GTE on February 10, 1994. He asked Williams if he was saying from that time to date he had been unable to determine if the document was available. Williams stated that the response provided in March GTE stated that because of the changes they would not be providing that 254 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 10 information. He said the city did retain an auditor that came in to do a review of that time period. Bucek said at that time the City was not given the revenue manual. He asked if the City could confirm that the revenue account manual was not received during that audit would it now be supplied. Williams responded no. Cott asked if the $220,000 was about 2% of the revenues collected in 1988. Mayor Castleberry thanked Willis and Williams for answering the Council's questions. 2. Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding implementation of a random drug testing program effective January 1, 1995. Tom Klinck, Director of Human Resources said the Department of Transportation passed and implemented rules for drug and alcohol testing for over the road drivers involved in commerce called Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, OTA. He said that act had been extended to local governments and others with commercial drivers of 50 or more effective January 1, 1995. Other commercial drivers would be affected by January 1996. Klinck said the drug and alcohol program could be very beneficial to the organization. However he indicated that it was an unfunded mandate the city had to pay for. The required testing areas were pre-employment, post accident, random, reasonable suspicion, and return to duty. Klinck stated that the City had a program of return to duty. If there was a positive test certain criteria would be required prior to the employee returning to work. Klinck stated that the City had a program in place that covered pre-employment, post accident and reasonable suspicion. The law and regulations covered commercial drivers that operate 26,000 or more pound vehicles, 16 plus passenger vehicles, and any vehicle transporting hazardous materials. The DOT requires that commercial drivers be asked if they had a positive test in the past. A release of information from previous employers would be needed within 14 days. The required drug test was a urine and National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) test, a test of certain levels of five drugs recognized to impair someone's ability to perform the job. The law requires a breath test. The City looks at previous employer records, driving record check through the State, and a NIDA 5-plus. Klinck said the City's test was more comprehensive than what was required by the DOT. The city does not do a pre-employment alcohol test. Under DOT requirements for post accident testing both a drug and alcohol 255 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 11 test was required. The alcohol test must be completed on the scene only in the event of a death, if the driver was cited, care was given away from the scene, or the vehicle was towed. Testing must be conducted.within 2 hours with a maximum of 8 hours to complete the test for alcohol and 32 hours to complete the drug test. The City policy was to conduct a drug test unless alcohol was suspected, in case of injury or death, if property damage exceeds $1,000, or the employee appeared to violate a worker safety rule. Cott asked if there was a requirement as to who would give the test. Klinck responded that Staff would get to that momentarily. He continued with the reasonable suspicion testing under the DOT requirements which included drug or alcohol test. The test could only be conducted under DOT rules if it had been observed by the supervisor. The City policy includes a drug or alcohol test depending on the suspicion by the supervisor, fellow employee, or a citizen. Nancy Leghler, Human Resource Specialists, discussed the mandatory requirements for the random drug testing for drug and alcohol test for the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) holder pool of employees. She said it was mandatory that 50% of the pool be tested for drugs with the NIDA-5 test and 25% of the pool for alcohol beginning January 1, 1995. If the city retains a violation rate below 1% for drugs and .05% for alcohol there could be a decrease in the percentage of required random testing. Testing for the drugs could happen at any time. Leghler said there was no specific criteria on when the employee could be tested. The alcohol test had to be conducted at the beginning and the end of their operating the equipment. Miller asked how the 50% was determined. Leghler responded that the 50% had to occur in a one year period with 50% of the pool being tested in the last quarter of the year for the DOT regulations. Leghler said there were approximately 191 in the pool so about 100 tests would be conducted for drugs over a 12 month period. She stated that the pool of applicants would be regenerated each time using the same 191 people so there was a random possibility that someone could be chosen more than once. Leghler stated that part of the proposed program involved drug and alcohol testing for safety sensitive positions using the same guidelines as required by DOT. The recommended pool included those who use deadly weapons, fire department employees, overhead and underground utility and water employees. Leghler said Staff was not recommending approval for incidental driving, 3 times or less 256 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 12 per week. Leghler explained that if an employee tested positively for a random drug test they would be removed from their duties immediately. They will be referred to the employee assistance program. There may be disciplinary action. Guidelines requires that certified DOT equipment be used and that test be conducted by certified technicians. Leghler stated the in terms of record keeping, separate files have to be maintained for DOT random testing. Positive and negative test should be reported on federal forms. Klinck stated that the testing would have an impact on Staff time including employees pulled away from their jobs to be tested and the Staff conducting the test. Klinck proposed that Staff implement the DOT drug and alcohol testing for those CDL holders beginning January 1, 1995. Staff also recommended that random testing requirements under DOT be expanded to cover employees in safety sensitive positions increasing the pool to 442 employees. Klinck recommended the purchase of an EBT and a certified trainer/ operator for approximately $6,800. Miller motioned, Cott seconded to direct Staff to implement the drug testing program and to include employees that drive on an occasional basis be included in the testing. On roll vote, Cott "aye", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "nay", Perry "aye", Chew "nay", Smith "aye". Motion passed with 5-2 vote. 3. Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding a proposal to temporarily close the library facility to bar code the library collection. Eva Poole, Director of Library Services, reported that the Staff of the Emily Fowler Library was busily planning for the implementation of its first on-line automated system. She said they completed the hardware selection and acquisition in August 1994, pre-installation of software and hardware preparation September 15 - October 15, and the retrospective conversion scheduled for completion December 15, 1994. Poole said bar coding the collection was the next task to be completed before the automated system could go on-line. There were approximately 131,657 items in the total library collection to be bar coded. Poole said attaching a bar code to each of those items in the collection was a necessary step in the implementation of the automated system. She explained that the bar code was essentially the control number for each item and applying them was a tedious, labor intensive process that would require ¢los~ attention to detail. The match between the item and the bar code must be exact otherwise errors would result in circulation records. Since March 1994, the Staff visited other Libraries in the metroplex to 257 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 13 determine the best plan of action for the bar coding process. Poole said system administrators and library directors from the various libraries said closing their facility to initiate the bar coding project was considered the best method of accomplishing the bar coding project. With extensive publicity and public awareness the residents from the areas supported the action realizing they would receive a greater benefit of return when the facilities reopened. Poole said great consideration was given to the effect the closing of Emily Fowler would have on customers. Many options were discussed but proved unsatisfactory. Poole indicated that hiring temporary workers would cost an estimated $17,000 not including administrative costs of recruiting and training an outside work force. Supervision of the workers would still have to be conducted by Library personnel. Utilizing volunteers also proved unsatisfactory because of the cost of supervision and training, the lack of quality control and the labor intensity of the project. She said volunteers usually like to do fun things. Because of the limitations of Staff, adding the bar coding project to their workload would not allow them to provide assistance with the building open and do the bar coding at the same time. Poole explained that closing on Saturday also proved unsatisfactory as it would take at least 10 weeks or 2.5 months to complete the process. She said that options would also result in 6 day work weeks for the Staff or making every weekday a half workday severely limiting customer service. She explained that closing on Saturday would also leave the heavy Saturday only clientele without service during the duration of the project. Poole said as a result of the survey and the other option considered the Denton Library Board and the Executive Board of the Friends of the Emily Fowler Public Library all recommend closing the Library for a two week period in January. The schedule of closing proposed was January 17, 1995 through January 21, 1995 and January 23, 1995 - January 28, 1995. With the proposed closing, installation of the automated system would be completed in a timely fashion, no additional salary cost would be incurred, library staff would be utilized full time, and it would have the least impact on public service. Pool said DISD libraries and teachers said the proposed closing would have the least impact on their students because they would be beginning a new semester. The degree of efficiency would be the highest that could be expected since experienced library personnel familiar with the existing collection would be doing the work. Poole said with Council's approval Staff would distribute a flyer to all of the entities listed in the publicity action plan listed in the backup information which stated Staff's apology for the inconvenience of closing the library to bar code the collection. Poole reviewed the automation time line upon completion of the bar coding project which concluded with online with all modules March 1, 1995. 258 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 14 Cott asked if the time line included the Branch Library. Poole responded that it did. Perry motioned, Chew seconded for approval of the proposal. On roll vote, Cott "aye", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Chew "aye", Smith "aye ". Motion passed unanimously. 4. Council held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding Council attendance at the UNT and TWU Board of Regents meetings. Mayor Castleberry said the item was discussed at as previous Council Meeting which resulted in a 3-3 vote. The policy of the. Council was to bring the item back at a subsequent meeting. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to approve a policy having a Council Member regularly attend the UNT and TWU Regents meetings. Smith asked if the motion indicated compulsory attendance as opposed to voluntary attendance. Brock said she could not see requiring a Council Member to attend the meetings if they did not want to. Smith wondered if an ordinance was needed since they were open meetings and anyone that wanted to go could do so. Brock said they could go at any time but she looked at it as a person going as an official representative of the Council to act as a liaison for reporting back to the Council and transmitting messages. Smith felt that could be done on a voluntary basis very easily without anything set in cement. Brock agreed that Council could attend on a voluntary basis but the point in proposing the item was to bring about a closer working relationship with the two. It was not to imply there was not a good relationship but it could be closer and more effective. Smith stated that she understood the desire for a closer relationship. She thought that by one of the Council Members attending as a representative of the City Council they could be put in a difficult situation since that person would not be able to state Council's position. It would be difficult for that person to state the Council's position or to even answer questions on behalf of the Council if asked. 259 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 15 Brock said she assumed there would not be any representation of City interest unless it were an agenda item that would have to be approved by the Council. Cott indicated that Smith stated his position almost exactly. Perry commented that the Council has excellent relations with both universities. If they need the Council all they need only call. He saw no need for the representation. Miller agreed with what was said. He suggested that Council talk with other cities that have representation at their regents meetings. Mayor Castleberry mentioned that he attend those association meetings. He said the second largest state supported university was there and there was not a good relationship between the city and the university at the time. Smith said she was at the same meeting Miller referred to and recalled that some of that was done on an informal basis. Brock said they did have someone assigned to regularly attend the meeting. On roll vote Cott "nay", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "nay", Perry "nay", Chew "nay", Smith "nay ". Motioned failed with a 2-5 vote. 5. Council held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding rules for placing emergency Council items on an agenda. Mayor Castleberry indicated the item had been before the Council at a previous session and ended in a 3-3 vote. He stated the current policy for placing an emergency item on the agenda after the agenda committee had met. Two of the three agenda committee members would need to determine if it was an emergency. He said other emergencies were regulated by State law. Miller said the request was in regard to an agenda item that would need to be discussed at the next meeting due to the timeliness of the issue. He mentioned an example of a Council Member voting on the prevailing side of a motion who learned of something on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning that would cause them to ask for a vote for reconsideration. If the agenda committee turned it down the item would not be able to appear in a timely manner. 26O City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 16 Miller motioned, Brock seconded that a Council Member be permitted to add an agenda item prior to 1 p.m. on Friday before a Council Meeting. Smith added that she did not feel the current Council would have a problem adding the item Miller mentioned. Having to get at least 2 members to agree was a safeguard. She suggested that perhaps if there was a problem with the Agenda'Committee, the Council Member requesting the emergency item could get two other members of the Council to agree. Miller agreed with Smith's suggestion and mentioned that there were other safeguards in place to prevent a Council Member from bringing an item up over and over again. Perry felt the Council should be careful about a rule that would give almost anyone anytime to declare an emergency. Miller said it did not have to be called an emergency but something of a timely nature that would allow a Council Member to put something on the agenda by 1:00 p.m. Friday. Cott said if an emergency could only be timely at a particular meeting but beyond that can not be, it may be better to let it age and revisit in a couple of weeks. Mayor Castleberry felt the policy worked well and expressed opposition to the motion. On roll vote Cott "nay", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "nay", Perry "nay", Chew "nay", Smith "nay ". Motioned failed with a 2-5 vote. The Council convened into a Regular Meeting at 7:08 p.m. on Tuesday, December 6, 1994 in the Council Chambers. Present: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Cott, Miller, Perry and Smith. Absent: Council Member Chew 1. Pledge of Allegiance The Council and members of the audience recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Castleberry took the opportunity to welcome Council Member Smith back. 261 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 17 2. The Council considered approval of the minutes of September 13, September 14, September 20 and September 27, 1994. Perry motioned, smith seconded to approve the minutes. On roll vote, Cott "aye" Brock "aye" Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye" Perry "aye", Chew "aye", and Smith "aye". The motion carried unanimously. 3. Mayor Castleberry presented Yard of the Month presentations to: Mr. and Mrs. Andre J. "Frenchy" Reault McDonalds-University Drive Mr. and Mrs. McKnight 4. citizens Report A. The Council received a citizen report from Dessie Goodson regarding general issues concerning the City. Goodson asked a question regarding the sign ordinance. She did not feel the ordinance was being enforced. Goodson commented that a while back the City complained about a man having a flag on his car and said it was against the sign ordinance. She presented a sign that was at Oak and Fry at the Delta Lodge. She said she has a neighbor there with 12 and 15 year old children. Goodson said that sign did not need to be there. If the sign ordinance was not going to be enforced for every one she suggested that the City not complain about someone waiving a flag. She said something needed to be done about the problems at the Delta Lodge. One day she walked by and someone was sitting out drinking a beer and threw the bottle in the street. On another occasions she walked by with her dog an the guy threw a frisbee and said, "oops my aim is off". Goodson said she responded to him by saying if he hit her, her aim would not be off. She also asked why SPAN does not return phone calls. She said she left 3 messages with Sharon and has not receive a return call. The dispatcher's attitude was also bad. There needs to be a change in the attitudes of the dispatchers and the drivers. She said one driver, Glenn Nese wants passengers to put change in his hand instead of the change box which wastes 2-3 minutes and runs 10-15 minutes behind schedule. She tried to discuss these matters with Sharon but she did not return her calls. Another driver waits at Amherst and Malone 2-3 minutes to see if anyone from the SPAN offices wanted to get on. The driver also speeds in the residential zones. She says he runs red lights and caution lights. Goodson said another driver was 7 minutes late on Saturday at Oak and Fry and then sped through one neighborhood because she said she was running behind. The driver also ran a red 262 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 18 light at 1-35 and Fort Worth Drive and later by passed a trolley stop. Goodson reminded the driver that children were aboard and that if she could not drive any better she needed to let someone else drive. Goodson also commented that the Fire Department needed to get the word out that they would assist them with their fire alarms. 5. Public Hearings A. The Council held a public hearing and considered adoption of an ordinance designating the property at 1018 West Oak Street as a historic landmark under Section 35-215, Article V of Chapter 35 of the Code of Ordinances; providing for a penalty in the maximum amount of $2,000 for violations thereof. (The Planning and Zoning- Commission and the Historic Landmark Commission recommend approval.) Jane Jenkins, Preservation Officer, said there would be 3 public hearings on historic designations. The house being considered was located at the corner of Oak and Fulton, 1018 West Oak. It was owned by Charles Stafford and Judith Abbot who plans to renovate it to be there home. The criteria from the ordinance for which the applicants applied for historic designation was outlined in Council's back up material. The Historic Landmark and Planning and Zoning Commissions unanimously recommended approval. The historic designation puts the structure under the regulatory purview of the Historic Landmark Commission. That means whenever any exterior alterations were made the property owner must file a certificate of appropriateness with the Commission to get changes approved. Because the 3 houses are in the Historic District they are under the regulatory ordinance. The major change would be that the property owners would now qualify for a 50% abatement of city taxes over the next 10 years provided for historic structures. Mayor Castleberry opened the public hearing. Jan Stanford represented the application for 1018 West Oak. Randall Boyd said of the numerous plans for th~ lot, h~ wa~ very pleased to have the property back as a single family residence. No one spoke in opposition. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-217 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, DESIGNATING 263 city of Denton city Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 19 THE PROPERTY AT 1018 WEST OAK STREET AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK UNDER SECTION 35-215, ARTICLE V OF CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Cott motioned, smith seconded to approve the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott "aye", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". The motion carried with a 6-0 vote. smith commented that it was always a pleasure receiving the backup information and to read the history of the homes. Mayor Castleberry asked if the tax credit covered rental properties as well. Jenkins responded that the local agreement does cover rental properties. She also stated that there were national tax credits that only covered residences and some that only covered commercial property. Mayor Castleberry asked what happens when there was property within the historic district that was not maintained properly. Jenkins said there was a section in the ordinance that dealt with general neglect and disrepair. She would have to come back with specific information regarding its contents. B. Council held a public hearing and considered adoption of an ordinance designating the property at 1035 West Oak Street as a historic landmark under Section 35-215, Article V of Chapter 35 of the Code of Ordinances; providing for a penalty in the maximum amount of $2,000 for violations thereof. (The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Historic Landmark Commission recommend approval.) Jane Jenkins said the property at the corner of Welch and Oak was commonly known as the Evers Mansion. Jenkins said many in the community considered the house to be a community landmark. Jenkins also mentioned that by the time the property owners had completed their research they were certainty entitled to the tax abatement they receive. No one spoke for. No one spoke in opposition. The following ordinance was considered. 264 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 20 NO. 94-218 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, DESIGNATING THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1035 WEST OAK STREET AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK UNDER SECTION 35-215, ARTICLE V OF CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Perry motioned, Smith seconded to adopt the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. C. Council held a public hearing and consider adoption of an ordinance designating the property at 1004 West Oak Street as a historic landmark under Section 35-215, Article V of Chapter 35 of the Code of Ordinances; providing for a penalty in the maximum amount of $2,000 for violations thereof. (The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Historic Landmark Commission recommend approval.) Jenkins said the house was owned by Howard and Maggie Watt and was probably one of the most dramatic changes seen recently in the Oak- Hickory Historic District. They have undertaken a meticulous restoration of the home. Jenkins said it was a show piece within the historic district. Randall Boyd commented that all three of the houses deserve the historic designation. All of the houses were difficult to restore as well as they had been. Boyd said the property owners did a wonderful job living up to the spirit of the historic district. No one spoke in opposition. Mayor Castleberry closed the public hearing. Council considered the following ordinance: NO. 94-219 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, DESIGNATING THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1004 WEST OAK STREET AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK UNDER SECTION 35-215, ARTICLE V OF CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 265 City of Denton city Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 21 smith motioned, Brock seconded to approve the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. Mayor Castleberry thanked those who purchased the older homes. He said remodeling was a great deal more difficult than building a new home. He also complemented Mr. Stafford for his expertise on army ordinance. Miller also commented that it was great to see the community spirit. smith said the homeowners deserved a round of applause from the community. 6. Council considered a variance to a development exaction, on "off-site" street capacity improvement, required under provision of Article 34-114, Section 4, paragraph (a) of the Subdivision and Land Development Regulations. (The Planning and Zoning Commission recommends approval.) Frank Robbins, Executive Director for Planning and Development, said the variance was the consequence of two provisions of the subdivision land development regulation. In order for Council to approve a variance, it must be determined that the requirements were in proportion to the size and type of the proposed development. The requirement could not exceed any reasonable benefit to the property and must be non-confiscatory in nature. The Code of ordinances allows the City to require improvements on existing, surrounding streets in proportion to the traffic generated by the proposed development. In the case of the development in question, The Other Place, the development site was less than 1,000 ft. from the intersection of Eagle and Bernard Streets. Based on the traffic volumes at the intersection, and the number of collisions, the intersection functioned at a level of service below adequate capacity. Staff recommended that the development be required to improve the intersection at Eagle and Bernard by having a right turn lane stripped in the street. Planning and Zoning unanimously recommended that the variance be granted. Brock wanted to be sure the staff was asking that the developer pay $3,000 for using the curbs and restripping so there would be a right turn lane on Bernard as you turn on to Eagle. Robbins responded that it could have been a situation where ~he developer could have paid to have that accomplished. 266 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 22 Brock asked if the $70,000 improvements at the intersection included the traffic light and other improvements. Robbins replied correct. Brock also asked if the State funding would deal with the right turn lane or would it be available when a right turn lane was created on Eagle to turn north on Bernard. Robbins said it would be available when a right turn lane was created. He said the estimated time frame was two years. Cott asked if the $70,000 was to be paid by the developer or the City. Robbins said that was the estimated cost to solve the problem. Cott wanted to know if that was expected of the developer. Robbins responded no. The developer would only be required to pay a share of the cost which was estimated at $3,000. Brock mentioned that sidewalks were needed in the area because people walk through there all of the time. Brock motioned, Cott seconded to grant variance. On roll vote, Cott "aye", Brock "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion passed with a 6-0 Vote. Consent Agenda A. Bids and Purchase Orders: 1. Bid #1684 - Library Furniture and Shelving 2. Bid #1686 - Library Work Stations Smith motioned, Perry seconded for approval of the consent agenda. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. 8. Ordinances The following ordinance was considered under the consent agenda: A. NO. 94-220 AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING COMPETITIVE BIDS AND AWARDING A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES OR SERVICES; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF 267 city of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 23 FUNDS THEREFORE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (7.A.1. - Bid #1684; 7.A.2. - Bid #1686) Smith motioned, Perry seconded for approval of the consent agenda. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. B. Council considered adoption of an ordinance amending Section 21-2 of the Code of Ordinances to prohibit the erection of barbed wire fences within the city limits, other than in an area zoned for agricultural use under Chapter 35 of the Code of Ordinances. Harry Persaud, Senior Planner said based on the current ordinance it was unlawful for any person to make, build, construct or erect barbed wire fences within the city limits. Persaud said the proposed amendment would allow barbed wire fences to be constructed on land zoned agriculture. Persaud said Staff felt approval would provide consistency in the Code of Ordinances. Cott suggested the wording be changed to say in an area used for agriculture instead of zoned agriculture. Persaud said when the property was zoned agriculture the use was permitted. Once the land was zoned the land owner would not have to come before the city to use the land for agricultural purposes. He said Staff would not know when it would be used. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-221 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION 21-2 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO PROHIBIT THE ERECTION OF BARBED WIRE FENCES WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS, OTHER THAN IN AN AREA ZONED FOR AGRICULTURAL USE UNDER CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Smith motioned, Perry seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. C. Council considered adoption of an ordinance amending Section 6-11 of the Code of Ordinances to prohibit the keeping of livestock for breeding purposes within the City limits, other than in an area zoned for agricultural use under Chapter 35 of the Code 268 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 24 of Ordinances. Harry Persuad said the current ordinance prohibited the keeping of livestock within the city limits. The amendment proposes to allow livestock for breeding purposes in areas zoned for agricultural purposes. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-222 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION 6-11 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO PROHIBIT THE KEEPING OF LIVESTOCK FOR BREEDING PURPOSES WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS, OTHER THAN IN AN AREA ZONED FOR AGRICULTURAL USE UNDER CHAPTER 35 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Perry motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. D. Council considered adoption of an ordinance amending Section 28-297 of the Code of Ordinances to allow a 180 day grace period, commencing upon approval of an annexation ordinance, for owners of existing private or semipublic swimming pools, spas, or hot tubs located within such newly annexed areas to comply with the requirements of Subsection (5) (a) of Section 28-297 of the Code of Ordinances. Persaud stated that the existing swimming pool code requires certain fencing and gate requirements. The amendment would allow newly annexed areas 6 months to comply with the requirements. The follow ordinance was considered: NO. 94-223 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION 28-297 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO ALLOW A 180-DAY GRACE PERIOD, COMMENCING UPON APPROVAL OF AN ANNEXATION ORDINANCE, FOR OWNERS OF EXISTING PRIVATE OR SEMIPUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS, SPAS OR HOT TUBS LOCATED WITHIN SUCH NEWLY ANNEXED AREAS TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUBSECTION (5) (a) OF SECTION 28-297 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS; AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 269 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 25 Brock motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. E. Council considered adoption of an ordinance approving a contract providing for the purchase of real property from Robert H. Caldwell, Jr. and Elinor Caldwell; authorizing the expenditure of funds therefore. Barbara Ross, Community Development Administrator, said they have been working for some time to acquire some property in the Owsley neighborhood for a park. The ordinance would approve a contract that would allow the purchase of three small lots at the corner of Ave G and Stella. Ross said the purchase price was $30,825 and would use CDBG funds. Mayor Castleberry thought it was a great use of block grant funds. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-224 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A CONTRACT PROVIDING FOR THE PURCHASE OF REAL PROPERTY FROM ROBERT H. CALDWELL, JR. AND ELINOR CALDWELL; AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFORE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Perry motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. F. Council considered adoption of an ordinance accepting the dedication by EPIC Development Inc., of 5,000 square feet of land for street and utility purposes. _ Robbins said the dedication was associated with over 300 acres in the vicinity of EPIC hospital under construction in the area to the north. It would provide a 50 foot link for Colorado Boulevard. Robbins said normally the dedication comes before Council in the platting process but when the property was platted the Caldwell's did not own the property but they were required to dedicate that. Perry asked what was the purpose accepting the dedication.s Robbins responded that it would link Colorado Boulevard and Loop 288. The following ordinance was considered: 27O City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 26 NO. 94-225 AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION BY EPIC DEVELOPMENT, INC. OF 5,000 SQUARE FEET OF LAND FOR STREET AND UTILITY PURPOSES; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Perry motioned, Brock seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. G. Ccouncil considered adoption of an ordinance increasing the contribution of employees participating in the City of Denton Fire Fighter's Retirement System and Trust Fund. Rick Svehla , Deputy City Manager, said the pension members took a vote and met all of the requirements to increase their participation from 9% to 10%. Svehla said Council approved a 4.6% salary increase but their salary would only increase 3.6% since the other 1% would go to the pension fund. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-226 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS INCREASING THE EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN THE CITY OF DENTON FIRE FIGHTERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM AND TRUST FUND; AUTHORIZING THE PAYROLL DEDUCTION OF SUCH CONTRIBUTION; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Smith motioned, Perry seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. H. Council considered adoption of an ordinance retaining the law firm of Wolfe, Clark & Henderson to represent the City of Denton in litigation pending against the City. Bucek, Acting City Attorney, said the lawsuit involved wa~ Moore vs. Jez et al. He said it was a federal lawsuit in the eastern district of Texas which would be tried in Sherman. Bucek recommended Mr. Clark's firm which was located in Sherman. NO. 94-227 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON RETAINING THE LAW FIRM OF WOLFE, CLARK & HENDERSON TO REPRESENT THE CITY OF DENTON IN LITIGATION PENDING AGAINST THE CITY; 271 city of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 27 AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFOR; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Brock motioned, smith seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. I. Council considered adoption of an ordinance retaining the law firm of Wolfe, Clark & Henderson to represent the City of Denton in litigation pending against the City. Bucek said the case was Style Snell vs. City and Kutcher which had also been filed in the eastern district of Texas. Staff thought it would be appropriate for Wolfe to defense the case for the City~ NO. 94-228 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON RETAINING THE LAW FIRM OF WOLFE, CLARK & HENDERSON TO REPRESENT THE CITY OF DENTON IN LITIGATION PENDING AGAINST THE CITY; AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFOR; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Brock motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. J. Council considered approval of an ordinance authorizing the city Manager to execute a ground lease agreement between the City of Denton, Texas and Bruce Brown for approximately 0.770 acres of property located at the Denton Municipal Airport. (The Airport Advisory Board recommends approval.) Svehla indicated that the following ordinances were formerly one lease at the Airport. Bruce Brown talked with prospects who had a desire to take over the leases. He asked the Airport Board that the leases be split into three pieces and that they be extended so the prospective investors would have additional time to acquire financing and to build buildings. Svehla said each lease was virtually the same in language and the same as the old lease except for the terms in the length and for the price which would escalate every 5 years according to the CPI. In reviewing the leases Thompson and Brown found one error on page 5 of each lease which should read the CPI from 1990 instead of 1994. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-229 272 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 28 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO EXECUTE A GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AND BRUCE BROWN FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.770 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE DENTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Perry motioned, Brock seconded for approval of the ordinance with the change mentioned. On roll vote, Cott, "aye" Brock, "aye" Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 6-0 vote. K. Council considered approval of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a ground lease agreement between the City of Denton, Texas and Bruce Brown for approximately 0.479 acres of property located at the Denton Municipal Airport. (The Airport Advisory Board recommends approval.) Council Member Cott left the meeting at 8:10 p.m. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-230 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO EXECUTE A GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AND BRUCE BROWN FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.479 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE DENTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Brock motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance with the change mentioned. On roll vote, Cott, "abstain", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 5-0-1 vote. L. Council considered approval of an ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a ground lease agreement between the City of Denton, Texas and Bruce Brown for approximately 0.439 acres of property located at the Denton Municipal Airport. (The Airport Advisory Board recommends approval.) The following ordinance was considered: NO. 94-231 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO EXECUTE A GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN 273 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 29 THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AND BRUCE BROWN FOR APPROXIMATELY 0.439 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT THE DENTON MUNICIPAL AIRPORT; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Brock motioned, Smith seconded for approval of the ordinance with the change mentioned. On roll vote, Cott, "abstain", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 5-0-1 vote. 9. Resolutions A. Consider approval of television public access rules. Board recommends approval.) a resolution adopting cable (The Cable Television Advisory Cott returned to the meeting at 8:14 p.m. Richard Foster, Public Information Officer, said the franchise agreement between the City and Sammons Communication provides for a public access channel. The franchise agreement states the access channel shall be made available for non commercial use to qualifying applicants without charge when requested in accordance with the rules. In August of 1991 the Council passed rules for the public access channel. Staff proposed minor changes to those rules. Foster said the changes were precipitated by a request to Sammons by an individual within the community to show a pre- recorded video tape on the channel. Sammons indicated that was not the intent of the channel. The channel was to produce local programming. However, the rules did not specifically indicate that. The Legal Staff reviewed the franchise agreement and the rules that had been in effect since August 1991. The primary change was that the agreement specified the intent of the channel being to provide the citizens of Denton the opportunity to produce original programming for showing on the public access channel. The Legal Staff made other recommendations which included that no lottery information should be supplied on the channel, no information that would be considered obscene, establishing rules regarding the priority of use. Those recommendation were included in the changes. Miller said the rules read that each program must have a script outlining the production. He asked if that would preclude activities such as dancing, or choral groups in the park from using the channel. Foster said those groups typically meet with Sammons to outline the program. He said the channel was being used an average of 2-3 274 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 30 times per month a lot of which was community groups who do stage performances. Joe Dodd addressed the Council on the issue. He said in efforts to keep the Klan off the public access channel, Council would be disallowing a lot of other things that might be on there. He said there were a number of prerecorded national things of interest to the citizens of Denton that would never get to them unless someone uses cable access to put them before the public. Dodd said he was not sure the resolution does not outlaw someone who went out with their own equipment to do a competent documentary on something very much of interest to the community. He said that issue had come up several times and basically limits cable access to things that were approved of by the cable company. He does not want the cable company to have any more control than they already have. Dodd asked that Council send the resolution back for Staff to rewrite it so that good things were not outlawed. Foster stated that the rules could not be content specific. The rule would not disqualify the Klan for instance from producing a local program. It might however, disallow someone from bringing in a prerecorded tape. If they wanted to make a script, put together a program, and make arrangements with Sammons to get into the studio. The intent was not to regulate content. The following resolution was considered: NO. R94-072 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ADOPTING CABLE TELEVISION PUBLIC ACCESS RULES; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Miller motioned, Perry seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "nay", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 5-1 vote. B. Council considered approval of a resolution adopting a Personnel Policy relating to L~av~ for Judicial or Legal Matters. Debra Rose, Human Resources Generalists, reviewed the provisions and changes of the policy. Rose said the policy currently accommodates employees who need to participate in jury duty. The revised policy proposes to broaden that scope to include employees that need to participate in any judicial or legal matters. The extent of the accommodation would depend on the nature of the leave. Leave with pay would be granted if the employee needed to participate in jury duty, subpoenaed witness testimony on behalf of City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 31 275 the City or City business in the scope of employment with the City. Leave without pay would be granted if the employee needed to participate in judicial or legal matters of a personal nature or claims initiated by the employee or against the City. Rose stated that Staff was trying to bring clarification to the policy. If the employee needed to participate in judicial or legal matters of a personal nature and leave without pay was granted, the employee could choose to use compensatory or vacation leave. The following resolution was considered: NO. R94-073 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING A PERSONNEL POLICY RELATING TO LEAVE FOR JUDICIAL OR LEGAL MATTERS; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Cott motioned, Brock seconded for approval of the ordinance. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "nay", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 7-0 vote. 10. Council held a discussion and considered approval of an annexation schedule with regard to the proposed annexation of a 1.1 acre tract being part of the right-of-way of Corbin Road and a 199.5 acre tract located east of Mayhill Road and north of Edwards Road. (A-64 and A-68) Persuad said the Staff proposed to annex the east part of the right-of-way of Corbin Road. He said Svehla held discussion with the County Commissioners on the subject. They recommended that the City complete the annexation before closing the road. Persaud said the second tract related to the land fill expansion program. He said the City purchased 55 acres of that tract and has a contract to purchase an additional 135 acres. Persuad said Staff was beginning discussions with another land owner to annex and zone the tract so the City could proceed with the landfill expansion program. Persaud said the schedule required that Staff begin with the publication of notices on December 18, 1994 and end on March 21, 1995 with final action by the Council. The City Charter requires a 3/4 vote of the Council to successfully complete the annexation process. Brock said there were 8 households mentioned in the backup material that would be effected by the Corbin Road annexation. She wanted to know if property owners outside the proposed area would also be informed of the process and have an opportunity to attend the public hearings. Persuad said those property owners would be informed at the Council's request. Brock thought they should be informed. Council Member Chew joined the meeting at 8:25 p.m. 276 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 32 Cott asked if there were intention to fill in the damn. Persuad responded that the proposal would be to close the dam because of the dangers at the low water crossing. The existing homes would be able to go on Springside and Underwood to get back to Airport Road. In terms of distance it would be a minor inconvenience. Cott said the residents all want that dam. Miller motioned, Cott seconded to approve the schedule. On roll vote, Cott, "aye", Brock, "aye", Miller "aye", Castleberry "aye", Perry "aye", Chew "aye", Smith "aye". Motion carried with a 7-0 vote. 11. Council considered a nomination to the Keep Denton Beautiful Board. Council Member Cott said he would have a nomination at the next meeting. 12. Vision Update Miller reported that there was a cabinet meeting on November 28th for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and discussed the material received from the various impact groups. Miller said it was quite obvious that there was a real benefit and diversity in terms of opinion and the kinds of things that need to be done. Miller said there would probably be a number of meetings with the cabinet over the next few months. Miller also announced that the impact group presentations from November would run on Channel 26. He said the programs would run for the next two Wednesday and Thursday nights. 13. Miscellaneous matters from the City Manager. Harrell informed Council that there had been problem with the contractor installing a water line on Stonegate. The contractor was given notice to cease opening any further cuts in the street until all item had been cleaned up, repaired and brought back to order. Further Staff was prepared to move in to get the work finished should the contractor not comply. Smith added that the citizens she spoke with have been very complimentary of the City Staff that have come out to explain the problem. Miller asked that the contractor be spoken to regarding the way they talk with the citizens in addition to the work they w~r~ doing. He understood that they had been rude to the citizens. Harrell mentioned the preliminary budget number on the 93-94 preliminary budget figures. He said going into the budget process Staff estimated excess revenue over expenditures about $100,000. Harrell reported that the final audited number came out about $700,000 as opposed to $100,000. He said about $500,000 of that was increased revenues, unexpected property tax as well as $100,000 city of Denton city Council Minutes December 6, 1994 Page 33 277 decrease in expenditure levels below the May projections. He said the next budget year should be much like last year where there was some flexibility due to prior year expenditures. Council could expect the final audit in mid January. 14. Official Action on Closed Meeting Items: A. Legal Matters B. Real Estate C. Personnel D. Board Appointments Council did not take action on official meeting items. 15. New Business Cott asked that the next meeting be conducted in the Civil Defense Room instead of upstairs in the Manager's conference room. Smith commented that it would be less claustrophobic. The Council consented. The meeting was adjourned with no further business. VERONICA S. OGLESBY~_~ DEPUTY CITY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON