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Minutes September 10, 1996102 Agenda Item, ~ ~ITY OF DENTONseptemberCITY10,COUNCIL1996 MINUTES Date /~/~ The Council convened into a Closed Meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 1996 at 5:15 p.m. in the Civil Defense Room of City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Beasley, Biles, Cott, Krueger, and Young. ABSENT: None The Council considered the following in Closed Meeting: A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.071 1. Consulted with attorney regarding status and strategies regarding RPS/Weber & Barnes v. City, and considered mediation or settlement. B. Real Estate -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.072 C. Personnel/Board Appointments -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.074 The Council convened into a Special Called Meeting on Tuesday, September 10, 1996 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Beasley, Biles, Cott, Krueger, and Young. ABSENT: None Members 1. The Council considered adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas annexing a tract comprising 29.115 acres, located approximately 2,000 feet east of Geesling Road and north of Blagg Road; temporarily classifying the annexed property as "A", Agricultural district. (First Reading) (The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 7-0.) Mayor Miller introduced both Items 1. and 2. Frank Robbins, Director of Planning and Development, stated that the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed these proposed annexations and recommended them for approval. The following ordinances were considered: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ANNEXING A TRACT COMPRISING 29.115 ACRES, LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 2,000 FEET EAST OF GEESLING ROAD AND NORTH OF BLAGG ROAD; TEMPORARILY CLASSIFYING THE ANNEXED PROPERTY AS "A", AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000.00 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 2 ¥~ 103 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ANNEXING A TRACT COMPRISING 96.78 ACRES LOCATED NORTH OF MINGO ROAD AND WEST OF COOPER CREEK ROAD; TEMPORARILY CLASSIFYING THE ANNEXED PROPERTY AS "A", AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY IN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $2,000.00 FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Young motioned, Beasley seconded to approve both ordinances. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 2. The Council considered adoption of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas annexing a tract comprising 96.78 acres, located north of Mingo Road and west of Cooper Creek Road; temporarily classifying the annexed property as "A" Agricultural district. (First Reading) (The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval 7-0.) This item was considered with Item #1. 3. The Council considered approval of a resolution authorizing a management study for the City of Denton (a) utility system and (b) general government. city Manager Benavides stated that Council had been briefed on both items and had requested the items on an agenda for formal consideration. Steve Bartlett stated that he represented a private company which was engaged in contract operations of water and wastewater systems throughout the United States. He supported the study and in particular, the study for the utility system. The company he represented would be ready to help the City With this study. Contract operations was not privatization. The City would still own the assets under contract management and would set all of the policies. The City would contract with a private firm to operate on a limited term contract, meeting the city's terms and conditions, standards and requirements. Other cities had discovered that the benefits were considerable. The environmental standards would be set by the City and guaranteed to be met. Those standards could be the same or could be higher. The costs would be significantly lower with the same high standards. Council Member Young asked about a tour of the faoilities in Oklahoma operated by Bartlett's company. Council Member Biles stated that it was his request of staff to return with information on the general government study as he felt 104 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 3 it would provide valuable information for the new City Manager. The utility study was compelled by the City Charter and there was a need to address it and provide for it in this year's budget. He felt it would be more prudent to wait with the general government study. Move forward with the utility study but wait with the general government study. The following resolution was considered: NO. R96-042 A RESOLUTION DIRECTING STAFF TO DEVELOP PROPOSALS TO PERFORM A MANAGEMENT STUDY DEPARTMENTS AND ESTABLISHING SCHEDULES PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. A REQUEST FOR FOR THE UTILITY THEREFORE; AND Council Member Biles motioned that Council move forward with the utility study and the required funding. Mayor Miller asked if that motion would be to approve the resolution with the elimination of Section B. Council Member Biles stated that the motion would be to amend the resolution to delete references to the general government departments, Part B and Section 2. Council Member Cott seconded the motion. Council Member Young asked if the utility study would include both electric and water in the same study or separate studies. City Manager Benavides stated that they would be together including solid waste which was added by the Public Utilities Board. Council Member Young asked how long the study would be and how much would it cost. City Manager Benavides stated that the study would cost approximately $200,000 and would be completed around June or July. Council would be briefed on the parameters of the study, the mele~tlon of the consultants and receive progress reports for the pUblic Utilities Board and Council. Council Member Young asked if the study would be faster and cheaper if done in sections rather than together. ~i~y Manager Benavides stated that he would prefer to keep the sections together as it would provide a better perspective as a whole. City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 4 105 Mayor Miller stated that the study would involve such issues as to the most efficient methods for the utility system. Council Member Krueger asked why the process was waiting until November to start. Could the time line be advanced. City Manager Benavides stated that it was important to look at the scope of work which had to be done. The City would have to go out for requests for proposals. The Public Utilities Board needed to look at the process. It was important to be sure that all areas would be covered. Me would rather spend the time in the beginning to get the process started correctly rather than have to review the procedure later in the process. Council Member Krueger stated that since this study had not been done in several years, the amount of allocation seemed vague. A cost was mentioned between $150-200,000 for the study. The DISD had a similar study which was much less but seemed to do as much. The city seemed to be overrun with consultants and the cost for those services. There might be a need to trim down the study to look at exactly what the Charter called for and do what the Charter required. city Manager Benavides felt there was a need to make the $200,000 investment so as to have an outside objective opinion on the system. If the amount of money for the consultant was reduced, staff would have to be pulled from their regular duties to help with the study and would not be providing services to citizens. Council Member Beasley agreed that she did not like consultant fees but in this case, the City Charter mandated a comprehensive review of the entire utility system and felt it was money well worth investing. At the end of the review the Council would be able to make decisions regarding the utility system. Council Member Cott asked for a review of what was going to be studied. Bob Nelson, Executive Director for Utilities, stated that the study would look such items as the organizational structure of the system, support services, a comparison of other cities and their systems, and a look at each department for functions, etc. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", "nay", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". carried with a 6-1 vote. Krueger Motion 4. The Council considered approval of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas approving and authorizing the City Manager to execute a compromise, settlement release of all claims in the matter of Cohaqen et. al. v. City of Denton, Texas; authorizing payment of 106 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 5 $21,805.50 to the plaintiffs to consummate the settlement. The following ordinance was considered: NO. 96-191 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A COMPROMISE, SETTLEMENT AND RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS IN THE MATTER OF COHAGEN, ET AL V. CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS; AUTHORIZING PAYMENT OF $21,805.50 TO THE PLAINTIFFS TO CONSUMMATE THE SETTLEMENT; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Biles motioned, Young seconded to adopt the ordinance. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried unanimously. Following the completion of the Special Called Session, the Council convened into a Work Session at which the following items were considered: 1. The Council received an update from Lila Knight, Newlan-Knight and Associates regarding the City's cultural resources inventory. Ralph Newlan, Newlan-Knight and Associates, stated that the documentation provided by his firm had already been used extensively in the Vision Project. There were five goals and objectives for the project. Identification of resources, regulatory process such as how to update the city's historical zoning ordinances, education regarding historical structures, the regulatory aspect and the advisory capacity. The study recommended two historic districts. One was a national register historic district in the Courthouse Square area and the other was the College Street school district. Council Member Young asked if the study was done on the Fred Moore House. Newlan stated that there was a recommendation that those homes moved from Quaker Town should be recognized. There were still 4-5 homes which still had enough integrity to promote historic designation. There were several designations which could be provided such as a national register, state programs and a local designation. There were several ways to recognize a specific property. Mayor Pro Tem Brock asked how many properties were examined. Newlan stated that there was an unusually high number of properties for the size of Denton as 2,409 properties were studied. City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 6 107 Council Member Biles asked about the distinction between a historic district and a conservation district. Newlan stated that part of the difference was dealing with State agencies and local agencies and staff. There were many options for citizens to use to receive a historical designation. 2. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding a proposed resolution supporting legislation to return five cents of every lottery sales dollar to the City of Denton. Joseph Portugal, Assistant to the City Manager, stated that Commissioner Kirk Wilson, representing the Denton County Commissioners Court, asked the City to consider drafting a resolution of support to legislation concerning the Texas lottery. The proposal would return 5 cents for every lottery sales tax dollar to the jurisdiction where the sale occurred. It had been determined that there was $34.4 million worth of sales relating to the lottery and Denton County's portion would have been $1.7 million. Council approval to draft a resolution of support would support Senator Haywood's efforts in the Legislature. The County Commissioners had passed their resolution on August 6, 1996. Brock motioned, Young seconded to direct staff to bring back a resolution for Council consideration. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 3. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave staff direction regarding a proposal to study the City's Customer Information and Utility Billing System. Harlan Jefferson, Director of Fiscal Operations, stated that over the past several years, the Customer Service Department had been working diligently to try and increase the satisfaction of the utility customer. This had been done by increasing convenience, availability and equity of customers. Customers could now request service, disconnect service and request payment extensions over the phone. Additional payment options had been included such as payment with credit cards and the addition of the city Hall in the Mall office. Even with these changes, it was felt that the Customer Service Department might not be in the position to meet the future needs of internal and external customers. It was felt that an evaluation of the current utility billing system as well the customer information system was needed. Bids were let in June with two responses received. There would be two phases for this proposal. A strategic technology planning session was done in phase one last year. Phase two would include an evaluation of the customer information system and identify whether to partner with someone else to provide the service, outsource the service, or 108 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 7 upgrade the current utility billing system. Only the first phase was recommended at this time. Biles motioned, Young seconded to direct staff to proceed. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried unanimously. 4. The Council received and considered information on the 1996-97 fiscal year budget and gave staff direction. Kathy Dubose, Executive Director for Finance, reviewed information provided Council in the agenda back-up materials. Tab 17 provided information regarding the Solid Waste Division. The use of reserves was not included in the budget presentation. There were two reserves set aside - one for rate stabilization and the other for dumpster reserve. Tab 18, regarding the sales tax numbers, indicated $197,000 more was received than anticipated for the month. That figure would provide more flexibility in the budget discussions. Tab 19 updated the budget balancing sheet to include the new sales tax figure. Council Member Cott asked for an explanation on each of the one- time source expenditures. DuBose stated that one of the ways a one-time source was identified was to look at an estimate of what would be the revenues and expenditures for the current year. If the expenditures were under budget or if the revenue came in over budget, that amount would go to the fund balance. Because the Council had decided to keep the fund balance at 10%, the amount over and above the 15% fund balance was proposed for a one-time resource of funding. Council Member Young asked if the Phoenix Park expansion was a part of the one-time expenditures. DuBose stated that that item was listed as a possible project for the one-time expenditures. One other option which the City Manager was recommending was to reduce the ad valorem tax rate an additional one-fourth cent. Tab 20 indicated possible one-time sources and updated figures. Possible projects included a new civic Center bridge for $100,000; the Phoenix Park expansion for $25,000; Civic Center Park Master Plan for $40,000; City Hall furniture for $50,000; City Hall Courtyard Walkway for $38,000; City Hall Courtyard Awning for $39,000; Scott Street right-of-way of which $30,000 would be for the purchase of right-of-way and ~n~tr~tion f~r $103,000; Management Study-General Government for $150,000; Economic Development Corporation requested funding for $82,000; and replacement of two bridges on Jim Christal Road for $49,000. City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 8 109 Council continued with the budget balancing which was started at a prior meeting. 7. Other Agency contributions - the recommendation was for $166,000 which was a 9% increase over the prior year. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommended funding. 8. Tax Exemption for Persons Over 65 - the recommendation was to increase the exemption by $1,000 to $24,000 for persons over 65 years of age. Council Member Cott stated that younger citizens had indicated that this exemption was not fair and he would not be voting in favor of increasing the exemption. Mayor Pro Tem Brock asked how much this affected the budget. DuBose replied that the total cost in taxes was $15,000. Mayor Pro Tem Brock did not feel that age alone was enough to justify a tax break. She would agree with this increase because of a promise made by a previous Council. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommended increase. 9. Vehicles - the proposed budget contained $345,000 for vehicles of which $171,000 was a one-time funding source. The balance would be on-going in which money would be set aside for future replacements. Consensus of the Council was to proceed as proposed. 10. Long Range Technology Plan - the proposed budget included $153,000 for the first phase of this plan. Total costs would include an additional $134,000 allocated in the utility funds. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommendation. 11. city Hall in the Mall - included in the proposed budget was funding for utilities for this space, three part-time customer service representatives to cover extended hours and a part-time computer operator position. council Member Beasley felt that the program was a good idea but was concerned about adding new people to the program. She was concerned that employees at City Hall would not have enough to do with the increase business taking place at the Mall office and suggested staff continue to look at the hours during the next year. 110 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 9 DuBose stated that staff would continue to track the activity both at City Hall and at the Mall. Council Member Krueger expressed concern about the expansion of the program. He did feel that someone would go the Mall to pay his bill at 9:00 p.m. or even at 10:00 a.m. City Manager Benavides stated that the city suffered from bad press when the Mall office was closed when other stores were open. He felt it was important to continue this service in order to provide better service to the community. Council Member Krueger stated that this would be a reoccurring cost. Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that this was a project which the City wanted to do for a number of years. It was not a project which necessarily paid for itself but many citizens appreciated the availability of the service. DuBose stated that the $64,000 was being funded from the Utility System. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommendation. 12. Main Street - consideration of this item was held until discussion of the Lalor funds. 13. Facilities - $568,000 was proposed in the budget for one-time building renovations, repairs, and upgrades. Council Member Biles asked about the cost of relocating Customer Service to the Denton Municipal Complex. Bruce Hennington, Facilities Manager, stated that Phase Two of the renovation had been funded through the bond proposal. That would move Customer Service to the Complex. The proposed $179,000 would supplement the bond funds to complete phase two. Council Member Young asked if parking would be adequate at the Municipal Complex for Customer Service. Hennington stated that there should be adequate citizens using Customer Service. There would be parking spaces designated as customer parking. parking for at least 100 Council Member Cott felt that there was a critical parking problem at the new South Branch Library. City of Denton City Council Minutes · ~- September 10, 1996 Page 10 11i Hennington stated that that was a project included in this proposal. Twenty one new spaces would be added to the parking at the Branch. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommendation. 14. SPAN - there had been a reduction in federal funding for SPAN and the proposed budget reflected that reduction. Steps taken in regards to this reduction included a redesign of the existing fixed route system, requiring SPAN to consider alternatives to focus on eliminating fixed route and demand services at different intervals during the day and transferred capital and planning funds from previous federal grants that were still open to meet the cost of operation in the 1996-97 grant year. Consensus of the Council was to proceed as indicated. 15. Other Services - included in the budget was an Attorney who would be dedicated to utility purposes and would be funded through a utilities transfer. A part-time clerk was also recommended for the city Manager's office. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the positions. DuBose stated that there was also funding included for work force diversity. The Work Force Diversity Committee made recommendations to enhance the recruitment program, incorporate a "train the trainer" program and a community luncheon. Mayor Miller stated that the net cost for those projects would be $93,050 which was included in the budget. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the proposal. DuBose discussed the recommendation for the Lalor funding. There were some recipients which were under a two year contract of which next year would be the second year of that two year period. There were other agencies which had a one-time lump sum allocation. One item of consideration was the position of the Denton Main Street Association. There was an original request of $30,000 to be used to fund the Assistant Director's position. The City Manager's recommendation was to take $17,000 out of the Lalor funds and the balance from General Government. Council Member Krueger had a recommendation to fund 100% of the Main Street Association in the General Fund and associated percentages. Council Member Krueg~r that his proposal was to give incentives to organizations and not have caps. The use of percentages was an opportunity for growth for each entity competing for funds. They would strive over and above what they received from the Lalor funds. He felt Main Street should be funded out of General Fund. 112 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 11 The Lalor funds should be distributed to the other groups. Krueger motioned, Young seconded that the Council adopt the funding percentages he had suggested. Council Member Beasley stated that she did not support the percentage recommendation proposed by Council Member Krueger. There would be no incentive as there was only a one year contract and the next year the percentages would lock the amount available. She supported the one time funding versus the percentages. She suggested having the funded groups supply the Council with information on how the funds were spent, programs done and justify the money given. She suggested not funding the full $30,000 for Main Street as all of the projects done were not for tourism which was the intent of the hotel/motel tax. Part of what Main Street did was to promote the Downtown area and Main Street. She was in favor of funding the $17,000 and the remainder out of the General Fund. Council Member Krueger stated that all of the organizations which were proposed to receive money this year also received money last year except the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. One of his original suggestions was to have two year contracts and alternate them between the original five organizations and the six other organizations. The reason for the Lalor fund was to promote tourism. If the percentages were used, once a certain production level was reached, the percentage would be cut back which would provide more percentages to expand the program. The percentages allowed for an incentive for the organizations. Mayor Miller stated that funding on a by case by case basis provided an opportunity to increase funding in future years. That could not be done on a percentage basis. Council Member Krueger stated that his formula still allowed for a reserve and maintained funding in areas. There was a need for a better system of tracking for the disbursement of funds and a need for some type of accountability for the amount of funding given to the organizations. on roll vote to fund the organizations as recommended by Council Member Krueger, Beasley "nay", Brock "nay", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "nay", and Mayor Miller "nay". Motion failed with a 2-5 vote. Beasley motioned to accept the Manager's recommendation. On roll ¥ote, Beasl~y "ay~"~ Brock "~y~", ~0~ "~y~", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion carried unanimously. City of Denton City Council~Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 12 113 Mayor Miller stated that Council needed to consider the on-going proposals for the budget. DuBose stated that the first proposal was for Main Street and Council had just recommended to fund the additional $13,000 from General Fund resources. There was a recommendation to increase the Animal Control officers by two, to expand services to include officers on duty from 5:00-9:00 p.m. which would help reduce overtime pay for the officers. Council Member Beasley asked if the additional officers would be able to work weekend hours. Noni Kull, Animal Control/Consumer Health Manager, stated that at this point in time the schedules were not set as the Department had never had this number of officers. Extending hours was a proposal they would be looking at after the additional officers were approved. Council Member Beasley stated that she had received complaints about people having animals in parks on the weekends and she would like to find a solution to that problem. Consensus of the Council was to include the dollars for the Animal Control officers. DuBose stated that the balance of the remaining dollars could be used for a 1/4 cent reduction of the ad valorem tax rate. Mayor Miller stated that the current tax rated was $.5409, the proposed tax rate was $.5309 and with the additional quarter cent would be $.5284. Council Member Krueger asked if that was pending September's tax. DuBose stated no that this budget would have to be balanced at this meeting as it had to be adopted by next week per the city Charter. Council Member Krueger asked what would happen when September came in and it was still over. DuBose stated that the Council could deal with it in the next budget cycle. Consensus of Council was to reduce the ad valorem tax by an additional 1/4 cent. DuBose stated that with the balancing, the budget was still $746 short of what was needed to balance. Council considered the one- time expenditures. The first item was a new civic Center Bridge for $100,000. 114 City of Denton city Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 13 Council Member Krueger asked if the new bridge would be like the one behind the Library. DuBose stated that it would be a 10' wide bridge across the channel at the Civic Center Park and the relocating of utilities on the existing bridge. Rick Svehla, Deputy City Manager, stated that it would be a new bridge as the existing bridge was only 4' wide. The new bridge would be wider and because of the flood plain, it would have to be longer. The utilities would have to be relocated which were currently under the bridge. Council Member Biles stated that the bridge had been a subject of discussion for many years. It was very hard for an individual in a wheelchair to cross the bridge. council Member Beasley felt that the Civic Center Master Plan needed to be done first so it was known where the bridge should go and what was wanted in the park. Council Member Cott stated that if none of this was critical, why not save the taxpayers the money. He felt it was better to save the taxpayers the money. Council Member Biles stated that if Counicl took this one-time money to reduce the tax rate, next year, in order to get back to a flat budget, the Council would have to adopt a 2% cent tax increase to get back to this rate. Mayor Miller stated that if the City was receiving requests from citizens regarding this type of inadequate facility, the City had to be willing to spend the money to correct the problem. Council Member Cott asked if there was a $½ million reserve if the City had a natural disaster. DuBose stated that the City had a 10% fund balance reserve which was approximately $3½ million for emergencies. This would allow the City to operate 43 days into a budget. Young motioned, Biles seconded to accept Items A-J except for the management study item. Mayor Pro Tem Brock stated that Item CDEF were items which had to be removed from the planning for City Hall renovation due to higher construction costs. These were restored items and not new items. DuBose stated that at this point in time there were enough funds for all items excluding the management study. Those items totalled $556,320. City of Denton City Councit~Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 14 115 Mayor Miller asked if the Scott Street right-of-way had the backing of the neighborhoods. Council Member Young stated at the present time Willowcreek was the only way in and this extension would provide another way in and allow for better emergency protection. The proposal to extend Scott Street to Newton Street had the backing of the entire community. A church was planning to build in the area once the street was extended. Mayor Miller asked if anyone would be disrupted by the purchase of the right-of-way. Council Member Young replied no. Mayor Miller suggested having neighborhood meetings to make sure all the residents understood the project. Council Member Brock called the question. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Brock "aye", Cott "nay", "aye", Young "aye", Biles "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". carried with a 6-1 vote. Krueger Motion Mayor Miller stated that except for $746 the budget was balanced. city Manager Benavides suggesting allowing the city Manager to find the $746. DuBose stated that a recreation fund was established in the 1981-82 fiscal year as a method of funding recreational and leisure service programs that were self supporting. The ending balance on September 30, 1996 was estimated to be $132,000. The proposed budget suggested using $83,000 of this balance to fund one time expenditures including $33,000 for fitness, recreation and gymnastics equipment, a computerized registration and program tracking system and an aquatics facility feasibility study. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the proposal. DuBose continued with the utilities issues. The Electric Department budget had no proposed basic rate change although the ECA rate would be programmed depending on the market price for natural gas. New positions proposed included a utility service worker in Metering, one secretary in the Distribution Division, one temporary/Seasonal position in the Dispatch Operations, one-half worker year for a training position in Administration, and one fourth of a worker year for office clerical support in Communications. The Demand Management Division was eliminated and the proposed ROI payment to General Government equated to a 3.6% of Denton rate revenue plus a street rental fee of 4%. 116 City of Denton City Council Minutes September 10, 1996 Page 15 Consensus of the Council was to proceed with this proposal. DuBose stated that the Water Department proposed no increase in the retail rates but increase wholesale rates. New positions included a Director of Water/Wastewater Field Services, Engineering and Drainage. The Return On Investment equated to a 5.6% rate revenue. Consensus of the Council was proceed with the proposal. DuBose stated that the Wastewater Department proposed no increase in rates for 1996-97. Positions proposed included a Director of Water/Wastewater Field Services, Engineering and Drainage, an Administrative Assistant I in the Treatment Division, a temporary Environmental Monitoring Technician in the Pretreatment Division and one Maintenance Mechanic I in the Treatment Division. The ROI payment equated to 5.6% of rate revenue. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the proposal. DuBose stated that the Solid Waste Department proposed no increase in the residential rates. The proposed commercial rates varied by type of service, container size and pick up frequency. One Light Equipment Operator was proposed to the Recycling Division plus one Welder/Fabricator and one Maintenance Mechanic I transferred from the Machine Shop Division. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the proposal. DuBose stated that there were some internal service funds which the Council needed to approve. There was a Fleet Services fund, the Warehouse fund, the Motor Pool fund, the Emily Fowler Library fund, the Police Confiscation fund and the Debt Service fund. Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the proposal. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p.m. CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ~XAS ACC0033F