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Minutes December 3, 1996228 CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES December 3, 1996 The Council convened into a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, December 3, 1996 at 5:45 p.m. ~n the City Council Chambers. PRESENT: Mayor Miller; Council Members Beasley, Biles, Cott, Krueger and Young. ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem Brock. 1. Pledge of Allegiance The City Council and members of the audience recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the American and Texas flags. 2. The Council considered approval of the minutes of September 10 and 17, 1996. Biles motioned, Beasley seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye ". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. Mayor Miller and Cecile Carson, Keep Denton Beautiful Coordinator, presented the following awards: Downtown Business Award Off the Square Antiques, Sharon leffries, Manager Texas Recycles Day -- Billy Ryan High School, Evette Guzman Texas Recycles Day -- McNair Elementary School, Doug Key and Molly Hyde Texas Recycles Day -- Sullivan-Keller Early Childhood Center, Dr. Rod Arrington and Doris Koberly 3. The Council held a public hearing regarding the proposed annexation of 11.24 acres located south of Robinson Road and east of Nowlin Road. (A-74) Harry Persaud, Senior Planner, explained that this was the first of two public hearings with regard to the proposed annexation of 11.24 acres located south of Robinson Road and east of Nowlin Road. Persaud stated that staff did an annexation study and received direction from Council to proceed with this annexation. The annexation process was underway. The next public hearing would be on December 17. Amy Homely, represented the petitioner, asked for approval of the annexation. Council Member Young asked if the property being annexed had water and sewer available. Homely stated the preliminary research had already been done and their engineers felt confident that they could get water and sewer to that sight. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 2 229 Young motioned, Biles seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 4. Exaction variance of Section 34-114 (17, requiring sidewalks for the Oakmont II Subdivision. The subject property is in a Single Family 7 Conditioned (SF-7[c]) zoning district and is located on the north side of Robinson Road, approximately 400 feet west of State School Road. (The Planning and Zoning Commission recommends approval 5-0.) Rick Svehla, Deputy City Manager, stated that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended granting the variance for the sidewalk in the area noted in green along the proposed right-of-way of Loop 288, south of 1-35E. The petitioner would be platting this staff could ask that additional right-of-way be platted for building the Loop south of 1-35E. The reason staff supported the variance was that Loop 288 would not be built first off when the subdivision was platted. Secondly, none of the lots will front or face Loop 288. The sidewalk would really not serve any purpose when the property was platted. Therefore, staff would suggest not building it until Loop 288 was built. Council Member Beasley asked if Loop 288 went through there, would a sidewalk have to be built anyway. Svehla stated they could at that point. They did not think it would serve any purpose right now simply because nothing fronts it and there was no roadway. Council Member Beasley asked if there was going to be a wall there. Svehla responded yes, he believed that was the developers plan. Council Member Beasley wanted to know if it would be a requirement to ever build a sidewalk there. Svehla stated it wouldn't be a requiremem. You would want to see what kind of developmem occurred along the road to see if they even need a pedestrian walkway along the Loop. There were existing areas along the Loop where they probably wouldn't need a sidewalk. But then there were others on the existing Loop where there were businesses that had some foot traffic. It would depend on what else developed in the area. Svehla stated along that section of Loop 288 the city had no funding for a right-of-way purchase. Beasley motioned, Biles seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 5. Exaction variances to Sections 34-124(e) pertaining to drainage design standards; Section 34-116(e) pertaining to fire flow; and Section 34-116(c) pertaining to fire hydrants. This 54.17 acre tract is approximately 950 feet south of Milam Road, east of Interstate 35. The 23O City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 3 property is located in Division 1 of the City of Denton's extraterritorial jurisdiction. (Milam Creek Ranch, Phase 2) (The Planning and Zoning Commission recommends approval 5-0.) Svehla stated there were three variances in this particular item. First was a drainage variance. In the back-up there was a drawing that showed where the easement was. The existing subdivision regulations in this division one area would require that the drainage be piped. Svehla commented that in this particular case we would be going from a non-improved area to a pipe then back to a non-improved channel. He did not think that was very good engineering wise; it provided for erosion on either end of the pipe. Planning and Zoning recommended an earth channel with rip rap, and staff could also support that. The second issue was water service. The subdivision was north of Milam Road or on FM 3163. Svehla said it was 17,000 feet from the existing water lines. At $25.00 per foot it would take over $400,000 to bring water to that area. He did not think it was developers plan to do that or certainly was not his intention to do that in the beginning, rather they would get their water from either wells or other systems that are in the area. The second issue is if you have no water line there, there really does not need to be any facility to hook fire hydrants to. You could not deliver the fire flow if you did not have water pipes. In this instance Planning and Zoning looked at both of those items and agreed with staff and recommended that the variances be granted. Young asked who would respond if there was a fire in that area. Svehla responded that it was outside the jurisdiction of the City. He thought it would be Sanger. Krueger motioned Cott seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. Mayor Miller introduced Items 6-8, the Consent Agenda Items. 6. Ordinance accepting competitive bids and awarding a contract for pumhase of materials, equipment, supplies or services. (Bid #1963 - 69 KV Circuit Breakers) The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-270 AN ORDINANCE ACCEPTING COMPETITIVE BIDS AND AWARDING A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES OR SERVICES; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFOR; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 7. Ordinance providing for the expenditure of funds for purchases of materials or equipment which are available from one source in accordance with the provisions of state law exempting such purchases from requirements of competitive bids. (P.O. #70850 - Denton Central Appraisal; P.O. #71410- Metron-Farrier) City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 4 231 The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-271 /uN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS FOR PURCHASES OF MATERIALS OR EQUIPMENT WHICH ARE AVAILABLE FROM ONLY ONE SOURCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF STATE LAW EXEMPTING SUCH PURCHASES FROM REQUIREMENTS OF COMPETITIVE BIDS AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 8. Ordinance awarding a contract for the purchase of materials, equipment, supplies or services by the State Purchasing General Service Commission. (P.O. #71445 - TAS of Denton; P.O. #71446 - Gray's Wholesale Tire) The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-272 AN ORDINANCE AWARDING A CONTRACT FOR THE PURCHASE OF MATERIALS, EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES OR SERVICES BY THE STATE; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFORE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Council Member Biles motioned Young seconded to approve the consent agenda items 6 - 8 above. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cot/"aye", Kmeger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. ITEMS FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATION 9. Ordinance altering the prima facie speed limits established for vehicles under the provisions of Section 545.356 of the Transportation Code V.T.C.A., upon Highway No. 2181 or parts thereof, within the incorporated limits of the City of Denton; providing for a penalty not to exceed two hundred dollars; providing for a severability clause; and providing for a repealing clause. (The Traffic Safety Commission recommends approval.) Svehla presented a history staWs efforts with Texas Department of Transportation to set new speed limits on Teasley Lane. Originally, staff understood from Texas Department of Transportation that they were to do that, and staff began that process the early part of the year. Since that time, staff was notified by Texas Department of Transportation that they would do the speed studies and then suggest or basically propose limits the city. They have done that. Traffic Safety has reviewed that. Those limits were very similar to what staff did, they were all within five miles or less of what the staff proposal was almost twelve months ago. Staff 232 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 5 recommended them to you rather than to try to do the various kinds of things that would be required of us to go back to Texas Department of Transportation. Svehla reminded the Council that a large part of Teasley was reconstructed and opened last year. The speed limit technically, would be 30 miles per hour. Obviously we think it's appropriate to get the facility limited in nature. The second issue was the school zone in front of Sam Houston on all facilities. Basically whether using Texas Department of Transportation numbers or staff's, the drop-in speed limit that would be allowable was 20 miles per hour. The speed limit in front of Sam Houston would be 45 miles per hour. Svehla advised of an error on the map because the zone showed 20 miles per hour and that should be 25 miles per hour. The verbiage, however, did speak to the issue at 20 miles per hour and therefore the school zone speed limit from the hours of 7:30 am to 8:30 am and from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. would be 25 miles per hour. That was the speed limit in the zone prior to the reconstruction of Teasley. As mentioned in the back-up Traffic Safety has looked at this and recommends it to you. Mayor Miller asked if it was roughly a 35 mile per hour zone from the Interstate. Svehla said the 35 mile per hour zone was actually from Dallas Drive or US 77 to Londonderry. It would increase to 45 mph from Londonderry to Lillian Miller or the turn or where Teasley turns south. Mayor Miller said then it went to 50 miles per hour. He asked if there would be a school crossing there when we build the middle school? Svehla replied yes there was a cross-walk there now (not on the south side), but there was a signal, and when the school was built there would be a cross-walk painted there. Mayor Miller asked if there would be a school zone there and also would 25 mph be recommended. Svehla responded it would more than likely not be recommended because the school fronts more of Jason and Londonderry. The better position for the zone would be the intersection of Jason and Londonderry. But because of the signal at Teasley and Londonderry the speed would be obviously slower there anyway. Mayor Miller asked if it would be 35 miles per hour there all the time. Svehla responded yes and commented that it would be looked at again when the school was completed. Cott asked what the speed was when the light was not flashing? Biles responded that when the light was not flashing it would be 45 miles per hour in front of Sam Houston. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 6 233 Beasley said she understood from the back-up that Council did not really have much choice in doing this because Texas Department of Transportation had given their proposal. Svehla thought that there was probably a fifty-fifty chance that we would be successful. The problem was that in the interim staff felt it was m~ce important get the speed set rather than set the zone. Because the zone was 25 mph like it was before staff was still comfortable with that. He said it would have been nicer to have it at 20 mph but thought think that 25 mph was livable simply because that was what the zone was before. Svehla said we have built a much wider, much more visible kind of facility and we have concentrated efforts where the cross-wall was on Teasley. It comes across at Indian Ridge. Staff thought that was an appropriate place. With all things considered, staff thought 25 mph would work. Svehla said staff could go back to Texas Depa,-auent of Transportation to begin the discussions. They thought it would take another 6 to 8 months to get that resolved. It was much more important to get the zones installed, because we were half-way into the school year already and we thought the ne zones were needed. Beasley agreed with that and thought it needed to be resolved. She was just pointing out that they really didn't have much choice, that we could protest this and try to work through it, but we would end up with no speed limits on that road. Svehla said they would ask staff to provide data that showed that 85 % of the traffic was traveling at less than the 45, i.e., closer to 40. Staff's studies really showed that it was not too likely. Beasley motioned and Biles seconded to approve the ordinance. Mayor Miller said technically the speed limit was 35 miles per hour. One citizen said if the speed was not posted and it is a state highway, then it was 70 mile per hour. He thought it was imperative that any major arterial road in our city have speed signs on it. He was told in no uncertain terms that since it was a state road, he knew that it was a 70 mile per hour zone. The Mayor thought it was imperative that the city did that as quickly as the ordinance took effect to clear up any misunderstanding that it was not a 70 mph zone. Prouty confhmed that was correct. Because of the penal clause in the ordinance, it would have to be to published. That would take about ten days to two weeks before it was actually effective. '~ 234 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 7 The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-273 ORDINANCE ALTERING THE PRIMA FACIE SPEED LIMITS ESTABLISHED FOR VEHICLES UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 545.356 OF THE TRANSPORTATION CODE V.T.C.A., UPON HIGHWAY NO. 2181 OR PARTS THEREOF, WITHIN THE INCORPORATED LIMITS OF THE CITY OF DENTON; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR A REPEALING CLAUSE AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Kmeger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 10. Ordinance designating and establishing school safety speed zones; reducing the maximum prima facie speed limit for said school safety speed zones to speeds found to be reasonable and safe by the Engineering and Traffic Depadment investigations for the designated hours; providing a penalty of a fmc not to exceed two hundred dollars; providing a severability clause; and providing for publication. (This affects Sam Houston Elementary, Selwyn School, and the Immaculate Conception School.) Rick Svehla reported that part of the ordinance would establish the zone and set the speed limit at 25. The ordinance would also do two other things. It would include in the ordinance the zone for the Immaculate Conception School on Bolivar. The ordinance also made a correction on the Selwyn School ordinance that had to do with that 20 mile per hour limit that you can lower the speed limit. Traffic Safety Commission recommends approval. Beasley had one correction which was pointed out to the City Attorney; on page 4 of the ordinance, it should be Denton High School now and not Denton West. Young was concerned about Tomas Rivera Elementary School. He asked if that meant they would be posting speed limit signs on the Loop and Morse. Svehla said the school zone was at Newton and Wilson rather than at Newton and Morse. Staff has been looking at that to determine the speed limits and to detemdne the pedestrian movement in that area. Staff would be taking that to Traffic Safety before bringing it to Council. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 8 235 The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-274 AN ORDINANCE DESIGNATIN'3 AND F~TABLISHING SCHOOL SAFETY SPEED ZONES; REDUCING THE MAXIMUM PRIMA FACIE SPEED LIMIT FOR SAID SCHOOL SAFETY SPEED ZONES TO SPEEDS FOUND TO BE REASONABLE AND SAFE BY THE ENGINEERING AND TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE DESIGNATED HOURS; PROVIDING A PENALTY OF A FINE NOT TO EXCEED TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS ($200.00); PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Young motioned, Beasley seconded to approve the ordinance. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 11. Ordinance designating two parking spaces in the 100 block of Fry Street as restricted parking for police vehicles only; providing a savings clause; providing a severability clause; and providing for a penalty not to exceed two hundred dollars. Police Chief Mike Jez said the ordinance would designate the two parking spaces immediately in front of the community office at 106 Fry as designated parking for police only. The parking spaces were needed to allow the police officers 1) close proximity to the patrol area, 2) easy loading and unloading of the bicycles for the bike patrol, and 3) easy transportation of prisoners arrested by foot patrol there. Biles asked if the Fry Street merchants association had been consulted? Sez responded yes and the two businesses that were most directly affected on the 100 block of Fry were in support of it. They have the wholehearted support of the merchant's association. Young asked if he parked his car in one of the police spots, would he get a ticket or would his car also get towea. Jez responded that could very well happen. His advise was to not park there. Krueger asked if that was applicable to every parking violation in the city. Jez asked for clarification. Krueger wanted to know if he parked too long on the Square and received a parking ticket, would be also be in danger of being towed? 236 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 9 Jez responded no, they were not currently towing vehicles off the Square for parking and a number of other places, but there were a number of other places where you might well be towed. For example, if you parked in a fire lane, we might very well tow the vehicle. It was unlikely that we would tow a vehicle from that location; we would issue a citation first unless for some reason there was an emergency circumstance that dictated that we get in there. The police could do that anywhere in any of the parking places. Cott was concerned two police cars in front of a very narrow street said an awful lot to the customers, that may be good and that may be bad; going say between Jim's and Flying Tomato, that's a short area. He thought that said there's trouble, and you better watch out and stay away. On the other hand, he agreed that something should be done. Was there a way to have two police cars close by with all the equipment needed without being in front of two stores? Jez responded there was no way that we could guarantee that without the designated parking spaces and that's why they requested the parking spaces. He hoped that our citizens, rather than looking at those two police cars and receiving a sense of alarm would see the sense of security and well being by virtue that those cars are there. The parking wasn't dedicated to businesses in that area. He explained that the parking spaces were immediately in front of the community office. Them were times when there may not be a police car parked there at all. Jez said they have a multiplicity of police agencies working out of that community office. It was truly a partnership between the University of North Texas police depadment, the Denton police department, and the Texas Alcoholic Beverages Commission ,. so, a number of police units may well be in and out of that area. Sometimes it would be for short stops, other times the vehicles would be parked while the officers assigned to that vehicle were out on foot patrol in the area. Another advantage in having the car there is they could be summoned by a portable radio and in some kind of situation that would dictate a mobile response and a vehicle they could get back to their car quickly and respond to those calls. Cott asked that the minutes reflect his concern for having the cars there and a concern for them not being there. Biles said all merchants were very supportive of having the police presence. It helps them run their businesses. They were encouraging police presence. The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-275 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS DESIGNATED TWO PARKINO SPACES IN THE 100 BLOCK OF FRY STREET AS RESTRICTED PARKING FOR POLICE VEHICLES ONLY; PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR A PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. City of Denton City Council Minute~~ ' December 3, 1996 Page 10 237 Young motioned to approve, Biles seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Kmeger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 12. Ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute a contract between the City of Denton and RMI to develop, issue and coordinate an analysis of an RFP for power supply options for Denton. Sharon Mays responded that our electric utility has a forecast D for additional generating capacity to serve our forecast customer growth by 1999. Even though there was talk of deregulation and retail wheeling, their obligation to serve the customers was still in place. That meant they had an obligation to plan prudently and sufficiently ahead of time to make sure that if that load growth being the forecasted occurred that we would be ready and capable of providing the needs of those customers. The traditional way to do that would have been to build another little generating unit or buying a portion of another plant, as we did with Givens Creek, and this was not particularly risky because you did that and recovered those cost over the next 20 to 30 years from the captive customers. The dilemma today, although we have that clear obligation to serve, staff also knew there was a significant discussion about deregulation possibilities down to the retail level. Although, there seemed to be strong feelings at least at this point that legislature may not do something this term we may see some pilot programs and something by the next term. So that made the traditional approach pretty risky for a utility of our size. The positive side of that was that the electric production market had essentially been deregulated in Texas already and with the change in the transmission rules we would have readily available transmi.qsion all over the state beginning at the first of the year. Mays said we would have many more options to choose from in terms of meeting that need. However, it did not make the process a simple one. Really the only way that rapid change in the market was fomied from one day to the next. To f'md out our options staff needed to go through a request for proposal process. Staff has proposed to hire a consultant to help us through this process because it was not a simple process. Mays proposed to hire RMI to assist us with this process. They were chosen for three reasons, 1) their experience in doing this sort of thing, although not a lot of it has been done. There have been three cities in Texas that have gone through this process so far. RMI represented two of those cities in this process, and they have also done a significant amount of work not in a RFP type process, but with the city of Lubbock consulting in power supply options for the City of Lubbock. So they have a very good background in this type of work. They have a large amount of knowledge of our own system and have done quiet a bit of power modeling work and other things that would save us money in this process.. They were also used for our technical support through most of the regulatory process. Thirdly, Mays felt quiet comfortable in dealing with them because they were cost conscious, very cooperative, suggested cheaper ways of getting things done, and they took good care of our money. The first thing they would be asked to do was to review our own thtemally created load forecast. It was a pretty sophisticated process, and before we move forward, we want to make sure some experts in the field have double checked that work. The next step would be the development of the RFP itself, and in our case, we want to look at every possible option. You can see on the second page of the task order we have listed a large number of alternatives. Staff would not close our 238 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 11 mind and say that we just want to buy a little bit of power to meet the forecasted need. Mays said they wanted to look at every other possible thing the new deregulated market could offer to combine existing resources with some other resources, to repower our own units. Other things we could do in parmership with our customers with the overall intent to lower the cost of power to the citizens of Denton to the lowest pcosible that we can through this process. They would issue the proposal, the proposal would come back to them, and they would do the initial screening in working with the City. At that time, proposers would be narrowed down to a limited number of finalists. That process would be covered by the $55,000 of this task order. Once we know how many finalist we have, the amount of work to fully review final proposals would be quiet extensive. It could be anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 per proposal. Staff would come back to Council at that time with an additional budget. There was also a possibility that a serious finalist might in fact be required to actually pay for some part of the actual analysis. Staff would work with the City attorney to determine if it was appropriate for the city to do that and come back to you at that time with a budget for the final review process. The process would be quiet interesting because of the confidentiality. We are plowing new grounds here. Two things will happen. The power marketers will be very competitive with each other, and they will attempt to use and possibly abuse the open records laws to try and get at information in terms of what their competitors are doing. You may fred some amount of pressure; that was why staff would work through the consultant, but you may fmd some pressure on yourselves when that happens. You may fred that you receive directly some open records request. Please get them to the City attorney as quickly as possible. We have ten days to respond if that should happen. Also, when we finalize the process and get down to the discussing of who we want to choose and what the results of that are going to be, we are going to have an additional challenge because our future competitors will be interested in knowing what our future resources costs are going to be. So we will be working closely with the City attorney's office on this. Cott asked if this included the assumption that we are going to continue to be a public utility company. Mays said the results of this will be coming in about the time of the management study so if there were any questions in that regards we can make the appropriate decisions and how fast we moved forward with the decision based on that. Cott asked if it was true that if we took that ap~?roach, we would have basically structured ourselves to be a public utility and have to prove to ourselves that we don't want to be. His point was this was the only time in many years that we were going to get a chance to determine whether that was the structure that we really want this. Mays responded what she was suggesting that the timing for the decision on this particular process would be sufficiently linked with the completion of the management study. That, if in fact, there was a question about whether you want to change the status of the utility, you would be able to make that detemlination before making a final decision and committing yourself. Miller asked when it would be finalized. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 12 Mays, responded that a final schedule had not been determined because we are waiting for the approval to begin the final process. She guessed it would be another couple of months to get this on the street, so maybe late spring, early summer before we would get the results of the initial screening, and remember, behind that we would have to do the final analysis. Biles motioned Young seconded to approve the ordinance. Cott asked if they were going to study this as though we may or may not be a public utility company. Miller responded that what's been said here would not detet,,ine that. Further, the city has a need to provide the service, if we don't, we are going to be running out of capacity meeting the needs we now have. This would tell us what was the best avenue to follow. The management study may or may not tell us the other, and they would come in about the same time. So before we would be asked to allocate further funds for the screening of the finalist, we would presumably have information from the management studies. Cott said he just wanted to be sure that the other study then gave the Council and the Mayor an analysis that whether we should or should not continue to be public service. Mays said she believed that the way the RFP was structured for the management study was that they were to examine a wide variety of things and then make a recommendation if there were any areas within the utility that they believed a request for proposal for privatization should be issued. Cott responded that was not specific enough for him on that part of it. City Manager Benavides advised Mr. Cott that this study or any other study we have done today would not preclude you from having all the options that you currently have, and they are all on the table and the more data will allow you to make that decision when it comes easier. So I don't think this precludes you from doing that. Cott: I respectfully understand the first part of this where we are trying to make sure we have enough wattage to get through the study. My problem is I don't think we should be a public utility company, ,and I would like it a least studied and if it's studied and that is a specific study. 239 24O City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 13 The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-276 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CiTY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL CRMI"); AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS THEREFOR; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Biles motioned Young seconded. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "nay", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 5-1 vote. 13. Ordinance authorizing the City Manager to execute any and all documents necessary and incident to the City of Denton Electric Utility becoming a member of Electric America Services Company, Inc.; authorizing the expenditure of funds for the purpose of payment by the City for annual dues to Energy America Services Company, Inc.; authorizing the appointment of the representative of the City of Denton, Texas to Energy American Services Company, Inc. Sharon Mays reported that things continue to change rapidly in the utility industry, and one of the problems that small municipalities like we had was we don't have large staffs to get involved in great detail in every area. But what did make sense was for us to work together and pool our resources to get the knowledge and expertise necessary to operate well in this market place. Mays said the group has gas buying expertise, and they were formed specifically to help public utilities pool their resources of work together to do the best they could in this market place. By joining they would be a member of their board of directors and they required a resolution from Council to allow staff to join. One of the real values of this group was that it not only had members within Texas but it had ties outside of Texas. She said staff was struggling to learn more about other companies in terms of the power exchanges and purchases and sales that we can do on either side of the Texas border. Mayor Miller asked if Mays would be appointed as the representative to the organization. Mays said she would be appointed. Young wanted to know how did Mr. Nelson feel about joining this. Mays said she wouldn't be here if he didn't agree. Krueger asked what the $5,000 membership fee was based upon. Mays responded that it was based upon the revenue of our utility. City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 14 241 The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-277 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY AND INCIDENT TO THE CITY OF DENTON ELECTRIC UTILITY BECOMING A MEMBER OF ELECTRIC AMERICA SERVICES COMPANY, INC.; AUTHORIZING THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF PAYMENT BY THE CITY FOR ANNUAL DUES TO ENERGY AMERICA SERVICES COMPANY, INC.; AUTHORIZING THE APPOINTMENT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS TO ENERGY AMERICA SERVICES COMPANY, INC.; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Young motion. Beasley seconded to approve. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Krueger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 14. Ordinance approving the settlement of the claim of William and April Cox. Herb Prouty reported that the item was settlement of a claim involving a motorcycle accident back in May of 1995 when Mr. Cox's motorcycle was struck by a police car. The following ordinance was considered: ORDINANCE NO. 96-278 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS AUTHORIZING SETTLEMENT OF THE CLAIM OF WILLIAM J. AND APRIL COX IN AN AMOUNT NOT EXCEEDING $28,000; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACT ON THE CITY'S BEHALF IN PAYING THE SETTLEMENT, SUBJECT TO THE EXECUTION OF A RELEASE APPROVED AS TO FORM BY THE CITY ATTORNEY; AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Young motioned, Beasley seconded to approve. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Biles "aye", Cott "aye", Kmeger "aye", Young "aye", and Mayor Miller "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. 15. Nominations/appointments to Boards and Commissions 242 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 15 Council Member Krueger had nominated Sara Sonders to Keep Denton Beautiful. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Mayor Miller "aye", Cott "aye", Biles "aye", Young "aye", and Krueger "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. Council Member Beasley had nominated Brent Thorton to the Sign Board of Appeals. On roll vote, Beasley "aye", Mayor Miller "aye", Cott "aye", Biles "aye", Young "aye", and Kmeger "aye". Motion passed unanimously with a 6-0 vote. Cable TV Advisory Board's Joe Dodd had resigned. In Mayor Pro Tern Brook's absence, Council did not receive a nomination for that position. It would be considered at the next meeting. Council Member Carl Young nominated Jeri Coe - Plumbing Mechanical Code Board. It would appear for voting at the next meeting. 16. Vision Update 17. Miscellaneous matters from the City Manager. 18. Official Action on Closed Meeting Items: A. Legal Matters B. Real Estate C. Personnel D. Board Appointments 19. New Business Krueger, encouraged agenda committee resolution supporting half cent sales tax before the election. Next regular meeting was 12-17-96. Prior to the meeting Council would hold a reception for Jeff Krueger at 5:15 - 6:45. Public was invited to attend. yOUng sang Happy Birthday to Roni Beasley. 20. Possible Continuation of Closed Meeting: A. Legal Matters -- Under TEX. GOV'T CODE See. 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 City of Denton City Council Minutes December 3, 1996 Page 16 243 Thc meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Veronica Rolen Deputy City Secretary Mayor AAA04BA1