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Minutes September 5, 1995339 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES September 5, 1995 The Council convened into a Closed Meeting on Tuesday, September 5, 1995 at 5:15 p.m. in the Civil Defense Room of City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Biles; Council Members Brock, Cott, Krueger, Miller and Young. ABSENT: None 1. The Council considered the following in Closed Meeting: A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.071 B. Real Estate -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.072 C. Personnel/Board Appointments -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.074 1. Held a discussion regarding the duties and evaluation of the Municipal Judge. The Council convened into a Work Session on Tuesday, September 5, 1995 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. PRESENT: Mayor Castleberry; Mayor Pro Tem Biles; Council Members Brock, Cott, Krueger, Miller and Young. ABSENT: None 1. The Council considered nominations to the Economic Development Transition Committee. City Manger Harrell stated that this item was placed on the agenda as directed by Council. According to the plan adopted by the Council, each member was allowed up to three nominations for membership on the Committee. Council Member Cott nominated Ed smith, Dick Smith, and Harry Hall. Council Member Brock nominated Ed smith. Council Member Miller nominated Troy LaGrone, Bob Coplen, and Charles Stafford. Mayor Castleberry nominated Derrell Bulls and Barbara Russell. Mayor Pro Tem Biles nominated Harry Hall, Ed Smith, and Carl Anderson. Council Member Young nominated Carl Anderson, Dick smith, and Ed smith. 340 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 2 Council Member Krueger nominated Carl Anderson, Dick smith, and Harry Hall. 2. The Council considered appointments to the Blue Ribbon CIP Committee. Council Member Krueger appointed Jesse Coffey. Mayor Castleberry asked for nominations for chair of the Committee. Council Member Brock nominated Margaret Smith. Council Member Krueger nominated Joe Mulroy. Council voted on the nomination of Margaret Smith for chair. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. Council voted on the nomination of Joe Mulroy for chair. On roll vote, Miller "nay", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 4-3 vote. Council Member Young stated that he would have another nomination in Mr. Mulroy's position at the next meeting. 3. The Council considered an appointment to the Community Justice Council. City Manager Harrell stated that the back-up materials contained a letter from Judge Gabriel regarding appointment to this committee. Council Member Brock nominated Mayor Pro Tem Biles for the position. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 4. The Council held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding the 1995-96 fiscal year budget. City Manager Harrell reviewed the usual procedure for this meeting. At the next meeting the Council would consider the ordinance formally adopting the budget, and setting the tax rate along with the various utility adjustments which were contained in the proposed budget. Normally the Council began with the general fund and worked towards zeroing out the items proposed in general fund budget. At that point the Council considered the Utility 341 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 3 Department budget. He would be reviewing each major issue, the alternatives and would ask for a preliminary decision on which alternative the Council would like to pursue. In the past, if one member wanted to defer an item, the Council would do so. It was indicated in a memorandum to the Council dated August 8, 1995, that from the time the preliminary budget was submitted to the Council until the August 8, 1995 date, there were several negative revenue setbacks which meant the General Fund budget process would start in a deficit. Most of that came from the final tax roll which was less than what was projected. The Council also had a lowered emergency services payment and there were lower sales tax projections in that time period. In August the sales tax was down over the projection of $112,127. That was a preliminary number with a few receipts still outstanding. The numbers would probably get a little better but not much. Council Member Krueger stated that the August sales tax revenues were not due and payable until September 20th. The final bill was not due to be postmarked until September 20th. Kathy DuBose, Executive Director for Finance, stated that that would be received the 1st week in October. What was shown was the City's receipts for the month of September that the State collected in August. Council Member Krueger stated that it was actually a month behind. It was not really reflective for August. DuBose stated that there would be one more month to make up the twelve months. Council Member Krueger stated that when a $112,000 deficit was shown, there actually were 15 more days of collection for August. DuBose replied that those were funds which were collected and due to the State by the 20th of August. The city received them two weeks later. Council Member Krueger stated that they were due for August but was July's reading. DuBose stated that that was money which was collected and turned into the State by August 20th. The State then paid the city the second week in September for those receipts. Council Member Krueger stated that this was not August money and was not reflective of the sale tax which was generated in August. 342 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 4 DuBose replied correct. Council Member Krueger stated that the statement that the City was behind $112,000 in August was not correct. This was July's money. City Manager Harrell stated that the City had received eleven months worth of sales tax receipts from the State. The City would receive one additional month which would be credited to the 1994-95 fiscal year. It would be received in October but would be noted as September revenue. For the llth month time period, the projected revenue would be $112,000 short. Council Member Krueger asked that when projections were made for August was that for July or for August. City Manager Harrell stated that it would be July sales which the City would account for in the month of August. But would be reflective of sales made in July. Council Member Krueger stated that he was making a point that this was July which was the end of the quarter when a majority of the taxpayers paid their quarterly tax. Revenue could not adequately be predicted if the revenue for August was based on July figures. DuBose stated that those were the actual receipts which the City would receive in September for August. That number would not change. The money received next month would be August/September receipts which were paid in August. Based on generally accepted accounting principles those were recorded when measurable and available. Council Member Krueger stated that he was worried about how the City was basing its revenue assumptions. City Manager Harrell stated that adding that $112,000 deficit for the August sales tax report for July sales into the other figures, resulted in a $453,688 deficit to start the budget process. Possible revenue sources included the 1994-95 revenue items mentioned in the August 17, 1995 memorandum in which it was mentioned that the sales tax was less than what was projected. A number of revenue sources were outlined in that memorandum which were over and above what was estimated at the start of the fiscal year. All of those added to $195,000. A second item was the final Sammons Cable franchise tax which was $10,000 over what was projected in the budget. A third possible revenue source dealt with the percent of collection rate of property taxes due. Currently the City projected that it would collect 98.5% of the property tax revenue which was due the City. That collection rate 343 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 5 was fairly conservative because normally on top of the property tax received, supplements were received during the year. When all of the supplements were taken into consideration, the figure exceeded 98.5%. If Council wanted to set the figure at 99.5% collection, it would add in $109,000. If Council wanted to assume 100% collection rate, $163,000 could be added in. Staff felt that either of those were safe to do. A 1% increase was more conservative but even if Council decided to do 100%, the historical receipts from the city indicated that that would be possible. A fourth possibility dealt with GTE. The Court had ruled in the GTE franchise manner. GTE had asked the Court to allow GTE to put into the safekeeping of the Court their franchise tax which was not in dispute until the matter was settled. The Court ruled against that motion to put those dollars in the registry of the Court. The proposed budget had been prepared assuming that the franchise taxes would not be available to the city. It was assumed that only ½ of franchise tax would be received for 1994-95 and none for 1995-96. Because of the Court ruling, staff was fairly confident that this would not be appealable. If GTE made a decision to withhold payment, there might be a problem. A move like that would be a clear breach of the franchise agreement. Before Council started the major budget issues some of that revenue could be added back into the budget for a total of $385,000. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that Council Member Krueger and he had been working for several weeks on some proposed budget adjustments. They looked at the income and expenditure sides of the budget and a number of items were tied together. Council Member Krueger proposed the following income adjustments: (1) increase the projected sales tax growth. The proposed growth was for 3%. He suggested a 3.5% which would add $52,500 to the income budget. (2) increase the projected property tax collection percentage to 99.5% which would add $110,000 to the proposed budget. (3) include the increased revenue estimates for $195,000. (4) begin a curbside recycling privatization with an annual contract revenue of $60,000 with a contract to start January 1, 1996. (5) do not implement the extra fee on cable television. It was felt that now was not the time to hire a producer. (6) include the GTE franchise fee income which assumed settlement of the suit or a compromise for payment of franchise fees for $140,000. The total increase in revenue would be $519,367 which he felt were fairly safe assumptions for increases. Mayor Pro Tem Biles presented the following expenditure proposals: (1) do not implement the additional recycling programs as proposed which would take away $374,000. The final plan had not been determined but would move in that direction. (2) do not add the 344 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 6 cable television producer which was revenue/expenditure neutral and would save $23,133. (3) purchase an ambulance instead of a squad which would save $4,348. (4) do not implement a direct mail newsletter which would save $7,185 and would also save $21,00 in the Utility fund. (5) decrease the bad debt expense which would save $15,000. (6) decrease refunds of prior year revenue which would save $5,000. The total decrease in expenditures would be $428,666. The total impact on the 1995-96 budget was to equal a 8.68% reduction in property tax. That was the amount of fat in the budget. Council Member Cott did not call shifting around numbers "finding fat". He saw this proposal the previous Sunday evening and felt that he could not agree with it. This was a Council-Manager form of government with a good City Manager. There was no possibility of this Council budgeting and staff being able to follow that budget. Council Member Miller felt that these were not necessarily savings of expenditures or more revenues. It was just a different way to budget for it. It did not generate $52,000 in sales taxes. They were saying that the City had underestimated the revenue for next year in the amount of $52,000. Year-to-date, if the City were to be even in sales tax with the half cent sales tax added, it would be up 50% in sales tax revenues this year. A 4% sales tax growth had been projected but were 44.8% above the sales tax for last year thus not even being equal with last year. Actually the sale tax was running behind and had done so for a number of months. The same held true for projected property tax. For projection purposes, another 1-1.5% could be added which would show that the city would have that amount of dollars to spend in the budget but did not add one cent for revenue. He was not clear on the reprivatization for recycling. Was the proposal to have a contract for $60,000 and there would be no charge to homeowners for recycling. Council Member Krueger stated that Council Member Miller knew that a firm would not do it for nothing but would do it for a nominal fee. This would be a voluntary option and would save citizens money. Mayor Castleberry stated that the City did not have a contract with anyone at this time and could not budget on an assumption. Council Member Miller stated that he was not clear on the proposal. There was a long term plan which the Council had agreed with. He felt that the Council was not sitting as policy makers but rather decision makers and he was puzzled about the implication. City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 7 Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that staff had indicated twice that the City did not have the specifics worked out on curbside recycling and was not prepared to implement a program at this point in time. Council Member Miller felt that staff was indicating that the details were not know at this point in time and if they did not know the details, the money would not be spent. The programs would come to Council before the expenditure of funds. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that if the details were not worked out and the money was not going to be spent until they were, it could be spent on fire fighters. Council Member Brock asked what percentage of the citizens would be participating in the contract which would net the City $60,000. Council Member Krueger stated that that would be a mandatory program at a cost of $1.50 per month. Mayor Castleberry felt that Council should return to the regular agenda order to follow procedures. He stated that the sales figures throughout the Country were down in August. City Manager Harrell stated that with the above proposal, solid waste revenue which was an enterprise fund of the city was mixed with the General Fund. The General Fund needed to be balanced and then, as a subsequent issue, deal with the solid waste system which was a stand alone system. This was the first time he had seen this proposal. Neither he nor staff had been able to see the proposal before this meeting. He felt somewhat inadequate that staff could not respond and try to help the Council work through the budget balancing process. There were a number of elements in the recycling program, only one of which was curbside recycling. Mayor Castleberry stated for the record that he was not present at the Sunday meeting. He indicated that there were three items listed for a total of $385,000 to help reduce the beginning deficit. Those included $195,000 for the revenue proposals, $10,000 from the Sammons franchise, and $180,000 from GTE. Krueger motioned, Miller seconded to use those amounts to reduce the beginning deficit. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 346 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 8 Krueger motioned, Biles seconded to increase the property tax collection rate by 1%. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. City Manager Harrell stated that the process with the above changes would start with a positive $40,561. He reminded the Council that last week it authorized staff to make application for three additional patrol officers at a first year cost of $40,000. 1. General Fund Reserve Level - traditionally this level was kept at 10% of the General Fund. A 10% fund balance would free up approximately $1,715,000 which could be used for other General Fund programs. That was the amount which was programmed into the proposed budget. Staff's recommendation was to keep the level at 10% which was a prudent level. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to maintain the reserve level at 10%. Council Member Krueger asked how the reserve level got to 15% if revenue was not being underestimated and expenditures not being overestimated. city Manager Harrell stated that when revenue projections were presented to the Council, staff attempted to be realistic but tried to error on the conservative side. One procedure staff members were encouraged to do (and which was part of their evaluation process) was how did they administer their budget. By staying with 10%, the process was started with $1.7 million to be allocated to expenditures within the budget. That was a way not to have to raise taxes or to look for other revenues or expenditures. He felt that that was good budgeting. Mayor Castleberry felt that 10% was prudent and worked well. Council Member Cott felt that the Council needed to be careful about what new programs were taken on and how the taxpayers money was spent. On roll vote to maintain the reserve level at 10%, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 2. Revenues A. Sales tax - % cent to reduce property taxes - The budget document stated that the estimate indicated that there would be an 347 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 9 increase over last year's ½ cent sales tax receipts of approximately $202,000. That equalled a 1 cent decrease in the property tax rate. The staff recommendation was that the additional sales tax amount, in accordance with the spirit of the adoption of the additional sales tax, be earmarked for another reduction of the property tax. There was nothing in the law which required the Council to follow through with the property tax reduction and Council could take the $202,000 for other programs. Mayor Castleberry stated that staff's recommendation was to maintain the tax reduction. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to accept the recommendation to have a 1 cent decrease in the tax rate funded by the ½ cent sales tax. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. B. Sales tax - One Percent General Purpose Tax - the recommendation was to estimate the sales tax growth for next year at 3%. However, this budget report was presented and put together approximately three months ago. Since that time, there had been three months of less than positive news on the sales tax. Every percent in either direction was equal to $105,000. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to adopt 3%. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. Biles motioned, Young seconded to adopt 3.25%. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6- 1 vote. C. Property from tax - the proposed budget recommended that the tax rate be reduced $.5609 to $.5409. One penny of that was driven by the half cent sales tax and the other from the property tax receipts. The adjusted tax rate, to get to the effective tax rate, would only require the Council to go down $.0123 per $100 valuation. A $.02 tax decrease would be below the effective tax rate. Options were to set the rate at the recommended $.5409 or set the rate at the effective rate of $.5522 as opposed to the proposed budget rate which would provide for $202,342 for additional expenditures. Each penny adjustment was worth $195,000. Mayor Castleberry indicated that the proposed rate was a $.02 decrease from the current tax rate. 348 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 10 Biles motioned, Young seconded to reduce the property tax rate to $.5409 per $100 valuation. Council Member Krueger felt that the Council might not be ready to set the tax rate as there were more major budget issues to discuss which might create an avenue to lower the rate even more. He did not feel $.02 was enough. Council Member Cott felt that the rate should be lowered to $.5309 if the effective tax rate was not included. City Manager Harrell stated that the proposed budget balanced the budget by having one cent driven by the half cent sales tax to reduce the property tax and another cent driven by a general tax decrease. If the proposal was to go down to $.5309, Council would need to find other cuts to make up the $109,000 difference. Council Member Miller stated that these were tentative decisions based on current information. Before a final vote was taken the Council could still change the figures. If other expenditures were found, the rate could be changed again. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. D. Cable Television Council Member Cott left the meeting. City Manager Harrell stated that in the proposed budget there was an expenditure increase of $23,133 and a corresponding revenue enhancement increase which translated to a $.25 charge on cable bills effective April 1, 1996 to pay for that additional expenditure. Council had asked for enhancements to the cable television services such as reruns of the Council meetings, televising Planning and Zoning Commission meetings, and producing short news articles which could be shown on the channel. The $.25 would fund the above p~opo~al~, ~.35 would fund the proposed enhancements plus other cable expenses associated with the current cable television operation which would free up some additional money for the budget. A question had been asked about what could be funded with $.10. The $.10 would generate $9,000 which would pay for the part-time help and rerun some Council meetings. Council Member Cott returned to the meeting. 349 City of Denton City Council MiputeS September 5, 1995 Page 11 Council Member Brock stated that she was the one who promoted the idea of opening up the process of government. Currently all of the tax payers were supporting the televising of the Council meetings. Adding a small fee to the cable bill allowed those who benefit from the cable service to pay for that service. This was a common practice in this area. The issue was open government communicating to the public and she felt it would be helpful to have live broadcasting of the Planning and Zoning Commission meetings, televising or taping other board/commission meetings - especially those of general interest items, having extra copies of meetings available for public review, and rerunning meetings at regular times during the week. She felt the fee was nominal and that the proposed $.35 charge would be equitable for those using the cable services. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to authorize a $.35 cent charge on each monthly cable television bill. Council Member Young stated that he had had contact with cable users and they were against an increase in cable bills. He suggested making use of what was available. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that open government was extremely important and opening those avenues was also extremely important. He expressed a concern about spending $23,000 as proposed with the $.25 fee. He suggested finding other ways for the enhancements rather that this proposal. He was not against open government but against the proposal. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay" Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor failed with a 3-4 vote. , Cott "nay" Castleberry , Krueger "nay", "aye". Motion Young motioned, Krueger seconded to not charge any new fees on the cable bill. Council Member Miller asked if that was not the effect of the first motion. Council Members Young and Krueger withdrew the motion and second. city Manager Harrell stated that there would be a tentative removal of $23,000 from the revenue and expenditure sides. E. Mi~cellaneou~ Fee~ - currently the City charged an annual consumer health permit fee for restaurant, grocery store and day care inspections which ranged from $35-$210. In surveying other cities about what they were charging for similar services, it was 350 city of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 199.5 Page 12 found that Denton was slightly behind other cities. Staff was recommending as part of budget a $10 increase of all categories of consumer health permit fees. That would allow for an additional $3,660 of revenue which was incorporated in the proposed budget. Alternatives were to proceed with the increase or if not implemented, subtract the amount from the proposed budget. Krueger motioned, Young seconded to keep the consumer health permit fee as was in the 1994-95 fiscal budget. Council Member Cott asked if the cost for this service was lower than other cities so that an increase was not required. City Manager Harrell stated that these fees were generally paid to try and recover the City's cost of providing that particular service. This was a fee which had not been adjusted for a number of years. It could be provided by the user or by the general property tax payer. Council Member Brock assumed that the State law required that these inspections be made. Without raising the fee, the tax payers were subsidizing the application of this State law. Council Member Krueger asked if the administrative costs were currently exceeding what was being charged. City Manager Harrell stated that this was not an independent cost center. The fees were set to try to recover the cost of the service. On roll vote to maintain the current fee, Miller "nay", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to add $10 to the inspection fee. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 4-3 vote. 3. Pay Plan Adjustments - the proposed budget recommended an average increase of 4.8% for all non-civil service emplOyees which would be staggered starting January 1, 1996 and ali Civil Service employees effective January 1, 1996 plus scheduled step increases. It was felt that 4.8% was prudent and affordable. If Council did not approve any compensation increases, $640,000 would be saved. 351 City of Denton City counci!Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 13 Biles motioned, Miller seconded to adopt the 4.8% as noted above. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 4. Benefit adjustments A. Health Insurance - the proposed budget estimated a 5% increase in health premiums. Alternatives included not having the City pay for the 5% for employees and pass that cost to employees which was a cost savings of $73,661. The budget recommended that the City continue the practice of paying for the employee share and if the employee desired dependent or spouse coverage, he pay for that cost. Biles motioned, Miller seconded to proceed as recommended by staff. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. B. TMRS - in 1994 the city changed the TMRS program from a 5% 2-1 program to a 6% 2-1 program. At that point, the city continued to monitor what other cities were doing for their retirement programs. In that survey, it was found that Denton was only one of two cities still offering a 6% participation rate as opposed to a 7% participation rate. The cost of 7% was expensive to the City and to make that change would impact the General Fund $198,557. Staff was recommending keeping the 6% level. Young motioned, Brock seconded to maintain the current 6% 2-1 match. Council Member Krueger asked about the possibility of increasing perhaps 1/10th or 2/10ths of a percent instead of a full percent. City Manager Harrell stated that the State law indicated that the percent rate could be at 5%, 6% or 7%. There was no option to have other levels. An alternative could be to set aside an amount in reserve and in 2-3 years implement a 7% program without a drastic increase. Council Member Krueger stated that with all of the recruiting problems in Civil Service and other areas of the City, this would be an added tool to attract quality individuals. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 5-2 vote. 3:5 2 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 14 5. Positions - the following positions were proposed in the budget: A. Secretary in Facilities Management for a cost of $11,811. B. Accounts Payable Clerk for a cost of $20,610. C. Communications Supervisor in the Fire Department with a hire date of April 1st at a cost of $31,214 for six months and $62,428 for an annual cost. D. Half-time Secretary in the Planning Department for a cost of $11,400. Biles motioned, Brock seconded to approve the positions. Council Member Young expressed a concern regarding the Communications Supervisor position. He felt the salary of $62,428 was too high and would be more than the Municipal Judge, Treasurer and Librarian were making. Those three individuals were Afro- American and their salaries needed to be increased. City Manager Harrell stated that the actual supervisor position was a Fire Captain with assignment pay. The salary was $47,228 with the remainder to the costs being the benefits associated with the position. Council Member Krueger asked for an explanation of the benefits. City Manager Harrell stated that benefits included life insurance, health insurance, workers compensation, fire fighters pension, social security, longevity and incentive pay. Mayor Castleberry asked if it required a captain's position to be a supervisor. Chief Cook stated that the position would be a sworn Civil Service position of captain with incentive pay. A captain was a first line supervisor position. This position would r~quir~ som~on~ with computer knowledge to bring the system on line. City Manager Harrell stated that this would be a 40 hour per week position. This could be offered to those now working 24 hours on/ 48 hours off. Council Member Young stated that he would like to take a look at the Municipal Judge, Librarian and Treasurer's salaries. 353 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 15 On roll vote to approve the proposed positions, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 6. Fire Department - a previous motion approved by Council was to add six positions effective October 1st and six additional positions effective April 1st. At that time, Central Fire Station would go back into service with sufficient funds being budgeted for training, equipment and furnishing the Central Fire Station. Council Member Miller stated that the equipment was for a quint and a squad. Mayor Castleberry stated that current equipment could be used for a while. city Manager Harrell felt that the proposal was to take all of the expenditures for the six additional fire fighters plus the equipment, furnishings and training out of the Fire Reserve. The proposed budget had $243,000 in the Fire Reserve Fund. If the proposal of Council Member Miller were followed with those pieces of equipment, the Reserve Fund would be drawn down to $11,088 for the 1996-97 budget. The proposal made was to purchase a squad and a quint as part of that program. There were several other alternatives which could reduce that cost which was now estimated at $64,588 to either zero dollars or $15,208. Any of those alternatives were workable but staff wanted to make sure that although all of those costs were being covered in this budget, in 1996-97 there would be a $300,000 increase in the budget. If the entire Fire Reserve budget was gone, none of those fund would be available to help move gradually into that $300,000 amount. Mayor Castleberry asked for the cost of opening Station 1. City Manager Harrell stated that Council Member Miller's proposal would take $237,324 now in the budget for six fire fighters, equipment and training to be effective October 1st. Added to that, drawn down from the Fire Reserve fund, would be $231,912 which would include six people effective April 1st, uniforms, training, apparatus and a leased-purchased quint at $53,500 and the furniture at Central Station for $50,000. The new Fire Reserve balance would be $11,088. The second year costs assumed in the budget would be $324,824 which would have to be considered in the next year's budget. Mayor Castleberry stated that the cost of moving back into Station One was not included in those figures except for $50,000 for furniture. 354 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 16 City Manager Harrell stated that it did not include any kind of structural repairs to the Central Fire Station. Staff was concerned about the long range usefulness of that building. Mayor Castleberry stated that one of the estimates to improve the building was $500,000. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that the objective was to reopen Central Fire Station and not spend funds to improve the structure. This would give added protection for District Three. He stated that if the squad were deleted and an ambulance purchased, there would be approximately $70,000 difference and if left in the Fire Reserve fund the level would be approximately $81,000. City Manager Harrell stated that some similar type of scenario would be excellent. If Council felt that this was a good program and knowing that there would be a big budget impact next year, it made sense to try to set up a reserve fund to moderate the effect for the next year. If Council wanted to move back to Central with a quint, staff felt that it would make sense operationally to package that with a squad as opposed to an ambulance. If a standard fire vehicle was going to be used, then an engine and ambulance could be staffed. If a quint was used to staff Central with no squad, the quint would be run on 75% of the calls. That large piece of equipment did not need to be run on those types of calls. A squad could be used on those calls. Mayor Pro Tem Biles asked if there was a reserve engine to use at this point in time. City Manager Harrell replied correct. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that on April 1, 1996 a quint, a reserve engine and an ambulance should be in Central so that when an EMS run was done, the engine and ambulance would respond and not the quint. City Manager Harrell replied that that would be a good scenario provided tha ~Dac~ wa~ available. The negative ~ide of that would be that the reserve engine was in that capacity for some reason and was not a front line piece of equipment. It could be used on a short term basis but it should not be used to base long range staffing on. Fire Chief Cook stated that one reserve engine had had major repairs to it and the other unit was 26 year old. He could not guarantee a reserve engine would be available. 355 city of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 17 Council Member Miller asked for the chief's feelings about having a quint and a squad as a unit for Central. Cook stated that it gave the optimum in terms of options. He would prefer a quint and a squad. Biles motioned, Young seconded to purchase a quint and an ambulance from the equipment perspective and make the according budget adjustments of the $4,348. $66,000 would be used to maintain a higher Fire Reserve to provide working room for next year. Council Member Brock assumed that if $40,561 was going to be added to the Fire Reserve that the three additional police officers would not be funded. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that the point of his motion was to accomplish the equipment direction to staff and maintain the Fire Reserve balance. Council Member Brock stated that the purpose of the Fire Reserve fund was to facilitate the opening of an additional fire station. Council had already voted to reopen Central which would add a sixth station. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that his motion would accomplish opening a station but the surplus could be applied back for operations. There was a need to maintain a balance in that fund. Council Member Brock pointed out that for less than a $5,000 difference in the equipment a great deal of flexibility was being given up as a squad carried more men and had more functions. Mayor Castleberry asked for the cost to reopen Station One, other than the $50,000 in furniture. City Manager Harrell stated that no additional money would be spent to open Station One other than $50,000 for furniture. No structural repairs would be done. Mayor Castleberry asked about painting or replacing needed air conditioners. City Manager Harrell replied no. Anything which would be done to the station would have to be done with the $50,000. At some point if Council dec~ded %o s%ay permanently in C~ntral, there would be a large price tag to think about. 356 city of Denton city Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 18 On roll vote of Mayor Pro Tem Biles' motion, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 5-2 vote. City Manager Harrell stated that the motion as approved was to add the difference between the squad and an ambulance of $4,348, the $71,159 which was the budget balance and the $11,000 which was already in the Fire Reserve to the Fire Reserve fund. 7. Combination Fire Squad - the proposed budget recommended that one ambulance be replaced next year with a squad and allocated $13,848 to lease purchase that new vehicle, options to consider were to proceed with the replacement, not fund the squad and not make the allocation or provide some type of substitute equipment. Mayor Castleberry stated that this was only for the purchase of a piece of equipment. City Manager Harrell stated correct that it was to replace a current front line ambulance. Biles motioned, Krueger seconded to purchase an ambulance rather than a squad. Council Member Miller asked for the reasoning to purchase the ambulance rather than a squad. Council Member Krueger stated that one of the recommendations was that the new chief might want to make that decision later. He felt it was better to be more conservative now and let the new chief decide what to do. City Manager Harrell stated that staff's suggestion was to leave in the budget $13,848 which would let the new chief evaluate the needs and then return to Council with a suggestion for a purchase. If the choice were made to reduce the funding to an ambulance level, that kind of option would not be available as there would not be enough dollars available for a squad. On roll vote, Miller "nay", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 4-3 vote. 8. Fire Reserve Fund - this decision was made earlier. 9. City Hall Renovation - in 1991 the Council adopted a long range space plan for the city. That space plan recommended the remodeling of the old Moore building into the Denton Municipal 357 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 19 Complex, to remodel the old Police Department into City Hall West and remodel City Hall to bring up to ADA and code compliance. The proposed budget allocated one time expenditures to accomplish the City Hall renovation. There was $319,000 from previously sold bonds combined with $402,547 in General Fund money and $420,000 in utility funds for total of $1.1 million to renovate the building. Young motioned, Brock seconded to follow staff recommendations. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 10. Other Agency Contributions - the Human Services Committee received requests of approximately $522,000 of which $166,000 was recommended from Community Development Block Grant funds and $155,100 from the General Fund to fund those social service requests. Council Member Miller left the meeting. City Manager Harrell stated that the options for this issue would be to fund at the level requested by the agencies which would mean locating an additional $201,000 out of the budget or fund at the level recommended by the Human Services Committee. The city of Denton was one of the few cities which devoted a significant amount of its General Fund budget to fund social service agencies. Young motioned, Brock seconded to fund at the staff recommended level. Council Member Cott stated that approximately two years ago he started discussing that CDBG funds were going to start being reduced and that was now happening. He disagreed with funding out of the General Fund. In the future, there would no longer be Block Grant funds and felt that the City needed to find a permanent solution to this problem. Council Member Brock felt that it was correct that the City would not be receiving block grant funds in same amount, but felt that that did not mean that the City should not accept and expend those funds this year. Council Member Miller returned to the meeting. Council Membe~ Cott stated that he a~reed and felt that the City should try to increase funding if possible. But this was the second year of using General Fund dollars and that was not what that fund was intended for. 358 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 20 Council Member Young stated that the Federal government was beginning to cut funds but right now the money was available and the City should use it. Council Member Krueger stated that he had received many letters over this issue. He stated that when he had a charity he wanted to donate to, he did so with his own money. He did not use tax dollars to donate to them. If the Block Grant would cover the costs, that was fine, but he hated to see the City using General Fund money, taxpayers dollars. He used his own money to give to charities and felt that everyone else should do that and should not be taxed to do such. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 5-2 vote. Council Member Young left the meeting. 11. Tax Exemption for Persons over 65 - in 1989 the Council established a long range goal of trying to raise the property tax exemption for people over 65 years of age to $25,000. At that time the exemption was at $16,000. Except for one year since that time, $1,000 had been added so that currently the level was at $22,000. The proposed budget included a $1000 increase in the exemption. Options for this issue were to keep the present level of $22,000 which would increase the budget by $15,000, increase the amount immediately to $25,000 and find $30,000 in the budget or follow the recommendation to increase the level by $1,000. Krueger motioned, Brock seconded to increase the exemption by $1,000. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 5- 1 vote. 12. Vehicles - the budget recommended the funding for the replacement for 42 vehicles and pieces of equipment for $283,997. Options would be to not make those replacements and continue to use current equipment, replace the 42 vehicles and equipment, or fund all requested vehicles which would require the expenditure of an additional $613,000. Staff was recommending the replacement of the 42 vehicles. 359 City of Denton City Counci~ Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 21 Biles motioned, Brock seconded to follow the staff recommendation. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 13. Newsletter - currently the City produced a four page newsletter which was included three times a year as a insert in the Parks and Recreation brochure which was delivered as a part of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Public Utilities Board had recommended a direct mailout four times per year to every household in the city. The cost for such a mailout would be $7,185 to the General Fund and $21,555 in the Utility Fund. There were offsets of approximately $14,200 for the cost for additional printing in the Parks and Recreation brochure and some advertising decreases. The cost to the budget to produce a four time direct mailout before offsets would be $7,185 to the General Fund. Miller motioned, Brock seconded to approve the recommendation. Council Member Cott felt the objective was good but did not feel the City should do the work. He felt it should be done with the Denton Record-Chronicle. Mayor Pro Tem Biles felt that this was too much for advertising. He objected to General Fund dollars being spent in this manner and felt it was not appropriate until there was a better approach to spend those dollars. This newsletter would not increase the taxpayers awareness of city projects. Council Member Young returned to the meeting. Council Member Krueger stated that $7,000 was a large amount of money to many people. A direct mailout would not increase the overall awareness of what the City was doing. Mayor Castleberry felt that there was a need to get the message across the best way possible and that way was through direct mail. He felt this money would be well spent for the newsletter. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. 14. Municipal Judge's Budqet Requests - the Judge's proposals included the addition of a half-time bailiff and associated safety improvements requested as part of the Municipal Court operation for a total cost of $40,000. It was proposed that those be paid for with an additional $3.00 per case charge that the Judge had the 360 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 22 authority to impose upon ordinance adopted by Council. Council had asked staff to review the proposal for a vehicle for the bailiff. The budget included using a police vehicle scheduled to be sold as a vehicle for the bailiff. This would be done at the six month level. The Judge had estimated a 48 month lease for a new vehicle at $3671 minus the $2,000 salvage price already included in the $40,000. That would require an additional allocation of $1,671. Biles motioned, Brock seconded to approve the $40,000 expenditure and to incorporate the $3.00 fee to be imposed. Young motioned, Miller seconded to amend the motion to allow for a new vehicle for the Judge. A new car would eliminate required maintenance for a used vehicle. Council Member Miller stated that this proposal would add another $1,671 to the budget. City Manager Harrell stated that that would be for one year. It would increase in subsequent years. Council Member Cott stated that he was against adding more cars to the organization. There was a need to start a reduction of vehicles in the organization. Mayor Castleberry saw no reason for a new automobile. He was also against the original motion. When Municipal Court met in the Council Chambers he heard many people indicating that they could not pay their fines already. On roll vote for the amendment, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Krueger "aye", Brock "nay", Biles "nay", Castleberry "nay". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. "aye", Cott and Mayor On roll vote of main motion, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 15. Additional offic~rs Throuqh th~ COPS Grant - the first year local price for adding three additional officers was approximately $40,000. The application for the grant had been filed per Council direction. $40,000 would have to be added to the budget but would be spent only if the grant was awarded. Cott motioned, Biles seconded to approve the funding. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 361 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 23 16. Drapes for the MLK Recreation Center - there was a proposal to purchase $3,900 worth of drapes for the large meeting room at the MLK Center. Mayor Castleberry stated that the room configuration had been changed and felt that the money could be spent more wisely in other areas of the Center. Miller motioned, Young seconded to approve the request. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 4-3 vote. 17. After School Action Site Proqram and City Supported Day Care Centers - this was not a budget issue and might be something the Council would want to consider after the budget. The After School Action Site Program was a stand alone pay-for-service program. The General Fund received $13,865 for this program as the fees collected went to pay for the costs to provide the service. Council Member Young motioned to table consideration until after the budget. Council Member Krueger felt that it was too late to consider the issue for this year. He wanted to look into the issue later and suggested a committee of staff and day care facilities to consider the issue. Mayor Pro Tem Biles seconded to table the issue. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion carried with a 6- 1 vote. D. Other Budqet Issues for General Fund Council Member Miller stated that the Senior Citizens Center had expressed the need for a van. For approximately three years, they had been raising funds towards that van. He understood that they had collected approximately $7,000 towards this van and were proposing that the City purchase the van which would take care of this year's cost. There would be no budget cost this year but would have one in the future. The van would be available for other departments and other City activities. Miller motioned, Cott ~econded to accept the contribution from the Senior Citizen group and authorize the purchase of a van using their funds this year for the cost and then take the costs out of future budgets. 362 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 24 Mayor Pro Tem Biles asked if the Parks Department already had a van in the budget. City Manager Harrell replied correct. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that this would be a duplication of vans. Council Member Miller stated that the other van was for general use. Council Member Cott stated that this was not a duplicate as it went to different events. 363 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 25 On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. Council Member Young stated that he would like to include the Municipal Judge's salary, the Librarian's salary and the Treasurer's salary as budget items. All three of these individuals were Afro-American directors of departments and all three had lower salaries than other directors. He suggested each position receive at least a $15,000 raise to bring them up to parity with other directors in those positions. He felt those employees were discriminated against and that needed to be corrected. Mayor Castleberry stated that two of those three employees would receive the 4.8% increase just approved by Council and one was a City Council employee. Council Member Cott felt these people would be insulted to receive a salary review for the reasons stated. He felt that these people were executives who did a fine job and earned good increases with other employees. Young motioned to increase the Municipal Judge, Treasurer and Librarian's salary by $15,000. Motioned died for lack of a second. City Manager Harrell stated that Council needed to give direction on where to find the $32,715 which was now needed to balance the budget. Miller motioned, Biles seconded to reduce the general City reserve by that amount. Council Member Krueger asked about other expenditure items shown earlier such as bad debt expense and refunds of prior year revenue. City Manager Harrell stated that this was one of those occasions when it would be good to have Council thoughts ahead of time so that staff could help research those ideas. Kathy DuBose, Executive Director for Finance, stated that with the refund of prior year revenues, year-to-date $36,800 had been expended. The bad debt expense was an annual adjustment done during the year end audit and she did not have a forecast at this point. Council Member Young left the meeting. 364 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 26 Mayor Castleberry asked if the collection on ambulance bills was still at 50%. DuBose replied that it was greatly improved due to the fact that it was now electronically filed with Medicare and the change to direct billing to the insurance agencies. Council Member Krueger stated that he would like to explore other possibilities of making cuts. Mayor Pro Tem Biles withdrew his second to Council Member Miller's motion. Council Member Brock seconded the motion to take the funds from the General reserve. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion failed with a 3-3 tie. Council took a brief recess. After the recess, all Council Members were present. Mayor Castleberry stated that there was a tie vote while Council Member Young was absent from the meeting. The item could be considered again as all members were now present. Miller motioned, Brock seconded to take $32,715 from the General Fund reserve to balance the budget. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "nay", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion failed with a 3-4 vote. City Manager Harrell suggested an alternative on the revenue side would be to increase the property tax collection rate to 99.75% which would make up that difference. Staff would feel very comfortable with that figure. Krueger motioned, Biles seconded to increase the tax collection rate to the amount necessary to remove the deficit. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Bil~m "ay~~l, and Mayo~ Ca~tleberry "aye". Mo%ion carried unanimously. B. Utilities 1. Electric a) Rates-no general rate increase except for a 3.9% reduction for the mid-sized commercial customers. The energy cost adjustment rate was estimated to be at 1.7 cents per kilowatt hours. 365 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 27 Biles motioned, Brock seconded to approve the proposal. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. b) Positions - an Administrative Intern position was proposed to be reclassified to a full-time Administrative Assistant I position, a Clerk II was added to the Communications and a Dispatcher position transferred from the Water Department. Brock motioned, Biles seconded to approve the positions. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. c) New Division - this would move current personnel for a better accounting of positions and would create a dispatch division. Biles motioned, Brock seconded to approve the new division. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. 2. Water a) Rates - the proposed rate would be increased by 2%. Miller motioned, C°tt seconded to approve the rate. On roll vote, Miller "aye" Young "nay", Cott "aye" Krueger "aye" Brock "aye" Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6- 1 vote. b) New Positions - one Senior Engineer position would be added to the Engineering Division to support the one-stop processing in City Hall West. Miller motioned, Biles seconded to approve the position. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. Wastewater a) Rates - a 2% iner~as~ was proposed in the budqet. 366 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 28 Cott motioned, Miller seconded to approve the rate. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6- 1 vote. b) New positions - the two positions recommended were for a Laboratory Supervisor position and one Technician II position. Biles motioned, Cott seconded to approve the positions. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6-1 vote. c) Cap on Return on Investment - this was a cap on return on investment from the Wastewater fund to the General fund. This cap was placed on a year ago and limited the transfer made from the Wastewater fund to 12%. It also set up a new 1% street rental fee on the electric side. Biles motioned, Cott seconded to continue the cap. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 6- 1 vote. 4. Solid Waste a) Rates - the proposed budget recommended a $1 per month additional charge be assessed to the monthly solid waste charge for residential customers increasing the charge from $12 to $13 per month. In addition a 9.1% average increase for the commercial customer and a $1 per cubic yard increase for the landfill disposal rate. Young motioned to not fund as he was against any kind of rate increases at this point. Krueger seconded the motion. Council Member Krueger asked if the $1 increase for the residential customers was for operating expenses or for funding the Master Plan. Bob Nelson, Executive Director for Utilities, stated that the $13 would provide some flexibility to allow the Council to chose an array of different types of plans. Fifty cents of the $1 increase would be for flexibility of programs for recycling. Council Member Krueger stated that if Council agreed to this increase and then later decided to go with a private company with all recycling needs, would the rates be lowered. 367 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 29 Nelson replied no that the rates would have to be increased. Curbside recycling programs from commercial entities were part of the flexibility built into the Master Plan. $1.50 per customer would have to be added to serve that curbside recycling. Council Member Brock asked if some of the increase was due to the cost of expanding the landfill. Nelson replied correct especially in the commercial area and approximately half of the residential rate was targeted to be bringing the solid waste landfilling rate on a gradual basis. On roll vote to not fund the increase, Miller "nay", Young "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "nay", Brock "nay", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "nay". Motion failed with a 2-5 vote. Brock motioned, Miller seconded to approve the increase as recommended. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "nay", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried with a 5-2 vote. b) New positions - one temporary maintenance worker II was added to the recycling division. Miller motioned, Krueger seconded to approve the position. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 5. Solid Waste Master Plan - there were five different elements with this proposal. (1) public education element proposed to be funded at $45,000 geared to intensify the efforts to increase participation in a paper recycling program and a source reduction education program; (2) baler proposed to be funded at $56,385 to help with baling operations and included at the new compost facility; (3) expanded woodwaste processing at a cost of $61,632 to support the acquisition and operation of a large tub grinder/loader; (4) curbside recycling at a cost of $146,000 which would not be implemented until approval from Council; (5) initial design of an intermediate processing center at a cost of $200,000. Biles motioned, Cott seconded to proceed with the recommendation with the exception of the residential recycling. Council M~mb~r Kru~g~r a~ked what that would do to the intermediate processing center. 368 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 30 City Manager Harrell stated that it would not have any effect on whether the City became more involved with the center or if it contracted with a private firm. Nelson stated that approximately 80% of the solid waste in Denton came from commercial customers. The intermediate processing center would look at all types of options with perhaps a private entity to provide operation. After discussion by Council on the curbside recycling issue, Council Member Young called the question. Motion died for lack of a second. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that he was not voting against recycling. At the Council's planning session, it was indicated that the details of curbside recycling had not been worked out yet and he was not comfortable spending those funds until the details were known. Council Member Miller stated that Council would be authorizing the budget, not the expenditures. Mayor Pro Tem Biles felt that this would be a vote for more prudent fiscal responsibilities. City Manager Harrell felt that if Council wanted to implement some type of recycling this year, whether via the City or a private entity, the best way to guarantee that that would be possible would be to leave that amount of money in the budget without any authorization to spend those funds. If the money was taken out, the City Attorney had ruled as had State law that if an expenditure could have been reasonably anticipated, there could not be a mid- year adjustment for that expenditure. If the funding of $147,000 was removed for recycling, any kind of flexibility was removed for staff or the Public Utilities Board to return to Council with options for recycling. Once the money was taken out of the budget, the decision for recycling was put off for another year. Mayor Pro Tem Biles stated that a contract could be ~×~cut~d with an independent contractor. City Manager Harrell asked how that contract would be paid for. Unless money was appropriated in the budget which could be allocated for the cost, the budget could not be amended. The legal opinion was that a budget amendment could not be processed unless it was an unforeseen emergency which could not have been reasonable foretold before the start of the budget process. 369 city of Denton City CounciI Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 31 City Attorney Prouty stated that that was correct in that it had to be a true emergency. If the issue could have been foreseen, it was not a true emergency. Mayor Tem Biles requested a five minute recess. Mayor Castleberry asked if the Council would like to have a five minutes recess. Consensus of the Council was to have a five minutes recess. After the recess, Council Member Young was not present. After the recess, Mayor Pro Tem Biles withdrew motion as originally made and Council Member Cott withdrew his second. Biles motioned, Brock seconded to adopt as the Solid Waste Master Plan as proposed. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. C. Economic Development Proqram - it was recommended by the Public Utilities Board that the economic development program be increase by $98,250. This would be allocated to the Chamber of Commerce in two separate areas. One, for the existing Chamber partnership, would be increased from a base of approximately $65,000 to $85,000. Funding of an additional $28,250 above the base amount would be matched depending on contributions of 1/Sth of 1% of gross revenues from the other five utilities serving the city. The second area recommended by the Pubic Utilities Board was a $50,000 matching grant be given to the Chamber for their metroplex advertising campaign, $25,000 to be matched when the first $25,000 was raised and then on a dollar by dollar basis after that. Council Member Young returned to the meeting. Mayor Pro Tem Biles asked if the $28,500 only came if every other utility pledged 1/8th of 1%. Nelson replied that that was the way the proposal was put by the Public Utilities Board. Biles motioned, Miller seconded to adopt the Public Utilities Board proposal with the exception that the $28,000 incentive funds contingent of the other utilities coming in with 1/Sth of 1% would be matched at the rate of 1/5th of the $28,000 for each of the utilities which contributed. On roll vote, Miller "aye", Young 370 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 5, 1995 Page 32 "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Brock "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Castleberry "aye". Motion carried unanimously. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:00 p.m. TN~F~R WALTERS Y SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ACC002B8 BOB CASTLEBERRY, MAYO~ CITY OF DENTON, TEXA~ ~