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Minutes November 12, 1996208 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES November 12, 1996 The Council convened into a Closed Meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 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 1. The Council considered the following in Closed Meeting: A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.071 Discussed status and considered settlement demand of William J. Cox. B. Real Estate -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.072 Ce Personnel/Board Appointments -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE Sec. 551.074 The Council convened into a Work Session on Tuesday, November 12, 1996 at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of City Hall. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Mayor Pro Tem Brock; Council Members Beasley, Biles, Cott, Krueger, and Young. ABSENT: None 1. The Council received a report, held a discussion and gave direction regarding the Diversity Task Force's Report of Findings and Recommendations. Debra Rose, Human Resources Generalist-Employment, stated that the Diversity Task Force was formed six months ago and had met four times in that time frame. Dr. Richard Lewis stated that he would be reviewing the structure of the Diversity Task Force and items which the Task Force considered. The seventeen members of the Task Force did a great job looking at the issue of diversity. The Council established the vision of diversity and the Task Force studied that vision. Diversity was an issue with a number of cities across the nation. Given this vision and the charge given the Task Force, three subcommittees were formed - social and cultural issues; housing and economic issues; and employment issues. All of those were interrelated even though considered in subcommittees. This process was a good first step and should not be considered the outcome for the total issue. The Task Force had recommendations which the City already was doing. One recommendation from the Task Force was to establish a diversity advisory board. It was felt that the job of the Task Force was not complete on a number of issues and the 209 City of Denton City Council Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 2 establishment of a board might continue thoseissues. This board's length would be determined by Council as well as the focus of the board. Another recommendation ,vas to track the language barrier context. There were a number of bilingual employees already with the City. Those individuals should be considered as contacts and conduits for the community. There was a need to look at the placement of those bilingual employees. Were they in positions which were needed by the community. In regards to social/cultural issues, it was'recommended to conduct public meetings and focus groups to further collect information concerning diversity. This would allow for the establishment of a diversity information data base to better manage diversity issues. This data base might be done by an outside consultant. There were three major recommendations by the housing/economic subcommittee. One recommendation was to implement minority business procedures. This would be a process for designating disadvantaged businesses. Hardware and software support would be recommended for such a list. There was a need to create networks between the city of Denton and the Chambers of Commerce of minorities. Derrell Bulls, Subcommittee for employment issues, stated that the subcommittee looked at many items such as the minority issue relative to hiring, identifying access barriers to employment, training for underemployed and unemployed, pay increases and grievance processes and procedures. Relative to the recommendations, they also looked at the area of turnover, recruitment, and internships. The subcommittee felt that the State Civil Service law was the biggest impediment to the increasing of minority hiring levels in the police and fire departments. Other factors were turnover of positions and availability of positions and entry level requirements. A continued effort should be made to continue to recruit minorities. The City had designed and implemented an aggressive recruitment program. The issue of a civilian review board was studied. After researching the issue, the subcommittee was not recommending the establishment of a civilian review board at this time. It was beyond the scope of this committee to recommend such. Lewis state~ that the City needed to continue to look at training. The City had a support role in terms of the training of citizens. The task force developed thirteen manageable recommendations for the City. A final report for Council was developed for Council to evaluate and then continue with the work in certain areas. The Council also needed to establish a system to identify disadvantaged business enterprises, a recruitment ~Dlan was needed in the non- uniform civilian workforce, and a need to increase the amount of police testing and consider off-site police testing. Establishing a mobility program within the City structure such as creating a mobility position for working more closely with the universities in 210 City of Denton City Council Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 3 terms of unpaid internship programs was also recommended. Another recommendation was to look at the City's compensation system either through a job evaluation assessment or through a compensation system assessment. There %;as also the suggestion to create a diversity panel which would set up a management structure for diversity. This could be tied in with the City's in-house work force diversity committee. A final recommendation was to address diversity in long-term strategic planning. Council Member Young felt that the committee had done a good job and hoped that the City would put the recommendations into practice. Mayor Miller felt that the Council needed to accept the report and place these recommendations on a regular agenda to decide what the next steps would be. There were thirteen recommendations from the Task Force. Some of those recommendations could be started soon and others which would have to be phased in. Council Member Krueger felt that the Council should go forward with the recommendations of the Task Force. Mayor Pro Tem Brock suggested asking the Task Force to come together and make recommendations on which items to proceed with first. 2. The Council received a report on the results of the City's Random Drug Testing Program since implementation on January 1, 1995. Max Blackburn, Risk Manager, stated that in December 1994 City staff presented a proposal to meet the Department of Transportation's mandates for random drug testing for commercial drivers licenses. This program was implemented on January 1, 1995. Requirements under the Department of Transportation guidelines included a pre-employment test, post accident testing, random testing, testing for reasonable suspicion, return-to-duty for commercial drivers who drove trucks over 26,000 pounds, bus drivers with 16 Dassengers or any driver of hazardous materi~l~. It was mandated to test 50% of the commercial drivers license holders for drugs and 25% for alcohol over a year by quarters. The violation rate which the Department of Transportation was looking for over two years were drugs less than 1% and alcohol less than .05% positive. The testing was to be done at the beginning or at end of the work session. In a survey done of surrounding cities on what was done for drug testing, it was found that the City had the most comprehensive drug testing program in the metroplex. Council Member Krueger asked if the random testing included every 211 City of Denton City CounCil Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 4 City employee - administrative staff as well as working staff. Blackburn replied that the guidelines from the City Council in December were that all commercial licensed drivers and every one in a safety sensitive position would be tested. After 21 months of drug testing there were no positives in the commercial licenses tests and seven positives in safety sensitive positions. Of the 806 tests given, under 1% tested positive. Mayor Miller asked if a post accident test was required for safety sensitive positions. Blackburn replied correct. The City's requirements were more stringent than the Department of Transportation. Council Member Krueger asked what happened to employees who were found positive during a random test. Blackburn stated that those employees were referred to the Employee Assistance Program. If the individual was in a temporary/seasonal position, he would probably be terminated. 3. The Council considered and gave staff direction joining a coalition of cities to intervene in Lone application for an increase in their gate rate. regarding Star Gas' Herb Prouty, City Attorney, stated that in August, the Texas Railroad Commission instituted an inquiry into the appropriateness of the city gate rate charged by Lone Star. The purpose was to inquire if the existing rate was fair and reasonable. The gate rate was the rate which the Lone Star transmission company charged for transporting the gas to the master meter at the City's gate. That was a significant component of the rate which was charged to the consumer. After the Railroad Commission instituted its inquiry, Lone Star applied for an increase in its gate rate. Since that time several coalitions were formed by cities to intervene in the case to demonstrate that Lone Star's gate rate was higher than the city gate rate of other large gas distributors in the state. There were three coalitions known of at this time. One group was the Fredricksburg coalition headed by the City of Fredricksburg. Another coalition was the City of Garland which was charging to participate in the coalition. The last coalition which had just been formed was one consisting of the larger cities serviced by Texas Utilities. At the upcoming Texas Municipal League meeting that coalition would present a reporti~by their steering committee with a decision whether or not to intervene in the case. At this point in time there was not enough information for a recommendation. Staff needed direction from Council on whether to proceed to determine whether or not to join a coalition. 212 City of Denton City Council Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 5 Council Member Cott asked how many cities were outside a coalition. City Attorney Prouty stated that at this time he understood that there were more cities served by Lone Star which had not joined than had joined a coalition. Most of the coalition had just formed and were in the process of soliciting cities to join. Mayor Pro Tem Brock felt that she would like to have more information on the issue. The City needed to not be passive on the issue and to know what would be best for the City. It might be appropriate, if the City joined a coalition, to join one with other cities which generated their own electricity through gas. Council Member Young stated that the City had just finished a suit with GTE and now were suggesting to enter into a similar situation with Lone Star Gas. Lone Star had not had a rate increase in 14 years and was only asking for a small increase. He felt the City should not get involved in this situation. Council Member Biles stated that the proposition was whether or not the City would participate in coalitions with other cities on behalf of rate payers in the City because Lone Star transmission was going to consider a rate increase which would ultimately affect the bill of the consumer of natural gas. This was very different from the City's litigation with GTE. This was not the city going out to get franchise fees due the City. He did not feel this was a wise expenditure of taxpayer dollars as it would be for a rate case which was not necessarily the same interests as rate payers. He was not in favor of joining a coalition before hearing from Lone Star Gas. The only justification to become involved would be if the City were acting as a consumer of natural gas as it consumed gas in the production of electricity. Council Member Beasley agreed that there was not have enough information on the issue. She felt it was a good point that the City had not heard from Lone Star Gas at this point in time. It might be useful to ask for a perspective from Lone Star Gas on the issue. Mayor Miller stated that he would like more information on the issue before making a decision on whether or not to join a coalition. The City was a major user of gas in producing electricity. He asked the staff to attend the TML meeting and return with more information on the pros and cons on whether or not to participate in a coalition. He would like more information and later decide on whether or not to participate. Council Member Krueger felt that the City should go to Lone Star Gas and open negotiations with them regarding the issue. City of Denton City Council Minutes November 12, 1996 Page 6 Mayor Miller stated that the consensus of the Council to have staff get more information on the issue and bring back a report to Council for further discussion. Information should come from Lone Star Gas as well as other sources. The information should include a utility impact on the issue. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ~NNIP~.~ WA~,TERS ~TY SECRETARY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS ACC0034F