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Minutes March 22, 1995450 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MARCH 22, 1995 The Council convened into a joint session with the Denton Independent School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday, March 22, 1995 at 12:00 noon in the Civil Defense Room. PRESENT: ABSENT: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Chew, Cott, Perry, and Miller. Council Member Smith 1. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding the current City/DISD tax abatement policy. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that the Fantus report had recommended that the current tax abatement policy be critically examined for relevancy. The current study originated in June of 1989 as a joint study by the City of Denton, the Denton Independent School District and Denton County. Harrell reviewed the background of the Committee's policy decision making process and the major elements of the policy. In December of 1989, the Committee made a formal recommendation regarding the policy. Trustee Krueger asked if there was some form of abatement for current businesses. Harrell indicated that a current business would be considered for the value of the improvement times 1.25% for a qualifying project. Trustee Falbo asked about County involvement. Harrell stated that the County had not formally approved the project but that it followed the same policy as the City and School District. 2. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding the City's fiber optics program. Lloyd Harrell, City Manager, stated that no firm decision had been made by Council regarding this issue. He noted a handout which indicated advantages for education with such a fiber optic network. Those advantages included a connection to the State Education Network, E-Mail communication between campuses, connection to University data bases, video broadcast courses to several campuses and classrooms, video conferencing, teacher training to all campuses from one broadcast location, and connection to research data bases such as the Internet and World Wide Web. The City of Denton had a basic fiber system and was constructing a loop to tie in the electric substations. Excess capacity would be available. The Public Utilities Board concluded that the City should make more use of this type of technology and make it available should there be inquiries regarding the excess capacity. A proforma developed suggested that the capacity could be made available at a price less than that offered by GTE. The current debate for this issue was whether or not the city should be involved in this type of a project. Mayor Pro Tem Brock asked the DISD for its position on fiber optics. Dr. Albert Thomas, Superintendent of Schools, indicated that the District was currently working on a computer bank which would tie in various computers in the system. Currently it was difficult to tie in the computers as there was not adequate capacity. In the long term, the DISD was behind the curve with fiber optics. 3. The Council received an update on the DISD's transportation facility. Dr. Thomas stated that the location of the facility would be at Ryan High School. The project was ready for bid and would be completed in the fall. The access for Mills would be primarily for buses with approximately 25-30 buses involved in the beginning. The District was also getting ready to move forward for approval for a second south exit at Ryan High School. 4. The Council received a report and held a discussion regarding the Juvenile Crime Interagency Coalition. Harlan Jefferson, Director of Fiscal Operations, stated that the Coalition was ready to begin its work with only one organization left to appoint a representative. The main goal for the Coalition would be to prepare an annual report for Council regarding the juvenile programs. The first meeting of the Coalition was scheduled for March 30th. A contract/bonus program would be considered with a report back to Council on the results. Council Member Miller stated that the legislature was in the process of updating the regulations associated with juvenile crimes. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:25 p.m. C~iTNIF~ WALTERS Y S~CRETARY Y OF DENTON, TEXAS BOB CASTL~R~ CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS / ACC00262