Minutes June 13, 2000CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
June 13, 2000
After determining that a quorum was present and convening in an Open Meeting, the City
Council convened in a Closed Meeting on Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 5:15 p.m. in the City of
Denton Council Work Session Room.
PRESENT: Mayor Brock; Mayor Pro Tem Beasley; Council Members Durrance, and Young.
ABSENT: Council Members Burroughs, Cochran and Kristoferson
1. Closed Meeting
A. Deliberations Regarding Certain Public Power Utilities: Competitive
Matters --- Under TEX. GOV’T. CODE Section 551.086.
(1) Received competitive information from Staff pertaining to several
electric service contract, certification, and stranded cost issues regarding
the present and future cost-effective operation of Denton Municipal
Electric; and discuss, deliberate, consider, and provided Staff with
direction respecting such issues.
Work Session of the City of Denton City Council on Tuesday, June 13, 2000 at 6:00 p.m. in the
Council Work Session Room in City Hall.
1. The Council received a presentation from Diversified Utility Consultants, Inc. regarding
Electric Utility Rate Design.
Dan Lawton, Diversified Utility Consultant, Inc., presented a new rate design theory for a
competitive market with marginal and incremental cost pricing. The two previous presentations
addressed rate level. The end product in the previous discussions addressed the total revenue
requirement of a public utility. This discussion looked at the determination of the specific rates
that would yield the required revenues. Lawton reviewed the criteria for rate structure as noted
in the agenda materials. He also reviewed marginal costs and alternative long range incremental
cost pricing for transmission and delivery services in Denton.
2. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding EMS
billing revenues.
Ross Chadwick, Fire Chief, stated that staff was proposing a new ordinance that would change
the existing fee ordinance as well as add new fees. The City responded to certain areas of the
unincorporated County under an agreement with Denton County. The City also responded to
several small cities in the County under interlocal agreements and ordinances that were approved
each year by the City Council setting the terms and conditions of the agreement. There were
several reasons for a change in the current ordinance - the last change for emergency ambulance
fees was in 1998; the costs to provide emergency medical services had increased substantially;
the need to remain competitive with other area emergency medical services providers; and the
need to maintain present Health Care Finance Administration methodology. Chadwick reviewed
the current fees that were being proposed to be increased and the new proposed fees.
Consensus of the Council was to prepare an ordinance to incorporate the proposed fees except
for the non-transport fee and to look into the issue regarding cost of providing medical record
copies.
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June 13, 2000
Page 2
3. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding small
cities EMS contract.
Ross Chadwick, Fire Chief, stated that staff was requesting direction regarding the amount
charged to the small cities for emergency medical service. Although current contracts would not
expire until September 2001, staff wanted to give the contracting cities ample notice of what the
rates would be after October 2001. He reviewed the cost of EMS to small cities and the future
proposed rates for the small cities under contract.
Consensus of the Council was to proceed with the recommendation of the staff.
4. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding fire
revenues.
Ross Chadwick, Fire Chief, stated that staff was requesting direction on a cost-recovery proposal
to establish a non-resident motor vehicle accident fire engine response fee. Currently there was
no mechanism in place to recover the costs associated with fire engine calls. A supporting idea
for establishment of a fee of this kind was that insurance policies often had built-in provisions for
recovery fees that go unused because fire departments do not have a way to bill for these
services. In addition, services provided by fire and emergency crews help insurance companies
reduce the severity of injury and damage to individuals and property.
Consensus of Council was to proceed as recommended by the staff.
5. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding a
paperless agenda.
Jennifer Walters, City Secretary, stated that this was a request from Council Member Durrance
for an update on the paperless agenda process. She reviewed the back-up materials indicating
the current process in place to determine the best way to proceed with a paperless agenda if
desired by a majority of the Council.
Consensus of the Council was to bring the item back at a future work session to be decided on by
the entire Council with a demonstration of a type of paperless agenda.
6. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding the
Development Code Rewrite project, including, but not limited to, the consultant scope of work,
project schedule, public involvement process, and role of the Code Committee including the
possible reduction of the number needed for a quorum.
th
Doug Powell, Director for Planning and Development, stated that at the June 9 luncheon with
John Fregonese, several issues were discussed related to the Development Code and process.
Staff was requesting direction on several issues: redefined schedule and process for the
Development Code adoption; role of the Code Committee and quorum issues; adoption of site
design standards and environmental standards overlay ordinance. It was recommended to
provide a public review document that would not change until the end of the public process with
all comments from all stakeholders. That would reduce the confusion of multiple documents and
eliminate the public having to deal with a moving target. In regards to the Committee’s role, it
was suggested that the process should be parallel and the Committee would continue to work
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June 13, 2000
Page 3
reviewing the draft Development Code, along with other special interest groups and the public
at-large. All comments would be forwarded to the City Council. It was also recommended to
lower the quorum of the Committee to six from eight so that there will be less trouble meeting
the legal requirements for a meeting. A suggestion was made to have a joint meeting of the
Committee and the City Council. A final issue was an overlay ordinance for site design
standards and environmental standards. Staff was recommending not to more forward with such
an ordinance as it would take too much time and effort away from the actual Development Code.
A revised schedule was presented for Council review.
Consensus of the Council to hold a special work session meeting with the Committee on June
nd
22 and to not consider an overlay ordinance. The other recommendations would be held until
the special work session meeting.
7. The Council received a report, held a discussion, and gave staff direction regarding
proposed procedural changes to be implemented by the City Development Review Committee.
Larry Reichhart, DRC Chairman, stated that in order to provide better customer service, staff had
initiated a number of operational changes and was in the process of implementing some procedural
changes to the Development Review Committee. Changes included drafting a written set of rules,
changing the submission date and requirements, developing check lists by each department to
determine the appropriate level of information required for each type of application, providing
information to the applicant, and setting strict schedules for revisions.
Consensus of Council was to prepare a time line for the review process for developers to follow and
to proceed with the proposals as presented.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
______________________________
EULINE BROCK, MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
____________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS