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
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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
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
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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
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City of Denton City CounCil Minutes
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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.
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City of Denton City Council Minutes
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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